First off, you have to have a tree that is the same cercumfrence from the bottom to where you plan on sitting at, it's hard to find that, so what I do is have my stand at a small angle up, that way when I get to the spot in the tree I will hunt from, it level's out as I climb, as the tree gets smaller towards the top. If the stand you have diddn't come with a tighting strap for the set part of the stand, (to secure it to the tree) I would get a ratchetstrap, they work great. Does yours have a self adjusting foot rest and set rest?