The "edges" are good producers. A young teen hunter on a lease I had yrs ago bagged a 150 class 12pt walking the treeline edge of a tall pine stand(he was high in a pine 5 yds inside) and a marshy cutover during the rut mid day. +1 on the tree stand safety-I had a climber bottom drop under me (thank God I followd directions and put the safety rope from top to bottom. This was before all the fancy stuff in stores today. I had a hank of MilSpec Rappeling rope 50' long on my climber. Once on tree it was looped like lineman's rig, once settled in, it was secured between the top and bottom of the stand, tied to tree and excess was wrapped around tree several times for a very good back rest! Those "ghetto" stands you mentioned were my last time up a tree-16" 2x4 ladder w/12" wide steps too far apart, seat on top was 12"x12"! Sad thing was area was so good I went up anyway, got to top and with a sigle cut of limb stub as a hold, hooked my car seatbelt safety strap around the tree. As I attempted to rotate my fat but onto the "seat" I overbalanced and if not for the seatbelt would have fallen onto a cleared area of 8" brush "Punji Stakes " all around the tree base where small trees were cleared. It took me 3 hrs to recover and gather the courage to descend. Call me Ground Blind Hunter-Kemosabi!