Ground blind vs Tree stand

jonnyboy1014

jonnyboy1014

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I found a mint spot on my land for hunting, im wondering if itd be worth buildig a ground blind or just use a tree stand, im not very good at hunting, i tend to get bored easily just sitting there and fidget alot.

How long would it take deer to get used to it. I doubt anything would walk infront of it this year.
 
First you need to build the stand where the deer are that's probably the number 1 most important thing to do.

I prefer a tree stand as deer generally do not look up.

I have seen deer cross by minutes after a new stand was built. I have had deer watching while I built the stand.



jonnyboy1014 said:
I found a mint spot on my land for hunting, im wondering if itd be worth buildig a ground blind or just use a tree stand, im not very good at hunting, i tend to get bored easily just sitting there and fidget alot.

How long would it take deer to get used to it. I doubt anything would walk infront of it this year.
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Tree Stand, gets your scent up and away from their nose. You can see a lot more around, maybe some game trails you may have missed. If you build it right you can sit up their and fidget all day long. I have a climbing tree stand and absolutely love it, and If I can help it will never sit in a ground blind ever again.
 
A tree stand gives you look-down angle to see past the first screen of branches and shrubs. As has been said, deer have excellent eyesight for things on their own level. Almost every hunting writer I've read says that in wooded areas, they don't look up. If they had evolved escaping from leopards leaping out of trees, you would have a different set of decisions. But .... for hunting pronghorns where there are no trees worth climbing, a ground blind is going to be your only choice.
 
"Your going the wrong direction when you start climbing trees boy "

Words from my father when he found me shopping for a tree stand back in 1982 .

These words repeated themselves every time I tried it . Between that and - sitting up a tree - ground blinds pretty comfy
Helps with my patience, makes it more enjoyable for the young / new guys ,, for me it's hard enough getting out of the house never mind up a tree
 
For archery I 100% prefer tree stands. I can get closer and being elevated disperses my scent farther and the height is a camouflage advantage as I'm not at ground level. For rifle, I either prefer to find a random spot or hunt from a ground blind.

I'd go with a well brushed in pop-up blind and go from there. If this is private land, I'd put it up a couple weeks before the season starts.
 
I have spent more than my fair share of hours in a tree stand but getting older and not healing so quick I have had boots on the ground for about the last ten or so years.

Have used portable pop up blinds and on a cold, windy, wet day, with a little heat and grub it makes life more than comfortable. Add a good friend and you will not regret the day.

I have since refined things to a Gillie suit( a good one by Rancho Safari) and my turkey vest for fall and spring hunting, stocked appropriately, with seat pad and easily moved from location A to B. For close in work these suits work. My nephew has one and had a turkey strutting behind him at less than a yard, for more than 10 minutes before he committed to the decoys in a field and received an appropriate dose of lead. If you don't move the critters can't figure what your are. I have shot deer on the opposite side of the tree I was sitting against on one occasion.

For deer etc play the wind and scent control properly I have had and shot deer at gun barrel close. For turkey these suits break your outline and had a tom at 2 yds yesterday morning that knew I was something but did not spook, let him walk as I want his bigger buddy.
 
I've hunted from treestands, ground blinds and completely unprepared locations. I've built ground blinds and treestands. First few deer were shot from ground blinds but most from treestands. No reason why you have to hunt from a cramped metal treestand when it's possible to construct a permanent one on private land... if the lay of the land makes it feasible to spend the time: which is to say you have a productive spot that will remain productive for the forseeable future. The big pine died but a replacement was nearby in which to construct a new one. I prefer being in a tree for all the advantages it affords... the disadvantages are non issues for me.

It has occurred to me that there are other places I should be considering: for this I've considered welding a steel frame and with a few lag bolts it could be slacked as the tree grew if used in a permanent capacity. Being bolted of course makes it semi-portable... commercial models do not impress me as I suffer from inactivity also and my height requires larger floor space for stretching/relief.
 
I built and used tree stands for a lot of years, loved them, scares me to think of some of the contraptions I have sat up in over the years. They don't release the stats on how many fellas have fallen from tree stands and now are in wheel chairs permanently. My friend is one of them, mechanical malfunction of a key part and down he came. Tree stand accidents are more common than you may think. Once you help carry your friend on a back board out to nearest clearing and load him in the big orange helicopter all the while he is screaming in pain, it will sour your opinion on tree stands. Besides if your the fidgety type as mentioned your exposed to the wind and weather and highly visible to movement. I chuckle at the comments that deer do not look up, pure unadulterated bull crap..!! You make movement, even slight, while sitting in an open tree stand with a deer close at hand and the deer "will" see it and turn tail period. I never learned what I know about deer from reading magazines but from spending hundreds of hours over the years sitting and walking in the bush. As far as them shying from you putting up a tree stand or ground blind, they will certainly check it out as they are curious as to new things in their territory, but they soon get used to it.

