During the peak of the rut, it’s often wise to pick a stand and wait it out. The randomness of deer activity requires patience from a deer hunter, and if you just wait long enough, that big buck will cruise by. Except, of course, if he never does.
It’s primarily that sense of the unknown that keeps OL’s hunting editor, Andrew McKean, from spending hours on end in a stand during whitetail season like the rest of us. Instead, he prefers to hunt from the ground and make his own luck.
As you’ll hear in this episode of the Outdoor Life podcast, hunting from the ground, whether that means sitting, stalking, or still hunting, creates some natural challenges. However, it also makes for exciting encounters at close range and offers the opportunity to explore. So if you find yourself bored in your treestand (or scrolling through your phone instead of enjoying the nature around you), consider McKean’s case for ditching the stand and hunting from the ground.
Why Hunt from the Ground?
First of all, hunting from the ground is fun, and deer hunting is, above all things, meant to be fun. To properly still hunt through the woods, you’ve got to move extremely slowly. In fact, you’ll be sitting and watching far more often than you’ll be moving, McKean says. But with each new step, you’ll get a slightly different view of the habitat around you and a new chance to spot a buck —before he spots you.
“Time loses all meaning when you’re truly still hunting,” McKean says. “It’s hard to describe how slowly I’m moving.”
This method of slowly and methodically scanning the woods keeps a hunter engaged in a way that treestand hunting can’t.
“All of your senses are employed,” McKean says. “I can pick apart an entire woods, take a few more steps, pick it apart again … I recently saw a mountain lion doing that, which is pretty cool.”
The second reason that McKean hunts from the ground is because it’s effective. He lives in eastern Montana and does most of his deer hunting in the Milk River valley, where the key whitetail food source is the many sprawling alfalfa fields in the area. Instead of picking one spot on a field edge and committing to it (and potentially watching helplessly as deer come out on the wrong side of the field), McKean can wait to see where deer are moving on any given hunt and then maneuver closer.
Lastly, when you do get a shot at a deer, it will probably be a close one.
“That’s part of the appeal,” McKean says. “You get a lot of super, uncomfortably close encounters with deer.”
How to Hunt from the Ground
Know How Deer Use the Terrain
A big key to his success is that he thoroughly understands deer movement in his area. This is critical for all aspiring still hunters.
“We do have very demonstrated patterns for whitetails,” McKean says. “They bed in the daytime, either in cottonwood galleries in the timber or grass bedding areas, and they come out late in the afternoon to alfalfa fields … that pattern is so established that I know what time of day I can head out there and still be safe to walk into a spot on the edge of a field, tuck into cover and hunt from the ground.”
Whether you hunt in open country or in the timber, you’ll want to understand general deer movement in your area before planning a still hunt.
Play the Wind
“It’s hard to overemphasize how wind can spoil everything or give you invincibility,” McKean says. “For example, even visual cues—a deer might see you, but if they don’t smell you, they’ll be like, ‘eh, it’s fine.’”
So when you plan out a ground hunt, carefully evaluate wind direction and wind speed throughout the duration of your hunt. The key is to account for the wind direction at all points throughout your move.
“When you move through country, the wind can be perfect for the first part of it, but then you get to the end of a cast, and now the wind is all wrong,” McKean says.
Use weather apps like WindFinder and Huntstand to get specifics on how wind direction will change by the hour during your hunt.
Be Ready to Rattle
McKean has had a lot of success rattling from the ground, which he finds to sound more realistic than rattling from a tree.
“I think the acoustics of it are a lot more realistic,” McKean says.
So, if you’re planning to still hunt an area or set up in a natural blind on the ground, it’s a good idea to bring a pair of rattling antlers, and maybe a grunt tube, with you.
Read our full guide on how to rattle in a buck here.
You’ve Got to Be Ok With Bumping Deer
Stalking or still hunting for whitetails means that you will occasionally bump deer. So, you’ve got to come to peace with that part of the game. However, McKean mitigates risk by moving less (and more cautiously) if he has a big target buck in the area. He’ll move more aggressively if he’s doe hunting or just hunting for any nice buck.
“There have been a couple of years where there was a buck that I was very interested in getting close to, that I really minimized my movement and picked my times,” McKean says. “I’m a risk taker, but I also know how to gamble.”
Read Next: Whitetail Deer Hunting Montana’s Milk River Is Overrated—Until It Isn’t
Final Thoughts on Hunting from the Ground
If your treestand hunts haven’t gone as planned this deer season, consider hunting from the ground. You might not have as much to lose as you think.
“The perception is that it’s riskier than it actually is,” McKean says.
At the very least, you’ll get to practice a new hunting skill, and learn more about how deer use the habitat where you hunt.
