Ground hunting stories

[Uncle Lou]

Feel free to throw a ground hunting story out. That is most of what I have.

I've been hunting on the ground since before it was cool. I shot my first archery buck (a button) from the ground at about 40+ yds in 1989 in Eastern Illinois. Then I moved to Michigan in June 1990 and hoped that I would become the next Fred Bear. Only problem was I didn't know squat about archery or deer hunting and worked and commuted all week, but that didn't stop me from trying. I was skunked until November gun opener 1995, first time gun hunting for deer in Michigan or ever. A crazy racked buck took off running out in front of me on Holly State Rec Area and I swung the 12 gauge and started shooting like it was a flushing pheasant on the plains of Southern Champaign County, Illinois. My first Michigan Buck. I will try to add a pic tomorrow, can't interrupt my story.

So which of the many ground hunts should I start with? 2009 brought the inclusion of the xbow during archery season to MI and the beginning of my ground hunting with that weapon during archery season. Up until then I continued to try to archery hunt from treestands, but just wasn't very good at it. Since 2009 most of my archery season and gun season I was ground hunting. From 1995 to present most of my gun hunting has been on the ground. That's a lot of stories I will try to remember. If I had to guess I am probably pushing close to 70 deer at this point. I would guess, and I may change this number but only 5-10 were from a stand.

Since the beginning of the BEAST I have shared many of my lesser deer kills (does and scrubby bucks) But I don't think that I ever shared my 2017 Muzzle loader season opening day ground hunt. I was on a local public piece that only allowed archery, and I was afoot with my xbow. When I hunt I don't really know where I am heading. Sometimes I have a general idea of where I might want to take a look around and sometimes I make it there, sometimes I get sidetracked on the way, and sometimes I get to the spot get bored and move on. This was a typical morning and I was heading to a nasty area during first light. I remember getting off the trail, heading down a tangled hill to a pocket of wet mess. There was a spot that I could cross that wasn't too wet. As I was on my knees trying to wiggle through a tangle I heard something coming from the south (the direction I was heading) and to my right. There was no way I could shoot in the position I was in, so I slowly raised to see what was coming. She looked at me and I froze. I won the stare off and she continued to come closer. When she got directly south of me to slightly left her head went behind a small tree and I raised the xbow, then on her next step I shot her. After the shot she ran and I really thought I glanced off something as it was so thick. A yearling kept milling around what turned out to be the area where the doe went down. I always wait at least 5 minutes because that's what people as patient as me do after a shot, we wait like 5 minutes, maybe 10 if I really have to think through what the heck just happened. So thinking I missed, I started to creep up and if that yearling didn't move off she might become the next target. As I walked in the direction of the yearling, I notice my initial target on the ground. And Turns out it was a heart shot. You know what they say, no not brown its down, rather to be lucky than good.
Now I will see if I have a pic somewhere. If I find them without using the blood trail I love to backtrack to the deer after I find it to where I shot it. Especially on a short run, not certain why. I stood there where I hit her and looked to where I was and just had to shake my head, wasn't a far shot maybe 20, but how I got it through that mess and hit the heart was a little luck.

[wolverinebuckman]

Cool story, and thread, Lou!
I've been getting more and more into ground hunting of late, especially in the late season when there's no tree cover. It's also nice to be able to slip out quickly when the hunt is done, rather than break down everything and pack up.

I haven't shot anything from the ground yet, but there was one close encounter that was very exciting for me. I had walked in and scouted a new area of the Pointe Mouillee SGA, near my old home in Monroe. I had been following the Beast for just a short time, but one thing I had learned to look for was transitions.

I found a nice line where tall thick cattails met with 4 ft tall native grass. There were some little scrub brush trees, but nothing to put a stand in. I decided to set up on a trail through the grass, right next to a bush. A doe came out and worked her way along the cats, and then turned and came straight towards me. She couldn't have been more than 5-7 yards away when she finally realized I was there! Plenty of time for me to practice my draw and pin placement.
She looked back at me a couple times while bounding away, before disappearing into the cattails. That was a super exciting hunt, the only time a doe has had my heart pumping!
I don't know how I will handle my stuff if and when that's ever a big buck, I might lose it. But can't wait to find out!

