Years needed for a hyrbid poplar cutting to support a ladder stand?

Bluecollaroutdoors

5 year old buck +
John I feel like you had this somewhere on your site and now I cant find it.
I am wondering how long you think a hybrid poplar would take to support a tree stand?

I have a spot....a fantastic spot where there are literally no trees bigger than 2 inches in diameter.
Everything around it is windblown cedars in a log jam from a tornado 30 years ago.

It has gone through my mind to cut a 10 yards by 10 yard box in the downed cedars. Fence it off from the deer and plant about 20 poplars the right way. Hoping that in 5 years I could put a tree stand there. Its that good of a spot. I just literally dont have a tree that is usable for anything but gun season.

I know a ground blind might work but I dont like them.
If you had any pictures of your "grow a screen and windbreak in one season" blog from 2012 I would be very interested.
 
I have hybrid poplars that are in perfect conditions that are 5 years old that one could put a ladder stand in up to the 12-15' height. A strong wind though would move the tree so that won't help. My poplars are in heavy clay that gets enough moisture throughout the growing season. The also have 100% sun and no competition except white clover. I would think if you have 100% sun, moisture control, good soil, and little competition they will do the same. I'm in zone 5.
 
Boy I would think you would need 10 years if we had winds like opening of gun season I would want some size behind me.
 
If you want something more immediate while waiting for the trees to grow could just use the approach of burying a 20 ft 6" x 6" post and putting up a ladder stand with that. I borrowed this example from the tribute to Scott Bishop on youtube. Scott was another rare individual like Lickcreek that is no longer with us but others have kept his advice and threads available for folks to learn from on MS Sportsman. The whole tribute video is here
Post & Ladder Stand.JPG
 
Willie nailed it, 5 years in zone 5 or 6 plus with perfect conditions.

I wouldn't call them a 100 year oak in 40+ mile an hour winds, but they will hold a stand.

My deer wouldn't walk past that 6 x 6 with a ladder in it. Well, they would walk by it at 50 yards, staring at it the whole time.

I'll be posting some progress pictures of my screen soon, they aren't nearly as big in diameter because of competition with each other. But they shade the house in July from 100' away. Most are 6+ inches in diameter.

-John
 
Yes that pic is not a great example but could not find one where he something similar and had nested 6 by 6 in a patch of 20 ft tall spruce. Something to break up background a lot more. So when you have a bunch of whippy 3.5" 20 ft tall popple in a clump you could try hunting a few years earlier than waiting for them to get beefier.
 
Thanks guys. I have seen guys use an actual telephone pole and I have buried some 30 foot skinny cedars around me before to hang evergreen off of for cover. Its works great. Picture a field gold post at just the right height 2 feet in front of you on stand. Evergreens hanging to cover you waist down and leg movements. Just enough green on the posts to break up your outline but only in the way for 2 percent of shooting. This spot is good enough that some "Belgianeering" is needed. I have no issue with what Scott Bishop did there I would just need 3 small trees "planted" as well to hang some cover off of to break up my outline.

Thanks for the other ideas guys. Highly appreciated.
 
Can you get a tripod into the area? I have used them where the trees are not big enough for a ladder stand or chain on.
 
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