Tree stand hunting

AWS said:
I've never hunted anything's by from a tree stand, but I did sit on a limb a few times until I fell asleep the last time and fell out of the tree, good thing there was a couple feet of snow on the ground. Worst part I had to climb back up and retrieve my rifle before heading to the truck.

Something I learned don't party till 1:00 AM, drive four hours and climb up in a tree and wait for the sun to come up. I try and keep my feet on the ground. Just thinking about a tree stand, man that would be hard to move 10 times a day making stands.

Good hunting
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That wouldn't seem very productive to me. The weight and bulk of packing a stand, along with the noise of climbing the tree, would be a hassle. Even if using a saddle setup, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

One other thing, I hope guys that might be using an elevated stand are using a safety harness and using good gun safety as they maneuver up and down the tree. Only takes one fall to make hunting a memory as you sit in a wheelchair the rest of your life. Not trying to be preachy, but I know guys who have fallen, and it has messed them up permanently. The few minutes to wear a harness and a tree rope are well worth it.
 
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AWS said:
I've never hunted anything's by from a tree stand, but I did sit on a limb a few times until I fell asleep the last time and fell out of the tree, good thing there was a couple feet of snow on the ground. Worst part I had to climb back up and retrieve my rifle before heading to the truck.

Something I learned don't party till 1:00 AM, drive four hours and climb up in a tree and wait for the sun to come up. I try and keep my feet on the ground. Just thinking about a tree stand, man that would be hard to move 10 times a day making stands.

Good hunting
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Funny story, glad you're okšŸ˜‚
 
GC said:
That wouldn't seem very productive to me. The weight and bulk of packing a stand, along with the noise of climbing the tree, would be a hassle. Even if using a saddle setup, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

One other thing, I hope guys that might be using an elevated stand are using a safety harness and using good gun safety as they maneuver up and down the tree. Only takes one fall to make hunting a memory as you sit in a wheelchair the rest of your life. Not trying to be preachy, but I know guys who have fallen, and it has messed them up permanently. The few minutes to wear a harness and a tree rope are well worth it.
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Thanks for stressing harness useā€”canā€™t skimp on safety.
Not looking to prove anyone wrong, but if you choose to hunt from a ladder stand it can be highly effective. GC brings up a great reminder about safety: never use a tree stand without a properly set up harness.
I leave a regular ladder stand installed year-round, so Iā€™m only hauling in light gear each evening. (I am the land owner) I havenā€™t wrapped the rungs, but I wear neoprene-soled boots that mute every step on the metal.
My TreePod and rifle elevator stay pre-mounted, so all I pull up are calls, ammo, and my harness. I clip in at the base, ascend quietly, set my haul line, then raise my pack and rifle on the elevator.
I always run a full-body harness with a secondary tether and do a quick knot check before I move out on the pod.
How is everyone else staging their ladder-stand setups? Any other tips for silent climbs or scent-control tricks?
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Like mentioned above, Iā€™ll sometimes go sit in my deer stands, just to call predators. I think the elevation is an advantage, when the sound is at ground level.
 
I will utilize a tower stand if thereā€™s one around and I have hogs showing on camera there or want to call that area. Iā€™m not packing a climber in for coyotes nor am I climbing up in a lock on.
 
hm1996 said:
That coyote can't tell from half a mile away that the rabbit screaming came from 15' up a tree. ;) :ROFLMAO:
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I donā€™t think most who hunt tree stands are in the wide open West, where they can see a yote a half mile away. I have several stands in timbered areas of the South, where maximum sight distance is 50 yards or less, and had yotes sneak within 30 yards before being seen. At that distance, they know if a sound is coming from up a tree.
 
GC said:
If the coyotes get downwind, they'll smell you regardless of all that stuff you do to lessen your scent. So plan for that to happen. But it's the movement that will get you busted, no matter where you are. Coyotes and especially cats will pick out a squirming hunter in a blink.
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May be my problem...it is hard for me to sit or stand still for long periods. I get uncomfortable.
 
BBK said:
Ive watched coyotes walk through and along timber on public land during deer season and they are hilarious to watch. They walk slowly and look up from tree to tree, stopping on every downed tree to look. Im guessing bow hunters have been shooting at them, but its amazing how smart they get. So yeah i imagine it would work great as long as they havent already played that game
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That's cool. I have never been able to observe them to learn. I dont hunt anything else, so I am not in the woods like that unless specifically looking for coyote sign.
 
