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I hate heights and I hate tree stands so it's a "need" more than a "want" for me. Nothing seems better than a tree stand if you are able to pattern deer. I'm jealous of you guys that can go 20+ feet without problems; usually 15' is the highest I'll go.

Used a tree saddle a little last year and that seems better. Kinda. A little.
I like tree saddles as well

Find a big tree and set up in a crotch ....very secure and comfortable
 
I hate heights and I hate tree stands so it's a "need" more than a "want" for me. Nothing seems better than a tree stand if you are able to pattern deer. I'm jealous of you guys that can go 20+ feet without problems; usually 15' is the highest I'll go.

Used a tree saddle a little last year and that seems better. Kinda. A little.
I tried a stand that was over 20 feet high in rifle season a few years ago - I didnt think it bothered me until I started having back spasms because I was so tense sitting in it as it waved around with the tree.

My highest stand is about 15" now and they dont wave around so much - much better for my back.
 
If conditions are such that I can't move quietly enough to approach the animals - dry or frozen leaves, crunchy gravel, thick dry brush or weeds, crusty snow - I will hunt from blinds, but prefer ground blinds in most situations. Here in the West, animal populations are generally too sparse and most species aren't habitual enough in their movements to make hunting out of blinds a reasonable percentage technique. Exceptions are waterhole stands in very dry conditions, stands near heavily used food sources (in the SW, stands of Gambel's Oaks in September, for example), ridgelines and saddles in extremely steep country, and so forth.
 
I find.the reward much much higher when you can sneak up and shoot your prey. Patten first. Plan second. I did make a tree stand once and sat in it for couple days. Bought it home and let the kids play in it. Not trying to sound good here. I was born In As and hunted here.
Dan
 
in our public woods in NW Iowa we have a problem of people claim staking entire areas with multiple tree stands. One rich guy has his crew come in with pickup loads and mounts his stands anywhere he points. After that he runs game cameras, mostly checking to see who is trespassing on 'his' staked out ground. Game cameras, as one area game warden referred to them, can be as illegally used as if you had someone spying and telling you where to hunt, via radio. Such territorial attitudes are a bad thing. iowa law says that all blinds whether on the ground or elevated are there on a first come first serve basis. In other words, if you see someone in 'your' tree stand, it is illegal to ask them to leave. When an area is canvased with stands with the intent to keep others out and then loading the same area up with cameras to spy on other users of the same public area that is voyeurism. Like the printed note that I had under my wiper two years back, "I have claimed this area, please hunt some where else." I need to ask for permission to hunt from a risch land hog now? 'Leave no trace' is the simple answer for public land use and stands like the Lone Wolf climbers can be used by almost everyone. I believe game cameras should be outlawed on all public properties, period.
 
in our public woods in NW Iowa we have a problem of people claim staking entire areas with multiple tree stands. One rich guy has his crew come in with pickup loads and mounts his stands anywhere he points. After that he runs game cameras, mostly checking to see who is trespassing on 'his' staked out ground. Game cameras, as one area game warden referred to them, can be as illegally used as if you had someone spying and telling you where to hunt, via radio. Such territorial attitudes are a bad thing. iowa law says that all blinds whether on the ground or elevated are there on a first come first serve basis. In other words, if you see someone in 'your' tree stand, it is illegal to ask them to leave. When an area is canvased with stands with the intent to keep others out and then loading the same area up with cameras to spy on other users of the same public area that is voyeurism. Like the printed note that I had under my wiper two years back, "I have claimed this area, please hunt some where else." I need to ask for permission to hunt from a risch land hog now? 'Leave no trace' is the simple answer for public land use and stands like the Lone Wolf climbers can be used by almost everyone. I believe game cameras should be outlawed on all public properties, period.
If someone left cameras and stands on public land here they would be gone
 
I think they changed the rule a few years ago(PA) so you can leave a stand in place if it has your name etc on it. Its not allowed to damage trees though. Im not clear if other people are allowed to use your stand, but all areas still are first come first serve.

I could imagine leaving a stand up for a few days in some more obscure spots I know, but it would be a risk.
 
I think they changed the rule a few years ago(PA) so you can leave a stand in place if it has your name etc on it. Its not allowed to damage trees though. Im not clear if other people are allowed to use your stand, but all areas still are first come first serve.

I could imagine leaving a stand up for a few days in some more obscure spots I know, but it would be a risk.
Shows how old I am :)
 
I am almost 69, I can scoot up a tree with my son's Lone Wolf pretty easy, but one can get a very safe sit and climb system with them. It will not go up the tree 18" to 24" a jump , but it will go up a good foot at a time. I have found that hunting in areas that do not have trees that can have tree stands in them are better for deer hunting around here, bushy creek bottoms and terraces in the middle of standing corn for example. It seems that our deer are very good at patterning hunters. I do need to be able to sit at times, because of my back, a Nifty Seat, Cliff Jacobson light weight 3 pound folding stool from Paragis Northwoods, and my Huntmor Chair are very valuable for hunting brush lines and open country fields. The most important thing for shooting deer from the ground is to be able to shoot rather quickly, not crazy fast, but when you plan on shooting, get on with it. My normal shot cycle is about one second from draw to release out to thirty yards, maybe a half second longer for longer shots. Game quite often have a delayed reaction time, especially when they do not have you spotted before the shot. Shot timing is one of the hardest things to learn, one of those variables everyone needs to work out for themselves. Oh yes, if you would be using Big Jims Bush in a Bag ponchos, be kind to the little birds that get their little toes caught in the webbing when they land on you.
 
Here in WA all blinds and stands that are not owned by the Dept of Wildlife and are located on public lands are available to the public on a first come, first served basis. No artificial fasteners of any kind can be used to build a blind or a stand, and all blinds / stands have to be removed at the end of the hunting season.

During waterfowl seasons we have a big problem with people trying to stake out hunting spots by putting out decoys and leaving them overnight, even though it's illegal to: Leave decoys unattended for more than one hour; Fail to remove decoys within 2 hours after the end of legal shooting hours; or set out decoys before 4 AM. Guides and outfitters are often the guilty parties.
 
If you don’t enjoy sitting in a tree stand you’re probably not set up in the right area. I do most of my hunting from tree stands but I am also ready to move or stand in the middle of a hunt if the need arises
 
hunting from a stand is very similar to bait fishing. Both are good if you want fish and game with the least amount of work.

Fly fishing, and ground hunting are what you want if you like the challenge and enjoy the outdoors but don't really care if you get any fish or game.
 
Well, the first deer I ever killed was when I was 6 years old. I was going to ride our range land and my dad asked me to shoot a barren doe that was using the lower land. He handed me a single shot .22 and said to shoot her just like we shot a steer to eat. I got close, shot her just a little high in the "middle" of her forehead and cut her jugular to bleed her out, like my dad did on a steer. Fed my family from the time I got married on by hunting sagebrush on the ground. Never been in a tree stand. Never needed one. When you grow up doing something, it's just a chore, like any other job on the ranch. Used a bow from the late fifties on because I liked the silence of the kill and the fact that nobody knew where I was or that I had just killed an animal.
 
hunting from a stand is very similar to bait fishing. Both are good if you want fish and game with the least amount of work.

Fly fishing, and ground hunting are what you want if you like the challenge and enjoy the outdoors but don't really care if you get any fish or game.
To equate stand hunting to live bait fishing is really silly

In certain areas especially east coast mature trophy whitetail deer hunting if your not going to use tree stands your not shooting many big bucks

Study any whitetail masters hunting methods and you will see it's a very valuable tool

Yes you can kill big bucks on the ground here but it will usually involve pushes etc

To demean what it takes to pattern a mature whitetail in heavily hunted areas and to than set up and kill that deer wether it be a tree or a blind is down right silly

I've done a lot or spot and stalk hunting in areas and geography that dictates success and yes it's awesome but you try that here your gonna shoot fawns cause that's all your gonna get close to

I've also done my share of fishing and while I agree live bait fishing in certain situations is not my cup of tea I would not demean it

You head south in the salt and the first thing you do is throw a cast net to add more tools to your arsenal

To think someone that stumbles around the woods with their long bow clattering arrows in their back quiver killing nothing but the chance immature deer is more the hunter than say a guy like Myles Keller or John Eberhart who are masters at killing book deer from a tree stand with a compound bow again is silly

We are all hunters the elitist stuff is just that

Sorry for the rant but this is getting silly
 
Different techniques require different skills. The art of stand hunting is in knowing the habits of your game and being able to read sign and terrain well enough to know where to put a stand, and when to hunt it. I have enormous respect for people who can do that.

Joe is absolutely right - in heavy deciduous forest, which is maybe the majority of whitetail country east of the Mississippi, drives and stands are the only ways to get close enough to kill all but the accidental deer under most conditions. When the forest is dripping wet or covered with at least 5 inches of soft snow it's possible to still-hunt, and sometimes you can hunt by trailing animals in very soft new snow, but those are exceptional conditions. Most of the time there are 3 to 5 inches of leaves on the ground, and they're just too noisy. Same with most snow after it's been on the ground for even a day or two.

As a teenager, I spent many fruitless days in the Wisconsin woods trying to still hunt whitetails, because that's how we'd hunted mulies out west when I was in grade school, and I never had clothes that were warm enough to sit still for very long on a typical late November day in Northern Wisconsin. One afternoon during my senior year I sat down to take a nap where a deer trail ran through a funnel between two tamarack swamps.... and an 8 point buck came down the trail while I was still awake. His antlers are above the door to my office.

Where whitetails live in farm country, prairie country, or mountainous areas of the West, still hunting and spotting and stalking can work just as well for whitetails as they do for mulies and elk. My first archery deer was a whitetail buck that I spotted and stalked in an open, slightly hilly pasture in South Dakota. Not a tree or clump of brush within sight of where I shot him. In some areas of that country people have perfected techniques for still hunting standing fields of corn on days that are windy enough to cover the sounds of movement. Nevertheless, even in that country most archery deer are taken from stands in woodlots, creek bottoms, etc.
 
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