Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide
Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,
Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.
Speaker 1: First Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host
Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, welcome to the Wire to Hunt Foundation's podcast,
Speaker 2: which has brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,
Speaker 2: Tony Peterson. Today's episode is all about summertime tree stand
Speaker 2: prep and how often we sabotage ourselves by not doing
Speaker 2: it correctly. You know those nagging thoughts you have that
Speaker 2: keep you up at night when you just want to
Speaker 2: slip into unconsciousness where you can, I don't know, dream
Speaker 2: away about prepping for the zombie apocalypse or something cool
Speaker 2: like that. Well, it was one of those dumb nagging
Speaker 2: thoughts to spawn the idea for this podcast. And you
Speaker 2: know also the fact that it's go time for summer
Speaker 2: scouting and tree stand prep now. If you're not out
Speaker 2: there getting something ready to go, you might miss your
Speaker 2: window and you don't want that. You also don't want
Speaker 2: to sabotage your future hunting self by not taking care
Speaker 2: of business now, which is really kind of what this
Speaker 2: episode is all about. About fifteen years ago, I was
Speaker 2: out looking for a good way to access some new
Speaker 2: public land by my house. The property had gone from
Speaker 2: private ownership to county ownership, and it looked like a
Speaker 2: good place to shoot some ducks and arrow a few deer.
Speaker 2: It also bought it up to a few different roads,
Speaker 2: so I started poking around. On one of the dead
Speaker 2: end spots I found where I thought I could access
Speaker 2: the property, I parked, hiked into it, and took a
Speaker 2: good look around. And when I came back out, there
Speaker 2: was a guy standing by my truck, which always sucks.
Speaker 2: It turned out different than I expected. The guy was
Speaker 2: a bowhunter who owned seventeen acres that bordered that chunk
Speaker 2: of public land and just wanted to know what it
Speaker 2: was like in there, because he hadn't gone in yet.
Speaker 2: So we struck up a conversation and came to an
Speaker 2: agreement that he'd let me park at his place and
Speaker 2: access the public through his ground if i'd keep him
Speaker 2: updated out on the deer activity and maybe hunt with
Speaker 2: him a little bit. So we became friends pretty quickly,
Speaker 2: because at that time I didn't have kids, and I
Speaker 2: scouted and hunted a lot, so I was out there
Speaker 2: a lot while he struggled with hunting in general, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of just from a lack of experience. I quickly
Speaker 2: found that he could fix anything and was always working
Speaker 2: on something. You know, the kind of person I'm referring to.
Speaker 2: He's always working on a classic car rebuild or something
Speaker 2: on his house or whatever. He's not the kind of
Speaker 2: guy to sit around drinking beers on his deck for
Speaker 2: hours at a time. If you get my drift, well,
Speaker 2: Scott sort of semi retired a few years ago. He
Speaker 2: still works some, but he has more free time than
Speaker 2: he used to. This means he has more time to
Speaker 2: take on crazy projects. For example, a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 2: he called me and asked me if I could give
Speaker 2: him a hand with something. Now. That's something was lifting
Speaker 2: a nineteen twenty seven player piano over on its side
Speaker 2: in his living room so he could replace a bunch
Speaker 2: of parts and get it running. Now, if you're not
Speaker 2: going to transport yourself back to prohibition days to run
Speaker 2: a speak easy for the folks looking to catch a buzz,
Speaker 2: but stay off the police radar. I have no idea
Speaker 2: why you'd need a functional player piano. But it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter what I think about it, though, because it wasn't
Speaker 2: my jam. So I went to Scott's place, where I
Speaker 2: met up with his son and his son in law
Speaker 2: and some other dude who I don't know. Together, we
Speaker 2: could barely move that thing without breaking everything, including the
Speaker 2: important parts of our bodies that allow us to stand
