does any one leave their climber at the base of the tree till next hunt? do you find it spooks game out of the area? i've got a spot picked out for fallow deer. i can hunt there at anytime after work, (i work on the property) just wondering what your experiences are with leaving it on the tree ready to climb for next time. i'm not concerned with having it stolen, heck most people here in oz think your crazy when you say tree stand. most wouldn't know what they're looking at if they stumbled upon it.
I think it becomes like any other stand that you hang long term. The longer you leave it the more it becomes part of the area. With initial set up the more scent free the better.
Clint I don't know if this helps but I have a tree stand set up for about 2 years now and an aluminium extension ladder going from the ground up to the stand, the deer still come out and have found scats at the base of the ladder.
Like all things in their environment in time they just accept it as part of their environment.
however if the deer are used to seeing it at the base of the tree and come along when it's not there they may be on alert to the change in their environment and take an alternate path.
I do it and have killed many deer doing it that way.
However, I much prefer to take it off when I get down and carry it a hundred yds or so, hide it and pick it up on the way in next time I hunt the area and set it up again.
I just beleave that some deer will walk by it right after I have sat in it for hrs. and smell my scent, then avoid the area. The ones I kill probably didn't walk by it.
I think its a bad idea to leave it. Especially if you are hunting mature animals. In fact even hunting the same tree time after time is a bad idea unless there are weeks between sits.
Unless your in an area that you have all to your self [few and far between] I would be more concerned about getting there and the stand be missing.I know to many people that have had there tree stands stolen right in the prime of the hunt!
I used to but I think it depends I like to get in there with em in the thickets or edge of em atleast no farther than I have to from the bedding area. In my mind if I did get used to seeing somethin on the ground and its not there I'm goin to start lookin for it, and we all know the first place deer look lol. Again it works no doubt but to me confidence in a set is key I feel confident bringing mine in and out every sit even if I'm goin back in the mornin. The last thing I want to do is change their habits. Now I'm only 27 but this has changed the amount of deer and good deer I see.
Animals notice anything new in their living area, I left a stand a couple feet off the ground and the next morning a black bear had taken a HUGE dump right under it! I use ladderstands in small woods and virtually everytime I put one up or move it, whitetails will walk right up to it after dark and leave tracks all around, at least SOME of those have me spotted, before I have ever used the stand and will watch that tree from a distance. Most places around here, its not an issue, the stand will be stolen OR at least, I will have given my hunting spot away and a lot of hunters "scout", by using the spots others have found. Its not that big of a deal to put the stand on the tree after its been adjusted, so I prefer to move it a short distance away and hide it in the weeds.
The number one reason I would not do that is just the noise alone. If you can use steps or sticks or a ladder I would. There is no way to climb a tree quietly with a climber stand and if there is game around they will hear it. Big Whitetails are so easy to disturb that I would never take that kind of chance. But maybe Fallow Deer have the brain the size of a squirrel but I doubt it.
I use a cable and lock and move stand to a place where deer or people won't pass.But don't over hunt the same tree.Stay too many times deer will find you out.
I have often left a climber on the tree over night when I plan on hunting the same spot the next morning. Esp. during the early season when hunting public land and trying to figure out travel patterns....
I have seen deer up close multiple times and no sign of spooking them......racoons have used platform as a eating platform too, as well--maybe their 'cover scent" helps me out.. :bigsmyl:
back when i used a treestand. i would leave my climber at the base of the tree so i didn't have to carry it in the next day and have to set it up in the dark. it didn't seem to bother the whitetails where i hunted. i was on private land and i left in the dark and returned the next day in the dark. because of this, i was not worried about theft. you say you are not worried about theft, so, my opinion is leave it. don
BTW: I use climbers almost exclusively.
I think it is a bad idea as well. IMO there is a big difference with a climber versus ladder, climbing sticks, tree steps etc. and that is you leave a lot of your scent on the stand and now you bring it to the ground for all the animals to investigate. And they do. So getting used to it doesn't count as sometimes it is almost scent free and sometimes it stinks of people.
And as mentioned previously, you also don't want to sit the same tree over and over. So even if you choose to move, you would be walking into you "old" stand to get the climber and move it leaving your scent trail in and out.
Modern climbers frankly aren't that heavy or bulky to not bring in and out every time, or at least that is my theory.
Good luck.
I don't use climbers any more, but when I did I preferred to leave it in the woods rather than carrying it in and out, because in the thick woods I hunt, you just can't carry an aluminum stand without lots of metallic noise from rubbing on bushes.
Sometimes I moved the stand away from the tree to a hiding place, and sometimes I just pushed the stand up the tree as high as I could reach, to elevate the scent and get it out of direct line of vision from ground level.
I used to share hunting privileges to a five-acre woodlot with a local gentleman who always left his climber at the base of one tree or another. The last year I hunted there he set up two yards off the main deer trail. That November I shot a deer on that trail from a different tree 20 yards away. The funny thing is I actually shot over his stand that was on the ground, only a few feet from the deer.
