seggested reading for sitting in the stand

[helmut in the bush]

I would probably scroll through a couple miles of LGBT on FB.

[Daveboone]

I am a firm believer in that the minutes you are reading, it is most likely that a deer will show. Generally you really only have a few seconds to act on. That said, I used to bring a small e-reader with me when I was bear hunting....very long sits, and I was able to keep focused better than if I was nodding off all the time.

Books? I don't want anything that is going to totally absorb me or make me laugh out loud...Maybe a mystery/ detective novel.

[tommyc50]

4 hours ago, Bionic said:

A book about The Last Alaskan's? Is that what it is called? Thats my favorite show.

yeah the final frontiersman I was going though my hunting gear and found it in my back pack I started reading it the end of last season. heimos cousin wrote it in the late 90's or early 2000's about his experiences living with the family .

[tommyc50]

see im reeeallly cheap I got a flip phone free from work so I cant scroll nothing[good thing i'll explain in a second].I got an I pad and I got games on there and I get so involved I forget to look for deer, even going back years a go with tetrus and game boy I couldn't play them and I get lost in the games and yelling oh @##$ or oh&%$^ and got busted all the time .so I go old school books, magazines cause I can read alittle look up then read alittle

[grampy]

No reading for me on stand. As it is, deer just seem to "appear" sometimes,  even when I'm looking for them. Always something going on in the woods to keep me entertained. Or I'm checking to be sure the hint of a breeze is still on my face. Or I'm debating with myself, while I sit on the swamp edge, not seeing deer. Thinking there is probably a bunch of deer over by the oak flat stand! 

[nybuckboy]

I never would read a book on stand.  You can't read a book and watch the woods.  That being said, I have found that an iPod with music and even better yet, loaded with a few books on tape (CD) work great as you can listen and look at the same time.

As we all know you cant kill them from the house so I sit as long as I can til I'm so bored I can't stand it. Then I put in some ear buds. Turn the iPod volume all the way down and then play a song and just barely turn on the volume. I can still hear the woods even on quiet days.  On rainy or windy days it doesn't matter.

Try it!

[coonhunter]

I read a lot in stand. Used to be books, now it is a Kindle. I am an avid reader and i figure if i am going to be sitting there doing nothing most of the day, i might as well be reading.

[First-light]

Just hunt and enjoy all the beauty around you. 

[BowmanMike]

The dog stars by peter heller,but i warn you,once you get sucked in the deer will be safe from you...

[ATbuckhunter]

Im with First-Light on this one. Enjoy every second because before you know it, were in the off season day dreaming about hunting. Sometimes ill get on my phone here and there, but genreally I try to stay off of it. 

[wolc123]

5 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Wolc will offer up a bible.........

(not that there’s anything wrong with that)

If you feel the need to read a book in your stand, you can't go wrong with the world's all time best seller.   I read a couple pages every morning (before the sun comes up), and I bring it out, up in the stand, a time or two each season.  I can say with no doubt, that it allowed me send (2) deer to deer heaven (our family's food supply), and it probably helped with (3) others.  I saw a neighbors truck, containing two "probable" donations, backing into our driveway from a blind out back while I had the Bible in hand.   I did not kill any of my own deer that year, so our family would have had to eat a lot more chicken were it not for those two larger than average sized deer (9 point 2.5 year old and 2.5 year old doe)  The third "probable" was a stout 2.5 year old buck that I killed with my crossbow on one of two days that I read from it in the stand that year (I think I may even have recorded the last verse that I read, prior to releasing the bolt, in the 2016 crossbow harvest thread on here).   

The second largest antlered buck that I ever killed (a fine 3.5 year old 8-point) was the one that most clearly demonstrated the power of that book. I had killed a button buck (imagine that) in the morning on opening day.   When I got up to the house for lunch, my wife told me that a friend had called and she wondered if we wanted another "twin" to the one I had just hung up in the garage.  Reluctantly, I made the short drive and hung it there, right next to the other one.

With all the shooting behind our house that morning (only one of which was mine), and with a fair amount of meat hanging in the garage, I was not overly exited about an afternoon hunt.  It was a beautiful warm, calm day though, and I still had my buck tag.  I decided to grab my Bible and my grandad's old Ithaca 16 gauge, and head for a stand in the middle of the woods, across the road from our house.  I had not heard any shots from over there in the morning, while it had sounded like WW3 on our side of the road.    

I got up in the stand about 2:30 pm, and immediately opened up the Bible and started reading (no reccolection of what chapter or verse).  The hours passed and all I saw were a few squirrels and another hunter, dressed in blaze orange, sneaking silently thru the far side of the woods.  As dusk approached, the Bible slipped from my hands and fell to the forrest floor, about 12 feet below.  I glanced at my watch and noted that there was about 5 minutes of "legal" daylight left.

