The treestand challenge!

jonsimoneau · August 24, 2016, 02:34:00 AM

I made it a goal of mine to hang between 20 and 25 new stands this year. I started in Feb/March and while it took me longer than I wanted due to lots of obligations,...I met the goal today. Some are on private ground (hunted by other people) and some are on public ground (hang the stand using climbing sticks and then take the sticks out). None were just "thrown up there". All have been thoroughly scouted in the winter/spring...and some over the course of a few years. I KNOW Uncle Gene and Barry would give these their stamp of approval! I bought 150 more screw steps and now I'm out! Lol. Here are a couple of the later setups. The second pic you can't really see the stand because I hid it by tying a bunch of cedar/pine up there. I do that a lot these days. It's a lot of work but man I love this stuff! Good luck out there guys.

CoachBGriff · August 24, 2016, 07:05:00 AM

That's awesome. I know sometimes when I ask people for permission to hunt their ground they look at me weird and wonder why I need another spot to hunt; they know that I own a very small piece of ground myself and I have permission on a couple of private farms and I hunt some public ground.

But when you bow hunt, you need lots of options... especially with some of the marginal farms I hunt.

I hope the work pays off for you!

Shadowhnter · August 24, 2016, 07:15:00 AM

Id think setting stands that early, the growing season would take its toll and risk having to trim small fast growing twigs, and plants again.

Ive set 10 new ones with 2 more to go...on top of my usual arsenal. Thats just since the end of July or so! Lots of hot work!

It will pay off!

ChuckC · August 24, 2016, 08:26:00 AM

Wow.... lotsa work. Well done there Jon.
Good luck in the season.
ChuckC

Homey88 · August 24, 2016, 08:58:00 AM

Great work! Those are well hidden!

WhitetailHtr · August 24, 2016, 09:12:00 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at least on State owned property in Illinois stands have to be removed daily.

Blackhawk · August 24, 2016, 09:29:00 AM

Good for you...but I'm tired just thinking of all that work.

August 24, 2016, 09:31:00 AM

Good luck! I hope you whack another bruiser like your avatar pic!

Bisch

Michael Arnette · August 24, 2016, 09:33:00 AM

20 stands...Holy cow! I'd have to take out a loan

I do have about that many solid stand sites though and pack in and out each time sometimes leaving the tree steps in.
Good luck this year!

stagetek · August 24, 2016, 10:56:00 AM

That's quite an ambitious goal. If I were to hang that many I'd forget where I put them all. I usually hang four to six and use a climber if need be. And...that's a lot of work.

jonsimoneau · August 24, 2016, 11:28:00 AM

Whitetailhtr, there are areas where stands can be left, but for the most part and for most areas you are correct. In areas where I can't leave the stand I still prepare the tree to hunt out of by actually hanging my lone wolf stand and deciding how high or low it needs to be amongst other things. Then when I come back during season that tree is ready to go.

Tajue17 · August 24, 2016, 11:33:00 AM

man I remember those days but wow thats a lot of stands unless your a guide,,,,, I just put a couple out and then just fine tune them as I see deer and learn what the air is doing..

basically 4 stands then a climber so no matter which way the winds blowing I have a hunt-able stand, the climber is for scouting by stand or those spots where a portable will get stolen.

Barry Wensel · August 24, 2016, 11:37:00 AM

Good job Jon. You get extra credit this semester. Now you can go ahead and take a day off to relax. I'll be looking forward to either hero pictures or excuses. Ha. bw

jonsimoneau · August 24, 2016, 12:01:00 PM

Lol. Thanks Barry. I'm off work today and it's raining so I'm taking it easy now. Micheal, I've got a Lone Wolf hang on with sticks that I often use but I still own a bunch of regular hang-ons and ladder stands. I buy the cheap ones because I use a lot of them especially now since my wife started hunting. I start watching for them to go on Sale after Christmas and then buy as many as I can afford. Same with screw steps. I've got more stands than I have areas to hunt because ya never know when you'll need them.

J. Cook · August 24, 2016, 12:26:00 PM

Wow - I truly envy many of you that get the amount of time in the woods you do. If I hung 20 stands, there would be at least 4 or 5 of them that wouldn't get touched even if I only sat in the others only once per season. If I get 20 actual days of hunting in a season - it's a MAJOR success.

Those stands look great by the way! I'm a big believer in setting up so you have great cover and only a handful of shooting lanes.

jonsimoneau · August 24, 2016, 12:58:00 PM

J.Cook. Thanks. I think many of these will go unhunted this season. I just don't like it to not have enough options and I'm getting to the point where I don't like to sit the same stand more than a handful of times each season. Seems like the first sit or 2 is the best bet. Plus my wife is deer hunting now so I gotta hang more stands.

lt-m-grow · August 24, 2016, 03:03:00 PM

Man that is a lot of work.

And knowing how I sometimes have to think a long time to remember where I put that "one" last camera (I have six), heck I know I would lose most of these.

Dude, one word...climber. :-)

WhitetailHtr · August 24, 2016, 09:21:00 PM

Jon,

Great idea and work on getting trees primed for the hunt on State land.

Not trying to be a wiseguy with that question, but some hunters are unaware of it and I've seen stands taken by the CO in the area.

Good luck!

jonsimoneau · August 24, 2016, 11:38:00 PM

WhitetailHTR...no harm nor foul. I know what you mean. Best of luck to you this fall!

Guru · August 25, 2016, 09:16:00 PM

Nice bud, good luck!