ML from the ground

[1Morgan]

Every post I read about ground hunting seems to focus on bow hunting. I will be using a muzzleloader (sidelock) this year and want to still/stalk hunt public land. ANyone else use a ML from the ground?

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: 1Morgan
ANyone else use a ML from the ground?

I do, when the situation calls for it. I am not a still hunter per-se, but I will get out of the stand to stalk a deer with my ML. Here are a few of my best examples.

[JPH]

To follow that up, I would offer that spot and stalk (at least as I do it) is a bit more fast paced than still hunting. Here is my best description of how I use the tactic:

- I will hunt from a location that offers me a wide vantage to glass. That may be a tree stand or it may just be a cluster of cedars along a high fence line.

- Once I locate a deer that I want to stalk, I will attempt to estimate that deer's line of travel and speed. This is often baised on previous experience with deer on the same property.

- From there I have to quickly determine the best way to cut paths with the deer. It is a little like a defensive back taking a persuit angle to cut off a runner. I don't stalk to where the deer is, I stalk to where I think the deer will be.

- It requires low, stealthy movenets and the ability to work within the terrain.

- It also requires the ability to cover a lot of ground very quickly. When I am totally shileded from the deer, I will often "recon shuffle" several hundred yards.

- If the deer is moving away from you, you may have to really hustle.

- Finally, it requires good shooting skills. For some reason, I seem to shoot better after a hard stalk, than I do  from the stand. Go figure!

PLEASE note that my stalking is done on private land that I have hunted for over 10 years. Nothing is 100% safe, but my situation may be far more so than on public land. That is a question for you to answer.

Hope this helps.

[MSHunter]

JPH -- Nice deer.

I too hunt on the ground with my muzzle loader (ML). I haven't tried JPH's approach, but may have to do so this fall.
I've always been more of an ambush hunter with my ML. I try to scout out some game trails, saddles, ridge lines before the season and pick out
a couple of spots that allow me to play the wind in my favor.

[Woods Walker]

Nice deer, J'per! 
 
I don't ML hunt, but I do ground hunt with my shotgun. I will do a combo of sitting and stillhunting, depending on the conditions, and how the whim strikes me at the moment. That to me is one of the positives about hunting this way....FREEDOM AND MOBILITY.
 
I shot both of these deer from the ground, the double drop tine was by stillhunting, and the other was from a ground sit. The drop tine was 40 yards, and the other was 30. I was wearing the ghillie suit for both of them.
 
 
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[JPH]

Needless to say WW, spectacular deer. Not having met you, but reading what you have to offer, I consider you to be a high authority on ground hunting. The awesome bucks just add more credibility to that well deserved position.

I looked back at my journal just for fun and broke down the numbers on my deer kills. This is how it has broken down for me.

Firearms* =
- 4 by ground stand.
- 14 by tree stand. 
- 3 by still hunting.
- 5 by stalking.

Bow Kills =
- 3 by ground stand.
- 13 by tree stand.

* Some of this was done in conjunction with deer drives in the early years.

I don't know if the numbers mean anything. I just found them interesting.

[Woods Walker]

Thanks, J'per. I've been wanting to post some pics for a long time, but I just now figured out how to re-size them! (I'm a better deer hunter than I am a computer geek!)
 
Yes, I have some experience, but I'm hardly an authority. I consider myself a lifelong student of hunting and the natural world in general (as IMO you can't learn about one without the other). I make goofs EVERYTIME I hunt. I try to learn from them.
 
Bottom line....spend as much time out there as you can,  observe and question everything, and every now and then you'll get lucky!

[Woods Walker]

You know Joe, I've been reading this thead, and looking at the great photos, and while I really do enjoy seeing the nice bucks you've killed, as as much as I appreciate your compliments about my deer, I sometimes think maybe we put too much on how many big bucks someone has to their credit before we give their comments and opinions any credence. And by "WE" I don't mean just you and I.
 
What made me think of this, is that my hunting mentor (he actually was my father's friend first, but seeing that my dad doesn't hunt, he put me under his wing when the time came).
 
He's 13 years my senior, and has killed more deer in his life than any one person I know. He can't get around too well now, due to ill health, and he lives 1000 miles away, but he was and continues to be my teacher EVERYTIME I set foot in the woods. But it's not just his body count that impresses me. He's the one who observed and questioned everything he saw. He came out to hunt with us here in Illinois about 4 years ago one gun season, and although he'd never set foot on our ground, he was telling ME things about it I hadn't though of.
 
And I think that is what really makes someone an "authority" on deer hunting. When you can go to place you've never been to before, and after just walking it for a day you know where to hunt and why. Maybe it's not 100%, but you're sure in a good starting spot. I guess you'd call it WOODSMANSHIP.
 
He's also been a trapper, and as good as fisherman as I've every fished with, so his window of knowledge is not limited to deer. I don't think you'll find too many real deer "experts" who are.
 
But he's never killed a REALLY large buck, although he has his share of NICE ones. Now part of this was the place and time he did most of his hunting in (New Jersey in the 50's, through 2000). But it certainly wasn't because he didn't know what he was doing. Much of killing large bucks is hunting where there are big deer, and also luck. In fact, he was on that hunt where I killed that double drop tine. I TRULY wish that it would have been HIM that killed that deer rather than me, but he was there, and I think it did him as much joy to see his "student" kill that deer as him.
 
 
 
 

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

[size="3"]You know Joe, I've been reading this thead, and looking at the great photos, and while I really do enjoy seeing the nice bucks you've killed, as as much as I appreciate your compliments about my deer, I sometimes think maybe we put too much on how many big bucks someone has to their credit before we give their comments and opinions any credence. And by "WE" I don't mean just you and I.[/size]
 

I totally agree. I do think the ability to kill mature bucks on a consistent basis is an indication of hunting skill, but it is far from the only indication. please note that I gave you credit for what you have shared here more so than I did what you have killed. You points about being a lifelong student are just more wisdom!

I too had a hunting mentor like yours. Mine was (and still is) my late, maternal grandfather. He first hunted rabbits to help feed his family during the Depression, he was a WWII paratrooper, survived 12 days while surrounded and MIA in the Arden Forest, came home and lived out his days as a consummate Adirondack woodsman. To the best of my knowledge, he never killed what we would consider today to be a "nice" buck. If he had, I would never have known about it because Gramp never had time for boasting.

I share my photos of large bucks and does alike. I try to complement other hunters on their success photos with equal enthusiasm, no matter what the B&C score. But yes, I still consider a wall full of big deer to indicate that the hunter in question has a pretty good idea of what he is talking about.

Back to the issue at hand. A deer taken on the ground with a ML is a real thrill. A hunter who pulls it off on a regular basis has to be doing something right. My congratulations to anyone willing to accept the challenge.   

[buckhunter21]

Nice bucks guys...I believe I've seen yours before JPH, but haven't seen WW. 
 
Hey WW, you should take a picture of yourself in a ghillie and post it....I want to see what it looks like.  OR, you could hide in the woods and we could play the 'Where's WW?'