Hunting chairs

[wolc123]

The older I get, the more comfortable I like to be while deer hunting.  Usually, I garbage pick the chairs, that I use in my blinds.   Last summer, I found a super comfortable one at a barn sale, and I paid $ 8 for it (the guy was asking $ 10). I only bought it because I have never sat in a more comfortable office chair.

It has adjustable height, back rest and arm rests.  It is padded with weather-proof covering.  The swivel turns silent.  Best all, I killed (3) deer from it last season establishing a new record for me from a chair in a season.   It’s definitely my favorite hunting chair now. 
 

Here it is, when I pulled it after spring turkey season.  I almost got a turkey off it, but it was a hen, nor a tom, that I called within range and they are protected in the spring.  
 

This tree hammock is my second favorite.  It is more comfortable than the $ 8 chair, but it cost me about $ 30, and I never killed more than 1 deer from it in a season.  I got a mature doe from it last year, that I have been trying to kill for the last (3) seasons, up in the Adirondacks.  

It is almost too comfortable, resulting in my dozing off in it a time or two.   It is super light and easy to carry.  Like the swivel chair, it allows easy 360 degree around shooting.  
 

I have to be careful setting it up now, because the latch on the tree strap is broken on one side.  If you latch it with the broken side up it will dump you on your rear end.  Piling up leaves under it at least cushions the fall if that happens.  It also don’t work too well with a tree umbrella in heavy rains - you get a wet butt.  
 

When I am hunting from it in the Adirondacks,  with the tree umbrella (light rains only), I hang my orange hat up above so that it will be visible to shooters on adjacent ridges.  Not sure if that’s legal, but it beats getting shot by someone who sees movement under the umbrella.   

This is my newest hunting chair, that I garbage picked a couple weeks ago.  The lower section, with height adjustment, castors and swivel, is in like new condition, but the cushioned seat was damaged. I cut off a cheap plastic lawn chair, with back and arm rests, and replaced that.  I will probably carry in a padded seat cushion, when I hunt from it.  It will go in my poplar tree blind (one of (2) new elevated blinds that I put up last year).  The one over at my parents place in a cherry tree got the $8 chair. 

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by wolc123

[GreeneHunter]

Does it for me ! And I put my lunch in there !

 

[Jeremy K]

if i plan on sitting i use my summit back pack chair . Super comfy ,the height of the chair is adjustable too. 

[wolc123]

2 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

if i plan on sitting i use my summit back pack chair . Super comfy ,the height of the chair is adjustable too. 

What do you do if a deer comes up from behind or on your weak side with that ?  I always try to guess where they will come from, and position accordingly, but almost as often as not, I guess wrong.   With a swivel chair, or the tree hammock,  I can silently turn for the shot.  
 

I can easily think of two bucks, where exactly that happened.  One was a photogenic 9-pointer, that snuck thru the woods behind me on the day after Thanksgiving last year just after sunset, as I watched over a clover plot.

The other, was that infamous Texas heart shot Adirondack 6-point, that snuck up behind me as I sat in the tree hammock chair.  Each of those would have likely survived a bit longer,  if I had not had an easy and quiet rotating chair.  

[Jeremy K]

7 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

What do you do if a deer comes up from behind or on your weak side with that ?  I always try to guess where they will come from, and position accordingly, but almost as often as not, I guess wrong.   With a swivel chair, or the tree hammock,  I can silently turn for the shot.  
 

I can easily think of two bucks, where exactly that happened.  One was a photogenic 9-pointer, that snuck thru the woods behind me on the day after Thanksgiving last year just after sunset, as I watched over a clover plot.

The other, was that infamous Texas heart shot Adirondack 6-point, that snuck up behind me as I sat in the tree hammock chair.  Each of those would have likely survived a bit longer,  if I had not had an easy and quiet rotating chair.  

my back always points down wind, odds are in my favor one wont approach me on the ground from down wind. not impossible but not likely 

[wolc123]

1 minute ago, Jeremy K said:

my back always points down wind, odds are in my favor one wont approach me on the ground from down wind. not impossible but not likely 

My opening day of southern zone gun season stand is a hang-on with a non-rotating seat.  Since it is fixed, I can’t do nothing about the wind.  I do have it positioned, such that the primary, swamp-edge deer travel route is on my strong side.  
 

A couple years ago, a group of three antlerless deer strolled by on my weak side, within 40 yards.  I sure wished I had a swivel seat then.  Fortunately, they were on my strong side on their return trip, an hour or so later, and I was able to drop the fat lead doe with my 16 gauge Ithaca pump.
 

That fixed chair is reasonably comfortable, but someday I will probably replace that cheap hang on stand with a big comfortable elevated blind with a swivel chair.  I will not do that, until I sit thru an opener with no deer action (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it).  
 

