gzg, you're right... when you're talking about trees like you defined in your last post, climbers are not a good option. I find a different tree in cases like that.

You may want to consider an option like a nice light fixed position with some of the newer climbing sticks. Summit and Lone Wolf are among some of the best I've seen, and I think Ameristep has some good ones as well. I'm sure there's others as well.

I bought a climber originally to hunt public land where inserting a screw-in step (my favorite method; I've got about a hundred Cranford EZ steps), but I'm thinking of going the way I just mentioned soon.