One bad stand and lock (Tags: dave, richey, Michigan, outdoors, tree, stands. ladders, locks, chains, spring, work, loosen, chains, thieves))

Stands must be securely positioned long before fall bucks start to move.

Anyone who lives near Traverse City understands my problem. It’s one of weather damage and personal health. Weather damage to my tree stands and ladders, and my personal safety while hunting from a tree.

We all know that the chains or straps that hold tree stands in position on trees should be relaxed just a bit in the winter or early spring as the tree grows to prevent them from having the wood grow around what holds it to the tree. Two of my stands on my land were positioned too close to a new neighbor, and I wanted them moved.

My immediate area has received more than 100  inches of snow so far this winter on my land. Incidentally, those were measured inches. And now I’m entertaining ideas of which ladder stands must be moved during the spring and early summer.

Doing a spring job in the winter by removing a chain & lock from a tree stand.

The decision was made without thinking too much about it until today. I climbed one tree while a friend helped keep it tight to the tree and steady, and started to unfasten the cable and fancy lock that kept somebody from stealing the Summit <www.summitstands.com> . The stand was one of six that are locked to that property.

Since some fool stole two sections of a ladder stand, but left the stand on the tree, I’ve begun chaining and locking ladder sections together.

Here’s the problem. Some guy approached me at some show some time ago, wanted some of my books and had some cables and locks he was willing to trade. It seemed a fair deal so I got two heavy cables and two stout locks in exchange for some books.

The rigs worked perfectly. They had been in place for four years, and each winter I’d loosen them an inch or so, and as the tree grew, I’d tighten them up if necessary.

I went to take the first stand down, and couldn’t find the key. I’ve got about three dozen locks and chains that I use to anchor my stands to trees. All are locked with case-hardened locks and chains. I don’t want some thief putting the five-finger discount on my hunting equipment so all get locked to the tres.

Lost keys to a lock becomes an infuriating inconvenience.

Mind you, I have a massive key collection and there is one each for every lock on every tree stand, seat or ladder I use. Some are lightly painted different colors to match locks painted in similar colors. It does save some time rather than having to go through three-dozen keys while trying to find the right key for the right Master lock <www.masterlocks.com> .

The key to this lock appeared to be missing. So, I went through every key again, doing my best to avoid trying the same key twice. I tried  each key right-side-in, and then upside down, and that didn’t work either.

Down I’d come, unhook my Rescue One CDS safety harness <www.mountaineer-sports.com> once I reached the ground, walk to the house, find some other keys, and walk back to the tree. Crawl into my harness, hook up my safety line, and climb the ladder like an aging monkey with bad knees and weak ankles, and try again. Another failure.

Back home, go through a lifetime’s accumulation of other keys, get those that might work, and back I’d go to repeat the process. Again, I met with failure.

I had to get the lock off the cable before I could get the stand down. A hacksaw was tried on the lock and it  was made of stainless steel. The blade slipped on the metal. I didn’t want to cut the cable, but in the end that was all that could be done. I took the lock into Traverse City to a lock company, and had them remove the lock. They couldn’t open it either.

So I’ve got one of two stands down and out of the woods that must be moved. I’ll set up the stand in the spring in a new spot, get a new chain, and fasten it down so the chains don’t rattle like an angry ghost. Once done with that stand, I’ll get the other one down, and then stay away from all of the stands until all the snow is gone.

The thing that ticks me off is the lost key. I protect my stands, never loan out my keys to anyone, and if necessary, will walk a long distance to get a different lock and chain. But my keys are kept in a safe place and away from children.

I’m not a happy camper when two days of work on tree stands is lost because of a missing key. Add  to that the damage to a  cable that may or may not be in any shape to be repaired, a ruined lock and the waste of time.

This time, I’ll lock them up with keys I’ve used before on locks that have never failed me. It’s not going to alleviate the problem, but hopefully it will save a day or two of frustration in the future.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors