Best made boltaction and best made climbing stand! I'm biased though since I've been using both since 1999-2000 or so.
I've been using this same Ol Man for over 10 years now. My wife uses a Summit, I'm not too fond of how deep those bite into the tree. The A-bolt is about 5 years old.
Totally agree about the Ol Man climbers, less fighting while climbing and hardly any bark damage to the trees. Good luck on the hunt!
I was able to take 4 doe and 2 buck this season. Lots of venison in the freezer, but no big antlers. Had a couple opportunities on bigger buck, but failed so I ended up filling both buck tags on small ones at the end of the respective seasons. Gathering the materials now to make some snack sticks and summer sausage. Here is a couple pics
Six deer puts a lot of meat in the freezer. I live in a household of four. My goal each year is three deer, and we eat venison often. I would be willing to taste test, and give honest feedback on the snack sticks!
Yes it is. We don't buy beef and eat 4 average size deer a year. I shot another to make the summer sausage and snack sticks, and gave the last to my sister's family.
Went ice fishing today. Ended up being slow. Three gills, a crappie and one walleye. But the experience was neat. 60+ Temps, so the top layer of slush was melted off. It was basically 8" of crystal clear ice with an inch or so of water on top by the end of the day. Kinda creepy walking around on what looks like the surface of the lake, even though you know there's ice everywhere.