Pennsylvania Game News - April 2012 - 53

sults in an anxious, uneasy and ultimately unsuccessful outing. Ideally, you should be able to sit relaxed and comfortable for hours on end without cramping up or being constantly obliged to reposition yourself. To that end, the most essential treestand accessory becomes the seat and cushion. While most treestand manufacturers — be it hang-on, climbing or ladder —generally provide a basic seat and often a cushion, it’s seldom a onesize-fits-all proposition, and CAMO CURTAINS help conceal hunter but also notice the especially for oversized or unbow hanger placed so that the bow is within easy reach. dersized bowhunters, heights I soon realized that my semi-frozen muscles and angles between the seat and the floor and joints were not about to cooperate. of the stand can present problems. Coupled with the awkward angles and body The solution here is to customize. contortions required of me to draw the bow Little things can mean a lot. If your legs and launch a shot, it soon became appar- are too long, add a thicker cushion, if ent that under the circumstances, I had too short, build up the floor of your stand undertaken mission impossible. As I made with blocks of wood or layers of carpet as several inept and failed attempts to draw needed. Ideally, the bowhunter should be the bow, I was fortunate I didn’t tumble able to move effortlessly from standing to from my perch. Foolishly, in retrospect, I sitting position quickly and conveniently had no fall restraint system in place. Like to access the widest array of shot selections I said, this was back in the day. possible when a deer approaches. An illSurrendering to circumstances, I eased fitting, poorly adjusted seat can mean the my frozen body back to the ground and difference between a clean, accurate shot Patti and I headed back down the moun- and a botched attempt. tain to thaw out our fingers and toes. I It’s also not a bad idea to add a back rest never did fill my tag that year, but I learned to your seat. This could be simply another some lasting lessons about treestands that cushion attached to the tree behind you, have served me well over the course of or something more elaborate (some commy 40-year bowhunting career. Oh, and mercially manufactured stands now include despite the wintery ordeal I made her suf- seats with back rests). There are also seats fer through, a few years later Patti married on the market that swivel, a feature that me anyway. enhances the bowhunter’s ability to silently move from side to side and quickly Creature Comforts adapt shot selection to the circumstances If I learned anything on that frigid, at hand. bone-jarring long ago day, it’s that when it For the ultimate seating solution, nothcomes to treestands, comfort is king. Lack ing beats an office chair — one complete of it compels constant motion on the part with swivel, rolling casters and reclining of the hunter in his ongoing attempt to features. Granted, given the size of a typical achieve a more satisfactory position and re- treestand, such a chair would most likely be
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Pennsylvania Game News - April 2012

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