I've been thinking of building a elevated deer stand for gun and bow hunting. About 5-6' off the ground. I can come up with something fairly mundane that is going to work but I'd like to hear about any interesting tweeks the deer hunters have incorporated into the typical 6x6 or 4x6 stand.
This will be on private land. I'm tired of freezing my arse off in improvised ground blinds.
Thanks,
Wes
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:51:33 -0500, Wes cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:
About 5-6'
work but I'd
If I were going to build a stand, it would be a lot higher than 5-6 feet off the ground. I usually take my climber up to 20-25 feet. It's good to get above their normal sight elevation.
ing. =A0About 5-6'
ing to work but I'd
I hope this isn't taken as insulting but is hiding in a blind and waiting for a deer to wander by really hunting? My young grand daughter can do that. I thought hunting was going into the woods using woodland skills to sneak up close enough to a deer to shoot it. Richard
"Richard" wrote
Sorry, dude ... "woodland skills" are something only practiced around the water cooler on the Monday following opening day. :)
I no longer deer hunt (but I will take all the venison anyone has to offer), but for the 45 years that I did we always did it from a blind, both in Texas and Louisiana, however "deer blinds", like cars, are definitely getting fancier.
One can only imagine the one Dick Cheney hunts from ...
Besides ... stalking deer, with woodland skills, and during hunting season, and since about 1900, is probably as good a way to commit suicide as any.
Oh, no offense taken. It gets damn cold up here. I can't take 3 1/2 hrs of still hunting like I used to. I want to be above the sight line, able to shoot down to make sure my round doesn't leave the property and most importantly, keep warm.
Wes
From what I've heard, the "Bambi" complex has allowed deer to flourish in of all places, suburban neighborhoods along then east coast.
Lots of deer, just don't know how you get them.
Had a sailing acquaintance who had a real problem with deer in his corn fields in the L/P of Michigan.
He encouraged deer hunting on his land.
Lew
I suppose it depends if you think hunting is a game or not. I hunt to put food on the table, not as a sport. I do it on my own property, so for the cost of a 12 gauge slug, I can get 60 or more pounds of meat. I tell you what. Tell your young granddaughter to climb into a deer stand at 5am when it's 20 degrees out and sit still for about 4 hours. Then, when a deer comes by, stare down the barrel of a 12-gauge and put a slug in its heart. Then field dress it and later skin and butcher it. She'd have no problems with that, right?
todd
Ours is more like 15 feet off the ground and is no larger than 4x6. It has awning windows and most importantly, a small heater attached to a 30-lb propane tank. The swivel seat is handy for spinning around to check the windows. A footrest would be nice.
todd
The skill lies in knowing where to put it so that one actually encounters a deer, and in not frightening the deer away before it gets in range.
I could have gotten one from my bathroom window this year, except that even with a deer tag it's unlawful to discharge a firearm within x feet of a residence.
My daughter's fiancee used the left front fender of his Toyota Thursday evening.
Lots of people who have never been hunting think that. Try it some time.
Check the laws in your state: it may be legal if it's *your* residence. Some places, it's legal with the consent of the resident.
Nova wrote in news:5RbYk.1770$QX3.1034 @nwrddc02.gnilink.net:
But, did he have a permit? Is/was it hunting season where your future SIL was "hunting"?
I didn't really enjoy hitting a deer with my friend's car, although there was absolutely no damage to the car.
By Gawd, isn't that the truth. I grew up in the hunting culture, and we wore comfy clothes, had "experienced" firearms, and enjoyed getting out and away from thing as much as we did hunting. It is now considered a style show by many, and like some with tools, it is more important to have the most up to date and coolest gear over knowing how to use the stuff.
True, true. I got a good laugh out of that one.
As as hunting from a blind, obviously some here have not hunted from one, and don't understand why they came about.
In West Texas, you can get to areas where you can see a quarter of a mile, unimpeded. Since the deer can see better, hear better, and smell better, this can be a great habitat for them. If you aren't patient and plan well, you will never even see them. A blind is a must as you will NEVER stalk a deer under those circumstances. Crawling on your belly give a suspicious enough profile to scare a trophy buck.
And in dense woodlands, you won't sneak up on much these days. They will hear and see you well before you discover them.
But all that being said, I lost interest in deer hunting, and I am not sure why. The hunting culture changed, it is EXPENSIVE, and it takes a lot of time away from other things. I love to jump in the truck and shoot dove and quail when I can, but it isn't often.
