Hunting before tree stands

[BassBoysLLP]

My dad would always look for two trees close together and then make steps between them using treated lumber... With a small platform up on top. When I was 21 I went back to one of the farms my dad bow hunted in his 30s. After scouting the three best locals on the farm all had remnants of one of my dads old home made double sets. One particular area the tree stand was in the exact perfect tree (funnel) that I hung my lock on stand 5 or 6 feet above the old treated wood platform! I saw plenty of bucks outta set... And it was fun to think my dad had hunted same area some 20yrs ago at roughly my same age.

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Good stuff.

[Bigdaddy-yoyo]

Wow! If I had a dime for every hour I spent standing on a limb in the Ozark mountains I'd be rich! We would spend all day, from daylight to dark, perched high in a blackjack or post oak. We would just shinny up the tree, no steps, ladders, or safety equipment - I could climb anything when I was young. I shot my first buck, both gun and bow, perched on a limb. The first really big (to me) buck I ever saw, and missed, was from the crotch a large oak near Caney Mountain Refuge in Ozark County Missouri. My first portable tree stand was a homemade red wood and plywood version built with directions from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation. My first real tree stand was a loc-on brand. My first bow was a three piece take down made by Black Widow Bow company in Billing Mo. (Birthplace of the compound bow - made by Allen archery) Who would have dreamed that one day we would be talking about it as if was ancient history!

Here's a pic of the hunting gang back in the 70's - no one owned a stand.

Love the picture

[BassBoysLLP]

Wow! If I had a dime for every hour I spent standing on a limb in the Ozark mountains I'd be rich! We would spend all day, from daylight to dark, perched high in a blackjack or post oak. We would just shinny up the tree, no steps, ladders, or safety equipment - I could climb anything when I was young. I shot my first buck, both gun and bow, perched on a limb. The first really big (to me) buck I ever saw, and missed, was from the crotch a large oak near Caney Mountain Refuge in Ozark County Missouri. My first portable tree stand was a homemade red wood and plywood version built with directions from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation. My first real tree stand was a loc-on brand. My first bow was a three piece take down made by Black Widow Bow company in Billing Mo. (Birthplace of the compound bow - made by Allen archery) Who would have dreamed that one day we would be talking about it as if was ancient history!

Here's a pic of the hunting gang back in the 70's - no one owned a stand.

Great pic. Better story!

[jshorns]

It's amazing how time slips by. The little blonde haired boy in my arms is now an "Old Man" (as I teasingly call him) and father of 3 little knot heads himself. We have spent thousands of hours afield together. Killing a nice buck is great but time with your kids is priceless. He now manages and edits the blog we started this spring (simplehunting.org). He's the grammar king and techno wizard, I'm just the windy old man that doesn't know when to shut up

3 of the 5 grandsons - they love the outdoors!

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Wow! If I had a dime for every hour I spent standing on a limb in the Ozark mountains I'd be rich! We would spend all day, from daylight to dark, perched high in a blackjack or post oak. We would just shinny up the tree, no steps, ladders, or safety equipment - I could climb anything when I was young. I shot my first buck, both gun and bow, perched on a limb. The first really big (to me) buck I ever saw, and missed, was from the crotch a large oak near Caney Mountain Refuge in Ozark County Missouri. My first portable tree stand was a homemade red wood and plywood version built with directions from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation. My first real tree stand was a loc-on brand. My first bow was a three piece take down made by Black Widow Bow company in Billing Mo. (Birthplace of the compound bow - made by Allen archery) Who would have dreamed that one day we would be talking about it as if was ancient history!

Here's a pic of the hunting gang back in the 70's - no one owned a stand.

Great Picture!!

I've spent many hours in the Ozarks myself! The background of your picture is classic November in the Ozarks. Brings back memories because that is where I learned to hunt deer.

[Crazinamatese]

Great stories. In 1995, it was second year of hunting. I had nailed a few 2 x 4s up in a oak tree on an edge of a cornfiels a few months before that gun season. A good snow fell the night before the opening day. My grandfather did not want me climbing up that tree that morning because of the snow and ice. He had layed some round bails stacked along the edge of that field late that summer, and told me sit on top of those instead. So I did, and ended up shooting my first buck that morning.


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[tim]

ive never hunted one but on a farm i hunt theres a piece of wood notched between the y in a super tall tree with huge spike nails pounded in the tree all the way up. so i climbed up te see what he saw----everything, what a great view but i was scared to death it was so high and for the life of me i dont see how one would get a shot off with either a gun or bow standing on that tiny thin little board on another note, people are still hanging crazy set, a farm i hunted last year i found a tree with the tiniest platform stand ive ever seen, it was a normal looking stand just so tiny i dont know who makes it, but it also didnt have a seat, it was on a super tall super crooked tree that bowed way out and it was on the side of a super steep bluff i will have to find that pic (i took a pic of it it was so scary looking. i hung about 30 yards from it and had to get down from mine after a couple hours the bluff was just too steep for me it was making me feels sick. i had a sick feeling my tree was gonna break, i no more as got down and was walking through the pasture a way from the bluff and i heard the unmistakable krack kaboom of a big tree falling-----i never went to see if it was the tree i just left and dont want to know as that would freak me out......

[Chris Conroy]

My first stand that I didn't build was a Baker. If you stood too close to the tree at the back of the platform you were taking your life in your own hands. I still have one that I won't use or ever sell, unless I really dislike that person.

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[jshorns]

I remember those, they were death traps. This may seem crazy but for years an ad ran by Bakers competition has been stuck in my head. Every time I hear the phrase "State of the Art" the ad comes to mind. It showed an old beat up Baker stand up against a more "Modern " climber. The ad read "State of the Art - State of the Baker". If it's ran through my mind once it's went through a thousand times. Just goes to show how effective a good add/phrase can be.

[BassBoysLLP]

My first stand that I didn't build was a Baker. If you stood too close to the tree at the back of the platform you were taking your life in your own hands. I still have one that I won't use or ever sell, unless I really dislike that person.

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I climbed in one of those Bakers when I was 15. There was an old wooden ladder leaned up against the tree to get to the stand. I stepped on it wrong and it kicked out. Thankfully I was able to hug the tree and reset the platform with my toes. That was a close one.

[hoyt]

Close as I ever came to falling out of a tree was in a Baker. I had my old recurve and started to draw on a boar hog and leaned to the right just a hair for a clear shot. The stand slipped down about 6" and I almost went over the edge. Left that stand hanging in Ocala National Forest a few years later. I'd come out of the woods the unexpected "long way" and said the heck with going back for it.