Tree Stands from Yesteryear Picture Thread

[Highland Lofts]

Hunting several wood lots and checking out new places to hunt I occasionally run across old broken down tree stands and started taki g pictures of then.
Can any one add pictures to the thread.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Just a piece of 2x left on this one.



An old plastic chair from years ago.

 

[Armored farmer]

I snapped this pic back in '16 as a reminder of how quickly things change.
I built this one back in the early 80s. All stands were homemade then. There was no Summit, or Ol' Man back then. I welded it up out of scraps. It has a broken disc blade as a seat. I remember having a cold butt while hunting.
I hung this in a nearby woods that I was iffy on permission to hunt. I killed a nice buck from that stand with my bow.
Fast forward 20 years and now I own that woods.

 

[22250Rem]

There's a few around my immediate vicinity that I don't have photos of. A couple on my friends property where I have a ladder stand and a pop-up blind that are in some of the pix here on the computer. First one is next to my 3 year old steel ladder stand. Nobody's gonna climb up in that old one, as it would surely fall apart if you tried it. Here's the view from my ladder stand. ... Pop-up blind is in a thicker area right next to another old wooden one that's literally rotting away. Some of it has since fallen down since that picture was taken less than 2 weeks ago. ..

 

[huntsman]

My old homemade stands are gone because of timbering but I still remember them and it amazes me what I considered “safe” back then

 

[kenboyles72]

Some of my less than optimal stands have included non-operational pump jacks. I have even unbolted the ladder off of pump jacks and stood them against a tree. Don't have any pics, but I made one from a telescoping aluminum ladder. The seat folded flat and locked in place with a couple pieces of square tubing. Very light weight an portable.

 

[bearleft]

This is probably the most extravagant old stand / blind I've ever seen in the woods.
Two sided L-shaped seat and full gun rest opposite the seat. Full roof.
The ladder is much more recent than the original structure.

 

[Patocazador]

I've used a windmill for a stand ... sat up on the platform. Some of those platforms looked very dilapidated.

 

[Highland Lofts]

View attachment 957377
This is probably the most extravagant old stand / blind I've ever seen in the woods.
Two sided L-shaped seat and full gun rest opposite the seat. Full roof.
The ladder is much more recent than the original structure.

Looks like it is a shag bark hickory tree with a maple log infront of it.
You see lots of squirrels around it?

 

[troy fairweather]

I stay on the ground, I've seen a lot of old stands tho.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I have seen lots of them over the years and am thinking of starting a photo album of old tree stands and maybe one of old hunting camps.
The stories these could tell if they could talk.

 

[jmr40]

Remember the Baker climbing stands? I had one of these back in the day. They were easy to make and just about every high school kid here in GA made a bootleg copy in shop class. Aluminum was harder to find and more expensive so most were made with steel. They were a bit heavier, but a lot cheaper.

 

[Rembrandt]

Don't know what qualifies stands from "yesteryear".....some of these have been up for nearly 30 years. Prior to building steel we used wood pallets. Unfortunately we only could get 5-6 years before they began to decompose.

 

[gotboostvr]

I'm pretty sure I used two of the first three posted in this thread.

I've used some very "iffy" looking stands. They've all been practically abandoned though, and everyone has brought their own tree climber and just puts them in the tree next to the old stands.

Even the "new guys" at camp know where the old stands are since we still use them as points of reference.

"I was up in the lower bowl stand (even though that stand has been an unused rotted piece of wood for the last decade) when I saw that buck last year"

 

[Patocazador]

Remember the Baker climbing stands? I had one of these back in the day. They were easy to make and just about every high school kid here in GA made a bootleg copy in shop class. Aluminum was harder to find and more expensive so most were made with steel. They were a bit heavier, but a lot cheaper.

View attachment 957452

I still have one but it's a gen-you-wine Baker complete with hand climber like yours. I've replaced the original plywood platform with P.T. plywood. The last time I used that stand was about 15 years ago.

 

[jmr40]

That isn't mine. It was stolen out of the bed of my truck years ago. Just a photo I found on the internet.

 

[bearleft]

Looks like it is a shag bark hickory tree with a maple log infront of it.
You see lots of squirrels around it?

More Turkey and deer than squirrels

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

When I first started hunting in the current camp 25 - 30 years ago, i was shown a stand that Scott hunted out of when he was a kid.

It was obvious that one should stay out of it back then. Probably built in the early 70's.

Now, today, there is no evidence of it ever being there!

 

[Highland Lofts]

My brother bought twenty acres off a 450 scre farm in Susquahanna County Pennsylvania about thirty-five years ago to hunt on. We built seven or eight tree stands on that property at that time plus there were a few old rotted tree stands there.
My main tree stand was 4'x8' with plywood side to hide behind when sitting in a fold up metal chair
With a roof over head.
We all shot nice deer from them old tree stands.
I'm sure they are all rotted and not much left of them by now. He sold that property and moved down tp south - east Pennyslvania and quit hunting well over ten years ago.
Things change over time and signs of being there disapare.

 

[wild willy]

That isn't mine. It was stolen out of the bed of my truck years ago. Just a photo I found on the internet.

Don't like a thief but that guy might have did you a favor those Bakers had to be one of the most dangerous stand ever made.

 

[Patocazador]

Don't like a thief but that guy might have did you a favor those Bakers had to be one of the most dangerous stand ever made.

They were/are wobbly for sure. I liked it because it folded flat, was light, and easy to backpack to remote areas.
As with any stand you need to be thoroughly familiar with it and its quirks so that an accident doesn't occur.

 

[Bwana John]

What is interesting to me a a western US, public land hunter is....

It's OK to just leave crap in the woods after the season ends?

 

[wild willy]

You think Bakers weren't dangerous just do a search on Baker treestand dangers.I don't care how careful you were they would slip. Not life threatening to any one I knew but one guy couldn't hunt for a couple weeks

 

[JFrank]

My old partner and I built a dugout style blind overlooking a power line area complete with Evergreen bows for the roof, crazy how many years that stayed in tacked without being vandalized or even discovered.
Black tail haven...

 

[Patocazador]

You think Bakers weren't dangerous just do a search on Baker treestand dangers.I don't care how careful you were they would slip. Not life threatening to any one I knew but one guy couldn't hunt for a couple weeks

Mine slipped on me once but it was on a cedar tree. The bark slipped under it. They were less dangerous if you used a bungee cord around the front to avoid tipping which caused the slipping. Actually, they were safer than some of the treestands built with standard lumber and non-galvanized nails. After just a few years the nails would rust through and the wood would start to deteriorate. Then they just fell with you on them.

I met Jim Baker once before I bought one of his stands. I asked him to go through the steps necessary to use one and he replied that he'd never used one because he was scared of heights.

Here's a moldy oldie photo of me with a 4-wheel compound with 35% let-off and a Baker stand on my back.