I knew it was time for me to hang up my rifle when I started taking a pint up into those cold blinds with me. 20 feet off the ground, and with the wind blowing up my butt, if I didn't see anything moving an hour after first light I would unload my gun and sip some whiskey. This made me go to sleep in the blind, which had nothing to do with hunting. I noticed this became a pattern, so that was that.
Like you, I will take all the venison I can get. I don't even mind the processing part of the hunt, nor making the sausage or the other things that go with it. But there seems to be less and less hunters around, and even less affordable places to hunt.
Odd too, that we have two different subdivisions that have so many deer in them that they are paying to have them trapped and hauled off. In those bergs, it is illegal to kill them, illegal to trap them, and illegal to feed them. The feeding isn't necessary though, as they live fine in the green belts, and on the manicured lawns of St. Augustine, drinking out of bird baths and dog bowls when thirsty. It isn't unusual to drive through those subdivisions and see 8 - 10 pt bucks in front yards. In the last three years, one of those subdivisions paid to have almost 600 animals hauled away. What a strange place to live.
Robert
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During the the first 40 years of my life there were years where I did not miss a single day of duck and goose season, went dove and quail hunting most every weekday afternoon during those seasons (only to miss the office workers on the weekends), and went deer hunting half a dozen times a year, but the latter for meat only ... and would still rather kill a spike buck with just enough of a spread to hang a ring on, than with a big rack, just for the better eating.
Completely lost interest in it when corporations started buying up hunting leases in Texas and Louisiana, driving the price beyond what a few family members and friends could pay a farmer/rancher, the latter historically being the market until the influx of folks from up yonder in the early 70's.
Neither state today is anything like the one I grew up in as far a hunting (or anything else for that matter, including laws, tainted with urban stink, I never expected to see passed in either Texas or Louisiana)
If that fact could be attributed to any one single factor more others, I would have to say it is the rise of corporate and absentee ownership.
Much of Texas these days is either owned by corporations, or some doctor/lawyer from Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and/or Austin.
It seems that the hunting land is either owned or leased by that group of people. One of my amigos that is a hard core hunter has a nice sized ranch about 65 miles from here on the edge of the Hill Country. It has been in his family for three generations.
I went out there about 30 years ago, and at the end of the Sunday hunt there were a lot of folks there at the local diner, most knew each other, eating breakfast and lying to each other about the "one they saw". Banged up pickups, converted army Jeeps, old International Scouts and some strangle modified "huntin' cars" were crammed in the gravel parking lot. Guys hung around outside the joint enjoying conversation in the chilly morning air drinking bad coffee while waiting to get inside.
I went out there about 10 years ago, and it looked like an Eddie Bauer/ Ralph Lauren style show. Guys dressed like they were on a 1930's African safari were talking away on their cell phones telling story after story to someone in a far off place of their manly exploits.
When they couldn't get in, they sat in their monster sized SUVs, including a couple of Euro models and drank Starbucks while waiting.
They showed each other rifles that the SWAT team snipers would envy, and equipment would make a special forces unit blush. Most of it unused, of course. But on the ready, no doubt, in case they have to drag out that same old tired lie of being attacked by wild pigs (javelinas).
My gawd how I hate that pig story, but every one of those nitwits seem to have had that same dramatic experience with the same "old Tusker" that had killed many dogs, and probably a few men as well.
Sigh....
Talk about things changing. I didn't and don't fit in that culture anywhere.
Robert
That happened in my part of Ohio while I was still in high school back in the '50s.
Unless you were a dues paying member of an organization, your hunting possibilities were severely limited.
to have had that same dramatic experience with the same "old Tusker" that had killed many dogs, and probably a few men as well.
Several years ago a guy fenced off a big piece of land in SE Ohio and had wild pigs inside. (Better part of a couple of counties as I remember.)
There wasn't much you could do with this land, is wasn't very productive as farm land.
Had a friend and a customer who would go hunting for a couple of weeks each year to some rather interesting places.
One year he went bow hunting for wild pig in the SE Ohio preserve.
Had the head of that gnarly pig mounted and hung above his desk, complete with the arrow that had a severely bent shaft draped over the head.
Lew
wrote
LOL ... only got one javelina story, and this one is true, honest! :)
We got off the school bus one afternoon and noticed, as we walked down the highway toward our respective lanes and had already passed the second dead dog, that a number of other neighborhood strays were belly up on the both sides of the road.
Ronnie, who actually had raised his javelina as a pet (sort of ... it stayed in a stout pen by their barn), since before it was weaned, just looked at me and in a matter of fact voice said: "Oh, oh, looks like baby sweet pea got loose again."
Well, it was funny at the time ... but maybe you had to be there.
One mean pig ...Chuck and Jack woulda been proud.
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