nbadg,

What I do is slide two seperate short ropes through the expanded metal at the very back about even when the outside bolts. I slide both ends of the rope through some type of latch with a sliding hasp and tie them where the latch is in the middle. I climb the tree and put an eye bolt up in the tree about a foot above where I want the top of my stand to be. I pull the stand up with a rope and then I hook the latch through the eye bolt. I don't have the weight of the stand in my hands but a few seconds. It's a lot safer safer because I don't have to wrasle the weight. The stand just hangs there in position. I can then take my hands off of it and use them to start tightening the ratchet strap. Once I get it snug I take the log chain and hook it up to the turnbuckle. You don't have to take out near as much slack that way. After I tighten the turnbuckle I loosen the ratchet and slide it down to the bottom and re-tighten it.