Hi Bob, first let me say I have been doing this since I was 16 that is 29 years of climbing trees with 22 yearsof doing it every day to make living. This is not an easy thing to learn but once learned it makes tree stands a breeze.
I will try and explain at least the basic knots. When tying the bowline two things must be accomplished, first the double loops must be big enough to go up the legs and over the butt. One loop just below the cheeks the other about 5 or 6 inches higher. If you investigate this knot they say slide one loop up each leg, well I can tell you this is not good[:@]. Both loops up both legs is more comfortable not that you will want to hang this way for long either but it gets the job done. The second thing that must happen when tying the bowline you must end up with 2 to 3 feet of tag end, this is what you will tie the tautline hitch in.
In recap you should now have a bowline on a bight tied in your rope with double loops large enough to slide over the butt and a tag end of abouit 3 feet with the rest of the rope on the ground.
Nowtoss the working end of the rope over a limb and around the trunk and pull it down(never trust just the limb always around the trunk). Step into the loops and adjust as stated before, pull the working end till you are ready to lift yourself up of the ground. you now take the tag end and tie the tautline hitch around the working end of the rope that you are pulling down on . Tie a simple half hitch in the tag end after you tie the tautline so it does not slide out, like in the second pic.
This iswhat it would look like except instead of the nice wide web saddle this guy is sitting in you have 2 loops of rope cutting into your legs
http://www.treeclimbing.com/photos/037.jpg
http://www.treeclimbing.com/photos/055.jpg
This is hard to explain without a visual aid, if I could show this to you it would make more sense. If you need a hand let me now and we can at least talk on the phone. This is the site I got the pics from.
https://www.treeclimbing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc
Hope this helps.
Paul