Picking the Perfect Tree

I was nervous climbing that tree, really nervous. I was only being held on by two little whimpy- looking cables, that could probably lift an eighteen wheeler, but they still looked small. I was using a climbing tree stand, for the first time. All my life I have hunted on the ground, boxes or in a tree stand, but never out of a climber. It was spooky... but I quickly figured out how to work the seemingly complicated piece of equipment, and was on my way up.

I was clearing out a spot for my climber, and gaps in the tree for shooting lanes. I was setting up right over a acorn-covered food plot, with a deer trails leading in and out. My dad and I had spent about an hour looking for the right spot, and we had found it. It was a fairly long food plot that was only about a twenty-five-yard shot straight across and thirty or so in the far corner; easy stuff. There was already a box on this plot but it was not positioned how I needed it and I could not use a bow out of it. So we went and bought a great climber (which only ran us $115) and set it up.

As I was hanging out of the rather small stand to
cut down limbs, I felt certain that those weak looking cables I mentioned earlier would snap in half, causing me to plummet to my death... or at least a few nice bruises. But fortunately I made it through the event with no mishaps and I'm ready for archery season.

www.danahersoutdoors.com