I hunted one of my most consistent morning spots today for only the second time this year. For the second time, the deer were moving along the corner of a clearing. Unfortunately, there are no decent trees for my climber and I don' t want to put up a hanging stand because we' ve had 2 stands stolen from about 50 yds away. There is one tree I was looking at this morning that could possibly work but it will take some major pruning in order to make it suitable for my climber. I would need to cut many branches off and cut a couple shooting lanes. There is a real nice 140-150 class buck using this area so I would like to try it a couple more times this year.

Do I dare start pruning on a new tree now, or wait until after the season is done to get the tree ready and shooting lanes cleared?

depends.....i have trimmed trees and then shot deer that hunt, it depends on the deer. have u tried chains and locks on ur hang ons? good luck with that huge buck

how about hunting from the ground with natural cover?

Last year I had a stand stolen and it was locked to the tree using heavy duty cable and lock. If someone wants the stand, they will get it no matter what.

I thought about hunting from the ground but the only area suitable for that would require an east wind, and we don' t get an east wind very often. Also, the wind always, always swirls so I would like to be as far off the ground as possible.

This is what I do. I would put steps in the tree that best suits your chance of shooting the 140, hang a hang on stand then just take it down after each hunt, I do that almost exclusivly. at the end of each year I will go put spikes in all the trees and take my steps out. i actually put spikes in a tree the other day because it was so windy and killed a nice 8 point that afternoon

I wish I could use screw in steps but this is public land so no permanent or screw in steps can be used. That' s kind of why I' m relying on using my climber. I really don' t have many options, unless I' m fortunate enough to get an easterly wind, then I can possibly hunt from the ground.

there are a couple of different options if the buck is worth it to you you could get a pair of climbing sticks, pretty cool and quick to set up. they also make strap on steps, i think wal mart sells them.
good luck