Part of my pre-season checklist is to ensure all of my stands are ready to go for the year. This year, I’m incredibly excited because one of those ‘stands’ that I’ll be getting ready includes a constructed treehouse. I’ve been working on this treehouse for about a month now (with a large break for football camp in between) and I hope to have it done within the next week.
Now, you might say that a treehouse for hunting is not what some would call ‘basic’. Going through all of this hassle is indeed an extravagance, but one for which I’ve been planning for about five years. I have the good fortune of having a family member who has multiple hunting treehouses and I’ve experienced firsthand how much more enjoyable the hunting experience can be, particularly in those poor weather conditions. I also am fortunate enough to have permission on a property where it makes sense for me to make this investment; I do not anticipate losing access any time soon. It is certainly a risk to build a treehouse on property that I don’t own, but it’s one I’m willing to take since I believe it will help me to accomplish my goals.
As stated before, my hunting goals are to a) fill my freezer, b) kill a buck of my desired age class and c) enjoy God’s creation. This treehouse will help me fulfill all three of these goals. For starters, since I have limited opportunities to hunt and I must hunt where the deer are, this treehouse will give me near-scent-proof protection in almost any wind direction. The treehouse is molded plastic (more on the treehouse details later) and with a rubber floor, sealed windows and all seams thoroughly caulked, you can hunt just about any wind. That means that if I know a target deer is in this area but the wind isn’t right for an exposed stand, I can still hunt this spot.
I can enjoy God’s creation in just about any circumstance. I don’t mind the cold, I don’t mind the snow, and I don’t mind the wind. What I cannot stand, however, are those north-wind rainy bone-chiller days. You know the ones, where the forecast calls for a steady 15 mph north wind and rain at 33 degrees. Can’t be snow, has to soak you and then freeze you over like an ice fishing hole. I’ve hunted in a treehouse on those days and let me tell you that simply sitting in one while the wind and rain howl is enjoyable in itself.
I also have visions of my young kids and wife one day hunting out there with me. Who knows what their interests will be, but I know the power of hunting with family and it is something I hope I can recreate. If I’m being honest, I can’t see dragging them out to public land and hanging a saddle as being a realistic option until they are much older. That, combined with the fact that my wife has feet that get cold at the beach, means that a treehouse astronomically increases my chances of hunting with my family.
Land Preparation
I’m not going to turn this into a how-to article; there are plenty of those out there on the internet. Suffice it to say that I am fortunate to have a family member, as I mentioned, who has multiple treehouses and graciously agreed to help my with my first (Freudian slip?) one. He helped me with the lumber order for the platform as well as getting the posts and frame up. I cannot begin to describe how big of a help this was. I am a fairly handy person but when it comes to construction, I do not just ‘get it’. In fact, I overanalyze everything and it takes me way longer than it should. I could skip (most of) these time-wasting steps thanks to his help.
First off, let’s talk about the land prep that had to occur prior to building the stand itself. This is a small parcel that I’ve hunted for about ten years now. I am well aware of how the deer use this small property and I wanted to maximize both gun and bow opportunities. As I have mentioned in the past, I want to use the way the deer currently use the land to my advantage as opposed to trying to force the deer to do something they aren’t currently doing. As such, I knew where the stand had to go.
The problem was that in this old field growth, the place it had to go was an absolute overgrown mess. The deer didn’t use this spot for bedding or for travel. It had long since past its usefulness for food. Thus, I knew I would have to clear out about a half-acre section of this mess before I could construct the platform for the treehouse. Most of the trees were less than two inches in diameter and it was mainly overgrown multiflora rose. Time for the Basic Hunter’s basic land management gear:
That’s right, chainsaw and weed eater. Would a good brush hog have cleared out this area in about twenty minutes? Definitely. Do I have access to a brush hog? Nope. So, I decided to go sweat through my pants and take an afternoon to use my 20 inch Stihl brush hog you see picture above to clear out half an acre.
As a complete side note and confirmation of what I had written about thinking like a buffalo when it comes to creating food for deer, some folks disagree with my assessment that simply driving a truck over an overgrown field that contains hardy food like clover and rye would not work. Having driven my truck back and forth numerous times in this area to haul my gear and lumber, let me present exhibit A:
You ask any food-plotter about what they’d want their rye plot to look like at the beginning of September and I’d be shocked if they wouldn’t be pleased with this. Not pictured is the clover plot I drove through to get to this spot; calf-high clover growing right in my tire tracks. Suffice it to say that I made sure I drove over the entire clover plot on my way in and out to simulate an entire buffalo herd.
Stay tuned next week for the finished product (I hope).