Speaker 2: up straight. Seriously, the cheap plastic shit we fill our
Speaker 2: houses with these days just doesn't compare to the build
Speaker 2: on that stupid piano. The whole thing was made to last,
Speaker 2: and with that durability comes a lot of weight. Five
Speaker 2: grown men who are you know, in pretty good shape
Speaker 2: could barely move it. What was worse is that we
Speaker 2: knew Scott would get the whole thing fixed and up
Speaker 2: and running, and then we'd have to lift it and
Speaker 2: hold it up while he bolted the legs back on,
Speaker 2: which was way worse than our initial job. Scott was
Speaker 2: pleased with himself and is off on other projects, and honestly,
Speaker 2: I kind of admire him for it. He keeps busy
Speaker 2: and he doesn't half assed stuff. The work he does
Speaker 2: on random things doesn't appeal to me in the least,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't phone anything in and in one way
Speaker 2: I can relate to him on that which is you know,
Speaker 2: in this one thing which you're probably going to guess,
Speaker 2: which is my golf swing, ha ha, just kidding, it's
Speaker 2: deer hunting, or more specifically for this episode setting up
Speaker 2: season long stand sites. I qualify it that way because
Speaker 2: we often talk about going mobile, whether you know that's
Speaker 2: with a saddle or a lightweight hang on, and guys
Speaker 2: like me in the industry often forget how important it
Speaker 2: is to go out in the summer and hang stands
Speaker 2: it will stay up until the season closes, which is
Speaker 2: a strategy that a lot of hunters use. Now, the
Speaker 2: emphasis we put on the mobile game and thinking through
Speaker 2: our setups is important, but it also ignores the reality
Speaker 2: that that style of hunting benefits greatly from the surprise aspect.
Speaker 2: I know that's not a secret, but it is like
Speaker 2: the number one reason to go that route. It's also
Speaker 2: just not a great route for everyone. I was reminded
Speaker 2: of this recently when I was laying in bed trying
Speaker 2: to sleep and a thought occurred to me that has
Speaker 2: occurred to me a lot since the end of April.
Speaker 2: There's a stand that I hung over in northern Wisconsin
Speaker 2: for the rut in this pine tree, and I'm very
Speaker 2: excited about that spot. I've already talked about it a
Speaker 2: few times. But in that pine tree, I cut a
Speaker 2: lot of branches off to get where I need to be.
Speaker 2: Those branches or where those branches used to be are
Speaker 2: now I'm sure going to be a sappy nightmare. I
Speaker 2: need to remedy that, because I hate climbing into a
Speaker 2: stand and getting covered in sap. I hate leaning against
Speaker 2: the tree and sticking to it. I don't know what
Speaker 2: I'm going to do about it, but I think I'm
Speaker 2: gonna get some cheap fabric, maybe some felt or something,
Speaker 2: and use it as a buffer against those spots where
Speaker 2: I cut off the limbs and they're gonna be all sappy.
Speaker 2: I know I need to do this, but I haven't yet,
Speaker 2: and that bothers me. Everything about that stand is good
Speaker 2: to go already, but that one detail. The trail into
Speaker 2: it is cut and trimmed and tact and it's money.
Speaker 2: The shooting lanes are cut and ready to go. The
Speaker 2: whole thing is going to be so fun to sit
Speaker 2: in November, but not unless I address this one stupid detail.
Speaker 2: And if I don't. I know I will regret it
Speaker 2: and I won't hunt that stand or that spot the
Speaker 2: way I need to, and that would be stupid. It
Speaker 2: could very well cost me a deer. I know this
Speaker 2: because I've sabotaged myself a lot when it comes to
Speaker 2: tree stand setups. In fact, this often unacknowledged reality is
Speaker 2: one of the reasons that pop up blinds and box
Speaker 2: blinds have become so popular in deer hunting. They're just
Speaker 2: easier in general once they're set up. They just don't
Speaker 2: require as much attention to detail. But with blinds, you
Speaker 2: give up the experience of feeling like you're a part
Speaker 2: of the woods and are meeting the deer at a
Speaker 2: level where they can have a good chance of busting you,
Speaker 2: if that makes any sense. Now, I know you can
Speaker 2: get busted in blinds, but I also know it's a
Speaker 2: different type of sit than being in a tree stand.
