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"This Is Not Tree Stand Country"

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"This Is Not Tree Stand Country"

Postby Swede » 09 12, 2018 •  [Post 1]

My cousin and I were out one morning scouting a new area. The season was several days old, and I was elk bugling as we went to a spot I had on my GPS. We had walked about 1/2 mile out an old closed logging road. Just past the end of that road, I bugled and right away I got a distant answer. After about 45 minutes I saw what made those calls. There were two hunters on a ridge, hiding in the timber, trying to see the bull that was below. We exposed ourselves and walked up to the men. Ultimately we saw there were three of them. We exchanged light conversation including the general direction we were headed. They said they would go the other way. I commented we would likely soon be out of the area, as we were just scouting a couple of potential tree stand locations.
The reply, the one hunter gave surprised me. He said, "this is not tree stand country". I am not sure just how he meant that, but from the evidence I saw, it is very good tree stand country. On our first hunt in the general area, we all had multiple opportunities to shoot an elk. I took one from my stand, withstanding the urge to hold out for a large vocal bull that was nearby.
Though not sure, I suspect the hunters we saw had just not added tree stand hunting to their bag of tricks. I suspect they dismissed a great opportunity because "nobody does it that way here". Instead they told us they were going home soon, and would be headed to the Oregon coast range to try their luck with Roosevelt elk.
The reason we did not set a stand and hunt the area were scouting that morning is we did not want to pack one out of the GPSed locations. That age 20 something threesome might likely have relished a chance to carry an elk or two elk out. Certainly the elk were there, as there was a lot of fresh sign.
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Re: "This Is Not Tree Stand Country"

Postby lamrith » 09 13, 2018 •  [Post 2]

HAH,
Never tell Swede what is and is not tree stand country. Silly silly hunters.
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Re: "This Is Not Tree Stand Country"

Postby Trumkin the Dwarf » 09 14, 2018 •  [Post 3]

I will confess that I never thought to use a treestand for elk when I lived in Montana. I discovered tree saddles this summer though, and now I can see possible applications. Tree stands always struck me as too bulky and heavy to haul very far into the mountains.
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Re: "This Is Not Tree Stand Country"

Postby Lefty » 09 14, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Ah my wife hassled me about tree stand hunting when we first moved to Utah
She had never heard of it so it must not work.
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Re: "This Is Not Tree Stand Country"

Postby lamrith » 09 14, 2018 •  [Post 5]

Trumkin the Dwarf wrote:I will confess that I never thought to use a treestand for elk when I lived in Montana. I discovered tree saddles this summer though, and now I can see possible applications. Tree stands always struck me as too bulky and heavy to haul very far into the mountains.

That would be the one thing IMHO that could make an area "Not tree stand country" other than maybe no trees to put one in. Many of the new stands are pretty darn light, but even the lighter stands get heavy when you are hoofing miles in, and more importantly bulky if you are not hiking in on an established trail. Busting brush is tough enough, doing it with a wide stand on your back, bleh. If you are deep in though, the chances are that you can haul it in on day one and just leave it in place until the end of the hunt.
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