It makes it nice for hiding & for installing tree steps, but the pitch seems almost unbearable. I might try a red or jackpine instead. I don't know what you all do but I had one spot where I wrapped some fabric around the tree so I didn't get my back all pitchy. I expect to get dirty when I'm in the woods but sometimes some of these white pines can be almost too much..

Sorry AJ, but there is no such thing as too much for a trapper.

Put your tree stand in a hardwood tree and forget the pines.

AJE I can relate to what you are saying. iI had a few places that a White Pine was in a perfect spot to hang a stand for archery Most of them once you do a little bit of trimming provide great cover . I removed the limbs as needed to place the stand .Them if that sap bleeding out from where the limb was removed was a problem I would cover the spot with some type of cloth material . It was not always perfect but the two biggest archery killed buck I ever got where taken from a stand set in a white pine

I do the same thing with the fabric. Nothing fancy with a couple stings to keep it tight. Keeps the pitch off for the most part. I use the same setup in an area where I have a stand in a shag bark hickory. The tree is is the right location, but I hated the fact that the bark would snag my back when I would go to stand up so I wrapped it with similar fabric and it has worked well.

Good point concerning the hickory

This fat child won't hang a stand in a pine.

strap on ladder = way easier than screw in steps

and no way to break them off and leave metal in tree

pitch is a pain some camo canvas wrapped around secured with a couple more straps

or old ratty beat up not water tight GI ponchos might serve well in this if you can get them cheap

Pitch or sap can get on everything once it starts to leak LOL. I remember putting a bear stand in a balsam fir and in my infinite wisdom while waiting for Mr Bear to come in one evening I starting popping the sap bubbles. Well I paid for that dearly many times over as my climb up and down a few times made everything I had/wore being covered in sap-stupid move but lesson learned-DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

One of the best pine tar removers is WD-40 in case you do build in the pines.

Best stand I ever had was in a 55-60 year old Scotch pine..........then it just up and died.

It was pretty "pitchy". But not like a white. If a white was the tree I needed to be in....... I'd darned sure be in it. I'd wrap the trunk where I'd be standing with garbage bags or garden black plastic and then some sort of camo or earth-tone fabric.

WD-40 takes off pitch. But Goo-Gone is a little friendlier and every bit as effective. This time of year (trimming time at the Christmas tree farm) I keep a spray bottle of Goo-Gone on the shelf in the shower.