After seeing the post about archery ladder stands a couple of weeks back, I got caught up in it and ended up buying the Sportsman’s Guide ladder stand for $139 I believe, from Amazon with free shipping.

I kind of envisioned putting this stand up in a funnel I found late last year on public ground a couple of hundred yards in. Well, as soon as the stand arrived in the box, I knew it wasn’t going up ANYWHERE I couldn’t drive my truck to. LOL. Let me tell you, apparently 56lbs is weighed differently than it was 20 years ago! I could have, (Hell, I DID) drug this back in 20 years ago - well maybe 30 years ago.

Now I decided that this is going up in my back yard to use for practice, but let me tell you, that turned out to be a project. I figured, “I’ll just go throw that up tomorrow night and shoot some arrows from it.”! - Two evenings later, and I almost have it safely installed! My lord, I forgot how hard it is to put up a simple ladder stand. With all three sections it is 18’-0” feet tall and there is no way I could put that up myself and no way I would climb and hunt out of it these days. I left a section out, and at an estimated 14’-0” I’ve almost got it anchored, but it damn near kicked my ass so now I’m thinking of just using one ladder section which will put it near 10’ I guess, which is looking better and better.

My whole point of this long winded post is - “What the hell happened?”! I used to laugh to myself at this nonsense! How can a grown man not put up a little 50lb stand by himself? 14’-0” is too high - what a pansy!” All these “old” guys talking about leaving the trees and only ground hunting - “Bunch of old farts, that will never be me”!

Well Hell - Here I am wondering if I could (or even want to) possibly drag a 10’-0”/30?lb stand even a little ways into the woods! I’m not off of the ladders or out of the trees yet, but I dang sure can see the future and the future is definitely flat! lol

Good Luck to everyone this year!

Oh I hear you cluckin big chicken ~ ladder stands are nice if you have private land and a 30 year old son-inlaw and can stay up permanently with yearly safety checks

I just got my late brother's ladder stand set up on my property a week ago. First experience with one. Looks like a nice one with a double wide cushioned seat about 14' high. Needs some tweaking like taking off the gun rest bar, adding back up attachment, and cutting down a few trees along the edge of the clearing it is set up off of. This is the same clearing all the wood in my two Mahantango bows came from. Should be neat hunting from it with one of these bows.

I hear ya. I hate heights. I only get up about 10 feet. My friends laugh at me. But I brush those ladder stands in and can dance a jig on it and the deer don't see me.. Just take your time. Patience is the key. Just sit and wait and they will come.

I hunt private land only now, about 200 acres. I have 10 ladder stands out year round now. I just replace the tie downs every couple of years for safety and brush them in fresh each year. If I move one my wife is still able to help me do that. 75 and still trying to act 50, lol.

I'm still a 15 year old kid at heart, my mind says oh yeah, no problem but my body screams otherwise. I just gave all of my bass fishing tackle to my son n law and 2 grandsons. That was a lot of everything, crankbaits of every kind including for walleye and striper. Buzzbaits, spinner baits, a ton of plastics and bait casting reels and poles. I can't get into a boat much less stand up in one plus I can't use those reels anymore. But I have some spinning rods for simple fishing from a chair on the bank, simple like bream, catfish and carp. It is adjust and make changes or quit all together and I ain't quite there yet. You begin to realize that some things are just not worth it anymore. So, we do what we need to do to keep on keeping on. Now I am the guy that others stop and change the flat tire for.

Watch Wensel's videos. He does a lot of low ladder stand hunting.

After two TKRs and a bad lower back I hunt real close to the roads anymore. I slowly drive the roads looking for crossing trails. Then I can usually find a suitable spot 25-75yds in.

With all the rifle junk removed and keeping it 8-10ft I can handle my ladder stand pretty well on public lands which is all I get to hunt.

I will say though, at 70 my PacSeat is seeing a lot more use. So easy also to repostion should the wind switch directions.

I also posted about the sportsman guide "ARCHERS" stand. I bought 3 ,but also bought a apparatus to hook to bottom of tree to hold the bottom of stand as you raise the ladder stand up.The 18' stands need an additional brace IMO and I added them to stabilize the stands.They are tucked away in funnels or edge of food plots.

