4'+ dia trees
 

My favorit spot is changing and I need some advice
It is a funnel between several farm feilds and 200 acres of CPR and brush along a creek

But the problem is all the normal sized trees are ...err NO , were White Ash
And the Emeral Ash Borer have killed them all , we are cutting them down for fire wood

So all the trees that remain along the creek are either smaller trees , 4" acrost at the height you would hang a stand
Or Cotton Wood trees that are 4 - 5' at the stump and close to that where I would hang a stand

I figure a tree 4" in Dia might not be the best idea

So I am left with either the cotten wood trees
Or some sort of tri pod stand between the smaller trees , not my idea of fun
And IMO I would probely stand out like a sore thumb

As I normaly hang 4 hang on stands , for different wind directions
I was trying to figure out a safe way of ataching them to the Cotten Woods , the 6' strap will not even get 1/2 way around
I was thinking of a 25' 2" 10,000 lb wrachet strap
But those are Yellow , but might work

Or I could bite the bullet and buy some ladder stands and use longer straps to hold them to the trees

Your thoughts

John

i would say find some long black wrachet straps!!, but really i would go with haning it in the bigger cottonwood trees....or if there is a smaller tree with lots of cover that would work too. depends what you feel safe in though.

John, what i would do is find a tree that is really close to another one, and do your set and rachet the $h!t out of it to the other tree, i have done this with a couple of sets on my farm to try and kill some bucks that i have had on cam, it has worked for the most part, just be sure to wear your HSS, my sets are safe and i trust them but saftey is always number one...

Hope this will help

-NICK

The nice thing about them wide trees is they really help you to blend in...

i would not hang a tree stand on these but i would put a ladder stand leaning on them

I'd be sitting the cottonwoods without question. A yellow strap is not going to get you busted. If you want, soak it in a mud puddle to dull it down a bit.

I'd find some long ratchet straps... I'd go with the bigger tree.. Hope all goes well with you

I have had this problem myself. The cottonwoods wouldn't be bad IF their trunks were vertical. It seems that the bigger they are, the more of an angle they grow. Either you feel like you are going to fall out of your stand or that you are laying backward against the tree. It sucks!

I opted for a smaller tree but like you said, it was almost too small and I swayed around a lot when the wind blew. One time it actually cost me a shot. Eventually the tree grew bigger but that takes a while.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

Possibly, select a smaller tree and don't go to high up. If you go this route, you'll have to sit extremely still because the deer will pick un your movement easier.

Good luck.

Tuff Tuff Tuff decision.... I really don't have any experience with these types of trees but just from what I can gather from what you said, I would go with a larger tree for two main reason... Personally I'd feel safer ( which is more important than killing any buck) and two you would definitely have more cover in a larger tree when it came time to shoot. Have you thought about a ground blind...find a good movin path, set it up now and leave it, few weeks it will be just another object in the woods to them...

Well I picked up 4 Rachet straps
And hung 2 stands tonight after goose hunting

I was able to pick 4 almost perfictly straight cotton wood trees for the 4 stands

Almost done with #2 and I see 4 does walk right past stand #1
Might be the meat stand

Thanks
John