Lol I had to have hubby help me figure out how to put the "portable" stand I asked for at Christmas. He was a tad perturbed at my not being thrilled about it. Seriously guys he doesn't bow hunt and has always been the bigger the better. Well it's bigger than me and 18#'s....Lol He got the point when he tried figuring out seat adjustment and bolt placements. There is no way I could attach the tree bracket then manage to swing that stand around to slide it over and down into bracket. So I will put it up at camp if I plan to stay a few days and keep it from being stolen. Also here at home in a spot I don't normally hunt. It really is a comfortable beastly thing...lol also they bolted all the welded aluminum joints which is very cool from a safety stand point. Next time I will be much more specific.......
Sometimes I get the itch to wander myself, but I’d never abandon the home farm. Out of state public land hunts are very appealing to me and I’ve enjoyed them in Indiana and Kentucky with PA on the list for next year. Best of both worlds. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
that's a LOT of stand options on public, brother. I hunt probably 80/20 public vs. private. I learned a long time ago minimize the number of set stands on public. One, like as not some will either get sat in or stolen by other hunters. Two, you will set up cams at a bunch of them then drive yourself nuts by overthinking things. Three, hanging (and then taking down) all those stands will kick your arse. Have a couple-few set stands in the most promising spots or when you are running late and need to really sneak in quick but quiet; then get you a climber or a good mobile set up for hang and hunts when the urge to roam hits you or the wind just isn't right for your set stands. Trust me on this. Or wait, scratch all that. Stick with your original plan. By chance, do you need to buy 12 really nice hang-ons with stick ladders? I have some barely used will sell at a good price!
Ha, I'm going to be hunting exclusively out of a saddle for 90% of it. These mountains suck and kick my ass with lugging hang ons and sticks. I'm not wealthy so I can't afford to buy that many. I just want many spots scoped out over the the spring. I'm probably being way too optimistic in the number of spots. I have three good looking public land areas all are 3K acres or more within an hour that I want to put boots on the ground. I'm just excited to for the challenge and journey here.
I have been hunting public land for the past 15 years and love it. What I love is going to a new piece of ground, whenever I want, and putting boots to the ground to figure out where the deer will be. Food source, ridges, saddles, scrapes, rubs, deer trails,etc. when I scout, find my spot, then see deer come by, is what excites me. Just trying to figure them out. And there is plenty of good public ground here in Tennessee and Kentucky.
on my #1 state land (9000 acres/including the water areas) I have well over 30 locations mapped out on Huntstand ... I'm always looking for a new 'hot spot' ... some may get hunted more than once in a season, some I havnt been back to in a few years .... it all depends on wind and pressure from the Elmer Fudd's .... I quit leaving stands up many years back, and pack in/out every hunt/sit ... once this damn snow is gone, I'll be ground pounding looking for that new 'hot spot' for next season ... I just got a new set of Tethrd Skeletor sticks to go with my Alpha II, to lighten the load from my 4 LW sticks, now I just need to figure how to pack 'em in/out/on or off the stand ... ...
Thats awesome buddy. I have a 3K piece right next door to me that spit out a 200" deer this past year... in PENNSYLVANIA. Our deer are getting bigger by the year. Lack of hunting pressure and millions of acres of public ground with absolute hell holes in them are allowing them to grow big and old. So from that standpoint, I'm optimistic that if I can cover a lot of ground this winter and spring, and then bounce around to spots all fall until I find something I'd like to hunt down, I will at the very least have a great time hunting this fall. As I mentioned, I'm going all in on saddle hunting and one sticking. Never tried it, but I"m going to work all spring and summer to get comfortable with it and make it work for me. I figured if I'm learning a new way to hunt out of a tree, I may as well go all in on one sticking too. The prospect of only carrying a 3lb stick, my pack and bow into the woods has me giddy.
while I still do my runs/workout, the saddle thing is not for me ... and one stick, no way ... I'm not that limber ..... I have to change the Amsteel cord out to longer lengths on the Skeletors also, they come with a 8.5 ft length, I need 10 ft for the bottom 2 and 9 ft for the top two sticks so I can get up the trees I want ... I'm also looking at various 2 step aiders for the bottom stick to get to the heights I want 'cause of the shorter length of the new sticks ... every pound saved is a blessing ... I am thinking of maybe slinging the sticks over my shoulder which cuts the weight that goes on my back ... I hand carry the bow as it is, then sling the sticks under the other arm .... maybe .. ?? ..
Pa is blowing up. Been on the rise for years, glad to be in the mix of it all! I get a couple big ones on cam every year, 130” -140” is common anymore. I love it.
Its absolutely awesome to see our home state headed this direction. I've said for 20 years that if PA can slow down the yearling to 2 1/2 year old buck kills, with the kind of terrain and "hell holes" the mountains have no shortages of, these bucks could grow, get smart and avoid hunters to grow to world class size. For whitetail country, Id argue that PA has some of the toughest terrain to hunt in the country. Public ground in PA used to be horrific to hunt and borderline unsafe during the gun seasons. But less hunters (which is a double edged sword as we know) is helping. Some places used to get absolutely pounded. Now, while its sad in many ways, you can actually go to public and not see a soul.
Haha, lots of options out there for us thats for sure. I'm being assured that saddle and one sticking is beyond easy to do, so time will tell. I do like the idea of always being connected to the real rope the whole way up and down the tree. I very well may hate it, but I think its worth a shot this spring to find out.
Lots of great public land out there. I've mostly been a public land hunter, up until the last three years when I acquired permission on a nice farm to hunt. That has been an adventure too, trying to figure it out, which after 3yrs I believe I finally have. I still hunt public though and just recently scout a bunch of new public ground. Enjoy your new adventures, figuring a place out and the deer movement is alot of fun.
I don't get to hunt enough to get bored with it.. I may get to bowhunt 8 days in a season. But I could see how you would want a change
Man I don't know how i'd fare if I only got 8 days a year in the woods. But I get it, as much as we want to be full time hunters in the fall, life has other more important things to take care of. Hats off to you for your sacrifices. I am fortunate in my job and a wife/family that I get to hunt a ton. Think last year I logged 35 days in the woods from Oct 1 to Jan 15. Im really looking forward to changing things up and challenging myself against public land deer and pressure. I'm sure I'll eat many more tags and draw blanks quite often on sits.. but thats what makes this interesting to me.
I used to hunt 25-40 days a deer season, now its half that if I'm lucky ...... its called work ... I'm about ready to retire, sometime in the next 3 yrs .... worked 255 days straight at the beginning of the covid scamdemic, and now another 115 days straight as of today ... dont know what days off are, even lost a week of precious vacation last season for deer season ... I'm fed up ... I would like to make it to my full vesting with SS, I get my medicare shortly, I just may take my SS early, I can get by on what I have saved/investments, maybe take a part time job 3-4 days a week and get my life back .... I'm fed up and they know it ... yea, the OT is good, but one can only take so much, I want my life back ..