[-db-]

I had walked in and scouted a new area of the Pointe Mouillee SGA, near my old home in Monroe. I had been following the Beast for just a short time, but one thing I had learned to look for was transitions...

Ah, another who started Beast-style at Pt. Mouillee. Small world. If I hadn't moved up north in the meantime, I had it all planned out, had done a lot of scouting, how I was gonna hit Mouillee hard until I pulled a mature buck out of there. Now I'm starting over and doing it up here.

[Hawthorne]

I had walked in and scouted a new area of the Pointe Mouillee SGA, near my old home in Monroe. I had been following the Beast for just a short time, but one thing I had learned to look for was transitions...

Ah, another who started Beast-style at Pt. Mouillee. Small world. If I hadn't moved up north in the meantime, I had it all planned out, had done a lot of scouting, how I was gonna hit Mouillee hard until I pulled a mature buck out of there. Now I'm starting over and doing it up here.

Pointe moulee is all flooded now. Most of the woods and areas deer frequented are under water. No deer. The DNR did a great job flooding it

[-db-]

Well, they'll be back. It's not difficult to figure out where they go to higher ground around there. Back when I was down there, I was concentrating on the Headquarters area, away from the duck hunters. There are a lot of deer tucked back in a bunch of small pockets not far at all from the parking lot. They like sticking close to the Metropark/golf course. It's all cattails and you're gonna get wet, but some good ground opportunities for a guy willing to get after them.

[mibowhunter]

Shhhh, don't start this thread in Michigan! This is the only way I can get away from people who think you need trees to hunt in! :)

I have some stories to share, but will have to wait until after work to put it in writing....

[seazofcheeze]

I love ground hunting, and I've actually killed my two biggest bucks from the ground while spot/stalk/still hunting.

I killed this one in South Dakota in early November 2019. Long story short, I spooked this buck the night before locked down with a doe. Went in the next morning on the ground and did some still hunting and occasional grunting. The second or third spot I stopped and grunted, this guy grunted right back and came marching in. He finally revealed himself from a juniper thicket and I shot him at 18 yards. One of my favorite hunts ever.

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I killed this one last year in Montana on September 5th, 2021. It was very hot, upper 80s for most of the day. I went out late mostly hoping to observe and make a plan when the weather broke. I spotted this buck feeding in a weed field. I was really hoping to shoot a muley last year, but I've ALWAYS wanted to shoot a buck with some stickers/junk. It was destiny I suppose. I knelt down in a small patch of cover and the deer fed right to me. The grass was really tall, and I couldnt get a clear shot until he got very close. Shot him at 7 yards. Still can't believe the wind didn't swirl or he didnt pick me off.

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[wolverinebuckman]

I had walked in and scouted a new area of the Pointe Mouillee SGA, near my old home in Monroe. I had been following the Beast for just a short time, but one thing I had learned to look for was transitions...

Ah, another who started Beast-style at Pt. Mouillee. Small world. If I hadn't moved up north in the meantime, I had it all planned out, had done a lot of scouting, how I was gonna hit Mouillee hard until I pulled a mature buck out of there. Now I'm starting over and doing it up here.

Pointe moulee is all flooded now. Most of the woods and areas deer frequented are under water. No deer. The DNR did a great job flooding it

I went back there last year with a friend to do some scouting, and was blown away with how much the landscape had changed in just a couple years since we moved. He says he believes they (DNR) don't want it to be for deer anymore, but just waterfowl.

It bummed me out, that was the first place I found a legitimate Buck bed with tons of sign, buried in the deep cover of the marsh and cattails.. went back and all the cattails were mowed flat and you could see for a mile.

