Tree stands: need v. want

[GF.]

Funny to think that something as simple as a hang-on tree stand can range in price from $28-$280....:eek:

Based on all the hours you've logged on-stand, what are the niceties and what are the non-negotiables?

I've got a Summit 'lite' model climber - I think it's the 'grand slam' or something. I've bowhunted very little from it, honestly, but can't complain about it. Apart from it being a little tricky to work a 62" recurve around the shooting rail, but that shouldn't be much of an issue with the Contraption unless I get caught sitting down. Then I'm hosed.

But otherwise, it's real comfortable...

And my hang-on is a $40 job with an oversized platform and a foam pad for a seat...

The seat is kinda small - not real deep, so you have to sit up like a Puritan in a church pew - so it gets fairly tiring just staying up on it. No foot rail, either, so there's a little sense of being close to sliding off of it, even though it's basically 2 feet X 2.5. And with my cranky old neck, it's real nice to have the arm rests built into the climber to take a load off of my shoulders.

Doesn't hurt being able to lay the bow or rifle on the shooting rail, either....


I'm wondering, though.... The oversized platform makes this one not particularly portable. So what about a smaller, lighter & yes, cheaper model?

What do yo guys consider to be a comfortable minimum size for seats & platforms? Would you not own a stand without a foot rest? Arm rests? Sling seat? Plywood scraps? ;)

What are the must-haves and what just plain doesn't work as advertised?

[LampLighter]

First lets divide the answer into two parts:

a) Climber
B) hang-on


having grown up here in the southern piney woods, I have used many climbers to include home-made, Baker, Amacker, Warren & Sweat, API, Strongbuilt, Ol' Man, and Gorilla.

First elimination is slatted platform. That does away with API , Summit, and a few others. Why ? many a time on late evening hunts, you know when the sun is going down, that lone squirrel is chat, chat, chating, and it is getting prime time, I am standing with a bow, and I shift feet every now and then to look around, behind, whatever. Many times the heel of the rubber boot is just on the edge of a slat, and it slips in between slats. Talk about loud. Now I will only use expanded metal ( diamond wire).

The absolute best climber by far I mean cadillac, is the Ol' Man. Absolute quiet in packing, setting up, and that net seat is comfortable. Absolute the best I have ever used ever for serious hunting such as entry/exit undetected, and quietness.

Ol Man had some problems when they quit making them in Mississippi. Some people got hurt. Gorilla must have gotton temporary patent rights, because they made a stand called a Greyback Pro Series. I got one and it is my current #1 stand. It is a fine tuned Ol man, basically.

Now that time has passed, Ol Man has gotton their sh&t together again and some company out of Florida is taking off big time with them. I would and will get one if the Gorilla starts to give problems. Though they are no longer made in Mississippi.

Summit, I believe, is still made in Alabama.


HANG-ONS


I have an Ol Man Tara Carbon Elite. Weighs 6 pounds I believe. Cadillac all the way.

I recently bought a Gorilla Silverback Scout for quick hunts and for moving frequently. I love it. Dead quiet and 9 pounds. See my review down on the equipment board.

Whatever you get, it must be quiet and relatively lite. For climbers, I absolutely would not even look at nothing else except an Ol Man Vision or Original NOW AVAILABLE IN ALUMINUM :eek:

GF- I cannot stress enough. For serious quietness and stealth of sneaking around into bedding areas, etc. and remaining undetected, absolutely check out the Ol Man stands

http://www.olmanoutdoors.com/

[ncboman]

Those ol man stands are for lazy people.

It takes a real man to use a tree lounge. :D

[LampLighter]

Go to the equipment board below and see my link on the complete Ol Man story.

[Hink]

I have to have safety, ease of use, weight, and then comfort. It makes no difference it I can be silent and in place in under 5 minutes if I can't turn loose from the tree while I'm up there. I know its funny, heck I'm even comical up there but I've had my share of spills and if I don't feel right I'm better off on the ground.

I have a grand ol man and its a wonderful climber and if you use it as instructed its the safest climber I've been in. I did try to get it in a tight barked frozen tree one morning and got the express elevator drop. I haven't been in it since but its a good stand and that was my fault.

I like my light ladders that I can attach to the tree solid and tight and have confidence they are going to stay under me.