Speaker 2: There's a little more at stake. So anyway, you probably
Speaker 2: have a few stands you set up for bow or
Speaker 2: gun season or both that are sitting in your garage
Speaker 2: right now, just waiting for you to mess with them
Speaker 2: and make plans to get them set up. The thing
Speaker 2: that gets a lot of us at this stage is
Speaker 2: that the idea we have in our heads is often
Speaker 2: not the reality we meet in the woods. A few
Speaker 2: years ago this became very evident to me when I
Speaker 2: drove down to southwest Wisconsin to help set up some
Speaker 2: ladder stands in my buddy's property. Now, I'm not a
Speaker 2: big ladder stand guy in general, because they're so not
Speaker 2: very portable, and I don't like sitting spots that get
Speaker 2: hunted super hard, which is something that seems to happen
Speaker 2: a lot with ladder stands. But his property is right
Speaker 2: for a few season long setups, so we set out
Speaker 2: with a plan when we got to each spot to
Speaker 2: wrestle those giant, heavy ladder stands in place. We ended
Speaker 2: up making concessions on every spot. You need the right
Speaker 2: tree for a big ladder stand, and nature doesn't often
Speaker 2: deliver perfect trees in the spots you really want to hunt.
Speaker 2: It was a huge pain in the ass, and we
Speaker 2: ended up mostly going for trees that were suitable for
Speaker 2: putting a stand in them, then hiding a stand and
Speaker 2: a hunter, or positioning a hunter for a really good
Speaker 2: shot in a different tree that would be better for
Speaker 2: the setup, or at least better for the spot worse
Speaker 2: than that, those big ladder stands that all of the
Speaker 2: deer know about are hard to hide when the leaves fall,
Speaker 2: which means you take a spot that should be really
Speaker 2: good and you put a very noticeable stand there that's
Speaker 2: going to stick out for a lot of different reasons
Speaker 2: as the season progresses, so you actually get easier to
Speaker 2: pick off as the pressure builds in a single area,
Speaker 2: which is a good recipe for clunker hunts because you
Speaker 2: have two things going against you there. Bigger hang ons
Speaker 2: are a slightly different story, but can encourage us to
Speaker 2: fall into the same traps. The truth with this stuff
Speaker 2: is that it's best to spend some real time thinking
Speaker 2: these setups through. Too often we pick a spot eyeball
Speaker 2: a tree fifteen yards away, and then set a stand
Speaker 2: up to face the most likely shot location, and we
Speaker 2: call it good. Well, we might also trim every possible
Speaker 2: thing that could deflect an arrow there, which might do
Speaker 2: us a favor but also might make us easier to
Speaker 2: get spotted better. Yet, it's pretty common these days to
Speaker 2: take a season long spot and make sure it has
Speaker 2: a camera overlooking it, which means more human presence, even
Speaker 2: if it's a cell camera. Now I realize I'm making
Speaker 2: a good case for not setting up season long stands now,
Speaker 2: because after say, I don't know, a couple of weeks
Speaker 2: of bo season, they might you know, not be worthless,
Speaker 2: but they might be getting there. But they don't have to.
Speaker 2: I think the first way to make a stand site
Speaker 2: better is to position the stands so it isn't facing
Speaker 2: where the deer are most likely to be. Being able
Speaker 2: to hide behind the tree, at least partially is a
Speaker 2: big benefit, it really is. I almost never set anything
Speaker 2: up to face the likely travel spots of deer because
Speaker 2: I don't want to be hanging out there on their
Speaker 2: side when I am most likely going to have to move.
Speaker 2: I don't know why this is so common, but I
Speaker 2: see it all the time. I have one buddy who
Speaker 2: is scared of heights and who is also one of
Speaker 2: the worst and hangers I've ever seen. Every one of
Speaker 2: his stands is about ten feet off the ground and
Speaker 2: always facing the open field or food plot or logging
Speaker 2: road or pond or whatever he thinks the deer will use.
