Hey Planter, you and I agree on most points here but If I'm not mistaken you mentioned that you trim shooting lanes as well, which techchnicallymakes us all law breakers because I don't know any serious deer hunter who doesn't do this. If done minimally it hurts nothing.
You mentioned hitting a tree step with a chainsaw. Yes, that plays hell on the chain and could cause kick back to the operator, resulting in injury.[:@]But tree steps left in a tree over time does absolutely no harm to a tree, in fact a tree will grow over such foreign material such as fences, ect. I know what harms trees and what doesn't because I'm an Arborist by trade (27yrs). We install support cables in trees which involves drilling, and turning in steel lags that hold the cables in place.Even minor scaring from climbing stands doesn't harm trees. Just thought I'd mention these things.