Do you think it is POSSIBLE that weather and hunting conditions could be different between KY and Almost Canada, MN? I have deer hunted at -17 below with a strong NW wind. I was probably one of the few guys in the woods that day. It was cold and I had to turn the furnace to MEDIUM but I did manage to sit all day.

Heck no !!!

7MM REMINGTON MAGNUM !!!

w

When I was 16/17 years old. A massive blizzard came in. Like LIFE THREATENING type.
Temps were minus 25ish, snowing hard and super high winds. I think the windchill factor was like 60 below.?
The highway patrol shut off all travel.
I still had a bowtag...

I HAD To go...
Went around the sheriff's road barricades.
Snuck deep into a big Swamp, climbed up into a tree and just sat a limb.
Missed a chip shot on a nontypical buck at guessing 15 yards.
Thinking back now, I'd say he was a 230/250ish type buck.
I was SO cold!.
To this day, (getting old) I still don't wind enduring some pain but I feel I've earned it where a bit of comfort on those days




To be sure, siting in a treestand watching/ listening to nature come alive is still as strong now as its ever been.

Clay, I think you were here May 10th last year??. Heck, the trees were just budding out then?

I assume that the folks against hunting in heated stands also refuse to use the heater and air conditioning in their car too and instead prefer to just enjoy whatever nature brings them that day. I have several bucks on the wall that wouldn't be there if I weren't warm, dry and cozy. Had I been sitting on a stump I would have been back at the house hours before they arrived.

To each their own. I hunt mostly for the challenge of it so a building with a heater and urinal probably wouldn't be my thing. Maybe if I was old and that was the only way I could hunt it would be better than not hunting. People have different reasons for hunting.

… playing treehouse

I hunt for the enjoyment of hunting. Building the stand, mowing trails, etc extends my hunting season. I will purposly walk the 1/2 mile to my favorite stand just to pee by it. Come opening day, smelling me, pee, a cigarette.....is nothing new to the deer and it doesn't alarm them.

Oh I know there is a difference. Why you couldn’t pay me to live up there.

Rob. I'm not dissing hunting out of a blind at all.
Heck, I built it, and one last year also.

I just love sitting in a tree and having deer come by,listening to the sounds of nature.

To me,, it's not about shooting a deer. I can do that most every time I sit in a tree.
Heck, I don't even bowhunt anymore until late October.
Reason being is, I crave hunting when things start getting fun to watch.
Which starts late October till about mid November.

I actually took a block target out yesterday and set it up and shot a bunch of arrows out the window openings.
Kinda a weird experience for me.

Lol.

No Sir, I never took it that way at all. I believe everyone should hunt however they like. It just rubs me the wrong way when other tell me how I should hunt. Building stands, painting stands, fixing stairs, etc gives me a reason to focus on deer hunting an extra 6 months out of the year. If it were about shooting a deer I could shoot one out the living room window by 9 am on opening day. That isn't what hunting is to me. I like being out there, as soon as I shoot one then I am done until the next year.
One of my favorite things about enclosed stand are the journals and writing on the walls. I keep tabs of how many bucks I see per year on the wall along with a journal of conditions. When a stand finally needs to be rebuilt, the "paneling" with the writing goes into the new stand. I can sit in there, glance at the wall and try to visualize each and every buck I saw.
When my best friends daughter turned 10 they hunted here. She had a hard time just sitting so I left a pack of markers in the stand and she wrote and drew all over on the walls. That suff was all saved and transferred to the stand when I rebuilt it. The stands are almost like a living landmark with a "deer shack" history.

I’m still in my treestand phase. I want to feel the weather the way it is while hunting.

It’s very rewarding sitting in the treestand. There’s a sense of accomplishment after sitting an entire morning in the cold, knowing you did it, and sat till the time you set out for.
You get to go home and tell everyone how you froze your butt off and didn’t even see a deer, but sat through it. And when you finally shoot that big buck, all those days, all that cold and discomfort was worth it.
I know you know what I mean Bucksnbears.

That’s a nice looking blind though, and will probably build my own one day and run a heater even for the cold days!

No one says you have to be miserable when it comes to deer stands. I only wish I had realized this years ago. Now I can sit in my stand year round and watch the critters.

2020 I spent November and December working in Kansas, there were days the local gas company hands and the inspector from Colorado had on their insulated bibs and jackets and my guys were in jeans and maybe a hoodie. If I had your weather I wouldn't sit in a box either.

When I was a kid, I think it was 85, we hunted a 2 day rifle season. The night before it snowed like 30 inches went below zero and the wind blew. That would have shut your state right down. 2 day season and we hunted right through it. It was miserable Whatta ya do. Our muzzleloader season starts Thanksgiving weekend, it's 16 days. It's common for it to be below zero mornings at least a few days

You remember the cold snap in Texas a few years ago that about shut it down? That is common deer hunting weather here. Bow season runs until Dec 31.

I would want your Summers and you wouldn't want our November through May. There is a 50 50 chance my furnace will kick in one night this week if I leave the thermostat at 66.

From that 1st pic it looks like you and your neighbor can wave hello to each other.

looks good,

SW, that one in the background is the one I built last year.
About 70 yards apart.

Yea there was still a little snow piled up in places when we were there last year.
Incredibly green compared to when we were there!

Great job!