Simpler times

[Volbuck777]

Reminiscing about the old days. Chucks stand thread got me thinking about my first stand. My dad had built some contraption that he called a climber. It was held together by bolts and wing nuts. You had to be careful not to drop the in the leaves or you'd be hunting the ground. The top was welded together and had a carpet for a seat. The bottom was a baker. He had hunted out of it for years and it was nicknamed the widow maker by his hunting buddies. I was 9 years old and remember it like it was yesterday. You don't forget stuff that scares the crap out of you. In particular I remember how it didn't fit good together and how it clanked as I walked through the woods. It was heavy and at the time it seemed to weigh as much as I did. At times I thought it would benefit me as much if I just dragged it, at least then my shoulders wouldn't hurt from where the seat belt straps dug into me. I remember climbing it for the first time practicing in a light pole in the drive way if I went up a foot at a time I slid back down 6 inches. This happened till I got to ten foot or so. It couldn't have been much more than that because dad helped me pull up the bottom stand from the ground. He tricked me though because my first hunt we climbed twin poplars in the dark. He went up one I went up the other he had to help me the whole way. I thought we'd go about 15 ft maybe 20. No! we went about 40 ft if not higher. He was a smoker in the past and he said it was important to make sure the deer couldn't smell you. Anyway as I sat there he told me sit very still don't move, I didn't bother telling him he didn't have to tell me that. I wasn't worried about not moving because of deer I was more worried about the stand tilting and sliding and me falling to my death. By the way I didn't realize they made harnesses. Reading this back I may call dad and ask why he hated me so much. I walked in that year as a 9 year old boy. By the next year I had that climber down to a science and I came out of that season as a 10 year old man. In my mind anyway. Let's hear some good old days hunting stories.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Reminiscing about the old days. Chucks stand thread got me thinking about my first stand. My dad had built some contraption that he called a climber. It was held together by bolts and wing nuts. You had to be careful not to drop the in the leaves or you'd be hunting the ground. The top was welded together and had a carpet for a seat. The bottom was a baker. He had hunted out of it for years and it was nicknamed the widow maker by his hunting buddies. I was 9 years old and remember it like it was yesterday. You don't forget stuff that scares the crap out of you. In particular I remember how it didn't fit good together and how it clanked as I walked through the woods. It was heavy and at the time it seemed to weigh as much as I did. At times I thought it would benefit me as much if I just dragged it, at least then my shoulders wouldn't hurt from where the seat belt straps dug into me. I remember climbing it for the first time practicing in a light pole in the drive way if I went up a foot at a time I slid back down 6 inches. This happened till I got to ten foot or so. It couldn't have been much more than that because dad helped me pull up the bottom stand from the ground. He tricked me though because my first hunt we climbed twin poplars in the dark. He went up one I went up the other he had to help me the whole way. I thought we'd go about 15 ft maybe 20. No! we went about 40 ft if not higher. He was a smoker in the past and he said it was important to make sure the deer couldn't smell you. Anyway as I sat there he told me sit very still don't move, I didn't bother telling him he didn't have to tell me that. I wasn't worried about not moving because of deer I was more worried about the stand tilting and sliding and me falling to my death. By the way I didn't realize they made harnesses. Reading this back I may call dad and ask why he hated me so much. I walked in that year as a 9 year old boy. By the next year I had that climber down to a science and I came out of that season as a 10 year old man. In my mind anyway. Let's hear some good old days hunting stories.

Great read...thanks for sharing.

 

[knightrider]

I left one of those widow makers 10 feet up in a popular after it ripped my shirt and half my skin off my chest and arms when it cut loose from about twenty five feet as I started my way down crazy thing caught at ten feet and pitched me out backwards to what i thought was my death

 

[cbhunter]

Great story. That was funny and scary

 

[Wrangler95]

Great story,I worked at a factory that used metal and welders,made one back in 1975 about like the ,Baker stand

 

[TnKen]

I had one of those home made baker style stands, bottom only. My arms and chest would be all scratched up from hugging the tree. I would just sit on the edge of the platform with my feet dangling. One thing about them, I held stone still when in it to keep from falling.

 

[Rackseeker]

Where we hunted back in the 80s it took about an hour and half jeep ride back in the mountain. We didn't have climbing stands back then. We always built stands out of lumber usually what ever we could find laying around. Most of our stands were no higher than 18 to 20'. There was one fella that hunted out there that would build them as high as he could get in that tree. There was one stand that was on the edge of a bluff that was aleast 45' tall and being on the edge of a bluff it seemed to be 100'. I got in that stand one morning before daylight, after daylight the temp started dropping and a thick fog rolled in on top of the mountain. The fog started freezing on everything. The old plywood base was a solid sheet of ice and the big nails that was used for steps was froze over. I had to take my boots off so my socks would stick to the steps to climb down. I never hunted out of a built stand after that.

 

[huvrman]

My brother used to take me hunting with him. I was 13 or so and he was 19. One day he took me to a place in the woods and set me on a stump near the edge of a clear cut that was partially grown up. He said "wait here and I'll be back in a little bit." He disappeared in the woods behind me and thirty minutes later I hear the awfullest sounding dog bawling off in the distance. It sounded like it was being strangled, was on the other side of the clear cut, and was getting closer. It would get quiet, then bawl again maybe 5 minutes later. But still getting closer. I was already formulating how I was going to brag to my brother that I shot a deer being pushed by this lone stray wailing dog while he was out being lost somewhere in the woods behind me. Anyway, here comes the bawling dog, getting ever closed. After about 20 minutes I finally see movement near the sound of the dog. That dang dog was wearing an orange hat, and looked an awful lot like my brother…. Yep, it was him, trying to jump a deer for his little brother while acting like a dog moving through the clear cut. Pretty awesome dude. What a great memory.

