vipertech

The stand in the picture I posted was one of the taller ones. Its platform measured about 2.5'x3'. So the larger 12' high stand was likely around 3'x3.5' or possibly 3'x4'. I don't quite remember. But if I were to build these again, I stick to a smaller size. 2.5'x3' is plenty of room.

Another vote for less moving parts. Partially the reason why I like fixed broadheads. However, I have crossed over to the world of drop-away rests. I resisted for awhile because of "moving parts" and "more stuff to go wrong" but so far I've had great luck with my drop-away. Anyways, as for sights, I'm a fan of the Trophy Ridge Flatliner. Both myself and my son use this sight. 3-pin model. They do make a 5-pin model but I don't need that many pins. I like how the vertical alignment keeps the sight picture un-cluttered. Having them in one line like this allows me to see just one post with 3 glowing dots on it. As for the brightness, it works just fine through all legal shooting hours.

I've had two. My first was about two years ago. Bad but not as worse as the second one I had last Sept. The one from last Sept forced a trip to the ER and some good drugs. I never actually passed that stone. So yesterday I arrive at work around 8am and began to get the feeling that I had to urinate. No biggie. I head to the restroom but can only seem to muster up a rather weak stream. From that point on, I continued to have the worst feeling of having to go pee I've ever had. Didn't feel like a kidney stone at all. That normally is felt in the well, kidney area. It even caused me to break out in a mild sweat. I would head to the restroom probably every 15 to 20 minutes but each time I could only give it a weak stream. Around 11:30am, I was very close to bailing out and going to the ER. My initial thought was that my prostate must have swelled to 3x its normal size! Instead, I figured that if I get out and go run the errands I had planned, I might feel better walking around and such. Nope. The feeling was the same. I went back to the office with the intention of packing up. I sat down at my desk and maneuvered myself into a comfortable position. Feeling just a tad better, I sat there quietly for awhile and just tried to relax. Without really even noticing it, the pain just went away. It was absolutely gone! Now, after work, I was scheduled to go to the studio to lay down more rhythm guitars for a CD my band is working on. I get there and do all the work without any issue. At the very end of the night when I was getting ready to go home, I again went to the restroom and bam...out pops a stone! Feeling pretty good today! DAMN!! Why does that font thing keep happening to me!! >

I have an older Bushnell. Works great but the battery life is a bit short. I bring along a couple extra batteries with me every time. I also religiously remove the battery after every hunt. I too follow the procedure's outlined above. I get to my stand, range several rocks, trees, etc at 20 yards all around my stand. Then I use those features to range the deer. BTW, I'm not 100% sold on the whole arc technology yet as it applies to bowhunting. I can't really see where it benefits at bow ranges. I've used mine without this feature for several years and never had an issue. When I set up my bow, I set it up to match what my range finder tells me. I guess I can see where it could help on longer shots via gun. Can anybody who has this feature on their rangefinder comment?

Agree. That's where my DVR fast forward came in handy.

Did anybody else follow this TV show? I thought it was pretty cool. The final episode was this past Sunday. I don't want to post any spoilers as to who won the competition. Suffice to say the final challenge was a nail-biter. I'm already looking forward to the next season. Top Shot 2.

I have some Leupold, Weaver and a set of Redhead rings. I have no real preference over any of these. They all seemed to work fine for me.

[/size] [/size]I was about to post pretty much the same thing. Especially this sentence....."[/size]IMHO it is close to the perfect cartridge for deer sized game". If you are into reloading, there are tons of choices for bullets in the 7mm size. Case is based on the .308 so there's a lot of them too. Factory loads can be juuuust a little bit hard to find sometimes but I've not had any trouble yet. I've bought them at a local gun shop, Bass Pro in Auburn and Gander Mnt. in Henrietta. Mine 7mm-08 loves the Federal 140g Accubond's. The last deer I took with em fell in it's tracks.

I hold out for older/larger bucks and wait for does during the early archery season. Not saying tagging a 4-point is bad but I can't stand the thought that I might "use up" my buck tag only to have a great buck stroll by on the next hunt. The feeling is made worse when I know good bucks are in the area via my game camera.