Jack you do it exactly the way I do. Don’t attempt putting those 18’ ladders up with the anchor arrangement that secures to the bottom rung. Ditto on two braces as well.

The last ladders I bought last month now used a 6mm bolt, I thought they used 8mm bolts in the past. That worries me a little as I just leave them out year after year

Jack you do it exactly the way I do. Don’t attempt putting those 18’ ladders up with the anchor arrangement that secures to the bottom rung. Ditto on two braces as well.

The last ladders I bought last month now used a 6mm bolt, I thought they used 8mm bolts in the past. That worries me a little as I just leave them out year after year

Be careful ! I am told more people get hurt using ladder stands than any other stand. Maybe because there are more of them (?) I had a good friend that fell climbing one and that ended his archery career. I still use a climber but I am tied to the tree from the time I leave the ground, till I return to the ground. The scary part for me is using an extension ladder to get on my roof to practice.

A piece of all thread, some knob nuts and two old bicycle wheels. Drill a hole large enough for the all thread through the bottom of one ladder. Strat the pieces together and put the wheels on. You can get a really heavy stand nearly anywhere with wheels.

I am always tied in

I haul mine in on a deer cart, but I only go up 10 feet. goes up fairly easy

Sounds like my kind of stand..about 10 ft.

Ladder stands are nice, and are somewhat safer , but what a PIA setting them up and moving them in remote no vehicle areas. The taller , wider and more comfortable the heavier and more difficult they tend to be . Thats probably why I have found so many of them thru the years close to vehicle parking areas . Quite a few years ago I helped a freind set one up in the spot of his choice . I thought it was too close to the road , parking area and an ATV trail . My freind never saw much for game in that spot but he sure was comfortable while he watched and listened to all the human activity , lol. His trail camera confirmed deer were eating his corn and apples but it was always in the middle of the night.

I just purchased my first ladder stand, a Muddy 2 Man and it is HEAVY !!! Going to use my climber to hang a pulley to help me stand it up since I will be by myself. Glad I don’t have to drag it far through the woods since I am on my own property.

Just my opinion but with at least three points of contact on the ladder while climbing or descending, having the stand set/hung properly, and with a minimum of two straps there's not a safer method of tree stand hunting. Of course a safety harness is a given for any tree stand hunter. With that said my 15'ers stay up all year and the straps are replaced every year. After 9 or 10 years one of them developed some rust on one of the rungs last season. I replaced that stand right away.

i have put a 2 man stand up by myself with a hoist and a ladder when i was sixty. but 82? no thanks fellers! i'll hunt out of my ground blind thank you.

After reading the article about tree stand geometry in the latest TBM I'm thinking about taking out a section and going down to 10'. It's bears I'll be going for mostly that use my trail to get to apples closer to the road. With short draw/low poundage think I'll be better off reducing the shot angle in hopes of a better side to side penetration and blood trail. My property is only 125yds wide and posted on both sides so don't have much room to play with.

I'll be tucked into thick woods and not as worried about being seen as I am the less than ideal wind most of the time. The trail used most will be about 10yds out. The stand is on the yellow birch slightly behind and to the right of the bow in the picture of where I sat last fall. It's the largest nearby tree.

TTT

FYI - I just saw where today is the last day of a sale. This stand is $109 with free shipping!

welll boys i kind of like my view from this window in my little 4x4 deer shack that sets on the ground. not on a forty foot tripod. bow shot 4 deer from here in the last 5 years. and i do have some ladder stands around our few acres of ground but right now at this stage of the game this is where you will find this old codger.

another reason i like this old shack.

late muzzleloader season its sure nice too.

Looks good IOWA - I do love a nice box blind, but if anyone is looking for a good, inexpensive ladder stand for archers, this is a really good deal.

yes sir i've got several ladder stands and i sure enjoy the view from them. the shack is a little confining if you aren't used to them. for an old codger like me they work good.

If you are only using one section of ladder, you won’t be anywhere close to 10’ off the ground.

Why not buy a climbing stand like the summit viper. If you can stand up and set down, you can climb in it. Weighs a lot less and when you need to move it there won’t be any problems.

