I looked over at the giant oak, then back to the clump of poplar trees up on the small knob. I had to decide which spot to hang my tree stand, which view would give me the best opportunity to get a shot at the beautiful 150” class whitetail that lives in this area. He was on every trail camera the previous fall but he eluded me all season. Having found one half of his shed antler only a week ago, I knew he was still around!
It was November 10 and the rut was at a fever pitch. I crept over to the base of the oak which I had finally settled on; I had strapped my tree-stand 18 feet up this giant old tree and it provided an amazing panorama of my hunting ground. I hung my tree-stand here in early April in hopes of a morning just like this, early November and a westerly wind, and I hoped it was the perfect set up. As I climbed the tree steps, I was bursting with anticipation and excitement; the day was going to be awesome, and I just knew this was the ultimate tree-stand location.
However, my anticipation soon turned to anger and frustration. As I clambered up to settle into my tree-stand, I discovered that squirrels had found my tree stand to be the perfect material to line a nest some place high in the tree tops. This left me with only the straps to sit on for 11 plus hours, and knew I was going to have a long day with a very sore bottom unless that buck followed a doe out in the next little while… and that I would definitely be buying a new seat cushion as soon as I got home.
Squirrels ate my tree stand seat