I really like my Bushnell Trophy cam. For the price, it has all of the features I need in a cam. Awesome battery life, great pics, IR capable, small size, etc. The price is $200 though.

For a long time I used a Bushnell bino that I got for free from my company when I reached my 5 year mark. They worked pretty good but I really didn't know otherwise. I replaced them with a Nikon Monarch 8x42 and the difference was pretty dramatic. The Nikon's are a vast improvement in clarity. To be fair, the Bushnell was not something from their better line. I'm quite sure Bushnell makes good bino's. Generally speaking, I think the $180/200 to about $400/500 range is where you find the best dollar to value ratio for both scopes and bino's. Under say $180 you start to get into questionable territory as far as quality and durability is concerned. But going over $500, I think you begin to see a diminishing return. Do I really need an $800 scope to shoot a deer? Of course this is purely a matter of opinion. I'm sure $1000+ Swarovski's are great products. Deals can certainly be had for under $200.

About 4 years ago, I sold 4 wooden ladder stands that I had built and used for a few years. One was 12' high and the others were 15'. The 12' high one had a larger platform and wider ladder. It was more comfortable and more stable. The 15' high ones were smaller mainly for the weight reduction but still large enough to provide a decent amount of room when standing up. I used strap-to-the-tree seats with these stands. The design was pretty nice actually. For the ladder rungs, I dado cut, glued and screwed them into the 2x6" ladder sides. It was much stronger and safer than just screwing the rungs onto the sides. The platform itself was made from tongue and groove flooring. The framing was also 2x6" and all joints were dado cut. All wood except the tongue and groove was pressure treated lumber. Large bolts held the two ladder rungs together and to the platform. I cut a v-notch back piece, wrenched in 4 bolts, cut the bolt heads off and ground them down to points so they grabbed the trees better. Then I used two solid eye hooks on each side for ratchet straps. Once these stands were affixed to the tree, they absolutely did not move one inch! These are the only pics I have of one of them.

You're looking at the height. It's going to be a flatbed so the diamond plate will lay right on that box frame.

I finally got around to posting another progress shot. We were on vacation and had to get some more material hence the delay. But here is where we stand after this past weekend. We got the main box of the flatbed installed. We used surplus 11 gauge 3"x1" rectangle tube for the box.

I can't even find the bow!! ;D ;D ;D

Damn.....my friggen font was too small again!! > Here's what I meant to post: With that out of the way....I like Craig Boddington from Guns&Ammo. Dude seems to go on the best hunting adventures. Check out some of the places he's been in '09 alone! http://www.craigboddington.com/recent-hunts.htm

Yea, yea.....I know..........Tiffany. So let's all just agree on her and move on! ;D With that out of the way....I like Craig Boddington from Guns&Ammo. Dude seems to go on the best hunting adventures. Check out some of the places he's been in '09 alone! http://www.craigboddington.com/recent-hunts.htm I always seem to read his articles in G&A first.

Yep.....Thermocell works great. Although mine is sometimes hard to light.

String loop. Like other said, use it to align my peep.

Another QQ user here. Always leave mine on. I practice with it on and try to always have a few arrows in it during practice. My thinking is that I never know when a shot will present itself. Could be while I'm walking to my stand. So I had better be versed in shooting with the quiver on.

Actually got one during my very first shooting session after getting my first compound. Thought it was the coolest thing ever. I still have the arrows. That was with my PSE Thunderbolt and aluminum arrows. I got maybe two more after that with that bow. But like Doc said, I quickly realized it was expensive. I've only gotten one with carbon arrows. I try to shoot a different bullseyes.

Muzzy 100gr 3-blade. Been using them for years without issue. I tried and hated the Spitfire mechanicals. Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of any mechanical head.

My first hunting bow was a PSE Thunderbolt. Great bow. I shot it for a number of years. The bow I shoot now is a Hoyt Vipertech. But I'm thinking about getting a new bow and handing mine down to my son. Who in turn, will hand his bow (A Browning Micro Adrenaline) down to the other son. The youngest is almost to bow hunting age.

My dream stand!! ;D ;D ;D

Buzzkill!! ;D ;D ;D