Well, I have a trailcam thread but figured I’d start a hunting thread so I can post events that happen in the field. NJ’s season in my zone starts in a couple of weeks. I have the whole month of November off to hunt Ohio but I’ll hunt weekends here in October until I can get out there. Today I went to the stand that I’ve been hunting for over a decade to put out some bait, mineral block (I put one out in the spring also), and to place my trail cam. I went to my ladder stand (a 22 footer) and noticed the pine tree it was in was completely dead. I never hunted this stand last year because I only had basket racks on comaera. I climbed 3/4 the way up and shook the ladder...the entire tree shook. I felt as if it was going to topple over from the base. I backed off and after some cussing, decided that this stand needed to be moved anyway. There is a spot about a hundred yards away that I’ve always wanted to move to as this is the direction that most deer tend to come from. So I scouted it out and found the perfect tree. Went home to get some tools and came back. I used a cordless drill to remove my cam lock box and secured it to another tree. Used a chain saw to remove some trees around the stand and also had to clear some out from where I park the truck too as it was getting overgrown. Cleared a area for my new mock scrape that will go up mid October. Got everything set up and ready to go. Got a friend going to help place a new stand next Sunday morning. I’ve got one already put together in the garage and waiting to go. I’m Leary about going to the top of the old stand to retrieve it as the tree may fall....when gravity brings it down, I’ll retrieve it from the woods...hopefully I can salvage most of it if not all of it. It’s good to have spare ladder sections anyway. I hate disturbing the woods this close to the season but I had no choice. I value my life more than a ladder stand and don’t want to risk hunting from it. Just got back in and took a shower...I was so soaked with sweat that my pants felt like they weighed ten pounds! Hopefully we can get in and set the stand up in less than a hour and with minimal disturbance. May skip opening week anyway to wait for cool weather....and let the woods settle a bit.
