Silencing treesteps?

[chrowski]

This is a post I posted in 'deer hunting', but that trail is less traveled. I got no responses there. If this sort of double post is against the rules, I'm sorry and please remove.

Hey all,
I'm wondering if anyone has a good way to silence tree steps. When my summit bucksteps (newly acquired) hit eachother they make a loud metal drum noise.
This one guy on YouTube used a form of car noise insulation, but said that when the weather gets cold the insulation cracks. He simply applied the strips of insulation onto the inside of each step platform frame and it worked beautifully to stop noise. This is how he did it....
http://pappylaz.com/bucksteps.htm

Anyone have any other suggestions on how to stop this noise? I'm thinking maybe an insulating rubber noise deadening spray might now crack like this guys sheet of sticky noise deadening insulation did.

--this post isnot designed to start a war between brands of steps and the noise they make, please start another thread if that is your intention : ) --

Thanks in advance!

[Greg / MO]

I've got several sets of Bucksteps. The best solution I've found is to use them when you're pre-hanging before the season starts; they're definitely not a good choice for running 'n gunning during the season.

If you must though... they sort of all fit together inside each other. The Bucksteps I use have a cloth pouch on one of the straps, and all but one goes inside that; the other wraps around the whole mess and cinches them together tightly to mnimize noise.

[chrowski]

They are my solution for running and gunning on public land. I'm still very new with them, so it takes me about 15 minutes to get up a tree. They're my weapon of choice b/c climbers don't work for me.

This is why I'm trying to get more suggestions on silencing them they'll have to be my way in and out of a tree for a while, packed on my back in and out every single time I go hunting.

[wallhangr]

I believe hardcorehunter posted where he coated his LW steps, other than that just strapping them very tightly together is the only way I've tried to prevent this.

[hardcorehunter]

My Lone Wolf sticks this spring or summer atre getting several coats of rubber undercoating spray or spray on bed truckliner application. I silenced then by getting rid of the buckels and going with UCR's and now this is the final step to making my LW's the best they can be. Sims limbsaver sells some stuff in a can but I am just going to the local O'Reillys or wallyy world and getting a rubber spra. I have used rubber bedliner in a spray can on my 77 blazer and I liked how it turned out