Greetings loyal Rub Lines readers. Again I’ll apologize for not posting any new material recently. Not only has my work and school schedule been busy, Angela and I are on vacation this week. I found a small window of opportunity to write about the final stages of reconditioning my Summit climbing tree stand.

My stand after five years of rugged use was ready for some refurbishing.

First let me say that Summit is truly a leader in tree stand construction, design, and safety. In addition to providing quality products, they offer nice discounts for certified instructors like me who teach tree stand safety. I’ve taken advantage of this partnership several times and I have yet to have a problem with a Summit product. That being said, no matter what brand of equipment you use, eventually some maintenance will be needed. By the end of last season, my climbing stand was pretty beat up, and the cables were beginning to show through the protective shrink tubing. I made the decision to overhaul it for this season, which I did early last week.

I began by pressure washing the entire stand (thanks Junior for the use of your washer again), and then coating it with spray-on truck bed liner. I put two coats of liner on, which gives the stand a soft feel making it quieter and giving it some texture for footing. After a couple of days curing time, I sprayed two coats of light tan exterior paint over the entire stand, and then followed this by lightly dusting a dark gray paint over the entire surface. Doing this gives the stand a slightly darker color, while allowing some of the lighter color to show through giving it a very natural look. I finished up the paint job by borrowing one of my wife’s leaf stencils and stamping on dark brown oak leaves to give it a 3D effect. It looked great from a short distance, but the true test was how it would look at a distance and during different times of the day.

A close-up view of my homemade pattern. Note how my color choices matched the tree perfectly.

I put the stand on a tree at the end of the yard to dry and lose it new paint odor in time for the season. After hanging the stand, I viewed it from several different distances and at different angles to see how it fit in to the surroundings. I have to say that I am very pleased with the results, particularly in low light conditions when deer movement is the highest. I find that most tree stand manufacturers use too many solid colors, and they are typically a bit darker than they should be. I think my homemade pattern is a pretty solid improvement over the factory paint job.

This is how the stand looks in late afternoon light conditions from about 25 yards away.

I replaced the shrink tubing on my climbing cables after hitting them with a wire brush on my grinder to remove any surface rust and they now look just like they did when I first purchased the stand about five years ago. After the stand sits out for a couple of more weeks, I’ll replace the seat and arm pads, which are still in good shape.

This is how the stand looks in late afternoon light conditions from about 50 yards away.

For a little less than $50, I returned my stand to a like-new condition, which should last at least another five seasons when I’ll repeat the process. If you haven’t gone over your stands yet, there is still time to do so. Don’t find out about a broken weld during your first trip up a tree this season!

My ATV loaded up with treestands and gear is a typical sight for early to mid August.

Somehow it worked out that I got a week off from school so I am trying to take advantage by getting ready for the upcoming archery season. Normally my courses are back-to-back with no time in between, but I caught a break this time around! Although it was near 90 degrees yesterday, I hung a stand of my own while helping one of our co-owners, Jeff and his friend Zach get a couple of their stands set. Needless to say we were all soaked and exhausted, but with the rain coming in last night it was a good time to do the job knowing that much of our scent would be washed away.

Although it’s important to get your stands set as early as possible, it’s a difficult time to do it right now. Nothing looks now like it will in November, and the intense vegetation makes it hard to visualize how deer will approach the stand location. Even when you know a property inside and out it isn’t easy. This is why it’s important to scout and pick stand locations for the following season in early spring before it greens up, which is what I did this year.

Zach found this tree to his liking and promptly hung his stand despite the 90-degree heat.

During my excursion yesterday I met up with a nice black rat snake that was about five feet long. He was acting strangely and I eventually figured out why. His right eye was damaged so he could only see me if I was to his left. I have to admit that I had a little fun with him before he eventually grew tired of it and slid away. I’ve always enjoyed snakes and I just can’t help but handle them when I come across them. Unfortunately they’re one of the most misunderstood creatures and I continually hear stories about people coming across one and needing to kill it immediately. It’s too bad really.

The new friend I met along the way.

I plan to spend some time working on my climbing stand today. I’ve had it for several years now and it’s starting to show some wear and tear. Because a lot of the paint has chipped off I am planning to spray it down with truck bed liner material and then repaint it. This will help make the stand a bit quieter while protecting the aluminum. I will also be recoating my cables with new shrink tubing, which is a necessity about every three years or so. When all of that is taken care of, maybe I’ll get to fling a few arrows. The list of things I need to do is long!

My camera caught this doe's frozen breath, proving just how cold it is.

