The tree stand at the "Y"

[bluealtered]

I wrote about this hunting spot last fall, it's one of those places that time seems to have forgotten about. The tree stand in the photos are of it and it was intact last fall but this last winter was the final straw for it i guess, the winters in this little valley/drainage are pretty rough and there's no telling how old that stand is. The first time i saw it was many, many years ago and it was still in good shape at that time.

There were also a couple of lean-to elk shanty's in that area as well but they are gone as well. My friend who is standing at the base of the tree is 6' tall so there's a reference point for the height of the tree. Both Craig and i figure it's around 100-120 feet tall and the tree stand is probably 80' up there. When you think that when it was made it may have been 20' above ground, that's one heck of a long time ago. (The tree is a Larch which are slow growing trees in this area.)

While we were hiking in there we ran across a huge pile of new bear scat which woke both of us up to who was in there with us. You have to hike in downhill to get into that little valley which still has water draining down it even though it's the middle of august, some of the water is above ground but just as much is underground as well. You also have have to walk across the valley floor to get to the tree, and Craig was walking in front of me a few steps when he took a step and then started bouncing up and down, it startled him and we both laughed, he wasn't ready for Perma-frost type ground and it surprised him when he stepped on it.

Craig's looking for a place to take his dad elk hunting, (He's in his eighty's) so i showed this place to go. After i showed him the remains of the shanty's we hiked back up to my jeep and headed back up to the main road, on the way up there on one of the steep upper hill banks there was a large white fir tree that had rotted off and was laying along the top of the bank. It was right at 7' above the road and in the middle of the fir was a big hole where a bear had bored his way in at nose level and got the bugs out of it, that's a big bear. There wasn't any claw marks t on the bottom of hole to show he was reaching up to do this, just straight in nose level, That's a big bear for us. We are having a very good bear year this year.

 

[nmkid]

Dang!!

 

[TC260]

My friend who is standing at the base of the tree is 6' tall so there's a reference point for the height of the tree. Both Craig and i figure it's around 100-120 feet tall and the tree stand is probably 80' up there. When you think that when it was made it may have been 20' above ground, that one heck of a long time ago. (The tree is a Larch which are slow growing trees in this area.)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but as a certified Arborist with a bachelors degree in Ornamental Horticulture I can guarantee with 100% certainty that the stand was built at the same height where it is today. Relatively speaking it would have been closer to the top because the tree was shorter then but the wood doesn't elongate to make the tree taller, new wood is added to make it taller and wider. Still a heck of a stand though! The highest I've ever seen. I used to hunt out of a 40' stand a friend built and that seemed awfully high compared what I normally hunted on that place (15-30).

 

[okie]

Thats way up there!! 10 ft scares me--- i know i will bust like a watermelon if i fall...

 

[338 dude]

I wrote about this hunting spot last fall, it's one of those places that time seems to have forgotten about. The tree stand in the photos are of it and it was intact last fall but this last winter was the final straw for it i guess, the winters in this little valley/drainage are pretty rough and there's no telling how old that stand is. The first time i saw it was many, many years ago and it was still in good shape at that time.

There were also a couple of lean-to elk shanty's in that area as well but they are gone as well. My friend who is standing at the base of the tree is 6' tall so there's a reference point for the height of the tree. Both Craig and i figure it's around 100-120 feet tall and the tree stand is probably 80' up there. When you think that when it was made it may have been 20' above ground, that one heck of a long time ago. (The tree is a Larch which are slow growing trees in this area.)

While we were hiking in there we ran across a huge pile of new bear scat which woke both of us up to who was in there with us. You have to hike in downhill to get into that little valley which still has water draining down it even though it's the middle of august, some of the water is above ground but just as much is underground as well. You also have have to walk across the valley floor to get to the tree, and Craig was walking in front of me a few steps when he took a step and then started bouncing up and down, it startled him and we both laughed, he wasn't ready for Perma-frost type ground and it surprised him when he stepped on it.

Craig's looking for a place to take his dad elk hunting, (He's in his eighty's) so i showed this place to go. After i showed him the remains of the shanty's we hiked back up to my jeep and headed back up to the main road, on the way up there on one of the steep upper hill banks there was a large white fir tree that had rotted off and was laying along the top of the bank. It was right at 7' above the road and in the middle of the fir was a big hole where a bear had bored his way in at nose level and got the bugs out of it, that's a big bear. There wasn't any claw marks t on the bottom of hole to show he was reaching up to do this, just straight in nose level, That's a big bear for us. We are having a very good bear year this year.

There’s no way in hell I would climb that high onto that piece of crap you might as well wear a parachute instead of a safety harness

 

[SSL]

There’s no way in hell I would climb that high onto that piece of crap you might as well wear a parachute instead of a safety harness

Heck in a good windstorm it would only be about 15 feet high...on each arc!

 

[Adam in WI]

I've heard stories of folks in northern Wisconsin supposedly way back when making their deer stands by climbing a tall pine until the trunk was about 4". They'd then cut the tree at that point and nail a board to the top. Think about that for a minute; 60 feet up and sitting on a board without even a backrest

 

[CaptainMal]

Fun story to read. Had to look at your profile as you did not mention this was probably in Oregon.

The stand didn't "grow up" and that is most impressive. someone climbed up that high and built the thing. Look around at the bottom and see if there are old bones to mark that spot.

 

[Bill K]

Who ever used that one, had some faith and a lack of regard for safety.. sure would not trust it any longer, but that is just my opinion.

 

[Lonny in ID]

Somebody had some balls and knew how to climb a tree, to build a stand that high.

 

[Engrbill]

Who ever used that one, had some faith and a lack of regard for safety.. sure would not trust it any longer, but that is just my opinion.

From that Blind you can shoot your deer in the top of the head.

 

[bluealtered]

This wasn't uncommon in the west at one time, not so much as building a stand that high but more along the lines of loggers climbing that high to top trees for timber. This is still done in certain areas, mostly coastal areas or private logging company lands now days or blasting the tops out for habitat, that was something i did when i was younger.

If you take the time to bring up old time logging of the Northwest you can see very good photos of loggers STANDING well over 100' up on the tops of trees they had just topped that were no more than maybe 10"-12" wide. I should also point out that a common afternoon breeze in the Northwest in the mountains can be between 5 and 35+ mph every day and coastal areas can be 30-50+ mph if a front is coming in. You also might consider that someone else had to be up that high in another tree to take the picture as well.

These were very tough people who worked very hard and sometimes died very young and fast back then and sometimes now as well. There are many volumes of books about the logging history of the Northwest and many incredible photos of it including photos of D-8 Dozers being highlined across canyons by cable, ... check it out, it's a piece of Americas history that shows how tough we as a nation were back in those days.

 

[danny]

From that Blind you can shoot your deer in the top of the head.

Noooo. You could damage the horns doing that.

Danny

 

[Delfuego]

Hippie condo?

 

[KMart]

Noooo. You could damage the horns doing that.

Danny

How do you cook horns to make them tender?