Speaker 2: He also gets busted a lot. He's one of those
Speaker 2: people who thinks deer have a sixth sense because they're
Speaker 2: always seeing him. But the truth is, he just really
Speaker 2: kind of stinks that setting up stands, and he isn't
Speaker 2: hunting super unpressured deer. It's pretty simple. So what else
Speaker 2: can you do to give yourself a chance while not
Speaker 2: sabotaging yourself? For starters? Remove any and all extra stuff
Speaker 2: you don't need. If you don't need a shooting rail
Speaker 2: on your ladder stand, remove it. The more metal you
Speaker 2: have hanging around you, the more likely you are to
Speaker 2: bump a bowl, limb, or a backpack buckle or something
Speaker 2: into it. Simple is good here. If you happen to
Speaker 2: climb into your stand while you're cutting, shooting lanes, or
Speaker 2: just generally setting it up, Listen that slight pop your
Speaker 2: ladder makes under your waist, or the clank of a
Speaker 2: d ring that helps keep two sections of ladder together
Speaker 2: is not going to seem like a big deal in
Speaker 2: July or August, But it's a different story on a
Speaker 2: calm morning when it's twenty seven degrees out. If you
Speaker 2: have a way to tighten things up and shore up
Speaker 2: anything that might make extra metal on metal noise, do
Speaker 2: it now when you're in your stand and running a
Speaker 2: pole saw or directing a buddy on the ground with
Speaker 2: a saw. Take some time also to imagine how realistic
Speaker 2: you need to be about shooting lanes. It's easy to
Speaker 2: go way overboard in August with this task, and that
Speaker 2: will bite you in the ass in November. At twenty yards,
Speaker 2: you should be able to shoot through a basketball size
Speaker 2: shooting window all day long if you need to now.
Speaker 2: While I wouldn't recommend only giving yourself that option, the
Speaker 2: other end of the spectrum is to cut everything down
Speaker 2: to give yourself wide open shooting options. You gotta find
Speaker 2: a happy medium. Give yourself a few windows on the
Speaker 2: best trails or into the field or food plot, but
Speaker 2: don't open things up so much that you're bound to
Speaker 2: get picked off. This is a lot easier to say
Speaker 2: than it is to do, but it's very important to
Speaker 2: think about now. I also like to envision where the
Speaker 2: deer are likely to travel and what my shot options
Speaker 2: will be when they go one way on the trail
Speaker 2: versus the opposite. Now, you might set up and have
Speaker 2: a nice quartering away shot at eighteen yards when they
Speaker 2: go down the best trail, like you hope they will,
Speaker 2: but they often don't do what we hope they will.
Speaker 2: Can you shoot him if he comes down the trail
Speaker 2: from the opposite direction, or will that nice quartering away
Speaker 2: shot turn into something that's totally iffy and quartering to
Speaker 2: a little too much? How do you remedy that situation
Speaker 2: in the summer without opening yourself up too much? How
Speaker 2: much of the tree or neighboring trees can you leave
Speaker 2: in place to give yourself some cover in the front
Speaker 2: and behind and below you? Leaving cover behind you might
Speaker 2: be the easiest. In front, Well, we've already kind of
Speaker 2: discussed that cutting shooting lanes, but what about below your
Speaker 2: stand platform. We don't think about this a lot, but
Speaker 2: the deers that are most likely to bust you are
Speaker 2: your non target deer. They get close enough to get
Speaker 2: a whiff of where you placed your hand on the
Speaker 2: ladder or are you touched a dead fall on the
Speaker 2: way to your stand. Those deer they get a little
Speaker 2: cautious off of some olfactory red flag, are the same
Speaker 2: ones that eventually look up. A deer that has a
Speaker 2: clear view of you there, especially at KG dough is
Speaker 2: one that's going to lose her mind and turn your
Speaker 2: hunt into a snort fest. It often won't be the
Speaker 2: buck that just has his destination in mind and plans
Speaker 2: to walk right on through it. Last night, it'll be
Speaker 2: the dough with two fawnds who comes through twenty minutes
Speaker 2: before him, who realizes you haven't done a good job
Speaker 2: with your stand setup. So, besides addressing some of these
Speaker 2: common mistakes, we all make what is a good strategy here?