[Brad]

So far I have only killed one deer from the ground, and it was a big doe this last January 4th with my 300 blackout pistol during alternative season. I was invited by a buddy to come out and hunt his land that is about 75 acres total, with about 30 acres of ag and a creek between his house and the ag. The fields were all harvested beans, but much of the edges had a couple feet wide stretches of standing beans. He has a couple ladder stands set up on the field edge, but the one time I sat in one of the stands, I watched the deer run up the field edge a couple hundred yards away, so I decided to get closer to where I thought they would be coming from. I set up between the creek about 15 yards into the timber near the corner of a field where I assumed they'd come through to get to the field. I had a good amount of brush behind me and I used my platform low on a tree as a seat to lean up against a tree almost as if I were turkey hunting. I kept watching the timber on the creek side to see when they'd show up... but then out of the corner of my eye I saw a group of does out in the field about 100 yards away. I was able to slip off of my seat, get set up kneeling to get a solid shooting position. Had a big doe get in a spot for a shot, and BANG! every deer except the one I shot turned and ran the other way. The one I shot at ran toward the field corner where I was sitting... and toward the property line where f she passed I wasn't sure if I could recover her. She got to about 15 yards from me and I was afraid I had either missed or she would run off to the neighboring property, but then she turned back around as if she was going to go back toward the other deer, and then dropped. That's my only ground kill story.

I've tried to stalk a couple does with my bow before, but so far I have gotten fairly close, but not had any success. A ground kill with my bow is a goal I have, so hopefully I can give a much better story in the future.

Bowhunter4Life has a really cool story about killing a nice buck from the ground. I haven't seen him on the forum lately, but maybe he'll chime in and tell the story.

[Brad]

actually I did have a pretty cool experience on the ground once before that I almost forgot about. A couple years ago during the first week of November I went to a spot that at that time seemed to be fairly overlooked (but this past season was not..). I set up in the early morning on a small point that was in kind of a thermal hub that appeared to be a travel area that probably wasn't more than 50-70 yards off of the main road to get to the area of public land. I saw one pretty decent young buck first thing in the morning from the tree I was sitting in, but then at about 9 am I decided to work my way closer to where I was thinking there would be more action. I walked down a small ditch then as I worked my way back up the next little hill I noticed a pretty decent buck. He was literally trotting around in circles with his nose glued to the ground, sniffing around like a dog. I was able to sneak to within about 15 yards of him, but in that spot there were a bunch of stringy little trees blocking my shot. I continued to try to work my way closer, but the buck circled a little farther around and he either smelled me, saw me, or heard another deer that I never saw start blowing at me, and he ran off never to be seen again... it was pretty wild to see a buck so focused on sniffing for does that I could damn near walk right up to him. Unfortunately that didn't result in a kill, but it was still fun!

[savageofcedars]

Since I moved back up here, I’ve done it a lot more. A lot of times it’s easier to get a shot on the ground than in a tree and adjust for a shot if you’re still hunting. They’re so transient here, I feel like I’m always just trying to find deer, which makes it difficult to be prepared ahead of time. My favorite story is one where I didn’t kill anything. November ’19 I was scouting trails off a road and saw a good buck cross. About a 14” 8 pt. Great buck here. I drove out of sight, got out with my bow and followed him in the snow, about ½ mile in I caught up to him bedded against two saplings at 22 yards. The only thing open was his liver so I watched arrow nocked for a few minutes til the wind swirled and he got up and took off. Never caught up to him again that day.

I’ve shot a couple cruising bucks with a rifle doing the “deer walk”. Judging by their body language I’m pretty sure they thought I was another deer and came looking for me. First time was 2016, did it again in 2020. 2020 I had him cruise through on the way to the stand and I couldn't tell if he was legal so I changed gears and went after him. I have some video of it here.

https://youtu.be/7y1LwjuIEq4

[Uncle Lou]

How cool we got some stories going. I am going to share a few more, but I think I will be light on pics. Anyone that says it didn't happen without pics, well those steaks I ate were real.

I found this on on my computer today. Think it was from 2009. Me and Patrick the Killer. Anyone remember that one? I posted it here many moons ago. I I copied it and stored it on a word document. So just going to copy and paste. I might have changed a couple of commas if I were to type it today, but it seems the way I remember it for the most part.

Here we go, This one is called walked right up and shot them in their beds. This really happened, and with a 12 year old.

I think the year was 2009. It was November 14, and I was driving north to stay with my downstate neighbor and good friends Ron and his son James. I have stayed with them in their hunting camp which is a private large hunt club of ~11,000 acres in northeast lower peninsula Michigan. This area is rich in the tradition of opening day firearm deer season and reeks of all things Michigan. It is a time of year where much of the down state orange army invades the Michigan North country for a chance at the elusive whitetail.