Although I love hunting during the winter season, I have to admit it can be a bit frustrating when the weather doesn’t cooperate. My plans were to hunt this morning, set a stand, and then hunt in the evening. Unfortunately, Mother Nature’s plans were to blow in a nasty low pressure system complete with snow, below freezing temperatures, and stiff winds. Instead of being on stand at first light I found myself driving my wife to work and running errands.

I was able to set my new stand around midday. My wife and I made a trip to Cabela’s yesterday and I came home with a new Gorilla hang-on stand. I was dying to get it into the woods, so I hung it in a tree I have been eyeing for a couple of years now. I figured I could try out the stand, and also get a feel for the new location for future reference. The stand seems to be very well built, and I look forward to actually hunting from it a day or two this winter.

It looks like the weather will improve on Wednesday and Thursday, so hopefully I can get a few hours in then. I don’t mind the cold temperatures, but when you factor in a below-zero windchill, the best plan is to stay in the house.

I would like to see game camera companies focus some attention on battery life. I go through way too many batteries in a year, and my wife gives me the stink eye every time I buy them. She's right!

As I expected, a couple of my scouting cameras ate the remainder of their batteries during the cold spell. Luckily I was thinking ahead and had a fresh supply on hand. Although I hate (okay, strongly dislike) my Moultrie camera, I have to admit it’s amazing in terms of battery life. I put in a new set of batteries back in July, and it wasn’t until yesterday that I had to replace them. That’s pretty impressive. On the other hand, I’ve probably gone through twice as many batteries in my Cuddeback.

What I’ve learned is despite the number of cameras on the market now, I question if any of them has it “all.” I’m currently running six cameras, and each model has it’s positives and negatives. Believe it or not, I’m leaning toward my Wildgame Innovations IR-4 cameras as being the best. They were less than $100, but they take good photos, have a fast trigger speed, and reasonable battery life. The Cuddeback has the fastest trigger speed, but is lousy on batteries and isn’t the easiest to use. My Moultrie I4 has great battery life and functionality, but it takes lousy photos, has a very slow trigger speed, and is HUGE. The Scoutguard 550 seems like a great camera from what I read, but of course, the one I’m running seems to have a technical issue and I may need to send it back. That brings my to my dinosaur, an old Sportsman’s Guide model that I got back when digital cameras first came out. Although it has a really slow trigger speed, the photos are great, and it’s easy to use. I just put it over a scrape to compensate for the trigger speed, and all is good.

All of the cameras are in play now and I’ll be anxious to see what’s still walking around now that firearms season is over. I already saw a couple of good bucks, so I know there are some out there. I also saw a really nice half-rack that would have been a shooter. At this point it’s best to let him go

November 7, 2009

Location:  #1
Entry/Exit Times: 06:00/12:30
Weather: 34 degrees, mostly cloudy, calm, barometer 30.18 – falling

Despite feeling the effects of six straight days waking up at 4:30, I managed to pull it off. Mike and I figured we’d go back to my top spot for the morning, and if it didn’t work out, we could always go back to where we passed on the big 10-point with the broken tines the other night. Saturdays are always tough here because our property gets a lot of pressure from our families and friends, and a lot of our neighbors hunt small game and turkey. I knew we were in for a challenge.

We had activity immediately, but again, the deer were very edgy, and stayed out of range. This time it was a doe with two fawns. I was already frustrated. Finally, around 8:00, we had a small chase near us. It was just a spike and a four-point, but at least there was activity. Then, after a short lull in activity, the small bucks chased a doe into our sight, and soon after two more bucks joined in the chase. It was fun to watch the four young bucks surround the doe, and even chase off her fawns. It appeared that although she wasn’t ready, she was certainly close. If that wasn’t excitement enough, about 15 minutes later Mike started tapping the tree to signal something was coming. I could see in his eyes that it was big. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the deer from my vantage point, but the way Mike described the rack, I knew it was “Mr. Splits,” the big split brow tine 10-point that has been roaming the property. Mr. Splits was on a mission though, and it didn’t include coming by our stand location despite my best attempt to grunt him into range.

The activity died around noon, so we decided to slip over to my #8 stand location without heading back to the house. The walk would certainly make us sweaty, so we figured we could survive on the trail mix and couple of small candy bars that we had. The temperature was now in the low 60’s, so the less we had to walk, the better.

