Saw this picture on FB and it brought back fond memories.

Every now and then some of us older folks enjoy reminiscing about hunting way back when out of the fork of a tree, or rock to sit against, no feeders, food plots or scent lures, no names for a buck for you rarely saw it more than once, just you and mother nature getting after it. Most of us nowadays sure are spoiled with nice blinds, feeders, food plots cozy trailers to sleep in.
Every now and then I miss the old ways just for the crazy stuff that went on back in those days, now I enjoy the creature comforts.

Below would have been a nice setup for me when I first started hunting.

This is the way I grew up hunting. Now the only way that I hunt a whitetail buck is rattling. I have never been able to sit in an enclosed blind as I feel claustrophobic after about 10 minutes.
Adios,
Gary

Killed my first East Texas buck out of stand much like that one. Nowadays, if you run across any remnants an old stand like that on a new lease you can bet it's a good spot for a new one.

I grew up during the tail end of that era

Hunted out of stands that were little more than a few 2x4’s nailed in the crotch of a tree. Sometimes there was a feeder, sometimes not.

Shot a few deer just sitting off to the side of a well used trail, if you’re just trying to kill “a” deer is extremely effective; something is gonna walk down it.

I can appreciate nice blinds and reliable feeders, but I’m not reliant on them. My favored way of hunting is with a bow out of a tripod. Always liked hunting out of tripods, unless it was just brutally cold.

Some still hunt this way.
Oldest bro still culls a deer outa home made stand like that every year.
i've gone with store bought ladder, chain on, & self climbers. & Yes, up here it gets cold.
Ground blind, took pvc pipe & made 3 sided folding blind. Looks like them thar walkers.
Bro tis 70, & my mom, 90 still goes sits in ground blind. Milder days. It's -02° today.

We have a. Purple of old treehouse blinds in big oak trees on our place. Still use them once in a while.

Had nine different tree seats like that at one time on our original 1200 acres. Loved hunting that way.

Yep, back in the late 70's I had one like that about 15 feet up in a big Sweet Gum. My son named it "High Anxiety" because about ten feet above the stand was a 6" diameter dead branch just waiting to fall one day.

My first deer hunt ever was from a pallet nailed into the crook of a tree on the edge of a hay field. 2x4 ladder up to the stand. Sketchy but it did the job.

I love it , I grew up hunting in TN out of an Amacker climbing stand and loved it . Now I’m a lazy blind hunter

My first deer hunt looked like that....many years ago.

East Texas tree stand for years ,,,shot deer,hog and coyotes from this kind of stand
we also had a few in central Texas also ,,,always enjoyed old school

Hunted on a lease in Hamilton County in 1992. Found several old blinds that were falling apart and an old tree blind made of 2x4`s with 2x4`s nailed to the tree as a ladder. I decided to carefully climb up and hunt from the tree. No feeder to watch, just hoping something would cross looking for a doe during the rut. Took about 30 minutes for the vintage tree blind to pay off with an 11-point buck. Last time I hunted an old blind like that, but it was exactly how I hunted going back to the late 70`s when I started hunting for the elusive whitetail.

I spent most my youth hunting panhandle and northern Okla, 3 months of Archery from a three hunting white oaks,

Image isn’t far off.

Until you have used (survived using?) the old Baker Climbing Stand, it is impossible to appreciate the discomfort and probably a high level of fear that went with using it. My chest still hurts from hugging the tree to climb with it as there were no hand climbers with the original model.

I remember, I was a newbie and they said climb up there and sit, it was a balancing act for the next 3 hours

I’ve recently built a couple of tree stands that meet the bare needs.

I've built a few wooden platforms on our place that we hunt out of. If we find a spot, and a particular tree that is not ideal for a tripod or ladder stand. then we build one. Can make pretty quick work out of it with a sawzall and a drill.

There are remnants of old tree stands all over my place. One had to be a crazy SOB.

We use to fish choke canyon lake a lot. The flooded timber was littered with them. I’ve never sat on the board nailed to a tree but have hunter of the ground leaned up on a tree or brush blinds. Our trees are’ t big enough to climb.

I love seeing old tree stands. If they could talk would be fun to hear their stories

Growing up in Illinois in the 80's I thought the only way people hunted deer was to get 20 of your buddies loaded to the teeth with shotguns and slugs and do deer drives. I never shot a deer standing still until I was in my late 20's and living in Texas! It was definitely a different era.

Great pic and that is a signifant upgrade use of 2x4 from what I grew up with in the 70s in E. TX. My dad was a cat squirrel and just had us free climbing in the white oaks and big pines. Killed lots of deer that way and before 3 wheelers etc so would skin and quarter in the woods and pack them out. If it was a lucky day we were parked within 1/2-1 mile and would walk out to vehicel and get an ice chest to pack meat out. Did pack some out gutten on a pole and a few on horseback. Comfort features today are nice but IMO not near as productive. I still get out my old climber (one of Amacker's originals from very early 80s) and enjoy it or a good portable ladder stand set back off travel paths. Wish I had pics of old stands and camps. Miss the camp life of poker wee into the night as a kid with the then ol timers. Hunted Arkansas a lot with friends on several deer club camps. Those were rough!