VeteranSparky said:
That's cool. I have never been able to observe them to learn. I dont hunt anything else, so I am not in the woods like that unless specifically looking for coyote sign.
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Yeah its usually squirrel hunting, and as much as I want to eliminate every yote possible i dont feel comfortable launching 22lr or shotgun with 6s at them long range just to cripple them to die a slow death. So watching it is
 
One of the coolest coyote observations I have ever had was during the firearms deer season. When the fall finally comes around and as the dates begin to get closer to the gun deer season, human activity in the forest begins ramping up. More road traffic, guys walking out areas scouting, putting up stands, prepping camping sites, etc. Then the big day comes, and the orange army invades! There are campsites in places that for the last 11 months and three weeks were devoid of activity, voices in the woods, gravel cracking on the trails, human scent everywhere, gunshots, gutpiles, and on and on for a couple of weeks. Critters get jumpy, and many go nocturnal.

On the second weekend of gun season, I was sitting on a point leading down into a big banana-shaped holler. There is a creek that runs down that holler, and the ridges around it have some old-growth timber cuts. I had a mostly good wind, but it was a little swirly. Just after daybreak, I spotted a coyote trotting down the creek bank headed my direction. The coyote got to about 50 yards when I felt the wind shift. That coyote slammed on the brakes, threw his nose in the air, looked directly at me, then literally jumped behind a fallen tree that was lying along the creek bank. I couldn't see the coyote until he eased his nose and head around the far end of the tree trunk. The coyote had belly crawled behind that fallen tree for about 50' and then sneaked a peek at me. In the blink of an eye, the coyote jumped from behind that fallen tree down into the creek, and using the undercut bank to hide himself, he went back the direction he originally came from. That coyote showed his intelligence, problem-solving skill, and survival instinct second to none. Respect!
 
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GC said:
One of the coolest coyote observations I have ever had was during the firearms deer season. When the fall finally comes around and as the dates begin to get closer to the gun deer season, human activity in the forest begins ramping up. More road traffic, guys walking out areas scouting, putting up stands, prepping camping sites, etc. Then the big day comes, and the orange army invades! There are campsites in places that for the last 11 months and three weeks were devoid of activity, voices in the woods, gravel cracking on the trails, human scent everywhere, gunshots, gutpiles, and on and on for a couple of weeks. Critters get jumpy, and many go nocturnal.

On the second weekend of gun season, I was sitting on a point leading down into a big banana-shaped holler. There is a creek that runs down that holler, and the ridges around it have some old-growth timber cuts. I had a mostly good wind, but it was a little swirly. Just after daybreak, I spotted a coyote trotting down the creek bank headed my direction. The coyote got to about 50 yards when I felt the wind shift. That coyote slammed on the brakes, threw his nose in the air, looked directly at me, then literally jumped behind a fallen tree that was lying along the creek bank. I couldn't see the coyote until he eased his nose and head around the far end of the tree trunk. The coyote had belly crawled behind that fallen tree for about 50' and then sneaked a peek at me. In the blink of an eye, the coyote jumped from behind that fallen tree down into the creek, and using the undercut bank to hide himself, he went back the direction he originally came from. That coyote showed his intelligence, problem-solving skill, and survival instinct second to none. Respect!
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Commando coyote
 
Fun wathcing their reaction to humans/smell.
One of the ranches I hunt is considered flat, but has scattered lomas about 10' high. One very unusually wet year, access to about half of the 11000 acre ranch was denied by sometimes deep water in the many low spots across two tracks normally passable.
I managed to get to one of my few favored stands on the east fence, just before daylight and set up in the corner of an east-west fence. I set up to watch the east fence which ran down into a low spot to the north and where water was about 2' deep across the road, about 250 yards away. Water was probably 100 yards wide, but there was a very narrow berm pushed up along fenceline that was about 6" out of the water. Partner set up facing south. Dead calm wind until daylight when, as expected, a 0-5 mph breeze set in. Decided to call it in spite of the wind being wrong.
Sure enough, two coyotes came in hot over the loma about 500 yards to the north, when they reached the far edge of the water, they strung out, one behind the other on the narrow berm, still going full blast until the lead dog caught a whiff and I'll swear he turned inside out and nearly ran over tail end Charlie. I don't think either one got their feet wet. I guessed they were about 350 yards out when they caught our scent.
 
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