Speaker 2: I think it's to give yourself time. Too often we go, well,
Speaker 2: my cousin isn't working today, so we're gonna meet up
Speaker 2: on the family farm and get six stands set up,
Speaker 2: and hump three stands into the day. You know you're
Speaker 2: kind of done. You're ready to go belly up at
Speaker 2: the local watering hole for a birder and a beer
Speaker 2: and consider it a job not maybe well done, but
Speaker 2: done well enough. Maybe I don't know, but it's not though.
Speaker 2: You need to give yourself time to get this stuff right.
Speaker 2: I'm way more into hanging maybe two stands a day,
Speaker 2: but doing it right than to try to get a
Speaker 2: whole summer's worth of work done on a Saturday. Having
Speaker 2: to rush through anything because you're almost out of time
Speaker 2: or you're just ready to quit working is a great
Speaker 2: way to do just the basics, but not the real
Speaker 2: detail work that makes tree stand setups really hum for
Speaker 2: the whole season. The thing here is that even if
Speaker 2: you're a really busy person, we are talking roughly the
Speaker 2: same amount of time, but broken up into manageable chunks.
Speaker 2: Instead of rushing through six set up in a day,
Speaker 2: try to cover out, you know, parts of three days
Speaker 2: in the next few weeks to get a couple stands
Speaker 2: a session set up, you know, set up the way
Speaker 2: you really want them set up. Now, the last thing
Speaker 2: I'll say on this, which our mustachioed friend would wholeheartedly
Speaker 2: approve of, is you might want to make a list
Speaker 2: not only of each stand site and what you want
Speaker 2: to accomplish, but really everything about each site that requires
Speaker 2: summer work, the entrance and exit trails, the trimming, the
Speaker 2: lifelines you want to hang so you could hunt safely,
Speaker 2: whatever it is. A checklist will help you set things
Speaker 2: up the way you need to and follow through with
Speaker 2: a good detailed plan. I know this might sound like overkill,
Speaker 2: but here's the deal. It's easy to half ask this
Speaker 2: stuff in the summer and call it good. But we
Speaker 2: all know the feeling of getting into a stand that
Speaker 2: isn't set up to our best abilities, even if that
Speaker 2: stand is ninety three percent of the way there and
Speaker 2: it's just a sappy mess that makes the other seven
Speaker 2: percent untenable. You know, we also know the feeling of
Speaker 2: making too much noise or sticking out like a sore
Speaker 2: thumb when the first group of domes starts to work
Speaker 2: their way through. We know what it's like to get
Speaker 2: this stuff even a few percent wrong, because that's all
Speaker 2: the advantage the deer need to show us. We are
Speaker 2: amateurs and they are not. Do not do that to yourself.
Speaker 2: Think about your setups and what could go wrong, and
Speaker 2: then get ahead of as much of that stuff as
Speaker 2: you can. Give yourself time work through the possible problems
Speaker 2: and eliminate them. And then come back next week because
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about a trail camera strategy that
Speaker 2: you can implement now to help yourself kill bucks in November.
Speaker 2: Whether you're a bow hunter, a gun hunter, or both.
Speaker 2: That's it. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been the Wired
Speaker 2: to Hunt Foundation's podcast, which has brought to you by
Speaker 2: First Light. As always, thank you so much for listening
Speaker 2: and for all your support. Truly appreciate it so thank
Speaker 2: you for that. If you need some more hunting advice,
Speaker 2: maybe you're taking a road trip with a family and
Speaker 2: you want to listen to some new podcasts I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe you're grilling out, you need a new recipe. You
Speaker 2: can head on over to them meeteater dot com and
Speaker 2: find all of that stuff and a hell of a
Speaker 2: lot more