By JOHN L. SLOAN
I did my post season scouting in December and January. I only needed two new stand sites. The first one was easy and I fully expect to kill more than one deer there. I knew where that stand was going in November.

The second location was not locked in to my full satisfaction. I knew the general area but not the exact tree. I figured I would just wait until I was ready to put the stand up and make a decision. The exact tree is as important as general location.

So comes that nice, warm, shirt-sleeve day 26 days ago. Partly cloudy and 65-degrees. Perfect for assembling and putting up two new ladder stands. I bought a couple at Dicks, back when they had the sale. I enlisted Mark Campbell, aka Big Bird to bring his muscles and all the equipment and help me. Although those ladder stands look simple to assemble, I always have parts and screws left over. Away we went.

For once we used the directions and got the ladder stands assembled easily and using his super human strength, got them up and well anchored without a lot of trouble.

I find it odd how much the pictures help in putting a stand together.

Once the stand was up, all that was required was some lane trimming. I did the directing and he did the chain-sawing and in under four hours, both stands were ready for next fall. One of these stands will be my number one firearm stand and maybe a turkey stand this spring. The other will be what I would call a buck stand.

As it turned out, an unexpected finding locked in the second tree in a nano-second. Just 20-yards away, we found a good size fresh rub. I know it wasn’t there in December.

In February, I can do anything I want in the woods and not worry about spooking the deer. Sometime, just before bow season, I’ll safety check all stands and put the seat cushion and arm rests on. I think the pictures say it all.

One thing that really has me confused. A few days after we put up the stands, we went back to do some fine-tuning and found the neighbor across the fence had put up a trail camera pointing right at the stand.

The fence line is about 20-yards away but I’m not concerned with his side anyway. I don’t know what he expects to see.

I had a hanging stand there for years and never saw the guy. Now all of a sudden he wants to spy on me? Go figure? I don’t cross his fence and I do not expect him to cross mine.

Don’t weaken now --
Don’t back off now. Rep. Nicely’s deer farming bill is slated to come up again on March 6. Contact your representative and them know you strongly oppose this potentially dangerous bill.

Not only will not provide the jobs Rep. Nicely purports, it will introduce a dangerous avenue for CWD to affect our wild deer herd. Recently two formerly CWD free states, Texas and Missouri, both reported outbreaks of the disease and attributed it either directly or indirectly to penned deer. Don’t let it happen in Tennessee.

Contact John L. Sloan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it