Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
Thought you'd get a kick out of these trees stands I recently found. If there was ever a museum dedicated to the history of the tree stand....these 3 certainly belong.
All 3 were in the same general area I was scouting the last few weeks. I suspect they were made by the same guy....you can quite literally see how his skills, knowledge, and tolerance for risk evolved over the years.
The first candidate for the museum.....what's left of a mostly plywood stand in an old dead spruce tree that was held up by some kind of rope wrapped around the tree several times. Rope!!! I'm guessing an early 80's home built stand.
Probably the guy realized what a death trap the first stand was that he then went back the drawing board and built stand #2....a better design for sure and starting to resemble modern stands. Angle iron, a plywood floor, some custom welding, and thin wire and wire nuts connectors still make this a stand I would not trust my life to. Maybe late 80's or early 90's?
And probably the Holy Grail of tree stands for the museum....the ORIGINAL ladder stand! The guy clearly realized what a disaster his first two stands were. He took a ladder....and turned it into a stand! A rare specimen. Doesn't look like it's been used in years.
Hope you enjoyed. If anybody else has any stands they'd like to add I'd love to see them.
All 3 were in the same general area I was scouting the last few weeks. I suspect they were made by the same guy....you can quite literally see how his skills, knowledge, and tolerance for risk evolved over the years.
The first candidate for the museum.....what's left of a mostly plywood stand in an old dead spruce tree that was held up by some kind of rope wrapped around the tree several times. Rope!!! I'm guessing an early 80's home built stand.
Probably the guy realized what a death trap the first stand was that he then went back the drawing board and built stand #2....a better design for sure and starting to resemble modern stands. Angle iron, a plywood floor, some custom welding, and thin wire and wire nuts connectors still make this a stand I would not trust my life to. Maybe late 80's or early 90's?
And probably the Holy Grail of tree stands for the museum....the ORIGINAL ladder stand! The guy clearly realized what a disaster his first two stands were. He took a ladder....and turned it into a stand! A rare specimen. Doesn't look like it's been used in years.
Hope you enjoyed. If anybody else has any stands they'd like to add I'd love to see them.