bpearce your stand looks really nice. It actually has a great resemblence to my brother's tower stand we built three seasons ago. I'll have to try and camo ours up before next season and see how that works out appreciate the advice.

I'm totally with you on the long hours and earning the shot. I have 20 acres that I own but only around 16 that I can hunt on because my house and stuff are on the remaining 4 so stalking in my eyes isn't really stalking considering I have private ground all around me that is hunted very heavily. It's really nice too that they have picked up on the fact that I put out around 5 acres of food plot out now and kind of made my own deer management system so their deer stands seem to migrate closer and closer to my property every year even though they own 60+ acres of ground.... I know that I as well put in 80+ hours in stand some days for a solid 10+ hours in just firearm season this year with nothing to show for out of any stand. Then in muzzle loader season I put nearly 50 hrs in and the last two days I was finally able to take two does. One was out of a fully open ladder stand and the other out of the new stand. The only other deer I saw out of my new stand was a little 2" spike that was shot 2 minutes after it crossed my property line.

I don't know maybe I was a little harsh jumping on that guy for his statement but having a place to go and be comfortable and still hunt in the worst weather to me was my dream. For years I always literally froze myself thinking that if I went to the house I will miss out on a chance of a lifetime deer. I also wanted to be able to have a place where I can spend some time with my children and let them see wildlife in their natural state.

I wanted to leave "itsgarytaylor" alone but I just can not do that. Gary, I have spent years laying out in the elements in northern Wyoming, coming home covered in ice and barely able to talk I am so cold. I have proven that I can do it and I do not need to do it again....ever. The most important thing to remember when introducing a child, or any new hunter, to hunting is to keep them comfortable. If they are miserable when being introduced to hunting, it is not something they will learn to enjoy.

I thought of a couple of things about the deer stand you might want to consider: The windows should not be directly opposite from each other in the stand. Not exactly sure how to explain it simply, you should not have a window behind you when you are sitting at a window. With the towers that I have built, I have had pretty good luck using camo netting over the entire outside of the stand, including the windows.

Good advice on opposing windows. I notice from ground how easy it is to see into. I don't now if it would make a lot of difference in my stand as the plastic roof and sides let in a lot of light. The extra light does help in the last hours of light in being able to see my bow sight pins. I do try to stay hidden as much as I can between windows.