Advice on Used Treestands

[peepsight]

My ladder stand has been up for about 10 years with no signs of wear except for a few chewed holes in seat pad. You'd never know its been there that long otherwise. Yes , inspect the current straps and or replace/ add new ones. Ratchet straps work well.

As far as climbing with a harness. I climb with it not hooked up as you pretty much have 3 points of contact on rungs at all times. Once up I attach my tether. I use a vest. A lot easier to get into in the dark.

Wait to you see how much better a field of view you have and how the deer walk directly below you. You could literally kill deer by dropping bricks on them lol.

Congrats on the new property

A couple of climbing steps screwed in up top make for a nice place to hang your gun and backpack , jacket etc.

 

I have a few ladder stands that have been out for a few yrs. too. All of them need new padding on the arm rests and shooting rails come next year. The seats are showing signs of wear from weather and the occasional chewing varmint. I'm thinking of wrapping them in that stretch plastic that comes on a roll and is normally used for moving or shipping. At the very least that will keep the weather off the fabric seat and hopefully make it last a bit longer.

 

[jjb4900]

seems to be a lot of treestand failure stories this year......never leave a stand out year round if you don't have to, and I really can't find a reason you would...especially hang on stands and climbing sticks.

[Paula]

My tree stand is weights 80-85 so it stays up. It was up 2-3 yrs and can down beginning is summer, checked everything out and sprayed painted. I am hoping it will stay where it's at a while.

[nyslowhand]

If I recall correctly, there's a few great videos on YouTube about what to do after you've fallen & suspended by your safety vest. Do yourself a favor and plan out this situation, being suspended in mid-air could be as disastrous as any fall.

 

Those seat & back rest cushions, arm or gun rail pads are a PITA. I collect mine every year after the season. They're attached with Velcro or bungee cords and removing them will prolong their usefulness a few years. I've replaced some pads with pipe insulation and (camo) duct taped it to keep moisture off the foam. FYI - Carry a seat cushion to your ladder stand each hunt. Nothing will shorten a hunt faster than sitting on a wet cushion!!!

 

Do yourself a favor when replacing ratchet straps & splurge on better, stronger ones, at least the 1500/2000# ones. Be surprised how much more secure they will attach the stand to the tree than the ~600# cheapo ones supplied with the stand! Also, replace that skimpy rope the mfger supplies with the stand with thicker rope. They go from each side of upper ladder section, criss-cross around the tree and back to bottom of ladder.

 

BTW - Lot of great threads on this forum over the years about ladder stands; safety, maintaining them, where to locate or orientate them, hiding their outline or camo-ing them, how to erect them safely & easily, etc.

[Untwisted Pretzel logic]

Never trust your life to just one ratchet strap holding the stand in place. On our ladder stands, we lag bolt a bracket on each side of the back of the stand behind the seat to make sure that the stand will not be held by just a ratchet strap. The lag bolted brackets are squirrel and rot proof and are rock sold. We leave the stands in the woods for the whole year.

I'm using just ladder stands now, however, when I used hang on stands I used 2 ratchet straps just to be sure.