All Things Deer

[vthomley]

Here's my son's new deer stand. He should be bow hunting in it as I'm typing.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Vince, nice tower! Please stress to your son how important it is to be VERY careful climbing into and out of that. Especially as it gets colder and frost forms on the steps. Does he use a rope to haul up his bow? He should. Does the side open up like a door or do you have to step over it?

Your tower stand looks very similar to the one my father built back in the late 1980s on our 40 acres up north. It's still in great condition after all these years. I need to do some tree trimming. When it was built the Red Pines were only about 8 to 10 feet tall and you could see over the trees and view the entire 40 acres and beyond from the tower. For the past 10 years or so the view has been quite restricted but now it's opening up under the trees and the stand should soon be productive again. On this tower the side does not open. We have a couple of hand holds (visible in the top photo) to provide more secure entry and exit. I have been planning to rebuild it with an opening side as I believe it will be much safer that way.

I also need to do a little repair on this ground blind, a porcupine has been eating it.

Though the upper hole does help increase the side view.

A storm went through the area back in 2010 and dropped a couple of trees on it. It held up just fine to that.

The plywood roof is starting to rot. We probably should have shingled it...

 

[kide]

I don't hunt, but man I'd love to have a tree house that high (or higher). When I did tower work, I loved getting above 60' or so and just leaning back on the belt and scanning the view..

Found another doe skeleton yesterday, mostly bones, hooves and a little bit of hide. North of my place about 100 yards, probably what I smelled a couple of weeks ago when there was a slight breeze from the North. Probably EHD, a large dieoff in this area. Reading about EHD, just gotta love this quote (my underline) "<u>In all probability</u> the virus does not infect humans." Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, knowing that there are other hemorrhagic diseases that HAVE crossed over from animals (with DNA closer to ours, obviously). Also got to feel sorry for the deer, as it's a "bleed out" death, not good - a clean kill from hunters is a h#ll of a lot more humane..

 

[vthomley]

The side opens - I circled the brown hinges in this pic. I bought these hinges for $.25 at a garage sale. These 4'x4' Camo sides were found at Menards. Yes we've talked about being very careful getting in and out. I'll mention the frost part to him! There are 2 ropes hanging off the stand, 1 for the bow or gun, and 1 for whatever else he'll bring.

Here's his view to the south.

East-northeast view. There's a lot of 15' tall new growth to the east-southeast.

This pic below is looking west - Andrew, in the black shirt, and Travis are re-positioning his trail camera. The trail cam was just northeast of the stand where there was small pond, he got many pictures of deer, but the pond is now dry.

Here's a pic of the hardest working helpers! My mom and my wife. They nervously watched as we tipped up this heavy 16" tall stand. This grassy area is just southwest of the stand.

 

[kide]

Vince - good pics... I shed a tear or so over the ones with your helpers... My wife used to help with a lot of my tower escapades - almost dropped tools on her more than once (didn't ALMOST, I dropped and they missed her). That 16 foot elevation looks a lot higher from up in the stand. My son always has had problems shooting a bow from a stand - the angle always gets him - and he's a really good archer.. again - good pics!

 

[jbaker]

well someone left another carcass down the road from my house again no pictures needed this time

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeff, I wonder if it's the same person?

Vince, nice view from that stand!

Good to hear he is using ropes to haul stuff up/down.

Gerry, would those 60' towers be antenna towers? I've not heard of any incidents of EHD around the area of Wisconsin where I live and hunt, hopefully I never will. I know that there have been confirmed cases in Southern Wisconsin.

Here's a frosty view from the tower circa November 1999. This is looking slightly South West of South. The trees on the lower right are really starting to open up underneath. There is a nice trail that runs along the wetland there. Actually trails run along all sides of the tower but the most heavily used trails are the one I mentioned above and one to the East running North South. Not sure I'd want to bow hunt from this though.

A couple of weeks back I was talking with my brother about building a fixed elevated stand at the back of the farm and he suggested the old gasoline barrel stand, seen here in the back ground of this 1975 photo.

Here's what it presently looks like.

I think it should be fairly easy and economical to convert to a decent deer hunting stand.

 

[kide]

Jeff - maybe time for a hidden game cam along the road?? I bought a fairly inexpensive "Bushnell Land Cam" that I use for keeping an eye on things..