Not really needing more meat, I decided to pack it in a little early, but I left my gun loaded, as I very carefully climbed down.   I know that is a big-time safety violation, but I never claimed to be "perfect".   As I reached to pick up the Bible, a flock of turkeys landed right on my position in the little patch of brush below my stand.   Suddenly, the big rack, head and neck of the buck appeared from behind a bush, just 10 yards away.  Swiftly I raised my gun and centered the crosshairs of the 1.5X Weaver on the base of his neck.  The shot put him down there in his tracks.  I looked at my watch and there were still 2 minutes of legal light to go.  It was pitch black by the time I dragged his carcass to the edge of the woods, and I was very thankful for the lights on my loader tractor.     

Had that Bible not mysteriously fallen when it did , those turkeys would have spotted my blaze orange camo from a mile away.  The big old smart buck's luck ran out when his line of pawns was breached in that little patch of brush.  Sometimes lately, I feel a little guilty when I bring the Bible out while hunting.  It almost seems like that is not giving the deer a fair chance.  That is the main reason I only do it once or twice a year.

I do not like distractions while hunting, and that includes phones, radios, games, and books.  I like to focus all of my senses on the task at hand.  Last year, a phone cost me about 60 pounds of meat.  My buddy used his finger to text me, that he just knocked a buck down, rather that on his trigger to put it down for good.  He does not like venison himself, and the year prior he had shot me a nice button buck, so I could not get on him too bad, but I doubt he will make that mistake again.   

The worst thing I could do up in a stand is listen to a radio, I-pod, or anything other than the sounds of the woods. I use my ears like radar in the stand and  I probably hear 3 deer first for every 1 that I see first.

Edited September 27, 2018 by wolc123

[LET EM GROW]

9 hours ago, helmut in the bush said:

I would probably scroll through a couple miles of LGBT on FB.

Same, Its a great read! 

[helmut in the bush]

25 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

Same, Its a great read! 

FO SHO

[Jdubs]

My last read was 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willink, but for me hunting time is best spent hunting.  

[turkeyfeathers]

Don’t be this guy


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[steve863]

It's easy enough to have a deer sneak by you if you are fully engaged with your surroundings, if you distract yourself by reading a book it will be even more likely to happen.  And having your ears plugged listening to music is even worse than reading in my honest opinion.  There have been literally scores of deer that I heard well before I ever caught a glimpse of them. 

[stubborn1VT]

To each his own.  I don't feel like I miss much while I'm reading.  It helps me pass the time on stand and figure it keeps me on stand longer, which translates into more success.  Do what you like!

[G-Man]

cant read in a stand my focus would be on the book .

 

[Uncle Nicky]

5 minutes ago, G-Man said:

cant read in a stand my focus would be on the book .

 

Years ago I'd never think of reading on a stand or playing Tetris or electric Yahtzee (pre-cell phones). But I've found I can spend a lot more time sitting still without getting bored if I bring a book with me. Cell phone is too much movement & fiddling around, and I run out of sites & topics to Google after a while. I just read a page or two, look around, and if nothing's moving, back to the book. I can't honestly say I've missed any game doing this (that I know of), and can honestly say I've stayed out later than if I hadn't had something to read & pass the time.

[G-Man]

46 minutes ago, Uncle Nicky said:

Years ago I'd never think of reading on a stand or playing Tetris or electric Yahtzee (pre-cell phones). But I've found I can spend a lot more time sitting still without getting bored if I bring a book with me. Cell phone is too much movement & fiddling around, and I run out of sites & topics to Google after a while. I just read a page or two, look around, and if nothing's moving, back to the book. I can't honestly say I've missed any game doing this (that I know of), and can honestly say I've stayed out later than if I hadn't had something to read & pass the time.

i sit down and read a novel from cover to cover forgetting to eat ,sleep, whatever.  no way i could read a book in a stand i would.miss the whole day.

[nybuckboy]

13 hours ago, steve863 said:

It's easy enough to have a deer sneak by you if you are fully engaged with your surroundings, if you distract yourself by reading a book it will be even more likely to happen.  And having your ears plugged listening to music is even worse than reading in my honest opinion.  There have been literally scores of deer that I heard well before I ever caught a glimpse of them. 

Steve - then you haven't tried it. As I stated, the volume is just cracked on at the very lowest it can be possibly on and I can still hear my surroundings.  Windy days and rainy days it doesn't matter as you can't hear a buck anyway. To each their own though. 

Edited September 28, 2018 by nybuckboy

[wfmiller]

On 9/27/2018 at 8:30 AM, steve863 said:

 There have been literally scores of deer that I heard well before I ever caught a glimpse of them. 

Man I wish I could hear them coming. I haven't heard one in 5 or 6 years now. I'm almost totally deaf in my left ear and I can't hear out of my right very well. 

[corydd7]

14 minutes ago, wfmiller said:

Man I wish I could hear them coming. I haven't heard one in 5 or 6 years now. I'm almost totally deaf in my left ear and I can't hear out of my right very well. 

Same problem I really feel it holds me back, I always feel like I'm missing hearing something.

[nybuckboy]

Cory and Miller - get some hearing aids... you're probably missing more than just deer in life.

 

[crappyice]

Cory and Miller - get some hearing aids... you're probably missing more than just deer in life.
 

Or DONT! I have a coworker who is full fledge deaf- he calls his hearing impairment a superpower. Built in excuse for ignoring the crying kids, disgruntled boss and bossy wife!!!


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