ORIGINAL: srwshooter
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR LADDER STANDS UP YEAR ROUND!!!!! the bolts rust very fast ,tubing fills with water and freezes. i've seen 2 stands break after being left up all season,they were both rated for 300lbs and broke with less then 200lbs on them. .
I've had the same ladder stand up for probably nearly 6 years now. It's still in awesome shape. I finally had to replace the fabric/padded seat on it this past season because the squirrels finally did enough damage to it. Regardless, the rest of it is in A- shape. It just started to show rust around the hinge on it this year.