Finishing Touches on Penthouse Suite Renovation

[wildcat junkie]

I've had a large, bench seat ladder stand with a tin roof in what should be a good location for 12 years now. It is located on the Western edge of a 15 acre section of my woods that was selectively logged off in 1999.There are several "transitions" as far as cover in that area. A small marshy area to the South, a slightly elevated knoll with hardwoods on the east slope & cedar on the crest/West slope. There is a hardwood area with oaks to the West and North with hemlocks in between. The logged over area is so thick you can hardly crawl through it! The deer travel patterns crisscross through the area. Directly to the South, about 50 yds from the stand is the end of a 250 yd shooting lane that stretches out in front of my tripod where I have killed several 2 1/2 year old & 3 1/2 year old bucks & several mature doe, yet the only deer that have been killed from this stand were 3 yearling bucks taken by my son. It seems that mature deer would avoid the stand when it is occupied, yet they would often be observed from the tripod frequenting the area when the stand is empty..

This year, a few weeks ago, we decided to shift the stand location slightly to offer better concealment. I went out today to put a new bench seat back in the stand so I snapped some pictures. This stand is so comfortable, we call it "The Penthouse Suite".

 

In the picture below, near the left margin, you can see the new stand location tucked into a white pine tree that is right next to a hemlock. I cable tied several hemlock boughs to the roof supports to offer even more concealment. The stand was previously in the maple that is about 30' to the right & slightly behind the new location. You can see how exposed the stand would have been in the maple.

 

Here is the entry trail to the stand. It is only about 12 yds off a horse-trail.

 

This is the view looking back from the stand.

 

There are a few narrow shooting lanes between the entry trail & a wide open expanse looking over the horse-trail to the front. I am posting pictures from the stand as well as a deer's eye view .

 

 As we rotate to the left now there is a rather long stretch of horse-trail that offers a good field of fire.

 

In the center of this picture you can see the "Y" intersection of the horse-trail that comes down off the cedar knoll. This trail is used heavily by the deer.

 

Concealment is excellent from this angle as you can barely pick out the stand in the center of the shot.

 

At about 9:30 from the stand is a shooting lane with another narrow lane to the left. From the deer's view on these, concealment is excellent. Again, these areas see a lot of deer infiltration. I shot the majority of my deer in these areas of the horse-trail from the tripod that is about 250 yds to the left.

 

Finally, perhaps the most heavily used area at 9;00 from the stand. Over a dozen deer have been taken over the last 15 years from the distant tripod in this general area of the horse-trail.

 

The view from the ground again seems to show excellent concealment for the new stand location in the white pine/hemlock trees in the distant center. You have to look very closely to pick out the stand from this angle. I'm hoping that the concealment factor will improve success out of this stand. We won't start hunting this area until just before Halloween.That when the bucks start cruising the area.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by wildcat junkie