Kraig -I plead guilty to hanging MoonRakers, Gizmatchis, Big Gun II's , CLR2s and associated other unmentionables on 60-120 ft towers back in the Happy Days time frame... Still have my all leather Pro climbing belt that a C&O signalman gave me when they went to a later style webbing belt. Thing weighs about 10 pounds without the tool pouch...

 

[mgwin]

Kraig,

What are you hunting? Reindeer!

I am not good at heights, so I will just stay on the ground where the deer are. I have almost been ran over by deer several times, but I like the excitement. I will post some pics of my hunting stand in a couple of weeks when gun season opens up.
You guys be careful, there have already been several deaths in this area by people falling from their stand while putting it up or climbing up to it after it's up.

 

[jbaker]

Kraig I thinks so as they where boned the same way, And yes Gerry we thought about that and we plan on getting my daughter a trail cam for her birthday,

for now I just keep calling my highway super

 

[kmcconaughey]

Marty, I usually hunt from the ground or from a 12' tall ladder stand. I always use a full body harness and a retractable lifeline. I don't recall the last time I hunted from that tower. If I had to guess, it was probably back in the early 1990's. One of my cousin's sons likes to hunt from it so I've let him use it when he wants during the Wisconsin gun season.

Jeff, food for thought. The smaller trail cameras being made the last couple of years fit nicely into a slightly modified Peterson style Blue Bird house for security purposes. Just saying...

I have two different cameras mounted in bird houses. A Bushnell Trophy Cam HD Max (about $250) and a Big Game Treestand brand Black Widow (about $150.) Neither price includes a SD memory card. I have 16GB cards in each camera. They both are very easy on batteries. The Bushnell uses up to 12 AA cell batteries. 4, 8 or 12 depending on how long you want them to last. 12 batteries have lasted since July in mine and are still going. The Black Widow uses 6 C cells, it's been going since July on one set of 6 C batteries as well. Both are "Black IR" as in no flash and no LEDs that light up so they are less detectible. Perfect for security use.

Here's some photos of the bird houses I built to enclose them. I also built several actual bird house to place around as well. I still use my old low resolution trail cams for deer scouting,

but I really want a few more of the Bushnell cameras.

Here's some in process photos.

 

[jbaker]

Kraig funny you mention "hunting blinds" for trail cams. that is giving me ideas for when my daughter gets one. Good work

 

[dtanner]

That had to hurt !

 

[nhasson]

Cathleen, sorry it took so long...yes, we butcher and process everything ourselves. Don't trust any of the "processing" shops that spring up everywhere around this time of year. Don't get your meat back, just the same weight of meat and it takes too long generally. My wife probably wishes we took them somewhere though. We work together and it will be wrapped and in the freezer the same evening. And thanks, I wouldn't pass one up, but I'm not a trophy hunter. Any deer I get with the flintlock, I'm proud of. I have to see if Kraig could edit a pic my buddy sent me the other day and then I have a monster buck pic to post.(PA record book) Thanks, Nick

 

[mgwin]

All this talk about deer hunting is getting me anxious. Just eight more days and my 221 Fireball and I are heading to the woods!

 

[cmcleod]

Kraig, nice detail and sharing how your trail cams come together.!

Nick, thanks for sharing. I totally understand on processing all of the deer yourself. That is what we did too. The totality of the job from start to finish can be lengthy, but one feels like they accomplished a worthy task when it is all done, and you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.!!

Cathleen

 

[kmcconaughey]

Here's Nick's deer photos. Nick will have to fill in the details.

It's quite the deer!

 

[nhasson]

A buddy of mine got that impressive deer last week just north of Cherry Tree, Pa. Never saw that one before. Just threw his stand up around lunch time and got it around 5pm. Right now it scores 172. PA archery record is 178. He is 4th as it stands, but it will probably shrink some. Wish I would see something like that. Nick.

 

[kshultz]

WOW nice buck!
Well I've been bow hunting for a couple of years now and I finally got my first kill. 110 lbs. doe.

 

[cmcleod]

Nick ~the buck your friend got is impressive indeed. Beautiful rack.!!

Shultzie, hooray for you and getting your first deer with the bow. It takes one with good archery skills to take one down with a bow and that HUGE smile on the little tikes face tells it all((smiles))

Cathleen