For the last (4) seasons, I had good opening-day action from this stand.  Any change that I make, might alter the deer pattern and put a stop to that.

 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, GreeneHunter said:

Does it for me ! And I put my lunch in there !

 

I use one off those for ice fishing, but no where near comfortable enough for me to hunt deer from at my age.  The only time I actually hunted from one was for about an hour,  prior to my shooting of what might be my largest bodied buck ever (from a comfortable, cushioned swivel boat chair).  That buck had a 43” chest girth (besting last years 9 point  by about 1/2”) but an unimpressive busted up rack.    
 

It was the last week of archery season, and I sat on that bucket in a brush patch, on the edge of a clover plot.  I just couldn’t get comfortable, so I moved to the upper deck of my two-story blind in the adjacent woods.  That blind is super comfortable, but I had never killed a deer from it.  I found the upper deck covered with about a foot of fallen leaves.  
 

There was a fresh buck scrape about 20 yards away.  Apparently, the hefty 3.5 year old thought that I was a rival buck.  (5) minutes after my clearing out of those leaves, he charged in and took my crossbow bolt thru both lungs. He was also the last deer that  I killed from that blind.  

Edited July 9, 2022 by wolc123

[crappyice]

Does it for me ! And I put my lunch in there !
 

And if you bring a kitchen garbage bag to line it, you can put your lunch in it hours later after you eat it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fasteddie]

I bought a chair like this at WalMart for under $50 to use in my Pond Blind . It was $100 on EBAY for the same brand and model . It swivels but doesn't adjust to raise or lower . 

[wolc123]

This is the one that I had in my big poplar tree blind last year.  It also swivels, but does not have height adjustment or arm rests.  It does have a storage box below. I usually use it for sighting in my guns, back at my range, and I keep shooting supplies in the box.  

I am going to set up my pop up blind, near my range, after Labor Day weekend and I will place this swivel box chair in it then.  The solid bottom is nice for setting on the dirt, compared to individual legs or castors.   
 

I can’t recall ever shooting a deer from it, but I will give it a try from the pop-up blind,  during the early September antlerless gun season this year.    I am going to plant a turnip/radish mix plot back in that area at the end of this month.  Maybe the radishes will draw some deer to that area.  I can only hunt that corner with an east or a north wind.  

[Northcountryman]

14 hours ago, Jeremy K said:

if i plan on sitting i use my summit back pack chair . Super comfy ,the height of the chair is adjustable too. 

I like that!! How much was that puppy?

[Otto]

4 hours ago, wolc123 said:

This is the one that I had in my big poplar tree blind last year.  It also swivels, but does not have height adjustment or arm rests.  It does have a storage box below. I usually use it for sighting in my guns, back at my range, and I keep shooting supplies in the box.  

I am going to set up my pop up blind, near my range, after Labor Day weekend and I will place this swivel box chair in it then.  The solid bottom is nice for setting on the dirt, compared to individual legs or castors.   
 

I can’t recall ever shooting a deer from it, but I will give it a try from the pop-up blind,  during the early September antlerless gun season this year.    I am going to plant a turnip/radish mix plot back in that area at the end of this month.  Maybe the radishes will draw some deer to that area.  I can only hunt that corner with an east or a north wind.  

I have that chair too.  I used it for ice fishing, worked great.  It’s still in the barn, I may use it again. 

[JJBat150]

20 hours ago, GreeneHunter said:

Does it for me ! And I put my lunch in there !

 

There's a bunch of these in the woods where I hunt. Definitely wouldn't want to eat out of them...  

[Doc]

Quite often, comfort makes the difference on whether you stay in the stand or leave early (just as the deer begin to move). I love some of the examples of what you guys plant your rump on while on stand. My problem is that I hunt a lot of public land and have to carry out whatever I carry in. That makes size and weight an important consideration. I generally stuff a small aluminum and canvas folding stool into my back pack, and that serves the purpose of being able to get off my feet when I need to. It weighs just about nothing and is very compact. I like the looks of that backpack chair shown above. I also see the value in having the ability to pivot or swivel. Deer have a habit of coming in from unpredictable directions.

Maybe I need to do some more thinking on what seat to take along.

[crappyice]

Quite often, comfort makes the difference on whether you stay in the stand or leave early (just as the deer begin to move). I love some of the examples of what you guys plant your rump on while on stand. My problem is that I hunt a lot of public land and have to carry out whatever I carry in. That makes size and weight an important consideration. I generally stuff a small aluminum and canvas folding stool into my back pack, and that serves the purpose of being able to get off my feet when I need to. It weighs just about nothing and is very compact. I like the looks of that backpack chair shown above. I also see the value in having the ability to pivot or swivel. Deer have a habit of coming in from unpredictable directions.
Maybe I need to do some more thinking on what seat to take along.