I was really going to roll into this season in shape or better shape than in years until I played a little touch football with the kids and sprained my knee the other day. Its going to be difficult walking next Saturday and I'm pretty sure I'll be on the ground until Tue or Wed of the following week.

[Twanger]

I've hunted out of the same API Grand Slam Climber for the last 5 years.
Shooting rail is nice for a gun. I pivot it down for bow hunting.
Sling seat is comfortable enough to sleep in. I have done so many times.
In general the stand is quiet, but does have a slatted bottom and is prone to the boot noise that LL talks of. I work around it, but it would be nice not to have to.

Lord knows how many deer I've killed with a bow outta that stand. Certainly more than 50. Maybe 70. It works pretty good.

[ncboman]

My climber is a prototype of the Buckshot Bigshot. Mine's slightly larger and slightly different (better) than the storebought bigshots. I have one of those too, for my son and as a backup. Mine's around 25yrs old and has really been used.

Hangers,

I have some but I think I buy and make them for the thieves. They steal em about as often as I hunt from em it seems. :rolleyes:

That said, I have a couple of cheap lightweight hangers I like but they're both in the woods and I doan remember what kind they are. :confused:

I've got some hangers I made in a welding shop that I like too but they weigh a lot and are more for permanent placement. One of em has become very permanent as the tree has grown around it. I gotta get a pic of that. :D

[GF.]

That's what you call a reliable location!

I'm lucky with the private land situation that I don't have too many worries about stand theft. I hope. Left both of mine up there last fall and haven't taken time to get back yet. :rolleyes:

My climber is real comfortable, as Twang pointed out, though my rail doesn't pivot out of the way. It's not all that 'light', either, despite being the 'lite' (meaning smaller-scale) model. No offense, Walt, but I think you'd find it a tight fit....

Hey! Anybody know a guy who's outgrown a compact stand? :D:D:D:D

I probably ought to focus on figuring out a more comfortable way to pack that thing around, trail-marking a few choice trees and getting into the woods with time to get set up and let things settle before shooting light begins, rather than talking myself into buying any more cheap, uncomfortable stands. But I do really like the convenience of having a hanger in-place, so all I have to do is scoot up the ladder and grab a seat.

Is there a Murphy's law corollary about how the more time & effort you invest in getting your heavy, comfortable stand in place well before dawn, the sooner the deer will show up, whereas making a smooth, silent entry to your cheapo hang-on will result in your spending hour after hour in unrelenting discomfort waiting for a deer to come by around noon?

[Bushman]

Hunter's Specialties used to make a seat that they called the C100. It was designed to be strapped onto a tree about two feet off the ground. Not being one to hunt anywhere near the ground, it always went well up the tree with me. The only trouble with that early seat was it would take a 90 degree turn on you if you shifted your weight. Adrenaline is a great aid to staying awake in a C100. Some low life stole it out of the back of my truck and I always figured that I'd have the last laugh on that guy. A 3/8" hole for a climber spike in the support arm solved the shifting problem on my next one.

Actually I've found that using 50' of camo quarter inch rope to replace a chain is a much quieter alternative to secure a hang on stand. In fact I have just used the 50' of rope to weave in a seat between tree branches to support the cushion that I carry in my pack. $2.89 for a camo rope that is near invisible from the ground makes into a pretty sneaky rifle stand that you don't mind leaving or losing.

[LampLighter]

API---------------------N.E. Louisiana
Amacker----------------N.E. Louisiana
Strongbuilt--------------N.E Louisiana
Ol' Man------------------------------Hattisburg, Mississippi
Summit------------------------------Decater, Alabama


Yep. I think those Southern boys know a little sometin bout treestands.

[Bushman]

The good ones stay in business and the bad ones get sued. I was picking up a receiver hitch rack at the service entrance at one of the Cabela's stores last year. Inside their dumpster was a large pile of one kind of aluminum camo tree stand that someone had cut up with a saws-all. Kind of a Cabela testimonial I think that bad reports on a product get a destroy the inventory order.

[dave-t.]

I buy, buy and buy the cheapies. If I can hang 2 stands for $80, then that is better than only getting one. Comfort is secondary, it is hunting afterall, and a lot can be solved with extra cushion, and hanging it at the best angle.

