WARedBear

I broke down last night and bought my first climber treestand. The stand is an Ameristep Deluxe Climber and I picked it up from Walmart for $98. I built one back in 1984 but it was heavy and noisy. All of my hunting is either out of my bear stand or stalking. I got home last night and put the stand up on the power pole in my yard just to see how it felt. My wife and a friend came outside and started laughing at me. They said it looked funny me sitting in mid air like that....anyway...

What kind of mods or additions have you made to your stand? I already have a list and I haven't had my stand 24 hours.
1. A couple of straps from the seat to the foot climber to prevent it from falling. The stand only came with a small bungee cord. Any suggestions on what type of strap to use?
2. I'm adding another strap to secure the foot climber to the tree. The stand came with a strap for the top section but not the bottom.
3. Cushion for the back rest. The stand has a bar that hits me right in the lower back. This puts my shoulders about 4" from the tree.
4. A bow holder.
5. A utility belt for the tree to hand my backpack on.
6. Shoulder straps to carry the stand. Any idea where I can get some?
7. A bungee to put behind my heels so my feet don't slip out of the toe straps while climbing.
8. Camo paint job.

What other things have you done to make your stand suitable to hunt out of?

gastler

API straps can be purchased online at Bass Pro....much more comfortable than the thin ones that come with it.

danowak

I just use an 8 footlenght of nylon rope to tie the top and bottom of my Summit together. It also came with a strap to secure the stand to the tree, made of nylon with a spring loaded serrated jaw that the strap goes through. The strap and shoulder harness you can get at Bass Pro in the camping section. One thing I would add (assuming you have a safety harness already, if you don't add that too) is a lenght of rope to tie around the tree that is strong enough to support your weight and that is long enough to go all the way to the ground. If you ever do fall and are suspended by your tether, it will come in real handy to climb back up into your stand.

PABowhntr

Probably the biggest change to my stand this year was just adding a new bow holder though I may pick up a new set of cables to replace the old ones. I have made modifications to the seat and the attachment straps but that was done immediately after the purchase of the stand two years ago.

WARedBear

I had two pieces of camo background cloth. One was a fine see through net and the other is thicker with vent holes cut into for a leafy effect. I took the leafy cut out one, folded it in half, cut it to the length of the two arm rest and gun rest, tied four strings to it and I will tie it around the stand for a sniper blind. I will try to get a picture of it this weekend and post it here as soon as I can.

RiverBottomBowHunter

Here is what I do and I have had a ton of success with it.---

On my way up the tree(I use a climber) I snip off some leafy limbs. Once I get set up I put these limbs in the mesh floor of my stand. After I started using this little form of camo I have not been busted by a deer looking up. Try it, it will work like a charm.

quiksilver

I cut all the tarsal glands off of everydeer I kill. I note the date and freeze them.

When that date is about to roll around, I unthaw it and tiethe stinking furballonto the rungs of my stand. The scent corresponds to the stage of the rut, b/c it's dated.

I don't really know if it helps or not, but I've always done it and had good success. I guess having some scent to cover my own in the tree never hurts.

Don't let your old lady catch you freezing tarsal glands - that's a bad scene. Hide 'em in something that she won'tlook in.

Lx lungbuster

Cabelas has some nice backpack straps for tree stand and they have padded ones too

Bird Hunt Dog

I just picked up a couple of shot gun slings at Wally World that I'm going to put on my homemade climber for shoulder straps.