Naming Your Stands
Multitudes of articles have been written
on the subject on hanging a treestand to harvest a mature whitetail. The where
when and how have been covered in a smothering blanket that has told you the do’s and don’ts from wind direction
to the phase of the moon. Don’t get me wrong, I sit and read all of the
articles with the enthusiasm of a young puppy anticipating a dog treat. I read
them in an attempt to learn something new. “You can never know too much
about bowhunting whitetails” is a motto that most diehard arrow flingers adhere to.
I’m not going to tell you how to hang your stands for the upcoming bow season.
Instead, I am going to relate to you some stories of my all time favorite stands for bowhunting whitetails. I will also be filling you in on what makes them good deer stands so pay attention.
If you are like me, you have probably
named just about every tree that you have sat in for numbing hours with just the glimmer of hope that a whopper buck will
come strolling past and give you the almighty mother of shots…the slightly quartering away twenty yarder. Normally my brother and I name trees after distinguishing features in the area. We have named trees because of their types i.e. “the oak”, “the walnut”, etc. We have also named trees because of certain terrain features where we are not really
naming the tree but the area it is located. An example is a well placed cherry
tree that is in the mother of all funnels. Naturally, we call the tree “the
funnel”.
Naming trees is also a clarification
to the loved ones of a geographical location. My wife will ask me where I am
going hunting and I will tell her that I am sitting at the “Satan Stand”.
No folks, I am not a devil worshipper, it just so happens that an industrious young adult happened to paint the tree
with certain images that depicted the appropriate name. They just happened to
spray paint one heck of a good tree for a stand and the name stuck as a joke. I
will be the first to tell you that my wife could never in a million years find me at any of my stands, but all she needs to
do is call my brother if the need would ever arise. Which is a valid point, these
crazy names could end up saving your skin if fate came calling your number. Let
me share with you some of my favorite trees.
Many Bucks
As the name indicates, these tree has
been the site of not only many deer harvested with a bow, but far outranks all the other trees in just pure numbers of bucks
seen and harvested. If I were to walk you into this stand during archery season
I have a feeling you would feel like you were being duped. To look up and think
that I climb this tree, hang a stand, and teeter two-hundred and forty pounds on the stand is preposterous. The tree is a skinny cherry that forks at the perfect height for a second foothold and is ridiculously
weak looking. The area is an old grown over cow pasture that is now a mixture
of thin cherry trees and lots of scrub brush. The tree is sticking out of the
ground about fifty yards in from a huge strip field and about eighty yards in from another huge field, something most folks
would call a corner. There is no agriculture and no mast but there are some apples
in the area when the trees decide to provide them for us. Your thinking, “why
in the world would this tree be a great deer stand”? I’ll tell you
why, we made it that way. The terrain is open yet thick as a brick. Thin trees are interrupted on the ground by extremely thick growth that is well over waist high. The area is a great bedding area because of the heavy undergrowth.
The solution is on four wheels. We created our own natural “funnels”
by riding our quads from the bedding areas straight to our tree. The result of
our efforts was the path of least resistance that has stood the test of time for the last ten years. The walk to the tree is also effortless with the newly installed gas lines running through the area making
for silent footfalls. The deer will again be using our “trail” this
season and walk in our perfectly driven (by a four wheeler) shooting lanes. I’m
sure “Many Bucks” will again provide for some great bowhunting memories.
The Bogart Stand
OK, your thinking this name is definitely
different. Allow me to explain. Many
years ago when I was a young teenage bowhunter, I installed a crotch tree stand that was a poorly installed two by six with
some two by fours nailed to the tree for steps. I had no fear standing in this
twelve foot high marvel of engineering without a safety belt mind you. One fateful
day, I returned to my secluded special stand to find that it had been invaded by an unknown.
The stand had been modified (it needed it badly) with better steps installed and handrail around the small platform. To add insult, the intruder had spray painted the stand with his version of bad camouflage. I was crushed; somebody had “Bogarted” my stand. Where the term “Bogarted” came from I have no idea but the name sure did stick. I have since moved into the world of manufactured treestands, but still hunt the same area at a different
tree. Even though it is not the same tree, because it is so close it is still
the Bogart Stand. The stand is on a hillside bench that coincides with a natural
edge with timber slapping against thick and nasty secondary growth. To say the
area is hot during the rut would be an understatement. I would not even think
of entering this site until November and have had several multiple buck sightings from this great tree.
The Flat
The flat is just as the name implies,
a flat. The terrain is a flat area on top of a power line. The area is a mixture of hardwoods that is so open I feel like I should be holding my 300 Win Mag not a
bow when I’m on stand. The hillsides around the stand are good old nasty
cover. Across the intersecting power line is a six year old logged area that
redefines the word “thick”. Once again I find myself situated in
a small opening between some really nasty cover. The tree is a really nice cherry
that has a few lower limbs that really break up your outline. This is one of
those trees where you just feel completely comfortable. It’s hard to describe
but the tree is just perfect for hanging a stand. It is also located at the tail
end of the open forest that bottlenecks down over the hill into the world of brush.
You should be getting the picture now, surrounded by bedding, bottleneck coming out of the cover, this area screams
to be hunted. This stand is an all time producer for deer sightings. There are very few times that you could hunt the flat and not see multiple deer. During the rut, the bucks love the flat because of the number of does and the short open travel route from
cover to cover. This has been a great stand and has also served double duty during
spring gobbler.
The Mossy Field
Well, I figure you have caught on by
now and realize the area probably is a field with some moss. You are on the right
track. This stand is actually a small opening in mixed hardwoods that twenty
years ago had significant moss growth on the forest floor. Well time has passed,
the moss has all but left the scene, but the name will never die. Back in my
ever so intelligent teenage years, I hunted a poorly constructed permanent stand that overlooked the opening. I missed one of the biggest bucks I have ever seen out of any tree at a mere twenty yards when I was about
seventeen. I’m still feeling the pain almost twenty years later. This area was also the setting for my brother’s first buck with a bow, a small yet huge at the time
eight pointer. I am now of course hunting the stand site with a portable stand
but have also had great success walking into the area to set up my stand. A couple
of years ago, while walking in to hang my stand I caught a flash of antlers. I
quickly knelt down with my stand still on my back and nocked an arrow. Seconds
later I was watching a beautiful buck walking perpendicular to me as I crouched in anticipation. The buck’s path would lead him to a twenty yard shot if he continued his course. He did, my arrow was true and the rest is history. What factor
has lead to success in this stand site? It is all up to the farmer; if he cuts
the adjacent field the deer funnel through the area from the bedding to feed on the fresh grasses at night. If he doesn’t cut the field, I move further in the woods where the deer browse on forage. The stand has also been the favorite area for several other hunters throughout the years because of its
location. It is so easy to get to you won’t even break a sweat. The habits of the other hunters using this area has forced me to switch gears and move further in to the
“Five Tree”, but that’s another story.
