I know everyone has one - that uncle that is a major PITA and can't give ya something for nothing. He once gave me a POS shotgun (Savage Model 720 or so it is claimed) and the bead fell off and a piece of the stock fell off and he was all miffed. He paid $100 for the gun (no blueing left, has a remington barrel, stock is scratched, forearm is scracthed) and was yelling and hollering about how this gun was worth $800 and I let the piece fall off. I went out and bought my own shotgun like a week later. Now he is moaning and complaining that I haven't gotten my treestand repaired (because I don't know where it is, because I have never used it and he didn't tell me about it until I was REALLY busy) and then he was complaining about how expensive each stand is to build, and he quoted a number around $40.
Now I have only been hunting a couple of years, and I find it to be very relaxing to escape from work and just sit in the woods and enjoy nature. My uncle likes to treat it as a second job and that isn't the way that I like to hunt. I have been slowly but surely acquiring all the requisite items necessary for hunting over the last couple of years (this is the onset of year three) so I don't have to borrow any of his stuff. The only thing I haven't done yet is build my own treestand.
The stand I am to repair is actually scafolding sitting in the woods. I just need to cut some shooting lanes and replace the ladder and boards. No big deal. However, I began to think about it and the cost of a new ladder stand is not that much and I could change the location every season. I hunt on private property.
Has anyone gone from homemade stands to a pre-fabricated one or from pre-fab back to homemade? I have only hunted in homemade stands, some scarier than others. I plan on repairing the mystery stand this weekend to get my uncle off my back but then I have some choices to decide what I want to do about this season and next season. My personal vote is to buy a ladder stand or two, put those up next fall and take 'em down at the end of the season. Or I can just hunt on the ground, which I enjoy as well.
Sorry to vent, any advice will be happily accepted.
Now I have only been hunting a couple of years, and I find it to be very relaxing to escape from work and just sit in the woods and enjoy nature. My uncle likes to treat it as a second job and that isn't the way that I like to hunt. I have been slowly but surely acquiring all the requisite items necessary for hunting over the last couple of years (this is the onset of year three) so I don't have to borrow any of his stuff. The only thing I haven't done yet is build my own treestand.
The stand I am to repair is actually scafolding sitting in the woods. I just need to cut some shooting lanes and replace the ladder and boards. No big deal. However, I began to think about it and the cost of a new ladder stand is not that much and I could change the location every season. I hunt on private property.
Has anyone gone from homemade stands to a pre-fabricated one or from pre-fab back to homemade? I have only hunted in homemade stands, some scarier than others. I plan on repairing the mystery stand this weekend to get my uncle off my back but then I have some choices to decide what I want to do about this season and next season. My personal vote is to buy a ladder stand or two, put those up next fall and take 'em down at the end of the season. Or I can just hunt on the ground, which I enjoy as well.
Sorry to vent, any advice will be happily accepted.