uncle matt

I was out in the woods and came across a couple very old looking deer stands made of wood. They were falling apart and definately not safe. But finding them and spending a few minutes looking at them and shooting some pics got me kinda thinking - romantisizing if you will. Wondering things like......
Who built them?.....How many people havehad sat in these stands?.....How many deer had been shot from them?

I don't know they just seem kinda nostolgic to me so I thought I would try to start a thread just for really old tree stands and see how it goes. I'm talking about old, weathered stands. As soon as I can figure how to load my own pics I will. It has been a while.

Tribal

I have been taking pics of them for a few years whenever I come across one in the woods. I know exactly what you are talking about. I wonder also what was seen from that stand.

cardeeer

When I started hunting ,1957,We never seen stands. My Dad was old school You always picked a spot and a tree and stood all day behind the tree. I remember one year I built a tree limb seat between 2 trees to sit on. He thouhgt that was being a sissy. I wish I could get to some of my old spots. I always would carve myname in the tree and record a count of the deer I shot from behind that tree. I will never forget the first buck I shot. a herd of 41 deer came walking past me and I shot a 6 pt. That old tree looked like a book page after 10 years of hunting and recording all the kills.

GTOHunter

Years ago when I was younger and my Dad took me Deer Hunting I walked way back along an old path through the woods where I found a very old stand up in a large tree,I just had to climb up in it and look out to see the view some older Hunter had seen for many years....it was kinda heart warming to think of all the Deers he might have seen and shot over the years?Oh yeah...and I got in BIG trouble because he thought I was lost way out in the woods! [&:]

I also read an article that stated if you find a spot with an old Deer Stand on it that it could very well be an excellent spot to be placing a newer stand there or nearby because it could possiblybe a very good hunting area.

rustynobles

That part is true. A few years ago I came across one of these on our property, Lord knows how old it is, it's just the remnants of an old ladder someone nailed across a forked pine tree and stops about 8 feet up, but my dad and I hung a stand next to it, and I've seen some freakin monsters come out 30 yards from that spot, they've just grown accustomed to it. I got a really bad case of buck fever and missed a HUGE 8 pt. in that spot too. Man I'd love to relive that day again, but I'd say if you find one of these beauties, even if you just sit at the base of it, give her a try.

gmil6184

I agree it is kinda neat to find old stands. When we first started hunting out lease we made a rule that we would knock down any old wooden stands we saw. this was because we had a big problem with trespassers and wanted to discourage them from returning to hunt. We also knocked them down because a lot of the stands seemed fairly old and unsafe, and we didn't want anyone falling and breaking their neck...not even a trespasser. The thing that always used to crack me up was how low to the ground many of these stands were, I know I don't even bother hanging a modern stand unless I can get 15 feet off the ground but many of these old homemade stands were only 6-8 feet off the ground haha. I suppose back in the day that was considered high enough and i guess its better then standing on the ground.

Another thing I get a kick out of is finding old, empty shells and brass back in the woods. always makes me smile because I imagine some hunter way back in the day could have shot a big buck or turkey right where I'm standing

thunderchickenfrenzy

I have seen quite a few of old deer stands. I have actually put stands up in the same tree where there is one. I wonder the same thing as most of you guys, how many deer has been killed, how many this stand has even seen, etc..

Lanse couche couche

I think that I was well into my 20s before I even knew there was such a thing as storebought stands. In fact, i have yet to kill a deer out of one that was not handmade wooden although i have hunted out of several portable ones.

bowmanaj

When my family bought the farm, I immediatley started scouting the woods and found a VERY old, rotted permanent wood stand, built in the fork of a big oak..Dangerous as hell but in a prime spot. I also wonder about its past.. Sadly, it had to come down because I wanted to hunt that spot and I tore it down and made a new one. I thank whoever first put a stand there, that spot produces!

One interesting thing about the old stand, is underneath it sticking out of the ground was half of a wood arrow. It looked like it was many decades old, pretty cool.

fastetti

Uncle Matt, I think I hunt in the same neck of the woods of you if I remember from your posts before. This year I found an ancient deer stand completely by accident. I was hanging a deer we had shot near a path and spotted a couple extremly old rotten boards on the ground when I kicked up some leave. I didn't think much of it until I looked about 10 feet in the air and saw 6 large nails nailed into this tree which were only a few inches from being grown over. You could tell that they were steps for a stand that at sometime was in that tree. My climbing stand was actually coincidentally next to the tree from the walk out so I took out my video camera and videoed how far along treestands had come. I'll tell you what, it was a good stand location, I did see a few deer walk right by that stand on my way out of the woods a few days and I actually shot my buck this year about 200 yards from that stand. Im a history buff so just to think of what life was like when someone was sitting in that stand when they built it just gets my imagination going.