Forgotten deer stands

Cliff and I take the same route on our daily walks.  When an activity becomes routine, I seldom note the surroundings.  We do check regularly on the tree Cliff sawed through that refused to fall to the ground, but instead fell against another tree.  It's still there, leaning, just as it was the day he cut it.  We can actually see this tree from the house, so if it ever goes down, we'll know it.  


We've allowed people to deer hunt on our property ever since we bought it.  Whoever asks first gets the privilege.  This year a neighbor kid, Ryan, is our hunter.  He got a deer here a couple of years ago.  
Our walk takes us past several spots where people have had deer stands in the past.  You may have to click on the pictures enlarge them and make them big enough to see what I'm talking about.    

All that's left here is part of the ladder Charlie Williams used to climb the tree many years ago.  Charlie now has his own land on which to hunt.  He is the person who told me some tricks about hunting morel mushrooms; until then, I could never find them.  
"If you find one," he said, "squat down right then and there and look all around; there are usually more."  
"Look under the dead elms," he told me.  
"I don't know a dead elm from any other tree," I responded.  
"OK, then look under all the dead trees."  

This one's harder to see, but about middle-way up the trunk is a plastic chair of sorts where a different hunter waited for his buck to show up; I don't recall his name, or whether he was successful.  I doubt whether you could get the chair down; Cliff said the trunk has grown and incorporated the chair with the tree.  
Nature claims her territory if left alone for long, until a time comes when you can't even tell man was ever there.