RE: treestand advice?
can you use a climber instead and go higher? maybe even a hang on? otherwise, ground blind. you're kind of hosed with a ladder stand, it's their one down fall. I love ladder stands but you can't put them just anywhere.
sometimes you can put stands on the back of trees and use the tree to give you some cover. obviously, that has some down sides too, but it CAN hide you better.