I have a friend from my Bible study who had never been hunting before and wanted to go sometime, so last night was the night. I got home form running to get the oil changed in my car at 5:00 and told him I was picking him up. I had everything for him... boots, camo pants, gloves, hat, jacket, and most importantly a harness. Once we got to the place we were hunting we got all ready and I took the Muddy stand on my back and we headed in.
Since it was so late I did not want to push it in too far, so I choose one of my stands that was a short walk into the woods after we walked several hundred yards beside a corn field. He waited at the bottom while I climbed up and secures the Muddy up high and angled back...
I put some backpack straps on the stand and I had it on my back when I climbed up the tree... Once I got on the platform of the existing stand I took the Muddy off my back and attached it about 2 feet above the seat of the existing stand but 90 degrees away from the way the existing stand faced (basically straight over the climbing steps). Once I had it secured, I hooked my tether belt and strap to the tree above it and I had to step up on the existing stand seat and then up on to the Muddy platform. It was great with no noise or any platform slippage. My buddy then finally made his way up into the bottom stand. This was the first time he had ever climbed a tree, so the going was a little rougher. He had to stop and gain his composure on the way up several times. Finally he got on the platform and I made sure I had his rope tether secured to the tree. Before we got in there I told him that if deer came through they would probably look up so I told him to be really still...
I motioned for him to pull my bow up and I got it off the rope. I had to hold the bow the whole time since I did not have a hook that high in the tree. Basically we sat there for about 45 minutes and then 3 does came by at about 30 yards and then went out into a picked bean field. A little after the does came a small racked, but decent bodied buck that I had seen once before earlier in the month. We got to watch him for a while. He went to the field edge and where the does had went out and he watched the does for a few and then he went back into the thicker stuff about 45 yards away and worked a rub. My buddy did a good job of staying quiet and still. He never stood up the whole time he was in the stand (I think partly because he was afraid too).
The does stayed around and they were still out in the bean field when darkness cam so I told him that we wanted to be quiet on the way out so we would not boost anything up on the way out. He climbed down and I took down the Muddy stand. What a great set up and take down stand!
He was really happy about the hunt. Later on we watched the Game 1 and it was funny to listen to him tell his wife about the experience. All in all it was a good experience and I was glad that I was able to share with him a little bit of what I am passionate about. Who knows maybe next year he will be pulling his own bow up with a rope?
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