 

[Volbuck777]

My brother used to take me hunting with him. I was 13 or so and he was 19. One day he took me to a place in the woods and set me on a stump near the edge of a clear cut that was partially grown up. He said "wait here and I'll be back in a little bit." He disappeared in the woods behind me and thirty minutes later I hear the awfullest sounding dog bawling off in the distance. It sounded like it was being strangled, was on the other side of the clear cut, and was getting closer. It would get quiet, then bawl again maybe 5 minutes later. But still getting closer. I was already formulating how I was going to brag to my brother that I shot a deer being pushed by this lone stray wailing dog while he was out being lost somewhere in the woods behind me. Anyway, here comes the bawling dog, getting ever closed. After about 20 minutes I finally see movement near the sound of the dog. That dang dog was wearing an orange hat, and looked an awful lot like my brother…. Yep, it was him, trying to jump a deer for his little brother while acting like a dog moving through the clear cut. Pretty awesome dude. What a great memory.

Great story, enjoyed that.

 

[BubbaGoneWild]

Great stories guys. Keep em coming

 

[Chief44]

My dad built us both stands patterned after a Baker, the part that gripped the tree was made out of angle but the frame was metal conduit with a plywood platform. He had folding stools bolted to the platforms. Once we were up in the tree, we would unfold the stools to sit in. We hugged the tree the first season which was pretty rough, then he built hand climbers the following year. I was probably 9 or 10 years old and he would always make sure I was up in the tree and situated before he would go to a different spot. Those stands were pretty unstable and we new not to put any weight on the back of the platform. I can remember sitting in it one day when the wind was blowing really hard. Every now and then when the tree would rock, the stand would slip down about an inch. After that we started tying the platform to the tree. I never saw a safety harness until years later and the first ones we had were just a belt that went around your waist with a strap in the back that attached to the tree. I suspect if we had fell out with that, there would be a good chance we would have been hanging upside down. Also at that time, any camo we had would be old army surplus. The first comercial camo we had was the original Treebark. Dad bought us both a shirt and pair of pants. I thought I was I invisible. How things have changed.

 

[Smo]

The good old days…..

 

[oaktreeplanter]

I'm glad you all survived! I thought my dad was the only one to put his kid in one of those death traps climbers
Today he's eighty years old and still builds stands out of old skid pallets that get slick and weak after about one year, but he leaves them up and WE use them until they are ready to fall down.
The farmers are getting the corn out this weekend and he's out there putting up more stands as fast as he can go.
After twenty years of working, making a living climbing trees for tree service work I mostly hunt off of the ground now

 

[wsm]

My first climber was a Baker back in late 70,s ,today,s climbers are like a recliner compared to the old one,s .

 

[david k.]

Way back, my buddy and I hunted both of our family farms in McNairy County a lot together. There was a combination convenience store / gun store / pawn shop in Bolivar named Webster's that we'd usually stop at….I was hunting out of an Amaker Stand for any guys that remember those…my buddy didn't have a stand and hunted on the ground usually.

Anyway, we were headed up for an afternoon hunt and stopped in Webster's…they just happened to have a used Baker type stand for sale for $50 and my buddy wanted to buy it. I tried to talk him out of it but his mind was made up…when we checked out, I asked the owner…if he doesn't like this, can he bring it back?

The owner knew us and kind of joked and said "if he dies, I'll give you his money back."

So we get to his farm and split up…I'm just getting settled in when I hear a series of screaming and cussing….followed by silence….then more screaming and cussing….followed by more silence…then more screaming and cussing….

I climbed down and fortunately met my buddy about halfway back to the truck, his arms, chest and the side of his face all cut and scratched up…

The stand had slipped on him from about 20' and he bear hugged and slid down the tree the whole way.

We decided to just leave but when we were driving back through Bolivar I pulled into Webster's…I told him, we're getting your money back…he didn't want me to stop but we walked in anyway…..the owner looked up and I said, "hey man, do you remember me?" He said "yeah". I pointed to my friend and I said "well, do you remember him?"

He just opened the register and handed back the $50.00. Hahaha

After 40 or so years…one of us still thinks it's a funny story!

 

[trout]

Thanks for sharing a great story!

 

[MrJim43]

Most hunters that have tried to climb with a baker tell the same story that includes me. Some of the stories are funny and some are deadly more that one has died from a fall out of that stand. What all will a hunter do to try to kill a deer......

 

[rifle02]

Back in the late seventies I used to see a baker stand unoccupied in a tree. It was all of twenty feet off the ground. It looked as though it had been there for several years. I shudder to think how that person got down and left the stand in the tree!! Very scary.

 

[Willysman]

Started out hunting in the Tellico mountains when I was 19 years old. All of our group hunted from the ground and killed lots of deer. That was in the mid 60's to early 70's. Decided to get a tree stand that just happened to be an old Baker. Carried it down a long steep ridge and put it up. Considered myself lucky to be alive after the first and last sit in that contraption. The metal from that stand is still on that long steep ridge. See it every time I go by. 75 years old now. Brings back a lot of good memories. All the old gang is gone now but I still see them when I'm in that area.

 

[CritterGitter]

I just googled old baker climbing stand . Looks sketchy !