The last couple of years I have been across the road in a Federal Forest where I spend my time trying to get lost in this piece of land. While there I am also trying to figure out the lay of the land and maybe that future secret spot. I first hunted in this area in 1996 with another neighbor from downstate. It was on my first time up here I met someone else from downstate, who actually lives nearby. In the time since my first trip up here, we have become good friends.

So while I was driving up this time, my good friend Dan calls me. Dan said, "Lou, I need you to do me a favor". "Sure what is that". "Are You heading up", Dan asked, "Yes". I replied. "I need you to sit with Patrick at the farmhouse".

These guys Dan, his son Patrick, and some others, hunt a local tree farmers ground, along with a 40 that dan owns. Dan bought a place up here next to the tree farm just recently. Patrick just turned the age, where it was his time to go buck hunting but he was still at the age needing to sit with an adult. Patrick has been looking forward to this day for some time with great anticipation. His older brother got to take his first buck two years earlier and Patrick wasn't about to skip a day waiting for his turn. Some last minute misunderstanding, left Patrick with a blind but no one to sit with. Since I was staying about 10 minutes away this was really no problem at all for me. I could say no and walk around the forest hoping to see a deer, or I could go sit with Patrick on private land and see probably 30-40 deer cruise past.

Really a no-brainer. I was glad to oblige. I always enjoy hunting with youths, and Patrick was becoming one of my favorite youths to hunt with. Up early that morning we met at the farmhouse. His father Dan hunts across the street with the property ower, and has been doing that since before Patrick was born. Patrick and I gather our things and walk to the blind. We see many deer, even a coyote. Then all of a sudden, I see horns way out across an open field it was probably 9:00 am. There were some scraggly pines in front of us not very evenly spaced and manicured like on most of the fields planted on this farm. The trees offered just enough obstruction to lose the deer.

The horns were visible with the naked eye at over 300 maybe even 400 yards, and I knew this was a good buck for the area. I am excited but it disappeared in the tall grass, the buck was with a doe. Patrick and I game plan a bit. There really wasn't much to game plan except do we sit here and hope it gets up and walks within shooting range, or Do we go after it.

Patrick, liked the idea of going after it. I suggested we wait a short while before heading out of the blind and towards where we last saw the buck disappear. I thought this was an act of desperation to not sit tight in the blind on opening morning, but then I am not a very patient person I thought we may catch some crap for this too, but oh well it sounded like the better option to Patrick and who was I to stop a kid from getting his first buck.

So down we went. We duck walked and crawled through the cover of the pines from the blind to the edge of the tall grass field where we lost the buck. A strong wind in our face, at least we had that going for us.

When we hit the tall grass, we stopped and picked apart the field looking for a hint of the two deer. Throwing more caution into the wind, I decide we will walk right across this field to where we last saw them. I had a taller pine lined up with the elevated blind we came from. I carefully picked our course and off we went. Guns at the ready. Me with a bolt action Ruger in 7mm and Patrick with his semi auto 243. As we went across this field I didn't expect much good to come of it, but heck we were there. This is a deer rich area, and worse we could do was mess up and then go sit, and very likely see more deer.

Well as fate would have it. The buck and doe were bedded in the tall grass where they "disappeared". I found that out at about 30 yards from them. I don't remember what I saw first, the tine or the white on his face, then I saw the doe next to him. He is looking right at me, and I would guess he was hoping we were going to pass. To be heard over the wind gust of 20+ mph, I said "Patrick, there they are" I saw his eyes look further ahead than where they were, with my gun shouldered I said "no, right here in front of us".

I said "I am going to shoot the doe in her bed, when the buck jumps up shoot him". BANG, BANG, it happened so fast I think there was a second shot by Patrick. The doe never moved, the buck fell over. And there we stood in the middle of a open field of waist high grass with Patrick's first buck on opening day firearms season, in mid morning. This really didn't just happen is kinda how I felt. Patrick and I celebrated a bit, called his dad who was hunting across the road, and took our sweet time taking care of these two before we got the truck and loaded them up.

