hunting shooting houses

We own a 40 in a pretty good hunting spot, mostly hardwoods and a few big pines and creek bottoms. My pawpaw and me use to kill several good deer hunting in the woods in ladder stands, climbers or just sitting on a hill. Several years ago I put up a shooting house that joins our property and a greenfield. So I started taking the kids there and even my pawpaw started sitting in it because it was easier and more comfortable. We still killed a few deer, but it was a huge mistake because all anybody wanted to do was sit in the house (human nature I guess). We don't kill near as many deer as we use to because of the way we're hunting.
You can apply that to all my property for the most part. We still kill some good deer, but would all do better in the woods and off the greenfields! Imo

places vary for sure,but 99% of our bucks come off greenfields and out of shooting houses.

50/50 for me. I like to keep it mixed up. You can get lazy.

We/I have gotten lazy.....
I'm transitioning back to two man ladder stands and getting back to creek bottoms, clear cuts, etc.

I have alot better luck in the woods than greenfields id rather be in a climber than in a house anyday

I like shooting houses in rainy weather and when it's frigid cold or wind blowing 15mph.

But even then I sit with all the windows open so I can hear. I absolutely hate hunting when I can't hear and I'm not necessarily talking about deer walking through the woods. Doves getting spooked out of a cutover, squirrel barking or jay bird raising cane has alerted me to deer long before I actually heard them.

Man, I have only ONE of my land total...and I havent hunted it in years. Noone has. But, it is still standing and functional.

I just like hearing and 360 degrees of vision. I have one pop up blind too. I have 20 other set ups, all treestands. Mostly ladders now as well (75%).

However, Im in a club in Marion cty and we only have 3 stands, all the rest are shooting houses as it is all 10 ft tall pines.
So A LOT of shooting house hunting when Im there.

Ive been hunting there the last 3 weeks....very comfortable...even heated...but boy..I sure dont see the deer I do from stands.

If hearing is that important to you then you would hate my life. Hunting or not, shooting house or stand. Its all the same.

Mine is going. Actually had a hearing test not to long ago and the results were less than stellar. Still though when it's quiet or should I say still I can hear pretty well.

I'm 60 and it's so easy to sit and enjoy a long hunt with cover overlooking a lush green field sitting in a desk chair, playing with my phone. But, for the first time all year I got out the Summit Climber this afternoon. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed being connected to a pine tree, swaying with the breeze.

in 52 years of deer hunting I have never killed a good deer out of a shooting house. Never killed one feeding in a greenfield. Killed a good one slipping up to a field, shot him 10 yards out of the field. Killed another following a doe into a small secluded field, I was on the ground, wind was wrong for the house.

I have sat afternoons in a house a lot, killed a lot of does off various greenfields from a house. No big bucks (5 and older).

tripods, lock-ons, climbers, slipping along, sitting on the ground have all ended in some big bucks dead.

That’s pretty amazing.

Do y'all hunt greenfields from a shooting house 99% of the time?

Hunted river swamp that was only accessible by boat for 25 years and never had a shooting house. You can bet your azz I get in them now.

I don't worry about what type of stand or lack thereof I sit in. To me people that are anti shooting house (not saying anyone on this post is being that way) are just trying to be macho. I sit where I need to and in whatever type of stand I need to to kill a deer.

My point I was trying to make was that we have too many shooting houses overlooking greenfields with heaters and comfy chairs.
We use to hunt in the woods and had more success. It's more where we're hunting now, not how I guess. This all started when I had kids, but they're getting where they can sit in a ladder fine. A shooting house is nowhere near as easy to move as a climber or ladder stand if you notice the deer have you patterned. We don't put shooting houses overlooking clearcuts anymore, because in 3-4 years you won't be able to see and it's a hassle to move them. I have thought about building a few "portable" shooting houses and move them accordingly. We're getting off of greenfields anyhow.

I can tell you 3 guys hunting roughly 700 hundred acres. We split time hunting shooting houses vs stands in woods/cutover at probably 50/50. All buck shot have come off the fields.

We see plenty of bucks in the woods too but for what ever reason all our kills have been from shooting houses. We have some fields that's never had a deer shot out of them in 5 years.

Overlooking cutovers and power line's they work great. I don't sit in them on green fields and expect to kill mature bucks.

We hardly ever see any bucks on our fields until the rut is over and they start eating regular again to get their strength back..

99% of the bucks we kill are in the woods or slipping along the edges of clear cuts..

I go back and forth. It can really depend on the greenfield too. We some pretty big ones and there are always tons of deer that show up. And at a couple of them the does start popping out at 3 pm. It gets hard to get there early enough.

Shooting houses are great for really cold weather. Just bring a buddy heater and stay comfortable. There have been times that I have brought my computer and hotspot and been able to get some work done in a shooting house.

90% of our lease is row crop or open, shooting houses work for us. I still climb in some of the small wood lots when that's where I think I need to be.

I grew up bowhunting and later dog hunted and still hunted. When I started really hunting in late 60's there were very few folks using shooting houses. I have usually adapted my gun hunting to the way I bow hunted and that was hardly ever on a greenfield. In later years I did hunt houses/greenfields but usually culling does. I have in alll those years I have seen 2(TWO) fully mature(5) bucks in a greenfield, both time I was not in the shooting house that was there as the wind was wrong to hunt it. Could be why the deer were there?? Ya think?

The first of those bucks was an interesting hunt. The buck lived in a thicket close to the road and could hear anytime you came in. I went one day when the wind was wrong and slipped along the river bank as the wind there will blow up and down the river, not into the woods. I got alongside the field that was 100 yards from the river, wind still blowing 90 degrees to direction at the field. I waited till near dark and just fast walked to the field. As I approached the does in front of me started getting my scent as the wind was now at my back. I reached a spot where I could see down the field and the buck was standing in a roadbed 10 yards out of the field..looking to see what was upsetting the does in front of me. He was 200 yards away. I rested on a tree and shot just as a doe 50 yards in front of me blew and deer took off. Shot was good and I had a 136" eight point, five years old down.

I likem when its cold or rainin. Good for takin little fellers an ladies. I still like to go climb a tree myself but im not against getn in one.

I like treestands hunting as anybody. Trying to figure out deer movement and intercept them is as fun as shooting. But when the rut hits on our lease your wasting time in the woods. We kill most of our mature deer in plots. Granted they aren't eating but following does.

define you idea of "mature deer"....

Not quite that much.out of 28 members i would say 7-8 do not.

4+ 180+ pound 135+ inches.

In the last 3 years we've killed 4 "mature" deer The antler measurement is not an indication of age but it usually holds true

antler measurements are poor indicators of actual age.

Yeah I mentioned that above but on our particular place it tends to be the case. I killed a buck last week that was 5+ and only a 5 point. But he was very mature. All I am saying is there is no one way to kill mature deer that works everywhere especially in alabama. It's about knowing your deer.

I agree about killing mature deer.

To me the type of stand is irrelevant its all about the spot. I put what i think best fits the spot that im trying to hunt and will be most concealing and comfortable for longer sits.

Just think if you are a deer and seen your buddy go down from a boom stick last year from that hut would you go near it?

They see their buddies get hit by cars, then jump in the same road.