Preferred hunting method?

[MulieHunter]

Hello everyone! This is my first post to this forum. I appreciate all the advice and information that has been posted by all members.

I've been rifle hunting a few times in the past but this will be my first season bow hunting and am looking forward to it!

I have a question (wasn't sure if I should post it as a poll or not): What is your preferred hunting method - tree stand, tracking/walking or stationary?

Thanks for the insight!

- MulieHunter

[brotherjack]

It's probbly the most boring way to hunt, but be it in a tree, or on the ground, in a blind, or in the open, far far far and away the most productive hunting method I've ever found is the 'hide and watch' method; sitting very very still near somplace where I know a critter is going to show up sooner or later. Water holes, heavily travled game trails, feeding areas, etc. are all likely candidates. By the time you've found a spot with lots of critter sign, if you setup right and watch your scent, it will only be a mater of time before you are there at the same time the critter is.

In my (relatively few) years of hunting, I've road hunted, still hunted, spot and stalked, etc. (and taken some decent animals that way too). But I have seen more and much higher calibre animals (at much closer range - sometimes so close I could touch them) by doing the old 'hide and watch' method. However - I've also spent more hours bored than I ever did when I was still/stalk/road hunting - sitting perfectly still isn't at all entertaining until the critters show up (and then it's REALLY entertaining) - which can take hours and hours of waiting doing nothing.

Tree stand

[The 'Hummer']

Tree stand. I haven't hunted with a bow all that much, yet, but two things stand out for me. First, I have never been so close to live wild game in my life since I started bow hunting. Second, it's quite a thrill to be in a tree stand with animals close by beneath you, they realize something is wrong but are unsure as to what it is.

[Avalanche123]

Sitting and waiting in either a tree stand or ground blind. The longest I've sat in a tree stand was 4.5hours and I was pretty cold. Had to get down......

I tend not to get bored as the anticipation keeps me going. You also get to see alot of other interesting wildlife by keeping such a quiet stance.....way better than watching tv!

Good luck with your hunting!

[solocam]

Living on the coast, and not getting much time off forces me to hunt blacktails. I've found spotting and stalking the logging slashes to be more effective than stand hunting. I do a bit of both stand hunting and stalking for whitetails though.

[Canuck2]

For whitetails, it's pretty hard to beat the 'stand' approach. I have used tree stands but feel too limited and much prefer hiding spots on the ground. Like others have said, you may wait a long time before having a close encounter, but when the deer arrive, they can be VERY close. On occasion, I have also stalked whitetails and have shot 2 or 3 that way. But the vast majority of (my) stalks end up in abject failure. It's also true that you get busted a high percentage of the time when trying to draw on a deer from a ground stand. But all this just makes it more exciting and allows you to keep on hunting.