Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Tree stand or tower blinds for Whitetails?

What are your preferences and why?

I like a tree stand. Being part of the elements seems more like hunting to me.

Doesn't mean that when it's -5* I don't think about building a tower stand though.

Treestand for me, I get bored easy and looking at walls with little windows doesn't help. Be in outside with a better view of my surroundings just makes a hunt more enjoyable.

I,ve hunted out of ground blinds, ladder towers and tower blinds but never a tree stand. Can recognize they would be a plus for bow hunting being able to get super close to a game trail.
I am wondering if trying a tree stand would be worth much to a rifle hunt watching more area, considering I would also be new to using a harness.
The blinds are nice for rainy days or keeping some of a cold wind off, and not having to be so careful about squirming around and being caught moving.

spot and stalk...

Yes, spot and stalk works great for plains areas, hunt'em like mulies.

We use towers because we generally hunt over food plots and there is never a tree in the right place. They are dry, comfortable and without peer should you want to take a guest, especially a young one.

Towers would be pretty ideal for new, antsy hunters. I use a lot of ground blinds, and that works too.

Is there very much to learn about using a harness correctly?

i built my first tower blind last year,we killed 7 deer out of it last season. its real nice on long shots ,you can get a rest . i shot one buck at 312 yds. mine is used mostly for hunting around standing corn and its on wheels so i can move if needed. i'm now think about building a light weight tripod stand ,infact i'm toying with adding 2 legs to one of my ladderstands,with the right brasing and by not going very tall it should very strong. i only need to get abover the corn,any higher and the deer will spot me easier.

before building the blind i mainly hunted from ladderstands ,i do own a ground blind but haven't used it very much. if its dry moving is so noisy i hunt from the stands,if its wet i really like to get on the move.

Not a good one. The harness' that come with the tree stands suck. The mid price 50-80$ ones are pretty stright forward, the $100-150 ones are real easy, but not cheap.

What's your life worth?

My kids will get the good one.

Just don't snug it around your neck. Kidding aside, they are very easy to use. Not much to them at all once you do it once or twice. Just follow the instructions that comes with it and you'll be fine.

Never hunted out of a tower blind. With a million trees to choose from here, really no need to build a tower.

Favorite is still hunting, but if I'm going to "stand", it will be on the ground or a small (portable) treestand.

A-1 what Tzone said. Buy a quality harness. This is one thing you don't want to skimp on!

Up in Wisconsin I use a climbing stand, usually. There are plenty of suitable trees. I have an Ol' Man Multi Vision, a Lone Wolf Alpha and still need to try out the Summit Viper I picked up last Fall.

In Texas I use a box stand on the ground, since it's on a fairly high spot, but I may still elevate it to 10', or so.

For all of my first 20+ years of hunting, I hunted out of tree stands. Where I hunt, there are plenty of trees. Then, about 8 years ago, I got the chance to hunt in AL in tower blinds. Life has never been the same, especially when hunting on rainy or cold & windy days. The fact that all of my hunting is from stands of some type and that I'm not a bow hunter greatly influences my preference for tower blinds. So, IMO what is there not to like? I still hunt in MS from tree stands but one day.....

That certainly sounds reasonable for something so important, what are some GOOD models, what do you use?

Hunter safety system pro is what I use.

https://secure.huntersafetysystem.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1

I use the HSS-1 and my son uses the 'Lil Treestalker HSS-8 pictured on the Hunter Safety Systems site.

They are easy to put on or take off and are very comfortable. Best of all, you can put them on at the truck and walk in wearing them so no comotion at the stand.

All of our ladder stand sites have a tree strap and a screw carabiner waiting for use, so we only need to wear the harness to the stand.

I'll admit to wearing mine only when I'm tired or the wind is up... But my son, he wears his, period. And he actually won't hunt without it.

As far as stand type, until this year, I rarely considered a tower stand and hunted two man ladder stands for the most part. But it was so darned cold and windy so many days, that I would spend time freezing in a ladder stand thinking of how cozy a tower blind would be. There were days when I chose what I thought would be a second rate choice ground blind just to be comfortable and to be able to hunt.

JPK

I like the tower blinds personally