The off-season is the time to reflect on our successes and failures of the past and plan for the future. One of the main points of contention in deer hunting is stand placement. Watching the buck-of-a-lifetime saunter 20 yards out of bow range or deer after deer enter the greenfield from the opposite end of the woodline will get any hunter figuring on where to put his stand next year.
But that new spot will pose its challenges. Scrawny trees, no trees – there’s never a "perfect tree" growing right where you need it. One of the main factors determining successful treestand hunting is keeping your options open to all of the types on the market. It might be a ladder stand that is the most effective for your spot, or the "perfect tree" will only take a hang-on. Your best bet may be backpacking in a lightweight climber and surprising the buck that way. Or maybe you need something totally different like Summit Treestands new Predator Pod, a mobile tripod stand you can move at a moment’s notice.
Ladders
A ladder stand can be the best choice for high-traffic areas like funnels or creek crossings. These are areas you will return to and hunt every year because bucks are forced to travel through due to terrain. Ladders can be the best stand for an area for several reasons.
They are easy to put together and stable to the tree. Once installed in the tree, hunters can quietly climb up without spooking nearby game. And, ladder stands are not just for rifle hunters. Summit’s Single Shot is 18-feet tall, putting bowhunters as high as most want to be.
Ladders also are the answer when taking youngsters or inexperienced hunters. Big, two-person ladders like Summit’s Double Barrel provide plenty of room for two hunters and a weight limit of 500 pounds. The Double Barrel features a wide, thick padded bench seat, front rest and back rest and comes with two free full-body harnesses. A buddy ladder stand also is the answer for anyone wanting to video a hunt as they provide plenty of room for the hunter and the cameraman.
Hang-Ons
Today’s hang-on treestands are not the heavy steel beasts that once took an hour, a pulley system and the help of a burley friend to put into a tree. Now constructed of lightweight aluminum, hang ons feature several systems for attachment to the tree, but one of the easiest and most innovative is the one Summit uses with its Copperhead Compact. Attachment is made via a quiet strap, which is stronger than even big chains.
The strap holds a bar that attaches to the stand. By installing extra straps to trees in various hotspots throughout a hunting area, hunters can move the hang on with little trouble. The Copperhead X5 weighs only 12 pounds and features backpack straps for easy transport.
Hang on treestands are perfect for trees with plenty of big branches like hackberries, cedars and fruit trees because they allow you to install a stand without trimming a bunch of limbs, thus remaining more hidden within the tree. I like cedars because they provide a built-in cover scent.
New this year in Summit’s hang-on category are economical models that provide tremendous value for the money while retaining the light weight and backpacking ability Summit is known for.
New this year is a "System" that includes a big deck combined with two different seats. The Basic System is for those hunters who just want a platform – no seat! The big platform is 20-inches wide by 30.5 inches long and has a weight limit of 300 pounds. A step up takes you to the Trophy System, which comes with the platform and a full-size suspended webbing seat. The Comfort System features a unique seat with adjustable straps that let you lower, raise, lengthen and angle the seat like a lounger. This is an inexpensive stand comfortable enough for an all-day sit.
Climbing Stands
Many hunters like climbing stands because they provide complete versatility. Backpacked in each hunting trip, hunters can select a different tree for their stand each time. As long as there are plenty of straight trees. That’s the limitation of climbing stands — straight, mature trees must be used.
Summit Treestands is the leader and innovator of climbing stands, with John Woller Sr. creating his first climber way back in the mid-1970s. Woller, a champion archer and bowhunter looked at the climbing stands on the market and knew he could make one that was quieter, more secure to the tree, silent and comfortable.
Climbing stands come in two pieces — the top, or seat portion and the bottom, or foot platform. Each piece is attached to the tree. The hunter attaches his feet to the platform and grasps the top portion. With a safety harness attached to the tree above the hunter, he can "inch-worm" himself up the tree to the desired hunting height.
This system provides plenty of benefits. It allows hunters to hunt at his or her comfortable height. It allows the hunter to choose a different treestand location every trip. The physical act of getting the stand up the tree can be accomplished by all able-bodied hunters (always wear a safety harness while ascending/descending the tree).
