August is usually an awful time to be in the woods, but nice weather makes this a good time to tend to some deer camp chores.
If you haven't been to camp since December, don't be surprised to find that the world has changed. Shooting lanes and feed strips that were immaculate the last time you saw them are choked now with brush and weeds. Sumac and sweet gum grow with astonishing vitality, while greenbriar and blackberry have formed impenetrable webs among the trees.
Box stands molt, just like wild turkeys. My favorite box stand shed all of its siding over the winter, leaving clear views from all directions of the two metal chairs that have defied gravity, wind and rain.
Food strips and mineral stations need refreshing, and your corn feeders likely have been colonized by wasps or fire ants. Your hunting spots are in dire need of attention, and they need it now.
Stand maintenance
Over the winter, vegetation has encroached on your stands. I trim branches from a pine tree beside one of my stands every year, but the tree responds by sprouting thicker, bushier boughs every year.
Another stand is in its annual embrace with the blackberry vines that entangle the frame and ladder. All of that must go, as must the dirt dauber nests. These faux wasps aren't really a problem, but they annoy me. There are plenty of other places for them to live.
While in the stands, I'll test the wooden floors to make sure they are still solid, and I'll replace soggy or dry-rotted boards.
If your stands have wooden steps, replace any part of the structure that is not sound. A step that collapses close to the ground can hurt you. A high step that collapses can hurt you worse.
Replacing siding on a box stand can be tricky because siding is bulky and cumbersome. Even a small sheet of ¼-inch plywood is surprisingly heavy, especially when it wears three or four coats of paint. It's best to do this job with a friend or two, or you can use lighter, more manageable material.
One alternative is to use camouflage fabric as siding instead of hard materials. Of course, fabric will last only about two years maximum, and it will not prevent you, chairs or rifles from falling out of a stand.
A better alternative is corrugated plastic siding, available at many home-improvement stores. It's easy to lift, easy to secure in place, and it lasts many years.
Whether you use plywood or plastic siding, you can cut the panels to fit at home, or you can shape them on site with a cordless saw. The latter is preferable because you can confirm your measurements before you cut.
Of course, that requires lugging sawhorses, tools and maybe even a small generator into the woods, but that's why we have jeeps, UTVs and four-wheelers.
If you left hanging stands in place over the winter, ratcheting straps are likely to be weakened from moisture and sunlight. Straps are cheap. Replace them.
If chains hold your hanging stand, adjust them to reduce stress from tree growth during the spring and summer.
Use a climbing harness and safety line anytime you are off the ground. That will save your bones and maybe even your life if you fall.
Trimming and cutting
Since last fall, tree limbs will have encroached over shooting lanes and food strips, compromising your sight lines. You'll have to cut them.
Much of this work can be done from ground level with a power or manual pole saw. A manual pole saw is on a telescoping shaft. A pull role or strap opens and closes cam-driven pruning blades that will cut small limbs.
A power version is merely a small chainsaw on a telescoping shaft. It is heavy, but it will manicure a shooting lane in a very short amount of time.
Risks increase if you get on a ladder to trim high branches. Do this only if you have a helper to hold the ladder steady.
Also, using a pole saw ensures that branches will fall on your head. Wear a hardhat.
If you belong to a hunting club that leases land from a paper company or timber company, read your club rules to know what the landowner will allow you to cut. Cutting the wrong stuff can result in a fine, and egregious violations can provoke the landowner to revoke your club's lease.
Sports on 08/20/2017