Syracuse.com - Jefferson County man shares his love of hunting by posting on Facebook from his tree stand

HuntingNY-News · October 28, 2011

The reaction has been mixed. Matteson said some criticized him when he began doing it, noting one of the joys of hunting is getting in touch with nature, along with getting unplugged and getting away from work and all the problems that life brings. Others like his "play-by-play" descriptions of what he's seeing and doing.

<a href="http://blog.syracuse.com/outdoors/2011/10/jefferson_county_man_shares_hi.html">Watch video</a>

<div id="asset-10193157" class="entry_widget_large entry_widget_right"><img height="241" width="380" src="http://media.syracuse.com/outdoors/photo/10193157-large.jpg" class="adv-photo" alt="2011-10-26-jb-treestand1.JPG" />John Berry/The Post-StandardJay Matteson says some of his friends have been critical of his hunt-and-text approach, but others like the play-by-play account of what he’s doing and seeing.</div>

Jay M. Matteson’s love for hunting goes way back.

“I started going with my dad at a very early age,” he said. “I’ve always had this passion for it. As a young boy, I even used to ask Santa Claus for hunting clothes.”

Today, Matteson, 45, of the town of Lorraine in Jefferson County, is still a die-hard deer hunter, taking advantage of both the bow and firearms seasons. Within the past year he’s taken things a step further — sharing his passion with others by making repeated postings on Facebook while he’s in his tree stand.

He calls it the “Tree Stand Chronicles” and has a following of more than 500 readers. This past week, in anticipation of this article, he stopped filing hunting-related postings on his personal page and created a special “Tree Stand Chronicles” page.

“It all started when I got this Blackberry,” he said. “Last year, it was opening day of bow season. I was up in one of my stands, which is located in a beautiful stand of hemlocks. I hadn’t seen any deer and I was just waiting. So I just thought I should put this on Facebook and share what I’m seeing with my friends, and see what they say.”

The reaction has been mixed. Matteson said some criticized him when he began doing it, noting one of the joys of hunting is getting in touch with nature, along with getting unplugged and getting away from work and all the problems that life brings.

“What the heck are you doing texting?” wrote one friend on his page. “You’re going to miss seeing a deer.”

Matteson, who is chief executive officer for the Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corp., sees things differently. In addition to posting comments, he also occasionally posts pictures of what he’s seeing.

“There’s an awful lot of people out there that just don’t get the experience or never see the sights that us hunters have sitting out there in a tree stand,” he said. “I had one friend say my Facebook postings were great — kind of like the play-by-play action of deer hunting.”

Matteson conceded that with his Blackberry turned on, he gets calls and emails from work while he’s in his tree stand. He said he screens them and refuses to answer.

“That’s where I draw the line,” he said.

An example from last weekend’s postings:

“wow! had to stop my story for two does that just came crashing through! they were to my left running full throttle! waiting for what I hope is a buck chasing them!”

No buck appeared, but Matteson took a picture of where the does emerged, posted that and wrote:

“looking left from my tree stand. the two does came out of the woods here and ran straight underneath my stand.”

He filed again when wind rocked the pine tree that his tree stand was in:

“unfortunately this tree stand I’m in is on a young pine tree. even though its a sunny afternoon a breeze has come up and is making a racket in the aspen in front of me. I was hoping for a quiet afternoon. the tree bounces pretty good and I don’t like heights to begin with!”

Earlier this season, he wrote about how he went out early to hunt and in the darkness came across a growling, snarling animal in the woods that he believed was a mountain lion.

“It could have been a black bear. I couldn’t see it,” he said. “All I know is that it was big and not very friendly.”

Matteson doesn’t profess to be an expert.

“Sometimes when I’m up there I post statements and have conversations with others about such thing as whether putting out doe estrus urine or rattling antlers works,” he said. “I’ve taken a few nice bucks, shot a few deer. But I’m no trophy hunter.”

Last year’s highlight, he said, was how he posted from start to finish his sighting, shooting and later finding a five-point buck he took with his bow.

Matteson said he attended Unity College in Maine and his degree was in wildlife biology.

“I’m a Cub Scout leader. In my previous job, I worked for the Soil and Water Conservation District and did a lot of conservation programming,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to share my experiences, my love for nature. I just never dreamed I’d be doing it by texting from a tree stand.”

He said he’s thought about anti-hunting types possibly joining his new Facebook page and blasting him for what he’s doing.

“I figure I’m going to get some wackos. I’ll take that risk,” he said. “I can block them off the page if necessary.”

One follower, a woman he knew from high school and who he befriended recently on Facebook, wrote appreciatively after reading his tree-stand postings.

“My dad lived for hunting and fishing, so reading your chronicles makes him feel a little closer, even though he’s been gone for 17 years now,” she said. “People sometimes make a difference in someone’s lives without even realizing it.”

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/TreeStandChronicles">Check out his Facebook page.</a>

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog