Here' s my dilemma. A fella put me onto a PRIMO spot elk spot where he has taken some mongo' s in the past. His main reasoning for shelling out this info was that he has an old treestand just off of this meadow, and he knows I grew up in treestands. This meadow is down in a hole, and probably 4 miles from the gate (road closed), so to say there shouldn' t be any competition is an understatement.

Facts: meadow is about 300 yards long x 150, a burn (understand I am just learning the mountain lingo) area several years ago, so there is very little foliage on the trees. It' s flat and timbered for 50 yards around this bowl before it starts the climb in elevation. Two wallows 20 yards apart in one corner of the meadow, and a rock embankment just off that corner leading to the top of this hole. Several very small streams (not sure what you call them out here..more like a trickle). A TON of bedding down at the bottom, just off the wallows, all in the timber. Tracks everywhere.

I went over there this past weekend to get a feel for the area, and for the life of me could not find this old stand. How do I handle this?

Do I hunt my way in opening morning and then hope to find his stand that afternoon, sitting on it that evening?

Do I not chance it and bring an extra stand to set-up if I can' t find it?

Should I make another trip over to find the stand before the season, or at this point would I be doing more harm than good so close to the season? I can' t do it a day or two prior to opening.

Being this seems like a bedding area, should I not hunt this in the morning for fear of bumping them?

How about ground blinds? The only problem from what I can tell is that they are coming in here from all directions with the obvious exception of the NE/E corner of rocks, and setting up there daily (I assume) would mean bad wind on occasion?

Thanks in advance.