Originally Posted by
vapahunter
Our hunt club probably has over 250 wooden stands on our property. They are all looked at and maintained once a year. With over 40 members able to use any stand there have been no, repeat no, major injuries because of faulty stands. We have had a few from metal stands that individuals have installed. A stand is only as safe as the people who own and maintain it. And they were each built for far less than a commercially bought one.
I Can agree any stand can fail and its up to the user to take care of them
but I find it very hard to believe in today's market you can BUY enough wood materials, to build a wooden ladder stand, bolts screws what ever for under 50 bucks which is what many pre made metal stands can be had at if you shop arround!
and its also a lot easier to see issue's with welds , than it is to see stress on wooden parts froma tree growing on.and into them
this is why most all STAY and safety company's recommend NOT using wooden stands for hunting! yes again MANY use hem safely, but I again doubt the up keep costs are saving anyone any money over time the costs to maintain wooden stands is way higher than metal one's
and as much as your club has been safe with using them, thousands of hunters have NOT been so lucky, which is why there are safety standards on pre built tree stands, that cannot make and sell and maintain in wooden built one's
if costs were cheaper and things safer they would,all be pushing and selling them made of wood
yes your club has a great records and hope it stays that way
Also would LOVE to see any data that says more folks get hurt from metal LADDER stands than ANY other type of tree stand, be it climbing models or lock on's
as it the complete opposite of what I know on accidents
and the main reason is, many folks L:EAVE loc on stands attached to tree's for longer periods of time than they should and thus failure rates on straps go WAY up
but again, a stand is ONLY as safe as the person using it is on taking care of it and to see its safe!