Good point Mountaineer. I only use two sections of a ladder stand but it is brushed in with Fake Xmas tress etc. I’m not up high but have a good view of deer coming and they don’t see me. Plus I can leave them once I find where the deer are. I just bought a new place 2 years ago and a still learning it.. in fact I am moving some stands this weekend. Once I get them in good areas I will leave em up. I had 14 stands at my old place and they always had deer action. It’s nice as I get older to go out in the cold morning and not have to use a climber to climb up and down.

I have 9 stands up now, 5 are chain on with ladder sticks and 4 are ladder stands. I'm thinking they will spot me in the ladder stands but we shall see.

not if you brush em in. What will be the difference? If you are standing against a tree they can see ya. You have a mental block about it? LOL

I used the artificial Christmas tree trick on them you suggested and yes, I do have a mental block of it working lol.

The Wensel's used that Christmas garland on there stands,or suggested to use it in a past post.It may have been in one of there books.

Just a quick tip on setting them up by yourself. Everywhere I hunt is on a mountain. If you set the stand up on the up hill side of the tree, then as you walk up the ladder with your hands you are walking down hill. Also, at a little past the halfway point where the ladder will be the most difficult to push up, because you are up hill from the tree it is like you are two or three feet taller then if you were on level ground or worse yet if you are trying to set it up going up hill. Once the seat is against the tree it is easy to pick it up and walk it around the tree to where ever you want to set it. I am 69 years old and set them by myself all the time. I figured this out the first time I tried to set one going up hill because that was the way I wanted it sitting for the hunt. Try it. You will be surprised at how much easier it is on the up hill side, and then just move it as needed.

I used one of these aiders and liked it.

I have used that too Jack. It takes some work to brush in your stand. I saw a guy on YouTube selling these arms to put on your stand to put brush in to brush it in. I thought Heck I can make that. I just took some 1x2's I had laying around and put some holes in them every 8 inches or so and attached to branches and attached to wood slats to the tree stand with big washers and wing nuts. you can swing them out to get up in the tree then swing them back to hide behind. If done right they are out in front of you and will not interfere with shooting and you can even stand up and shoot. Easy to do than describe. I will get a pic next week when I go back to my cabin and post.

Regarding the discussion of brushing ladders in......I've used ladders for decades as a portion of my set up (I have 14 ladders set up currently as our velvet season opens up in a month) and I've never brushed any of them in. I've shot so many deer at less than 10 yards from the ladder base I don't even know the number. This in a state that has nearly a four month either sex firearm season; so the deer are pretty aware of what's going on.

I always setting the ladders up well before season and generally leave them out of the entire year; unless I need to move one to a new area for whatever reason. I think the deer get used to them fairly quickly and just accept them as another part of the landscape. I just don't think deer have the ability to reason to the point that they say " I wonder why that funny looking tree is there...at least not when they have seen it a few times.

I do respect that deer in different parts of the country might have a different reaction; though I think that might be rare.

Good Shooting->->->->Craig

I decided to leave my ladder stand mentioned above at 13-14ft. I was there last week and it didn't look so high from the ground and wouldn't be easy to adjust alone. The day I arrived the largest bear seen yet was on both my cameras at 8pm coming up my trail from the meadow area below. The shadowy area in the middle background is the lane to the stand and the bear went into it so guess it was checked out. A small one also came by that day heading down the trail from out back.

A couple days later I dropped about 25 trees around the south side of the clearing made last year to let even more sunlight in. Have to clean up this mess before the Sept 1 opening for bear. Making the clearing didn't disrupt activity through here last year so don't expect this to either. It's a crossroad of my trail and an old tractor lane through the woodlot.

I can still put up a ladder stand but I dont like to go high, 12 feet is enough . Maybe a pop up blind would have been a better purchase for you .

Years ago I read a story about a guy that never went higher than 8 ft where he hunted and he had great results to show for it.

Good Shooting->->->->Craig

Doc I would like to see a pic of your set up.

Ok. I’ll see if I can get the photomontage go through. I use to be able to post pics but now they are all of a sudden too big

I'm 76 and I just moved a ladder stand.With it fully put together I walked it up the tree but I do admit I had my 54 year old buddy climb up the ladder and secure the stand to the tree.

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