Home made tree stands be careful!

[First-light]

So we had some bad winds yesterday. My neighbor takes his Granddaughter down to a tree hut this morning. Been up for many years. They find it on the ground all smashed up. Wind took it down. I remember working on this stand a few years ago and dint like what I saw. Be carful out there they don't last forever!

[Northcountryman]

I worry about ladder stands, too ; any year-round erected structure will , with time, break down and will become less safe .  Last year, a guy in our club fell out of a ladder stand thats had been up around 4-5 yrs due to strap failure. Id rather, just use a climber and bring it out w me at the end of each season!!

[Moho81]

Every big windstorm I hope my elevated blind survives. I'm more worried about a dead ash tree falling on it than I am of it being blown over but I guess that wouldn't surprise me either. Hopefully this year I can get the legs into concrete like we started doing. 

[luberhill]

1 hour ago, Northcountryman said:

I worry about ladder stands, too ; any year-round erected structure will , with time, break down and will become less safe .  Last year, a guy in our club fell out of a ladder stand thats had been up around 4-5 yrs due to strap failure. Id rather, just use a climber and bring it out w me at the end of each season!!

Man I think a ladder stand is much safer than a climber ,

I have multiple straps on my ladders and I’m attached to a safety line before my feet leave the ground

 

[fasteddie]

Don't forget to replace the ratchet straps often . 

[luberhill]

2 hours ago, fasteddie said:

Don't forget to replace the ratchet straps often . 

I do ! 

[First-light]

18 hours ago, Moho81 said:

Every big windstorm I hope my elevated blind survives. I'm more worried about a dead ash tree falling on it than I am of it being blown over but I guess that wouldn't surprise me either. Hopefully this year I can get the legs into concrete like we started doing. 

We put up an old metal shed on an elevated platform and cut windows on the sides. Lasted about a year. A big poplar tree fell on it, crushed the damn thing!

[First-light]

Neighbors stand. 

[Northcountryman]

18 hours ago, luberhill said:

Man I think a ladder stand is much safer than a climber ,

I have multiple straps on my ladders and I’m attached to a safety line before my feet leave the ground

 

 

Reason why i dont is that a climber is not a semi-permanent structure, so, doesnt get get exposed long term to the elements.

[Northcountryman]

18 minutes ago, First-light said:

Neighbors stand. 

 

Wow; that , actually, looks fairly sound structurally. Too bad cuz he obviously invested some time and effort into it.

[luberhill]

40 minutes ago, Northcountryman said:

Reason why i dont is that a climber is not a semi-permanent structure, so, doesnt get get exposed long term to the elements.

Seems like most treestand accidents are with climbers 

[Northcountryman]

You might be right , statistically, but if so, probably more has to do with the getting up and down the tree w the climber.  Once im up there and set, I feel alot more secure than on a ladder; just my preference, I guess.

[luberhill]

4 minutes ago, Northcountryman said:

You might be right , statistically, but if so, probably more has to do with the getting up and down the tree w the climber.  Once im up there and set, I feel alot more secure than on a ladder; just my preference, I guess.

Seems like cables breaking is what I hear more of .

Im 65 so I don’t take chances .. I’m attached to a lifeline as soon as my feet leave the ground , then I have another wide strap around the tree above my head that I hook into as soon as I’m seated .

I pull my gun / bow up once I’m seated ..

I feel pretty secure

[Doc]

There are times when I am thankful that I developed a fear of heights. It has been a few decades since I have been a tree-dweller because of the discomfort of sitting in treestands. It finally got to the point where I had to hang on to the tree. Ever try to shoot a bow while hanging on to the tree......Ha-ha-ha-ha. Since the time that I decided to stay on the ground, I lost a cousin in a treestand accident, and had several friends that have taken an abrupt fall and simply got lucky. I have never fallen out of a ground-stand.

Back when I was still building and using treestands, I had a stand built 20 feet in the air. I took a look at it one season and found that almost all of the nails had snapped in two because of the constant bending and twisting of the three major trunks that it was fastened to. It was a pine tree with three huge trunks coming out of the same base. The nails did not fail because of rust or any kind of physical deterioration. It was simply the repeated stress of constantly twisting and bending. The nails finally snapped from fatigue. It wasn't long after that that I became very good at building ground stands. I cannot argue the advantages of hunting from elevated stands, but I also cannot argue the life altering devastation that can result from a fall.

[airedale]

I am a stump sitting ground blind dweller too, I like being able to make subtle moves, I have had several times where I snuck, stalked and cut off distant moving deer and repositioning to a better spot for a clear shot. 

Al

[steve863]

Climbing up into trees can be dangerous no matter what type of stand you choose.  Someone getting up there in age should wise up and hunt from the ground.  That's my take on this subject. Hard enough for a young person to recover from a fall nevermind someone 60 plus.

[Doc]

Actually, I have found an extra level of challenge and excitement when hunting from the ground level. There is something about looking the approaching deer eyeball to eyeball and still being able to close the deal. Of course that is not the reason that I hunt from the ground. The truth is that I'm simply afraid of heights. But I have noticed a significantly more rapid beating of the heart with a handicap of ground stands. It is a heck of a challenge that brings back a lot of the reason I began hunting in the first place.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Got to be safe. I have pulled some of our older stands down with a tractor. Save someone from getting injured..

[Daveboone]

When I worked in a trauma center, every fall we would have several hunters with (usually pretty severe) injuries from tree stand falls/collapses. Spines, hips, pelvis fx, skull fractures....the arms and legs you dont worry about...

Metal ones are much safer, but change those ratchet straps regularly...and only when someone is holding the stand!