His stand didn't bother the deer in that woodlot one bit. But a similar situation in another area may have different results.
I've done it a time or two. No ill effects as far as I can tell. However, before leaving the tree, I raise the climber and stand platform as high as I can and leave it hanging above my head. They may still smell it, but less likely to know where the small is coming from. I don't do this day after day, however. That just wears out the stand site. Like Don S, I only do it when I plan to hunt the same place the next morning. Very seldom that I hunt the same location two days in a row, however.
I agree with a lot of things I read on this thread. I have several thoughts I'll add, I hope they help.
James C. Kroll says the best way to see and harvest mature bucks is by using Climbers. Identify the "Non-rut" travel pattern way before season, stay away until the day you hunt and go in with your climber. He says mature bucks key in on ladder stands.
One guy said don't use a spot to often. I agree. I did a lot of research on scent and how to reduce as much of it as possible. One of the things I learned about was "dander". No matter how de-scented you think you are there is this thing called dander falling off of you all the time. The dander leaves scent. Mature bucks will figure this out. If you have a "honey-hole" don't use it to often or it will not be your "honey-hole" for long.
One guy said climbers are noisy. He is right, but you probably shouldn't be setting up within earshot of the sancturary of the "thirty point buck".
My last thought. I like climbers and when I got trophies on my mind I use them. But, trees that you can use a climber on don't have much cover. They have a clean trunk. I've seen mature bucks peep through some cover and stand motionless for twenty minutes just watching for movement. You have to be very careful about your movement on climbers.
For stealth, I like snakesticks and strap-ons with limbs below me. Like a good post oak. And I have several setups out. If there is a place that I just became aware of I want to hunt then I take my climber out.
I have one that has been on a tree for at least 2 years now. I have moved it so that the tree does not grow into it but I have not even used it.........I need to go take it down.
I do it all the time,killed quite a few deer in the process.There has been a few times I haven't even pulled my bow up yet, and have had deer coming.So you can definitely use a climber quietly if you are proficient with it.
I've also had deer, hogs and turkeys walk up on me while I was in process of climbing trees with different brands of climbers. If I happen to scrape the tree a little too hard I'll stop and scratch my fingers on the bark making noise like a wood pecker makes when digging for bugs.
If its there for a long time they may get used to it, but here is what happened to me one time.
I was on an out of state hunt in Ill. rut was in and I was in a great spot, I had left my climber on a tree, the next morning when I went in it was very windy, so I through together a quick ground blind before daylight. I was sitting in it about a half hour after daylight when a great buck (approx 170) came down the trail, he was going to walk within 20 yards of me and I was hidden very well, as he past by my tree with the stand on the base, it was about 15 yards off of the trail, he looked over and came unglued, it was then all over but the crying, well except for more crying.
Talk about noses, I once tried to climb a tree too large for my climbing strap on the climber, so I switched trees. A young 6 pointer came by and literally tried to climb the tree I had hugged to get a better whiff of that intruder. He was on his back legs standing upright, and reaching with all he had to get higher for more scent. He was searching for more of a foothold to actually climb up the trunk. It was humerous. He then bedded 10 yds from me for more than an hour waiting for does, and off he went chasing. I think I agree that leaving a stand you just sat in at ground level may draw attention.
The NWR where I hunt has a rule that treestands cannot be left up for the season nor overnight, but may be left attached to the base of the tree along with the proper identification of the owner. Should the stand be left up and found by the game wardens, that person can be fined and the stand seized. Their reasoning is that the public owns the tree and should be able to access it at anytime unlike private land. With modern technology producing lighter stands I would think it would just as easy to pack the stand in each day. Personally, I would not leave a stand on public land due to the large number of thefts that occur.
I had a climber stolen that was chained to the tree with a logging chain and heavy-duty lock. I had a friend help me carry a heavy wooden ladder stand into the same area, and it disappeared too. I don't leave stands on public land any more.
I've left it when I plan on returning the next morning to hunt the same stand. Alot quieter when the stand is already on the tree. Quicker too.
I got to disagree with most and say it's a bad idea.
Yes, the critters wil get used to it while its there next to the ground, but once you take it up into the tree to actually hunt they will notice it's gone!
About ten years ago me and a freind were hunting together. Actually he was hunting and I was videoing fo him. He had a climber attached to a tree and about 2 feet off the ground it had been there for several weeks. We put a lock on stand in a tre close by for me to video from. It was early November and the deer were moving really good. But mid morning The wind switched on us. So we relocated about 20 yards away on the opposite side of the funnel were in. He st up his climber and i just slipped into a brush pile with the camera a few feet behind his stand tree.
