Do you hunt in a tree stand?

[Ken The Kanuck]

I never have but one of my hunting buddies has been using them for a couple of years now and done well, he calls it his happy place. Nice cow he took a couple of days ago.

Hunting season is here for us, I have a quick 7 day cruise coming up on Saturday and they back home and up to the cabin. Hopefully we will be lucky enough to get some deer and a moose.Alex tree stand.jpgAlex Elk.jpg

[JohnMOhio]

Never. I would sit down with my back to a large tree. Usually near a game trail and a flowing creek that would provide any cover so to speak for any noise I might make. Mainly hunker down, move as little as possible and listen to what is going on around me. Seemed to work for me many a time.

[Art]

I've done it both ways with success. The first deer I ever killed was with JohnMOhio's back against a tree method at the opening of a good looking draw. Got a fat 80 pound doe that day.

The big advantage of a tree stand or free standing portable stand is it keeps your scent off the ground and you out of the animals normal line of site. The stand I hunted in was very basic, a floor with an old office chair in it, a slanted roof, a low wall or railing around it and that was pretty much it. Some down here are elaborate, including cooking facilities and heating.

State "fair chase" laws vary on the ethics of stands. In Texas almost anything goes.

[Allen]

That first picture is how I would be seeing things laying on the ground after falling out of a tree stand.

[lyman]

coworker years ago bought a self climber
and climbed up a popular, cause it was easy,

but he did not set it correctly when he got to the desired height , and in about an hour it started climbing itself down the tree wth gravity assistance, and him in it,

he then climbed up a pine and made sure to do whatever you do to secure it ,



a customer of ours long ago, hunted with a M1A,

tied a rope to his rifle, which he had a round in the chamber, and safety on, and proceed to oull it up to him wiht a rope around the barrel,

got hung on a stub of a limb in a pine tree, and when he tried to shake it loose, that stub was in the trigger guard,
relaxed the rope, safety off
pulled on the rope, trigger depressed,
he heard teh round go passed him, as he saw the flash

then climbed down the tree, unloaded the rifle, and went home for the day

[Allen]

a customer of ours long ago, hunted with a M1A,

tied a rope to his rifle, which he had a round in the chamber, and safety on, and proceed to oull it up to him wiht a rope around the barrel,

got hung on a stub of a limb in a pine tree, and when he tried to shake it loose, that stub was in the trigger guard,
relaxed the rope, safety off
pulled on the rope, trigger depressed,
he heard teh round go passed him, as he saw the flash

then climbed down the tree, unloaded the rifle, and went home for the day

I hate it when that happens.

[dryheat]

I come across quite a few oldtime tree stands. This was just a few months ago.

DSC00295.jpg

The next day I climbed a pretty steep (steep for my old age) hill and came across another one that was just a couple of 2 x 6's on a tree branch.

[Art]

On pulling up a loaded rifle with a rope.

Pulling a rifle, or any firearm toward you is extremely dangerous. I have a friend who nearly died after being shot with a .22 while squirrel hunting with a friend. They sat down to rest, and when they decided to leave my friend's buddy grabbed the rifle he was using by the barrel and pulled it. Something caught the trigger and it fired hitting my buddy at the bottom of the rib cage. The bullet, a hollow point fragmented and pieces penetrated among other things, his liver, diaphragm and one lung. He still has a fragment under a shoulder blade. The ER people opened him up like a book. He is very, very lucky to be alive.

When I climbed into a tree stand the rifle was empty and slung over my shoulder.

[RED]

I had 2 stands, one was equipped with bicycle wheels annd another that looked exactly like the one pictured, just a ladder with a platform on top. The one with wheels was for places you could not leave your stand plus you could use it to carry your deer out of the woods. I killed a lot of deers from both and was totally disabled falling from the one without wheels.

It was cold and drizzling rain that was freezing on the ladder but not on the wood seat. I stood up on the top step and turned around to face the ladder. I slipped and fell 8 feet and landed on my back. God was with me! There was a sharp stub from a small tree I had removed with a axe that I missed by a inch.

I knew I was in trouble. I could not move any thing except my arms. I was lucky and found my cell phone that had fallen out of my bib Carharts and called my wife and 911. She could have guided the EMTS to my location 3/4 of a mile from the house but they refused to let her ride in the ambulance. They found me almost 2 hours later and called in the helicopter.

I had a burst fracture of a lumbar vertebrae and had crushed the two vertebras under the burst one. No cure for the one that had shattered but they fused the other two and six months later and 36 days in rehab, I learned how to walk and drive a car, sorta! That was in 2004 and I am going to have another procedure on my back next week.

My advice, stay on the ground!

[Ken The Kanuck]

Interesting information gentlemen, most appreciated. Glad to hear that you got better Red.