Deer Observed:  5 bucks, 10 doe

Evening Hunt

Location:  #9
Entry/Exit Times: 13:30/18:30
Weather: 66 degrees, clear, wind SW 10-15 m.p.h., barometer 29.98 – rising

It was an interesting evening if nothing else. First, the flock of turkey we had been seeing was back in action below us. They didn’t offer a shot, but it was something to watch while we were waiting for the sun to go down. At one point, a doe with two fawns headed out through the birds, and the one fawn just couldn’t resist harassing a couple of the gobblers a bit. Finally, the old bird had enough and batted the fawn across the head with his wing. It was pretty amusing. Shortly after, I noticed a beautiful red fox ahead of us, and he was obviously putting a stalk on the turkeys. Despite his best effort, he didn’t make a kill. It was like Wild Kingdom out there for a while!

Other than a few does with fawns and a couple of young bucks, the best we could do was a decent buck that walked straight away from us. We couldn’t get a good look at him, but he looked like he may have been shooter status. It certainly wasn’t a giant. Again I tried to call, but he was unresponsive. The evening hunt ended with no excitement. This was my last hunt with Mike for the season, and I felt bad that we didn’t get a good buck killed on film. I’ll be back on my own on Monday, but it was the last Monday last year that I finally connected. I’ll use Sunday to regroup and get some much-needed rest.

Deer Observed:  2 buck (one decent), 3 doe, 3 fawns

So is this a trophy buck or not? I got this trail camera photo the other day and as I always do, I zoomed in to get a better look at his rack. I also organize the photos by individual deer, and I name the “shooters.” This helps me track where and when I see particular deer. This year I’m following shooter bucks with name likes Ndamukong, Mr. Splits, and Basket Bob to name a few. If you can count more than six points on this buck, you have better eyes than me. I think I have photos of this buck in velvet, and if it’s him, he had brow tines and was a nice eight-point. It looks to me like he may have broken both of his brow tines off, which would make him illegal to shoot in our area.

Make extra sure that the buck you’re about to shoot is legal. I’m actually glad that we have to let him walk because he’ll be a monster next year if somebody doesn’t shoot him during the gun season assuming he has enough points.

Wildgame Innovations IR-4 Trail Camera
Rating: 4 (1-5 Scale)

I first came across this little camera at Gander Mountain when I was trying to figure out how to spend some bonus points and gift certificates that I had saved up. After a lot of deliberation, I chose the Wildgame Innovations IR-4 camera. I was impressed right away with the ease of use. There are just a few simple buttons inside, the memory card is easily accessible, and the battery compartment is very easy to get to as well. I also liked the fact that the camera was pretty small and very light, unlike most models out there. Admittedly though, I was concerned that these units were only selling for around $100.

The camera worked so well in the field, I picked up a second one. My only complaint on the first one was how quickly it ate up batteries. Otherwise, the photos were good and the trigger speed was about 1.25 seconds, which is great for a camera in this price range. There could be better ways to attach them to a tree, but that’s nit-picking.

This is photo was taken by the Wildgame Innovations IR-4 Camera.

I started to have problems with the first camera I bought about a month in. The photos were getting progressively blurry, and the batteries were getting eaten like candy. When I called customer support, someone actually answered the phone and said simply send it back and we’ll send you a new one. It took almost a month, but they sent me a brand-new camera as well as batteries and two memory cards. I considered that to be very good customer service, especially for an outdoor products company. The second camera I purchased never had a problem, so I’m guessing I just ended up with a bad egg the first time around.

If you’re looking for a reasonably-priced trail camera that takes great photos with a trigger speed of about 1.25 seconds, this is the camera for you. I bought two of them for the same price as one Moultrie, and I feel strongly that these are better cameras.

October 19, 2009

Location:  #1
Entry/Exit Times: 6:30/9:45
Weather: 26 degrees, clear, wind NW 0-5 m.p.h., barometer 29.18 – rising

The weather was perfect, and that was a welcome change. I started seeing deer at first light as a doe came in behind me and another deer was walking away from me in the distance, but I couldn’t identify it. About 8:20 a nice 8-point came in behind me. Despite the frost, the leaves in the woods were just wet, and he was on be before I saw him coming. He was a 2 1/2 year-old, with decent mass. Not a shooter really, but a good buck. That kept me in my stand for another hour or so. I saw two more doe before calling it quits. 

It’s obvious the rut isn’t on, but things are starting to change for the better. I’m noticing more rubs and scrapes, and a lot of the leaves were falling. I can already notice better visibility in the woods, so by the end of the week, things should be looking pretty good.

Deer Observed:  4 doe, 1 buck  (2 1/2 year-old 8-point)

…Mike and I took the time to set one of his stands, and film a shooting tips segment for the upcoming DVD from Weekend Warrior Outdoor Productions. Of course, we only got half of it done since we couldn’t get our act together until just about dark. I thought it would be fun to “film the fliming” for the blog.

Might head out tomorrow morning. Finally we have some nice weather, and I’d hate to pass it up.