Stalking vs tree stand vs blind which are you?

Which style of deer hunting do you prefer?

  • Ground blind

    Votes: 22 20.6%

  • Tree stand

    Votes: 22 20.6%

  • Stalking

    Votes: 63 58.9%
  • Total voters
    107
A perfect hunt for me is hike a ways from the truck...doesn't have to be far but wherever gets me away from other hunters...find a nice overlook with a view. Observe. Maybe buddy goes and pushes bush, maybe I do. We spot something, we either tag him then and there or put on a stalk. Never used a blind, I don't personally like using anything I can't carry on my back or artificial terrain features like cutlines... kind of kills the man vs. nature illusion.

I don't judge anyone for how they approach it but truck hunting is where I draw the line for me personally. If I'm just gonna sit in my cab until a deer walks into sight I might as well just go to the grocery store. That'll probably change as I get older.
 
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Can't vote as i do all three pretty equally. Lousy windy cold weather set up a blind with the mr. Heater. Wet quiet bush get the stalk on. Covering ground and/or adjusting for the wind get the lightweight Viper climber.
 
I do all plus drives, I do however find sitting in a stand far less about hunting but rather just waiting for a victim..
 
I will hunt by whatever means legal and necessary to get a deer, and they all have their high points. Driving with a buddy can be really fun--I love hunting with my sister's husband this way. We worked together for years and it's just a fun way to catch up. Shoot a deer, a partridge, whatever. You'll never get a smasher buck that way here in the east, but it's a fun way to burn a doe tag.

I love "walking" on a cold day. You see lots of animals trying to get warm, you see new country. It's fun. Walking in fresh snow is even better.

And on a rainy, snowy day, or a warm early fall day, nothing beats a tent blind over a bait pile. Get in there before first light, shiver for a while as the day warms up. Maybe read a book, if the action is slow -- picked up that trick from uberhunter Don Heath.

The only kind I don't really enjoy is sitting and watching for hours on a spot where there's little chance of seeing a deer. A couple hours is OK, but I'm not much for sitting in a blind or on a hill watching for hours if there's no deer around. Having said that, I shot my first deer this way years back, watching a trail, and it felt awesome.
 
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well regional differences make for different styles of hunting.

I cover a lot of ground on a quad stopping from time to time to do some walking or to sit and observe open ground, some times its a day trip with a lot of truck hunting on forestry / oilfield roads and walking cutlines and cutblocks.

this year I got one day to hunt and had a deer down by 12:30 home by 3:00, game stand welded up out of drill stem and some suckerrod by 4:30 and game hung overnight, butchered the next day.

hell of a short season, but work commitments came first this year, next year I'll try to get in 3 weeks of hunting.
 
captonion said:
I do all plus drives, I do however find sitting in a stand far less about hunting but rather just waiting for a victim..
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Yeah, I'm an old guy and I still have, way in the back of my head, the old Western movie notion that an ambush was a slimy way to try to shoot the good guy. Roy Rogers or the Lone Ranger never tried to ambush anyone, but all the bad guys would hide in ambush and try to shoot them in the back. Just doesn't seem "sporting" to me to this day.
 
huntingfish said:
Now that's a view!

David
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Thanks, i agree! I dont do all day sits, but the total hours i spend up there is some of my favourite time of the year. I mouth-squeek called a fox in from the neighbours field last year and just watched him stalk a squirrel for a bit before he wandered away. It is amazing being up there watching nature unfold below you. Talk about being a fly on the wall. :)
 
I was strictly a treestand guy for my first 5 years or so of deer hunting before I tried still hunting/stalking and saw the light. You see much more game and observe far more other animals doing their thing while learning more about your quarry. It's much more challenging, but being a true hunter going eye to eye with your prey and beating their senses at their level is extremely satisfying.

Yeah its exciting having a deer walk under your stand, but hitting a fresh track and getting within 20 yards to stick a deer with an arrow is a whole different level of excitement.
 
Staking is my favourite for mule deer. I was out a week ago, hunting a coulee. I had to walk in 1/2 mile to get to the land that I have permission to hunt. There’s something about sneaking out along a hillside in the dark, waiting for legal shooting time, and then oh-so-carefully sneaking toward a deer that gets my heart pumping!
 
53Izzy744 said:
Thanks, i agree! I dont do all day sits, but the total hours i spend up there is some of my favourite time of the year. I mouth-squeek called a fox in from the neighbours field last year and just watched him stalk a squirrel for a bit before he wandered away. It is amazing being up there watching nature unfold below you. Talk about being a fly on the wall. :)
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Haven't done much other types than sitting in the blind/stand, but certainly not opposed to trying alternatives....just the way it's done on the property we rent.
The "fly on the wall" thing is quite cool. Lots of observing, testing calls and noise/movement on does or small bucks when I don't have an antlerless tag, or just lol'ing at chickadees and red squirrels who can't resist checking me out.....hard not to enjoy a chickadee perching on the front sight of yer rifle!
Today was a new one for me....glassing a small doe at 65yds down a shooting lane in the bush, zero wind, super quiet. Red squirrel behind me puts up a fuss, and something sounds different so I turn around to see a hawk (thought it was a partridge at first) falling down out of a tree and landing ####-eyed on the ground. Thought it was fubar'd, but then it shook itself back together and took off with the red in it's clutches, squealing and squeaking until I couldn't hear it anymore. #### you likely don't see unless you are that fly on the wall.
 
Will be trying out the ground blind for deer this year. Normally i only use it for turkey but ive found a new set of trails deeper in from where i hunt and it is far too overgrown to get a tree stand in there.

I have a question for any ground blind guys. Do you prefer using the giant triangle opening or the classic windows style? My primos double bull surroundview has both (the one where an entire corner opens up, or the other sides where you can open windows). I just don't see what the benefit is in having the huge triangle/diamond side open compared to the windows. Anyone else?
 
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