The Stands are Finally Up!
September 6, 2011 by Lindsay Schmeltz
Filed under Bow Hunting, Deer Hunting, General, Lindsay Schmeltz, Outdoors
Today was a great day to have my first post! It’s been a busy day at one of the hunting properties. Today was a little bittersweet, it was the last time I stepped foot on the property I will be hunting opening day of archery season this year which is always a little sad, but it also means that I have less than one month before archery season opens.
This morning we took the daughters to my mother-in-laws house for the day and set out to hang the last tree stand. The stand was the third lock-on that we put up on one of two properties that will be hunted this year. They both lack trees suitable for climbers in most areas and since they were logged last year, there were few trees with good coverage. However, it’s a grown up mess of briars and tree tops with deer trails as far as the eye can see.
The trip back to the decided spot is about a half-mile from the road, and with no four wheeler, it’s a tough walk. I carried the backpack with all of the tools, straps, and steps and my husband carried the stand. We kicked up a nice mature buck on the way in, but managed to get in mid-day when most of the deer are on the far southeast corner of the property. It took a good two hours before we finally got enough limbs cleared to even put up the stand. Then another forty-five minutes to get the screw in steps in good position for me to climb. It is an ugly climb up about 17 feet from the ground with two limbs that have to be maneuvered around. There are many trails that intersect about 20 yards from the tree my stand sits in, and a it’s right in front of the deepest spot in the creek that still has a small pool in the bend that the deer are frequenting. We cleared out some shooting lanes and I’m left with almost 300 degrees of shooting area out to 20 yards with a few clearings out to 30 yards. The picture above is taken from the camera that was situated in the tree that is directly north of the tree my stand is in, so you get an idea of what I will be looking at just ten or so feet higher. Disregard the buck, that’s Six-Shooter, the one hit wonder that gets spotted once or twice on the cams each year and then he’s gone. I won’t see him again this year. He’s not the one I’m looking for either. The reason I decided to brave the half-mile hike daily was a nice buck that we have coined “Ghost”. He’s a 165″+ ten point with stickers at the bases and sky high tines. His sheds scored around 168″ last year, but he looks to have lost some height on his right side this year. He’s 5 1/2-6 1/2 this year and a beauty. There are two nine points with crab claws that I have my eye on as well. We typically name all of the bucks that show up on cam just to keep them sraight, because in the last three years we have over 40 different bucks on cam and it gets confusing going by number of points. Unfortunately, this year we’ve only had one doe on camera and I’m afraid the bucks will be moving out come late October, so I need to get in here early if I’m going.
