Lightly Hunted Permanent vs Mobile Stands

[Twenty Up]

This seems to be more of a grey area regarding Permanent vs. Mobile hunting and I would like to hear some input from you seasoned beast hunters.

First off, I'm a college student on a budget which restricts what gear I'm able to utilize. With that being said I can manage to buy a nice handheld GPS to further my scouting and find buck beds quicker, or I can go ahead and purchase a lightly used LW for roughly the same cost.

Now to my question:

Would setting 2 permanent stands on public land (legal here) and hunting them 2-3x per season alert the deer? Would setting the stand itself and not hunting it for a month change their travel patterns completely?

[SRWbowhunter]

If your only going to get to hunt a total of around 6 times all season (2-3) per stand I think I would just put up permanent stands. If you get them up early like in the next couple months I don't think that would hurt your hunting at all. And if you've got very limited time being in college this might be better anyway because you don't have have to bring everything and set it up each time. Just how I would probably do it

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[cbigbear]

If you have a smartphone get a GPS app $5-$10 & a used LW.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Bucky]

100% LW or climber.... keep moving

[ Post made via Android ]

[mag1]

What cbigbear said. Buy a good stand, u only have to do it once.

[ Post made via Android ]

[whitetailassasin]

The LW or XOP or any other quality mobile stand you chose would be a greater value to me. It will allow you to hunt other areas, set up on the fly, on fresh sign and new wind conditions. I found out gps didnt work well for me when the leaves were on the trees in most of my areas. And agreed on the gps app for smartphone.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[checkerfred]

I love my GPS, but in this situation I'd get a stand first and get a smartphone app for scouting. Then get your GPS later.

[ Post made via Android ]

[kurt]

If I'm only going out 6 times Im hunting 6 different spots because first time is always best. Get a cheap or free Cell Phone Gps app like Cbigbear said and get a used lonewolf/ xop then your done for a lifetime you can add cheapo stands later if you want but really don't need them and probably better if you don't

[PK_]

I would not set permanent stands on public for several reasons;

1) Deer patterns can and do change

2) Someone could hunt it

3) Someone could steal it

4) Someone could tamper with it and make it unsafe

5) You may wish to change your mind on a hunch or observations

6) What do you do after you have 'burned' those sets and still wish to hunt?

I have had all these scenarios happen to me in the past.

I am by no means saying permanent tree stands on public can't work, I simply would hate the idea of them being my only option. From what you are saying, you are only going to be hunting 4-6 times per season. Setting up a LW and sticks that few of times is no big deal, I generally do that many setups in a weekend.

If you are on a budget and are somewhat handy, you could build yourself a DIY saddle type stand with plywood and some straps. This thread shows you how:
http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/TF/lw/th ... ategory=88

Then you could get the GPS and be mobile. If you don't like the saddle type stand after 1 season, grab the LW next year...

[tcop7]

IMO I would definitely go with a LW or XOP stand over a couple ladder stands. You can find used ones on the internet or sales to help with the money situation. Putting the work in during the off season and properly using a mobile setup will put you onto mature bucks more consistently than a ladder stand will IMO. If your not convinced about a mobile setup, take a look through the 2014 buck lineup. If that doesn't convince you to go with a mobile setup I don't know what will.

[Twenty Up]

I should have thrown in I already have 3 stands (2 cheapo hang ons and a steel climber). The climber weights 20+lbs alone so I hate hauling it in & out all the time.

I'm seriously leaning towards the Lone Wolf Alpha series, I hunt several tracts of public land a year so a quality stand is worth more than a GPS. I use my Iphone with Antler Insanity but my phone is broken so it turns on & off when it pleases so battery life is terrible.

Another question though:

I have 3 cheap Guide Gear climbing sticks. Their steel and somewhat heavy but get the job done.
Are these worth upgrading as well?

[cbigbear]

I should have thrown in I already have 3 stands (2 cheapo hang ons and a steel climber). The climber weights 20+lbs alone so I hate hauling it in & out all the time.

I'm seriously leaning towards the Lone Wolf Alpha series, I hunt several tracts of public land a year so a quality stand is worth more than a GPS. I use my Iphone with Antler Insanity but my phone is broken so it turns on & off when it pleases so battery life is terrible.

Another question though:

I have 3 cheap Guide Gear climbing sticks. Their steel and somewhat heavy but get the job done.
Are these worth upgrading as well?

I'd sell what u have to offset cost and pick up a used LW setup. Also get a couple cheap battery backups to fix up the phone until you can get a GPS or new phone.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[kurt]

They make some cell phone cases that have a extra battery in them that will charge your phone. One of my friends got one for his Iphone and its pretty slick it uses mini usb instead of the newer style apple charger so all of his old droid chargers work. I think it triples battery life but could be wrong on that.

[checkerfred]

I should have thrown in I already have 3 stands (2 cheapo hang ons and a steel climber). The climber weights 20+lbs alone so I hate hauling it in & out all the time.

I'm seriously leaning towards the Lone Wolf Alpha series, I hunt several tracts of public land a year so a quality stand is worth more than a GPS. I use my Iphone with Antler Insanity but my phone is broken so it turns on & off when it pleases so battery life is terrible.

Another question though:

I have 3 cheap Guide Gear climbing sticks. Their steel and somewhat heavy but get the job done.
Are these worth upgrading as well?

The weight of a Lonewolf Assault II and 4 sticks will weight approximately 23 lbs. 24 if you get the hunt comfort seat. There's a thread on here for climbing with one stick by cbigbear. That would lower your weight. Also someone posted about using 2-3 sticks and adding strapping to get higher. I've tried the this and prefer to use just the sticks without strapping. I am going to go the one stick route next season though

[checkerfred]

They make some cell phone cases that have a extra battery in them that will charge your phone. One of my friends got one for his Iphone and its pretty slick it uses mini usb instead of the newer style apple charger so all of his old droid chargers work. I think it triples battery life but could be wrong on that.

I have a little battery backup I take that has a mini usb. I use it only in case of emergency because it will only give you about a 1/3 battery charge...maybe a little more.

One thing that helps is turning off wireless and turning off mobile data. You can still text without mobile data on and it dramatically increases battery life, even with gps services on. Just cache your maps through whatever smartphone app you use.