The most important of these benefits may be the element of surprise. The old saying that you’re most likely to kill a deer from a stand the first time you hunt it is true. Each time you hunt a location you’re cutting down the odds of shooting a trophy there because you’re spreading scent in the area. Deer also are spooked while walking into a stand, and this can be extremely detrimental if you’re approaching the stand along the same trail every time. The ability to take a stand in a different area each time can be quite valuable.
Summit’s Viper SS, new for 2006, possesses those characteristics Woller Sr. has dedicated himself to ever since he started making treestands. It features thick pads covering the arm rests and comfortable seat and backrest. The QuickDraw cable system is the easiest and most secure method to attach a stand to the tree. It even comes with the new Summit Skin, which quiets the stand while it’s being backpacked to the woods.
The Viper SS is a true top-of-the-line stand with all of the features demanded by the best bowhunters in the world, but some hunters prefer a stand that is more compact and lighter. The Openshot SS is what those hunters are looking for.
The Openshot SS weighs in at just 14 pounds and features an integrated seat/hand climber. The smaller platform easily maneuvers around knots and small limbs quietly, and the thick-padded seat cushions provide surprising comfort and warmth.
Tripods and Other Stands
But, maybe, you need to hunt from a spot where there are no tall, straight trees for a climber. In some areas, there may be no trees at all suitable for any type of treestand. You still have options for killing that buck.
New this year from Summit Stands are the Predator Pod and the X-Pod, two stands that don’t need trees to put the hunter into a vantage point for killing deer.
The Predator Pod is a truly mobile tripod stand. Weighing in at only 40 pounds, the Predator Pod is the answer when you need to be in the dense scrub, but off the ground. Think of all of the cutovers, field edges, gullies and valleys you can open up to effective hunting if you have a way to get up off the ground exactly where you want.
The swiveling seat and pivoting gunrest allow you to get into the stand quickly. Its wide tripod stance is stable and the clearance underneath lets you put it where most stands won’t go. The best part? The Predator Pod weighs only 40 pounds and can be thrown over the shoulder and moved wherever you want at a moment’s notice.
Another totally different stand is the new X-Pod, a go anywhere, adapt to any location stand. The X-Pod is a ladder stand built like a stepladder, with bracing ratchet straps attached to each side to hold it steady, safe and secure. The ratchet straps attach to stakes (included) or trees, fenceposts or other strong, stable anchor.
I hunted a spot in north-central Texas last year that fit that mold. Its 800 acres of mesquite and a few cottonwoods and scrawny hackberries made stand placement difficult. In one particular spot near a food plot I put up a MegaSampson ladder stand, but the prevailing wind prohibited use of that stand for most of the season. The few times the wind was right to hunt that stand, the hunters there saw big bucks just out of bow range.
I solved the problem with one of Summit’s Trophy Chairs. The food plot is situated near a small pond, and the prevailing wind blows directly across the pond and away from the food plot. I put in a Trophy Chair, which essentially is a comfortable seat that attaches to a tree, added a few downed mesquite limbs for cover and watched deer after deer enter the food plot without ever noticing me sitting not 50 yards away. The trophy bucks eluded us, but, then again, that’s deer hunting. We were in the right spot, and we were comfortable thanks to the Trophy Chair.
The Trophy Chair has plenty of applications in the deer woods. Like a climbing stand, it’s easy to move from one spot to the next, providing that element of surprise. And how many times have you found the perfect hunting spot, but there were no trees nearby suitable for a treestand? The Trophy Chair may be your best option for these areas.
Another cool way to use the Trophy Chair is during the late rifle season after leaf-drop, when a lower vantage point is needed for the best view through the woods.
Big whitetail bucks live where you find them, and it’s not often near the "perfect tree." The key to your hunting success depends on your ability to adjust, and that may mean changing stand locations or to a different type of stand. Stay flexible and you’ll see more deer, and hopefully that buck of a lifetime.