The Strategic Bear Hunter

Should you shoot sitting down The moment of truth is important; decide how you’ll shoot before he shows up.

- Bernie Barringer

The early days of my bowhunting life found me standing most of the time in a treestand. In fact, most of the treestands I built didn’t even have a seat. Back then, putting up stands meant going to the woods with a bunch of big nails, a hammer and saw, and an armload of 2x4 lumber. I made a crude platform while hanging like a monkey. I never really considered if I should try to shoot an animal sitting down. Heck I had never practiced anything other than standing in the back yard shooting at hay bales.

In the late 1980’s, a friend and I welded a bunch of what we called portable stands out of steel, with a chain that wrapped around the tree. These stands had a wooden seat bolted to them. I spent a lot of hours in these uncomfortable things, more standing than sitting because a half hour on that seat was long enough. Wish I would have weighed them, but I do know that it took some yeoman effort to get them up into the trees and get them fastened. Once in a good spot, I left them for years, and in fact, one of them is probably still in an oak tree on a friend’s property.

Deer and bears can catch you off guard when you’re in the stand and I always wanted to be ready for the shot. For many years I would never have considered reading a book while on stand and I hunted with my bow in hand for hours and hours. The thought of playing a game or texting on a device would have put me into convulsions.