I use Doghouse tent ground blinds, I have 3 of them set up in different spots. I only open two of the zippered windows in the directions I expect the deer to appear from. I only open the zipper so it creates no more than a 3/4" slit x 8" long. This does two important things. It greatly helps to reduce air movement, your sent from escaping the blind. It also allows you to see adequately out but the deer can not see in. So it masks your fidgety movements. I have had deer on many occasions come right up with in a couple feet of me sitting in a ground blind, they know something is going on but they can't seem to get any appreciable sent and I don't move or make noise, so after they have done a little sniffing and foot stomping they slowly walk off. The big issue with tent ground blinds is they get raiding and played with by bears if you have any around. A deer may have a good sense smell but a bear has a phenomenal sense of smell. If you have been eating anything in that tent blind or have left a pop can the bear will smell it and he won't nicely use the zippered door to come in to check things out. All my tent blinds have had extensive repairs do to bear raids. As a result my main hunt stand is a 6' x 6' wooden insulated structure with a tin roof. Two sides have a series of 6 four inch holes 1" apart in which to look and shoot out of. Each side has a glass window which greatly reduces sent carrying air currents and keeps out the cold, and at present the back flies. The structure sits 5ft up on a 4" x 4" green wooden post structure which has concrete pad footings. It will not be falling over any time soon, very solid and stable. Carpeted floor for noise reduction, propane heated. Kerosene light, battery operated fan to keep the widows clear in cold temps. Swivel reclining office chair on wheels in which to sit. Have taken several deer and bear from it and it works like a charm, for me anyways. With a half doz deer with in 40 yds. I can open a can of pop and bag of chips and while sitting in there and the deer never bat an eye or twitch an ear.
My experiences and what works for me.
 
I have used both.

I have had success in both.

The majority my success has been in ground blinds though.

I do the same as others have said in only opening 1 or 2 windows and even then very slightly. I also use scent sticks, bait pails and trail cams.

The first thing I noticed when I started using ground was that the forest sounded different. I have no science or education to back this up but, in my mind, when the critters and birds stopped being able to see me, they started making less sounds, and I started seeing more game.
 
grabbers said:
I have used both.

I have had success in both.

The majority my success has been in ground blinds though.

I do the same as others have said in only opening 1 or 2 windows and even then very slightly. I also use scent sticks, bait pails and trail cams.

The first thing I noticed when I started using ground was that the forest sounded different. I have no science or education to back this up but, in my mind, when the critters and birds stopped being able to see me, they started making less sounds, and I started seeing more game.
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I have 3 tree stand but i think im gonna build a ground blind.
 
I hunt from both but mostly a ground blind. Ground blind pros: roof over your head, hides most movement as long as all non-shooting windows are closed and wearing black top and mask, shot with my bow is horizontal and placement not shot angle critical. Cons: deer tend to show up out of nowhere especially in thick cover can decrease how much time to work with. Tree stand gives you more time to see what is coming and from what direction but angle of shot becomes more important the higher you are and closer deer is. Scrubby smaller trees can limit where to hand the stand. More risk to the hunter leaving the ground especially if hunting alone as I do most of the time.
 
jonnyboy1014 said:
I found a mint spot on my land for hunting, im wondering if itd be worth buildig a ground blind or just use a tree stand, im not very good at hunting, i tend to get bored easily just sitting there and fidget alot.

How long would it take deer to get used to it. I doubt anything would walk infront of it this year.
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A tree stand is better as others have mentioned, however for you as you describe yourself I suggest you use a ground blind. You'll be more comfortable.
I think you should simply buy a ground blind, set it up a couple weeks before the season starts and put a bit of brush around it to help blend it in.
Find out the direction of the prevailing wind at your location and set it up accordingly, that may give you the most days you can use the blind.
Buy a couple of them, or build a couple of them put at different locations to give you more options when playing the wind.
 
With the prices these days I'm sure anyone can afford both. That being said ground blinds would be better as its more comfortable and easy to move if needed. Also id it give about a week for the animals to get use to it, just my opinion..
 
I have never used a store bought ground blind and prefer to use the natural surroundings to find or make a good hide.
I don't think a ground blind is needed if you hone your skills.
One of my most productive spots for deer is in a mountainside draw where the deer are migrating down out of the alpine before the big snows hit. They come thru in singles and in groups and always down hill. If I see a deer heading uphill at that spot, it sensed some kind of danger , otherwise they always come from above.
This gives the deer an extremely good advantage over a predator or hunter that is lying in wait for the right buck to pass thru. Playing the wind and staying still and quiet is the key to success. I figured out that in the mornings , depending on the weather, there is a steady down draft that gives me an advantage in that anything above me won't smell me. The disadvantage is that once the deer go past, there is a risk that they will catch the scent and alarm any other deer by weezing or stomping their hooves hard as they take off. So I choose my hide so that I am able to see the high ground trails but am shooting across the wind, basically 90 degrees from where I expect the deer to travel.
For 15 years I hunted off "my rock" , which was a large outcrop of rock , covered in moss and shaped like a couch. It hid my body from my shoulders down, from anything coming down the trail to my right. I wear camoflauge , mossy oak, and have gloves and face mask to prevent "flagging". Deer will see any movement but they are used to seeing the greenery in the forest moving with the winds. I move my eyes before I move my head and if I have to turn my head I do it in very slow motion.... always moving my eyes first and my head only if I have to. I shoot the deer either right out in front of me or just slightly down hill to my left. The deer always come from the right. I keep my hands covered in camo cloves with my trigger finger exposed. Keep hand and head movements to a minimum and becoming one with the surroundings. The forest critters do their thing and I do mine.
I have had tremendous success in that spot using no ground blind and the deer are mostly shot at 20 yards or less. The closest shot I took there was maybe 4 feet from my rifle muzzle when that buck near walked over me.
After being roused from my couch by a few big mamma bears and an encounter with a large wolf pack a handful of years ago.... I put in a treestand LOL Once it was up the tree securely we used forest debris and a camo mesh net to camoflauge the stand.
Once the ladder is removed it is near impossible to make out the stand from 50 yards away. Haven't been skunked in the stand yet and the deer have never looked up until after the shot ;)
 
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