I do want a seat that flips up though. I feel much more hidden and secure standing in a tree when I can have a shoulder or my back right against the tree. I sit 90% of the time, but when boredom or aches hit I stand for a while just to change things up.

With chain on's I cut the chains off, and add two ratchet straps, one at the chain hooks, and one at the platform to get that bottom touch point firmly against the tree.

My favorite is the Gorrilla hang on with its own strap. Very good stand, and I've had mine 9+yrs without having to replace anything on it so far.



Climbers scare the crap out of me, but I do have one on loan again this year from a bro-inlaw that prefers ducks now. I will be spending some time in it this year just figuring these things out.

The first climber I ever tried fell out from under me about 8' up, and I've never given them a fair chance since then.

[ncboman]

You can't MAKE a buckshot bigshot fall. It's the most rock solid climber ever built.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Ohio%2007/12807Ohio130rf.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/ncboman%2010%2011%2009/ncboman101109005.jpg

:)

[GF.]

Lots to be said for the rigid design vs. the chains & cables, I'd guess....Probably helps a lot to have a bit of a blade biting into the tree and going deeper if it starts to slide....

I haven't had any slipping & sliding issues with mine, but then I'm pretty careful about getting my weight all the way out to the end of the platform/shooting rail and giving it a little bounce to make sure the teeth are biting deep into the bark of whatever tree I'm climbing. Set one, make it solid, then move the other, make it solid.... I never take my weight off of the one I'm on until I've tested the next placement.

The thing that creeps me out is when I'm not yet as high as I'd like to go, and I find that I need to shorten up the chain around the back of the tree. It's not so bad tightening up the upper unit, but the lower gets a little sketchy. I usually start that off way too tight and just deal with the incline until it goes away.

My little Summit sure makes a racket goin' through the woods, though.:mad:

How much time do you figure you need to give the woods to settle down after you bang your way in there and up the tree? One of my best spots is on a travel route that gets used before shooting light as well as after, so I'm always thinking that I'm gonna spook the animals even when they're way off yet.

[dave-t.]

That is what sours me the most about climbers. I can't see sneaking far off the beaten path and being stealthy about it. Not in the early morning dark anyway.

With my portables, yes it takes set up ahead of time, but after one set up, it's ready for the season. Still, not a good option for public land. I've never had one stolen, but I'm about the only one I know who's escaped that problem. I do use the locks and cables on public land, but that is not 100% protection.

Maybe mine are so cheap the thieves already have better equipment than me. :o

[GF.]

I'd think the $27.50 specials wouldn't be worth dragging outta the woods :D

Makes me think a guy oughtta take two climbing sticks to get off the ground and use tree steps from there on up. Anybody who can jump to reach that first step 10 feet up there and then do a pull-up on it probably deserves a cheap-ass stand as a reward for his efforts:rolleyes:

My other thought is to just get the climber in place on the tree I'm gonna use on the next trip out, wrap the seat up good & tight in a plastic bag to keep it dry, quiet & stink-free while I'm gone, and then the only noise that morning will be me scraping my way up the tree.

Much more reasonable on private dirt, of course.

I still have half a mind to order a pair of the little cheapies, though, so I'd have a few spots staked out for easy access. It'd be easier to discuss with the Boss, though, had I not spent quite so much on the elk hunt....

[ncboman]

I'm with Dave on the cheap hangers. Only thing better than two for one is three for one. :)

I bought a good hanger from a guy on a forum but I forget which site, might have been here. It's been a while but I remember the price was right. Good used hangers can often be found on craigslist for a good price. I see em all the time.

A deer has little/no memory of a noise made five minutes ago. They are 'here and now' animals.

and I wouldn't wrap anything in plastic as it causes odors more than it prevents.

Leveling a stand while in the air? ... better to leave that to a roofer. :D

[GF.]

Point taken.... But then how do I keep the seat dry (apart, I suppose, from replacing it with a piece o' plywood? :D )

I thought about checking around for used stuff, too, but for under $30 with a warranty isn't a bad deal. If I had an old stand gathering dust somewhere, I don;t think I'd let it go for that unless it was really god-awful heavy or had some other real liability like squeaks, rust, crappy welding.....:rolleyes: