Setting up tree stands

[BUCKY]

Anybody start hanging stands or setting ladders yet?

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Yep! I just hung 5 on a new property a couple weekends ago. Checked some last week and plan to check some tomorrow. Lots of them I leave up year round and loosen straps on ladder sticks etc. Check em late summer and replace as needed and tighten up. Check and clear shooting lanes too. Probably 25 or so up right now.

R

[BUCKY]

I use a climber on public land and i “pre climb” some trees. Doing that tomorrow.

[BAK]

I have 14 out that I have to go over, check straps, etc.  All on the family farm, only place I hunt anymore.   

[Bowguy67]

How would anyone pick spots?  Food sources change/very, cover changes, seasons change, it’s all very dynamic. You need to be mobile especially when you want to get stykbow close.

[BUCKY]

Travel route. These deer have been walking the same way here for years.

[MNBwhtr55]

Michael,   You are correct about the changes in crops, cover, even what neighbors are doing with their properties.  Lots of added variables every season.  As Bucky stated, when one hunts a family farm, they have the benefit of well defined trails that lead into fields and through the pinch points/funnels etc. in the woods and, though not fool proof, one could be relatively confident where critters will travel come the fall. (Especially if there are scrapes that get hit each year or use of mock scrapes).  All sorts of ways to get critters to come near your setups; decoys, water sources in close proximity to your stands, certain preferred food sources once the bow season arrives, etc.  Also, putting stands up early has the advantage of being able to use them as observation stands.  It doesn’t mean one can’t be mobile either.  If one is restricted to public lands, one can do as Buck suggested; preclimb your anticipated trees and inspect them for bow clearance, expected shot opportunities, and safety. Scouting is a huge part of the puzzle and the more one can do that from long distance surveying, the more apt they can get a handle on where deer are entering and exiting fields, etc.  Regardless, if one can keep tabs on the does in the area, come rut time, the bucks will be close by. 
Best of Skill this coming Fall, Michael.  Stay Safe/Shoot Straight.   MT

[Bowguy67]

Considerations. Things change brother. Nowhere are they absolutely consistant around here anyhow. There are some situations as in bait. Guys know where I stand on that.
If they are consistant just because by you seems it’d be an every time event to be successful right? Nothing ever is but that’s food for thought. I’m not saying you shouldn’t learn areas. Too many times when fellas hang a stand that’s in a “travel route” or something, they keep seeing deer down the hill, across the ridge. They saw them so they don’t move hoping tomo they come closer. When fellas are mobile they’ll see once or twice they need to be 40 yards down and they adjust. Most guys don’t move hang ons when they need slight adjusting. If so that’d work but now what happens when the wind changes? You need an awful lot of spots I’d imagine.

[Bowguy67]

Michael,   You are correct about the changes in crops, cover, even what neighbors are doing with their properties.  Lots of added variables every season.  As Bucky stated, when one hunts a family farm, they have the benefit of well defined trails that lead into fields and through the pinch points/funnels etc. in the woods and, though not fool proof, one could be relatively confident where critters will travel come the fall. (Especially if there are scrapes that get hit each year or use of mock scrapes).  All sorts of ways to get critters to come near your setups; decoys, water sources in close proximity to your stands, certain preferred food sources once the bow season arrives, etc.  Also, putting stands up early has the advantage of being able to use them as observation stands.  It doesn’t mean one can’t be mobile either.  If one is restricted to public lands, one can do as Buck suggested; preclimb your anticipated trees and inspect them for bow clearance, expected shot opportunities, and safety. Scouting is a huge part of the puzzle and the more one can do that from long distance surveying, the more apt they can get a handle on where deer are entering and exiting fields, etc.  Regardless, if one can keep tabs on the does in the area, come rut time, the bucks will be close by. 
Best of Skill this coming Fall, Michael.  Stay Safe/Shoot Straight.   MT

That could be a situation where it works. A limited pressure area with probable consistant food sources at least as far as known timing. Good points

[BAK]

Yeah, in my case I hunt our old family farm/timber.  I've bow hunted this same land for over 50 years.  Know where every crack and crevice is, where the deer come out to feed, and where their escape routes are.  I still move a few stands around each year to take advantage of crop rotation and any changes in neighboring land use.  All in all much easier hunting than scouting a completely new location would be.   

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Yep, I've got lots of stand setups in the woods, that's for sure! 😀

Year over year a good percentage of my stands don't even get hunted one year, but may the next.

I hunt feeding patterns a little early season, standing beans the first week or so, and I have some white oaks I keep an eye on for hang and hunt deals.

The majority of my deer hunting during prime-time, though, for the types of bucks I'm interested in, is focused on long term travel patterns. I've hunted these spots, mostly, for a long time and have honed in on the stand locations.  These long term travel patterns, unless something big happens, like a woods clear-cut or someone building a house there or something are solid.  These travel routes have been used for years, and mature bucks will still be using them 20 years from now.

The hard part is recognizing/capitalizing on these patterns when you run across them 😉

R

[woodchucker]

Just a thought, I'd like to throw out there....

At camp, we have a bunch of ladder stands around the mountain. Many do not get used, but are left up, year after year. Straps rot, and fail. We had a kid almost fall a couple years ago. He had not hunted for a few years, as he was in Afganistan. When he came home and up to hunt, he wanted to put new straps on his ladder stand the day before Opening Day. One of the guys went with him, and thank God he did!! About 2/3 up, the strap broke, and the stand started to pull away from the tree. The other guy managed to shove it back against the tree and hold it while he put a new strap on.

We have started chaining all of our ladder stands around the mountain. Just a simple piece of chain, and a snap link or two.... The chain doesn't have to be tight, just snug enough to keep it against the tree.
If you plan on using a stand, take a new ratchet strap with you, to tighten it up.
The chain will weather for years... the straps won't!!! Be Safe!!!!

[LookMomNoSights]

How would anyone pick spots?  Food sources change/very, cover changes, seasons change, it’s all very dynamic. You need to be mobile especially when you want to get stykbow close.

I have some stands where the natural terrain has dictated long before my time,  that the deer just love to move there.  So long as nobody’s given them a reason to waiver off those general paths,  they keep on using them generation after generation.  I love when you find old remnants of tree stands,  all rotted and covered with natural debris...... evidence from days long gone ........ it’s a good hint.  You find what looks to be a killer spot and after snooping around you find that?   It’d be smart to give that spot a shot.  Being mobile is great and often essential....... but there’s also stands that produce year after year because the deer move that way.

[JakeD]

Yep, got some stands moved and straps changed out on everything.  I have 14 stands set up and ready to go on the river farm that I hunt.  And then another 15 or so on our farm.  I also use my mobile setup quite a bit as conditions change.  Gonna get all food plots put in on river farm this weekend, then everything planted on our farm the following weekend.  Hoping that the no till drill that we just purchased will make quick work of the planting.

[woodyt]

I have been thinking about setting on a couple of new ladder stands I've had in the barn for some time now.

[JR Chambers]

What Ryan said. I hunt lots of the same stands year to year. Once I find these areas they get used every year.

[Carpdaddy]

Yep, even though right now they are Carp stands! 

[Carpdaddy]

More necessary fun...

[Gun]

Put one up yesterday on my best Moose property. It was sold a little over a year ago and I thot I had lost permission as I heard the new owner was a hunter. He is not, and allowed me back in. WooHoo!

I have one more setup to do over a spring for Elk. Will have to wait a few days as my buddy had one of his cows die nearby and a Grizzly is on the carcass.
The other two dozen or so are up from previous years. All private land.