RE: build your own or buy?
I have invested in 2 climbers and 5 strap on stands my experience with perment stands is that deer get used to them being there and tend to avoid them... Not to say that one person has not killed a deer year after year in the same tree... just that to consistatly see deer of high quality you have to keep moving with the deer... and the stands out today are so affordable, quite, comfortable... and most of all SAFE...