Deer started filling through shortly after. Four different does came through and all had the same reaction. They would look towards the base of his old tree realizing that something was wrong. (the stand wasn't there) and begin to go on alert circling and staring at the old tree. It was something to watch. 9 deer passed through over the rest of the day (13 total) with 6 having bad reactions to the stand not being there as they were acostomed to seeing it. The remaining didn't seem to care but thats close to half being very alerted to it.
I need to dig out that old video and watch it again!
I do that all the time with plenty of success.
Last season I was hanging my Summit at the base of the tree. The wind changed direction making it unfavorable to hunt out of that tree. I left it at the base and moved into a position on thr ground in a natural blind. The stand was in sight about 40 yards from my position. A group of does came in right along the path that was about 10 yards from the stand at the base of the tree. They saw the stand and totally freaked out and started stomping and snorting almost like they were going to attack it then booked out of there. After seeing that I take mine out when I am not in it.
Iknow the bears don't mind. They love the fooooooam at least here in WV.
Around here, you'd need to hire an armed guard if you want to leave a climber laying around.
Left my backpack at the base of my tree last year. A nice 8 pt. Whitetail stopped from chasing a doe at 15 yards, and stared under my tree for about 5 to 10 minutes - so I couldn't get a shot. I finally got a shot. After which, I figured out the 8 point wasn't staring at my pack under the tree but the 4 point standing under my tree.
So, bottom line, in that case, my pack under the tree had no effect on game.
I have left my climber on the bottom of the tree a fes times if I was going back the next morning. There is always a chance someone will take ownership in the dark. It has never happened to me but my buddy had one lifted. Concering spooking game, I think it is like anything else, sometimes the game will be spooked, other times they will pay no attention.
I keep 4 climbers in the woods yr. round unless I have to bring one in for repair. I hunt a long way back into Shawnee Forest and it's rough country with steep, high, ridges and no way can I take them in and out every day. I just move them around in the areas they are in.
Squirrels, rats or something gnawed almost all the cloth and foam off a brand new Summit Open Shot and same happened to an Equalizer.
I've been lucky and never had a stand stole, but I do lock them up. However, in the 3 yrs I've hunted this area I've never seen another hunter during archery season and only once saw one guy during muzzle loader season.
If I leave mine I spray it down with Sent A Way. I know it doesnt have any negative effects. I have seen deer walk across where I just walked and I had Sent A Way sprayed on my boots. I have also climbed a tree many times with a climber and see deer within 10 min. So I dont think that a climber scares them if you take your time and try and be quiet. You make more noise putting it up than climbing. I dont leave my stand up on public land but I do when I am hunting my own land.
I lost my first climber to someone after leaving it all night,It was a baker that tried to kill me a few times so other than having a bad morning it didnt bother me to much. hope it treated them as well.LOL.I haven't left one in after that. Dan
I left my old Baker in Ocala National Forest about 40yrs ago. That death trap cured me from climbers for many yrs.
Yeah, last time I left mine at the base, a Buff stepped on it, and wouldn't climb right after that! :D
Really though, why do folks leave their pull line attached to the stand and hanging to the ground? This is one thing you have most contact with, scent?
Oh sure, some will reply, and say they do all the time and killed this Big Buck!
I wouldn't leave it Ozzy.
I usually carry mine in and out, but I do rarely make an exception.
1. It costs less, as I only need one stand for each person.
2. It allows me to adjust to the wind or some other factor that I may acquire while I am on my way out or at home/base camp.
3. We shouldn't hunt the same tree too often.
4. They are not hard to pack in or out.
5. It doesn't "claim" public land. I don't agree with claiming a domain on public land, but believe first in earns right to hunt (unless prior agreements have been made with other hunters in the area).
Once I had scouted a very large area of public land pre-season and learned of an area I considered to be a prime location. During the season, I went in with my climber to hunt only to find a stand chained to the tree (no biggie really) but what upset me was the ground cover in the area was clear cut with a machete (turning shooting lanes into an open parking lot) and corn was dropped all around the area. He ruined what was a legal prime spot. I reported it to the game warden (it is illegal to hunt over corn here), but I don't know if they did anything or not as the area wasn't easily accessible. If that happens again, while I wouldn't ever damage or vandalize anyone's property I would be tempted get some tissue paper and rub a chewed up chocolate bar on it and then tuck that along with a note requesting he not hunt over corn next time (if I had something to write with) in his seat cushion on his stand to send a message and play with his mind so he might think I ruined the area. We have a lot of poachers in MS, and it can be a bit taxing to hunt legally and then have the hunting area ruined.
Now of course, that story has little to do with the post at first glance, but my point is...What we do on private land is our business, but when we are on public land, I believe we need to follow the laws of the area and make our impact minimal. On private land though, IMO, a person should feel comfortable doing whatever they want, (assuming they they are the land owner).
The only exception to carrying a stand out I can think of at this time and that I can justify for MYSELF would be during the rut when deer of less alerted and I hunt one evening and again the next morning at the same location.