Hey All,
Does anybody have any tips or pics of good ways to brush in tree and ladder stands. I have tried a few things over the last couple season with no results.
C
The people who sell TreeWalker climbing stands have some fake brush that can be attached to their stand. It may be worth a try. I suspect somebody out there makes some also, but do not have any details.
What about that fake Christmas garland?
Should be easy to wrap around the ladder.
You might go without the blinking lights :)
My preference is to find a tree that has a good background to begin with - then I don't do a thing.
But when I have a tree in the best spot but it needs some cover I often will cut branches from nearby oak trees and place them behind me to give background cover. The oaks in particular will hang on to their leaves right through fall and into winter if cut while they are still green.
I don't know if you have any hanging moss in your area, but I use it all the time down here to help detail my stands.
i second the moss.... lot of live oak trees here in GA. and they are covered with it. A WORD OF CAUTION!!--- chiggers love that moss and by handling it, you could do yourself more harm than good.
I trim branches from the tree I'm in, or those around it and use zip ties.
You shouldn't need much though, if the stand is in a good spot.If you aren't seeing deer, it's not because your ladder isn't camoflauged.
go find someones old plastic christmas tree! they work great for cover and never die!
I figure that a deer does not have the capability to differentiate between the metal (green, brown, black, etc,) tubes of a ladder stand/tripod and a tree, branch, etc. so I do not worry about it. I am much more concerned about my movement at the top of the stand.
Check out a product called The Crows Nest from blinded Hunting. I plan on building my own copies with pvc and wire.
For tree stands I get the plastic strands of fake foliage at the arts & crafts store and tye wrap it on. They'll have green, fall colors in various leaf patterns, but it's pricey...buy close-outs!
I do the same thing Roger does. I usually zip tie limbs under the platform of my lock on stands
If you cut oak and beech branches now, and zip tie them all over the stand and on other branches, they will hold their leaves.
Otherwise, lower or raise your stand to find good background cover, find another tree or think about hunting on the ground.
Being 10' up with super background cover is WAY better than being 20' up with no background cover and looking like a giant bear up a telephone pole. While wind direction is critical, also always place your treestand according to the background cover, shot angle/shot radius and how the sun will shine on you, and when.
If it gives you confidence then brush the hell out of it. I do it all the time.
This stand (note the hang on above it) gave me a close encounter with a very nice Kansas buck a couple of years back. (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/NovemberTracytrip094.jpg)
The buck and 3 of his lady friends passed by close enough to touch if I'd been standing on the bottom rung. As it was one of the does passed between the tree and the ladder.
It can feel a little exposed up there but it really doesn't bother the deer.
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/NovemberTracytrip187.jpg)
I think that it matters much more to eastern deer than it does in other places. Its hard to get away with an open set here unless youre really high- 25 ft plus- and even then you better not move much! Do like Whip says and use green leaf branches or maybe even cedar limbs to add some cover. Yoi can drill a hole with our portable drill and stick the limbs in the tree or just tie them to the trunk with twine.
Thats the kind of stuff I was looking for fellas. I appreciate. almost all of my stands look like the pix that Charlie posted. We have a lot of cottonwoods in my neck of the woods and basically they are all just a bare trunk.
C
QuoteOriginally posted by jrstegner:
Check out a product called The Crows Nest from blinded Hunting. I plan on building my own copies with pvc and wire.
I was getting ready to say the same thing. Watched their stuff on youtube. Like thier Q-Safe too.