Malcolm Dykes: There Are Deer Stands and Then There Are Deer Stands

Just a note to you, I had 2 shooter bucks come up around the feeder yesterday  while sitting in the tent only 25 steps away but they remained in the brush not offering an ethical shot. They lived to walk another day   lol. These tents re the ticket.

Blessings
 

Now that deer season is officially wide open, the subject comes up of how do I wait out my elusive target if I'm going to hunt the traditional way in a fixed blind?

Being all into whitetail deer hunting since a teenager I have hunted just about every way known to man.

From hunting with dogs and getting on a known deer crossing to easing along in the woods trying to slip up on an unsuspecting old buck.

When it came to still hunting, which is all I do now, I went through stages of development.

I started out with the primitive 'nail on boards for steps' tree stands leading up to a few boards nailed to a couple of limbs to sit high enough up the tree so as to be hidden.

Then I graduated to the climbing hang on stands like most of the rest of you where you attach the bottom portion for your feet to bring up and the top portion waist height to hang to and keep progressing up to your desired height.

Then for safety sake, you would fasten a strap around the tree and around your waist as you stood on the bottom portion to hunt.

Looking back, I laugh at myself going to all that trouble because it was a feat in itself just skinning up a tree high enough to remain out of sight to unsuspecting deer.

Then of course in time the lock on treestands that had a seat one could sit on with fixed ladders became available and popular and even could be bought that were a 2 man seat.

They were by far the safest way to hang off a tree to hunt.

With all the above stands from the primitive nail on boards to the lean to two man seat variety and all in between, being exposed to the weather finally drove me to the next level and mode of hunting. 

As much as I have grown into this old man who has some serious aging on him I have condescended to climbing into a sealed deer blind and out of the weather.

I've had the privilege of hunting in shooting houses that were from bare essentials like a roof over 4 walls and a floor to sealed shooting houses that came close to being a miniature condo, insulated, paneled with carpet on the floor and comfortable padded seats.

As well as electricity to make coffee and have a small electric heater and in the corner a urinal to relieve oneself for an all day hunt.

Nowadays if you have the money to go pro, there are shooting houses that would make you feel like you were sitting in your den watching the Outdoor Channel!

When bow season opened the last day of September this year, I was found perched up inside a pop up tent in Madison County and is the type of shelter I have hunted in for the most part for the last 7 years.

Easy and quick to set up or take down to move around, these little darlings are the ticket for me.

About 6 years ago I was privileged to have my best buck kill ever in a pop up tent, a 240 lb.10 point trailing a doe in Madison County.

He was gauged at near 150 inches in the Boone and Crockett measurement.

And just this season on a recent hunt I was only 25 steps from the feeder and enjoyed watching 7 deer feed including 3 young bucks. 

Regardless of how you hunt, be it climbing with the two piece climbing stand, a lean two tree stand, or a shooting house or like my latest pop up tent, just getting to go is what it's all about.

It's that time of the year to enjoy our great white tail herd here in the Magnolia State.

Happy hunting to all.

God bless you and God bless America.