[Pancake]

I've shot all of my deer from the ground. The only animal I've ever taken from a stand was a bear. One memorable story of my first archery deer:

I was walking through a piece of public for a November afternoon hunt. We'd had a couple of inches of snow that morning, and I cut three sets of fresh tracks. I followed them through some timber and that led me to two scrapes from that morning. I followed the tracks a bit farther until the two smaller sets went one way and the larger set went another way. I figured that was a good place to set up, so I backed off the trail a bit and waited.

About 30 minutes later I hear something in the distance. I turn towards the sound. It's coming from over my back right shoulder, and I wasn't prepared with back cover or a shooting lane for something coming from that direction. Regardless, I see a buck approaching me and I draw my bow. I have just enough time to register that something is off with his right side before that all slips away in favor of focusing on the shot. The deer is looking right at me, but it's awkwardly thick in there with buckthorn, so even though I don't have great back cover he still can't register what I am. His head and neck are darting around trying to figure me out, and I'm able to lean just far enough to have a lane. He's essentially frontal, but he's at 10 yards now. His neck stops moving. I'm confident in that shot at that distance, and I send it.

The buck turns and runs away. A few seconds later I hear what I think is water splashing. At the time I was convinced that was the sound of him bounding through the marsh a couple hundred yards away at the end of the timber. I sit tight for a while before retrieving my arrow, taking pictures of the blood in the snow, and then backing out.

I come back about four hours later and take up the trail. I make it about 30 yards, and there he is. It's an absolute horror show. My frontal shot must've cut artery, and it's total chaos made even more emphatic by the contrast of the fresh snow. I suddenly know that the sound of liquid sloshing wasn't him bounding through the marsh. I'd been gun hunting the family farm for years and had taken many deer there, but at the time of this story I was into my third season with a bow and on public land and had yet to tag anything. I was ecstatic to finally be on the board and to have made a clean kill. It was just a bonus that he was a great representative buck for the area with a little character of a broken main beam.

I know there are times when I should break out the saddle that I spent way too much money on, but after this experience and subsequent kills on the ground since then, I think my saddle is doomed to just collect dust :-)

[Stingray713]

Great story Lou! Gotta get down and go after em! Especially when you have a gun and bucks are rutted up.

We have a long gun season in Virginia that starts at the beginning of November so I usually kill a buck from the ground during the rut. I think 9 in the last 10 years, all with a muzzleloader or shotgun. Killed a pretty good one with the bow in late October in ‘16 but I was sitting on the edge of a big bowl overlooking a river and he was 30 feet below me.

In November of 2021 I killed a young 8 pointer on public land that was a pretty cool hunt. Every so often if I’m running short on time getting in the woods in the evening and the leaves are crunchy during the rut I’ll just take off running and grunting. I like to have a spot in mind I want to set up at and once I get within 150 yards of the spot I run and try to be loud. It’s worked a few times but none quite like that evening. I was running along a small creek bottom that’s about 100 yards wide with a young cutover on one side and a 15 year old block of pines on the other. The pines are tall enough where they don’t offer much bedding and I knew the cutover was loaded with does. When I stopped I got on a knee and started watching the cutover and immediately I heard a buck grunting back at me. He was running right at me, but from the pines. I swung around and luckily he stopped before crossing the creek. Shot him at 30 yards with a 1 oz rifled slug and that was that.

Last year I was hunting a similar spot but the block of pines are a bit younger. They are the perfect size to let in sun and have a thick understory for bedding but also a lot of spots where you can see 20-40 yards to be able to hunt them. I set up in the dark at the head of a ditch that runs into the pines thinking any chasing would head right through there. At gray light I heard a deer run by but couldn’t make it out. A few minutes later a small buck came by on the same path and I realized I needed to move up because the deer were swinging higher around the ditch. Turned out to be the right move. About 20 minutes later a little bigger buck came by chasing two more does and a few minutes after that an old buck with a tall funky rack came by on their trail. He was just tipping through so I shot him on the move at 20 yards with the muzzleloader and he dropped.

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[Uncle Lou]

Great story Lou! Gotta get down and go after em! Especially when you have a gun and bucks are rutted up.

Great stories from you as well Stingray. I might have to try the running in dry leaves trick.