So I have mentioned before how I am not an experienced hunter. Going into my first year I was definitely planning hunting from an elevated position and picked up a saddle rig and practiced with it and subsequently picked up a couple of strap on tree stands as well at a killer price. The problem is prior to my first season I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had it removed. This messed up my digestive system and let’s just say being up in a tree presented some serious logistical challenges. So I hunted from the ground. It was hard because I knew I was making mistakes and the ground is a difficult place to start. Now a few years in I still can’t talk myself into a tree. Being on the ground is so much easier, less hassle, less to carry and tend to. But man, sitting on the ground in ambush, you can’t see far. What I like best is still hunting, but that seems like pro level stuff. As of yet no dear on the ground. I am persistent dude, but man, hope is hard to come by this year. Glad I’m not trying to stay alive via this pursuit.

If you want to eat, you trap or fish.

I can't imagine how losing your thyroid hampers being up a tree.

I feel safer up a tree, with all the modern safety features, than I do on the ground. I am pretty sure I won't be bitten by a coyote while waiting on a deer.

It messed with my digestive system. A very urgent need to take several craps over the course of a day makes it a little hard to be in a tree stand.

Seems pretty clear to me.

"If you want to eat you trap or fish".

Maybe if you're still living in the 19th century. We raise most of our food, but we still have grocery stores we can shop at.

A surgically removed cancerous thyroid is no joke, and it can and will affect your system pretty radically at times.

keep after it still hunting, stay downwind of "edges" of different types of terrain or woods, if you can, and go slower, even if you think you are going slow, you can do it!

Get a nice safe latter type set up , so you can quickly and safely get in and out of a tree . It makes a world of difference . If nature calls unexpected, you can get down fast . I use them now . Here is a photo for you . Good luck and glad you beat the cancer !

I can get down quick if need be. Just undo safety strap and ladder is there for quick bathroom call if needed for you .make sure where you "go" won't affect the anticipated route and wind the deer might come . Quickly dig with heel before and Bury it .

After 40+ years of bowhunting I think there are only two advantages of hunting from a tree stand, I can see further and I can get away with a little bit more movement. I've killed plenty of deer from the ground at less than 20 yards including my biggest. Are you hunting public or private ground? If on private you may want to consider a pop up style blind, they make some very large and still inexpensive blinds these days. I've actually reached out and touched deer from a pop up blind, That was a blind that had been set up weeks earlier and on private ground. Once deer are used to a blind in there area they will pretty much ignore it. I try to be very versatile when deer hunting and hunt the situation. Whatever you do, remember this is supposed to be fun. The tree stand setup in Bluesman's post is a pretty good looking, low height setup. Being high in a tree can have plenty of disadvantages also.

I know how to shit in the woods…but getting up and down 4 times in a sit is a bit much. My system is better now, but having to hunt on the ground out of necessity for two season is making it hard to want to get in a tree.

If getting up and out is a bit much , then stay on the ground I guess ....Just trying to help . Glad your better .

Hunting on the ground is easier as far as what it takes to hunt. In my experience though it is harder to achieve your desired result. It is of course possible to be successful and many are on the ground. If I was looking for my first deer with a bow I would definitely use a stand . The saddle I just started this year and there's a lot to like and still some more to figure out. Keep at it!

Glad you're feeling better.

Hunting from a tree is a safe and easy as you make it.

I'm in a tree right now at about 12 foot waiting for a shot at a doe.

Harness on and attached to the lifeline around the tree from the time my feet leave the ground until they are back on it.... no worries.

No worries.

I've had digestive issues in a tree. Its not pretty.

Still hunting, move so slow you feel like you're not moving.

Getting down out of a tree stand is not easy, I don't care how convenient it looks! Or a tripod for that matter, think about it. A ground blind would be much more safe, and he could keep a 5 gal bucket handy just in case there was positively no time! I haven't had the problem, but can well imagine the logistics, misery for sure! Hang in there, it'll come, I've killed most of my deer, trophies as well, and wary old does out of a stand, man made or brush blind, both work well. And still hunting is not easy, especially for A personalities, but can be done w/ lots of patience, and being very wind conscious! Good luck and be safe!

Ghille suit and ground blind. Works for me when I don't have a tree to set up in.

Guys have been so accustomed to climbing into trees, they don't know how to hunt any other way.

You're painting with a very broad brush George.

Ground or tree I'll just keep doing what I've always done, killing deer and enjoying myself.

I'll leave the debate to all you "experts" here.

Bowel problems is no joke. I will give you a private reply on the matter dealing with prescription drugs.

I can't seem to give you a private reply, but my specialist put me on a regiment of yogurt, Meta musil, dicyclomine for pain, and cholestyamine power form. Doesn't do away with the problem, it helps a lot. Consult with a good digestive Doctor. As far as ground hunting goes it is so easy cave men have done it for centuries.

I agree Supernaut

George is THE expert . Listen. To him .

Apparently that's the way most bowhunters can only be successful.

I have shot deer from the ground I just prefer a bird's eye view of Creation while hunting.

Noted bowhunter and youtube contributor Clay Hayes kills most of his deer from the ground. I believe his success stems from the fact that he hunts areas with high deer densities so he gets more opportunities. Some of the areas he's hunted with a little snow on ground reveals deer trails like traffic over a New York City bridge. If you do the same, you'll harvest deer from the ground - if you hunt areas with low deer densities from the ground, you may only get one shot opportunity all season to draw your bow.

For me, I'm 75 and it's kinda tough for me to climb a tree and sit in a tree saddle - I hunt from the ground now, with my bow, in low deer density areas - the Maine Big Woods. Sometimes I don't get a deer until rifle season - but it's still a hunt my friend!

Nothing like being up a tree and up a stump at the same time! ;) bvd

I hear that BVD…yeah I am not nervous about trying it, my guts are much more predictable now and I am not afraid of heights. I even drive out with my saddle rig with me. But when I get there I realize all my plans for the hunt and my actual preference are to stay on the ground. I should really get up a tree…thanks for the inputs.

You should try a pop up blind there easy to use and you can relocate if needed Good luck may the Lord bless you in all things.

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