Ladder Treestand use and height

[wolc123]

8 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

wood extension Sounds safe

Treated lumber can be safer than metal, because it will not corrode.

13 minutes ago, Nomad said:

I’m all ladders ,15-18 footers , some pretty big ones. Mine have seats that flip,up I can have my back right against the trunk  if I wanted to . Most of mine are on telephone pole type trees just the way it is .

The height difference between the entry and exit hole of my xbow buck this year was a couple inches , I don’t shoot a deer with bow or xbow more then 20 yards  and are most under that  .

Heres my most hidden ladder , I killed two bucks out of it this year , could do that every year out of it , if I always sat there .

What if the deer show up on your right side (assuming you are right handed)?  It dont look like that seat swivels.   I had that issue in a hang-on with a fixed seat last opening day.   If I had a swivel seat, I would have been able to take a button buck to my right with a chip shot at 40 yards.   Instead, I had to wait for the group of (3) antlerless deer to come back around to my left.  They only closed to within 80 yards and switched positions (unnoticed by me), resulting in my killing of the mature doe (by accident).  That mistake put an end to my deer sighting during gun season on that property last year.   

U-bolts are in the shape of a "U" with a piece of metal spanning the gap.   

Edited January 5, 2020 by wolc123

[Jeremy K]

21 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

Treated lumber can be safer than metal, because it will not corrode.

What if the deer show up on your right side (assuming you are right handed)?  It dont look like that seat swivels.   I had that issue in a hang-on with a fixed seat last opening day.   If I had a swivel seat, I would have been able to take a button buck to my right with a chip shot at 40 yards.   Instead, I had to wait for the group of (3) antlerless deer to come back around to my left.  They only closed to within 80 yards and switched positions (unnoticed by me), resulting in my killing of the mature doe (by accident).  That mistake put an end to my deer sighting during gun season on that property last year.   

U-bolts are in the shape of a "U" with a piece of metal spanning the gap.   

2x4s will never be stronger then steel . I'm easy though ,do what ever you want. 

[Nomad]

15 minutes ago, helmut in the bush said:

Perfect tree for a stand, the triple tree breaks up your silhouette 

Plus it’s in an inside corner . I struggle to find trees with cover in the open woods , that’s my best hid one . I’m planning on moving another one soon, but the woods is wide open and getting it in bow range of the spot and not on a phone pole tree is proving difficult. I like to have cover it’s just seldom possible for me , fortunately in the rut bucks aren’t paying much attention.

[wolc123]

3 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

2x4s will never be stronger then steel . I'm easy though ,do what ever you want. 

What if the steel was badly rusted ?  Here is some advice for you: Think before you type.

[Jeremy K]

8 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

What if the steel was badly rusted ?  Here is some advice for you: Think before you type.

If you're replacing rusted steel with wood then you are asking for trouble . The conversation was about building a new extension out of wood ,you made up the rusted factor to save face . 

[Jeremy K]

I apologize to the OP for muddying up his thread , i should have taken into consideration who i was conversing with before i commented to him. 

[Nomad]

10 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

2x4s will never be stronger then steel . I'm easy though ,do what ever you want. 

https://gizmodo.com/inside-san-francisos-fire-department-where-ladders-are-1552279252
 

SFFD has 100 year old wood ladders in use, aluminum ones would have failed testing  5 times in that period . Although I admit his wood most likely isn’t the same standard .

[phade]

I think people in this thread are looking for something that doesn't exist. An always statement as to height. 

Every set, every stand, every property is different.

[helmut in the bush]

I think the farther you're from an animals line of site,, the more you can get away with as far as movement  to prepare for the shot

[Jeremy K]

17 minutes ago, Nomad said:

https://gizmodo.com/inside-san-francisos-fire-department-where-ladders-are-1552279252
 

SFFD has 100 year old wood ladders in use, aluminum ones would have failed testing  5 times in that period . Although I admit his wood most likely isn’t the same standard .

I was talking about the real world situation , if we want we can compare modern day alloys to those wooden ladders all day . That actually was a good read on the ladders though. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Jeremy K

[hueyjazz]

Thank you for so many of you responding to this thread.  Obviously there's a variety of opinions on this subject and a lot of that is situational which I quite understand.  I sit and stand in my stand.  They are always tucked into a tree with good cover but not enough to hinder a shot.  Being in 9P means I get to see a lot of doe walk right under stand such that I could spit on them and without permit it's a nada.   And even then I just don't shoot any doe when I do have a permit.  No babies and no mamas with babies.  But large single doe taste just fine.

I guess the main reason for want to go lower is I started crossbow two years ago and very much enjoy it.  I've mess my back up so bad that holding back a bow for any length of time is very painful.   I had to give up bow few years back.   Crossbow isn't an issue.  Really sucks to get old but as long as I can crawl, I will hunt.

My main concern is shot angle.  I get the further they are away the less it matters.  Even though I feel very accurate with X-bow out to 50 yards there isn't many places I can take that shot and if I could, I wouldn't.  I've set a distance limit of 35 yards.  This year I had a deer come in too close to shoot at first due to shot angle.  I waited until he moved out further and even then I had to use my tenth grade geometry and biology and play the angle to get a decent lung shot.  Glad I payed attention in those classes now but I never thought I would use it.  If my stand was lower the angle would improve.  Too low and you get busted.  There's a trade off.

As far as wood stands, if I know the age and how it was built I'm OK with that.  But come on, how many wooden stands have you seen poorly built, that are ancient and are anchored into a growing tree.  I'm not getting in that.  Metal or wood I'm not trusting either much passed five years unless I carefully inspect and overhaul them with new bolts.  I don't trust Chinese quality control.  I was a rock climber at one point in my life.  Not afraid of heights and I know how to anchor but I respect the situation.  You fall rock climbing it always ends the same way.  You smash into a wall of rock.  It really hurts.

[Daveboone]

As I age, I think I am less...thrilled about being way up. That said, I have two stands that are only 8 foot, and considering where they are I wouldn't want them higher (on knolls looking along and down into brushy areas), two ten footers in wooded areas and one sixteen footer in an open woods. Each is as high as needs to be for appropriate visibility and best background cover. And sure, steel corrodes....I just took two stands down this year to steel wheel and rustoleum to keep them in good shape...doesn't everyone?

[SteveB]

23 hours ago, wolc123 said:

 You are mistaken in your belief that mature bucks can not be taken from permanent stands that have been in place for a long time.  Check out the first buck in last season's crossbow harvest thread, for some proof of that.   That particular 3.5 year old 8-point was killed from the 7 ft high upper deck (with a 3-ft barn wood wall) of a big 2-story blind, that had been in place for 15 seasons.  A 2.5 year old buck was taken from the same spot 3 years before that, and another 3.5 (probably my heaviest buck ever) was taken from a similar two-story upper deck at another location in 2017.  That blind had been in place 10 seasons.       

      

I  

@.5 and 3.5 are not mature deer. 4.5's are approaching maturity.

[cbyzerman]

Depends.... Gun , I do not think you have to be in a stand at all in most places.  Bow--------   depends, is it a single tree, quadruple tree, pine tree...  All depends.