First time I hunted my buddy's grandfather thought me the art of building stable rocks seats from whatever was there. Ideally Rey would be built in front of a tree or behind a rock wall. Never need to take those from the woods (unless you don't want to give up your spot!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fasteddie]

I have a couple of tri-pod fold up chairs . They are too low to use to shoot out of a blind . They have a small back and are fairly comfortable . I find that the web chairs with 4 legs are uncomfortable to sit on for very long . 

[wolc123]

15 minutes ago, fasteddie said:

I have a couple of tri-pod fold up chairs . They are too low to use to shoot out of a blind . They have a small back and are fairly comfortable . I find that the web chairs with 4 legs are uncomfortable to sit on for very long . 

I picked one of those up at Aldis ($ 13 I think) a few years ago when they were also selling pop-up blinds for about $ 30.  I lost it the first year I had it.   It seemed odd that they sold a stool that was too low for the pop-up blind that they also sold.   I will probably get another, just for rainy days when the tree hammock don’t work so good, under a tree umbrella.  
 

The tripod chairs are quicker to set up and take down than the tree hammock, but bulkier to carry, no swivel, and far less comfortable.  They are a little more versatile, in that you don’t need a tree in the right spot.  

[mlammerhirt]

Just grabbed this one as my neighbor was wheeling it out to the garbage. It will find a home in the new raised enclosed Millennium blind this fall.

Sent from my SM-A716V using Tapatalk

[BizCT]

I like armless swivel in a blind with bow

For no blind with with bow I like the tiny folding chairs. No arms also.

For gun, any log or rock works.

Regardless, practice makes perfect.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[wolc123]

I garbage picked another one yesterday, on my drive over to my parents house.  This one is padded, with a torn leather seat cover.  The swiveI, casters, and height adjustment on the base are in great shape.   I think I will duct tape the rips, and use it in my pop-up blind this year.  That way, I can keep using my box seat on the range. 
 

 

 

This  following one is a folding seat that I made.  I had it and a few others  just like it for many years on a stand that was about 50 yards from my current poplar tree stand, on the same hedgerow.  I killed about a dozen deer from that stand, over about 30 years.  I cut it down a few years ago when the Emerald ash borers started killing the tree.  
 

That stand was up about 12 feet, considerably higher than I am comfortable hunting these days.  The little wood seat was not too comfortable, but it never bothered me when I was young.  The foldaway feature was nice, because I preferred to stand up while bow hunting.  I killed my first and farthest crossbow buck with a 59 yard shot thru the heart from that chair.  I also made my farthest shotgun kill from it (a doe at 163 yards).  
 

There were at least (4) mishaps from it, including a basket-racked 8 point that I probably hit right where I aimed with my inline ML, but failed to recover.  My old sidelock ML misfired, when another one-time 8 point, that had shed one side, walked right under it on the last day of ML season.   
 

I dropped my Marlin 512 from it once, shearing the #10 scope base screws, and another time I dropped the clip from that gun into the water-filled ditch below and didn’t get it back until the spring.  
 

It is upside down in the picture.  The large brass door hinge on the back of the seat is screwed to the tree, and a smaller hinge under the middle is attached to the diagonal support.   That folds out of the way when down, and stops against a small wood block attached to the tree a few inches below, when up.  

Edited July 19, 2022 by wolc123

[dbHunterNY]

water resistant foam hunting seat/cushion on a milk crate most of the time if i'm off the ground. more often i'm on the ground with just the cushion that's attached to me. too much other stuff is a plain to carry in/out and holds too much scent to leave.

[BizCT]

13 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

water resistant foam hunting seat/cushion on a milk crate most of the time if i'm off the ground. more often i'm on the ground with just the cushion that's attached to me. too much other stuff is a plain to carry in/out and holds too much scent to leave.

I never walk in the woods without a seat cushion attached to my belt

[dbHunterNY]

1 hour ago, BizCT said:

I never walk in the woods without a seat cushion attached to my belt

funny how i've walked out without one though. haha  new hunters i've mentored i've given a wind checker bottle full of talc powder and a seat. I've had them borrow shooting sticks and tell them that's also a must have, well for gun hunting. crossbow that would probably also apply.

[wolc123]

Good as new (almost):

[AuburnNYC]

On 7/8/2022 at 9:52 PM, Jeremy K said:

if i plan on sitting i use my summit back pack chair . Super comfy ,the height of the chair is adjustable too.

Really like the look of this thanks for sharing. I mostly saddle hunt and when I'm on the ground I just wear an ASAT leafy suit and use whatever terrain is available.