Hunting History in your woods

[SpeedFreak]

If you look closely while in the woods you may yet see a bit of history.

One of the earliest portable climbing deer stand went by the name "Baker Deer Stand"

This was a basic contraption that relied on you to hug the tree with your arms, and then raise your knees up
to advance the platform up the tree.

Later models became a two piece unit that allowed you to hold onto a upper unit rather than be a tree hugger,
but you looked much like you were trying to do chinups on the upper contraption.

Though this was the first marketed unit it has gone down in history not best known for it having lead a market,
but rather for something all together different.

This stand had no real seat, but rather a small platform you would stand on. It relied on your standing away from the tree
to hold leverage in place, but it became inevitable one of two things would happen. A hunter would either grow tired and sit on the
platform you stood on, or you might stand on the platform but move towards the tree to use it as support.

Regardless of which of these two events may have caused it, or possibly just bad luck you were soon to experience what was known as
"The Baker Ride"

Basically you went down that tree FAST and your instinct was to grab the tree to try and slow/stop your decent.
Gravity has a sick sense of humour and by the time you came to a stop one of two things likly happend.
1: you have nearly ate all the skin from your arms,chin and chest
2: you stopped your decent , but in the process you lost your stand platform leaving you half way up a tree
and your stand at its bottom.

The only way to stop your decent without grabbing the tree was to move your weight away from the tree, but thats
not a easy thing to do as your quickly decending to the ground.

More than a few hunters having survived this event have walked away from there stands leaving them where they last
mounted them. As time moves forward these stands have remained in place till the trees slowly have grown around them.

The next time you see some metal protuding from a pine/oak tree go take a close look at it. You may have just found a piece of history
and can ponder the ride that was taken to convince the owner to leave it as it was.

[Shane06fl]

The baker climber, LOL I remember those well and I have it's cousin that my son now uses. It is a Old Warren & Sweat made right here in Umatilla Florida. It was one of their first designs they copied from a second generation Baker except it is very sturdy. You had to rest your arms on the seat post and hold your weight while pulling up the bottom part. The seat was narrow piece of wood wrapped in indoor/outdoor carpet and no padding. It was barely big enough to sit on. This served me well for a few years. Then I decided to move the seat out to the end of the climbing post and add a back rest. This allowed me to face the tree. I always set up with plenty of thick cover behind me. I used it this way for 15 more years until 5 years ago I upgraded. The old W&S was passed over to my Dad that started hunting with me again. He upgraded last season and I passed the W&S down to my Son that is 15 now.

[tnbowhunter]

Thanks for the memories, LOL. Yeah I remember the "Baker" tree stand well. Never owned one but did use a friends to copy so I could build my own.
My friend by the way used a utility pole in his back yard to practice climbing. I'll never forget the expression on his face as he came sliding down the pole. I bet he's still picking cresote splinters out of his arms.

[SpeedFreak]

Law suits quickly put a end to the Baker tree stand before they could evolve the design into something suitably safe.

I wouldnt mind having one for nostalgia purposes and to share when stories of the baker ride are shared.