neck4752

For the past few years (my hunting carreer) I have used ladder sticks to reach the stand.
I am looking into screw in steps for the ease of transport when moving a stand. What are the ups and downs of these. And which are the best/ safest to use.

Thanks

Also how many does it take to have a stand 15-16ft up? I am 6 feet tall.


Jim

MA Jay

Screw in steps are slower and take a lot more effort to set up, sometimes creating more sweat. On the flip side they are very stable and light to carry.

Depends on your fitness level and the tree, but for very easy climbing set them about 12" to 18" apart,So that would be 6 to 8 steps on each side of the tree. Personally, I'd rather screw in fewer and I put them to far apart and I found it also keeps people out of my stands. Even if they bring a few extra to screw in when they find the stand as I usually unscrew the bottom 3 or so when I leave.

Mike Hill

It's been a lot of years since I used tree steps except in an emergency like running out of ladders but I found by carrying a battery operated drill and the right size drill bit they worked pretty good. With out the drill though forget it I found I woulden't get very high in the tree because it is tiering and work getting them started and spinning them in especially in an oak. So if you are going to use them do yourself a faver and bring the drill the little extra weight in your back pack will be worth it. And as stated if you are going to leave your stand up take the first 6 or 7 feet of steps out with you. One other thing I would like to warn you about is not to use the same holes over and over again in soft wood. The one time I had a major fall was when one of my steps pulled out because I used the same hole too much and it just didn't hold any more.

Germ

By boat along the river, no sweating, quite, In the morning I getin behind the deer as the feed in the field. I used eletric trolling motor, not very fast, but stealthy!!!!!!

partsjay

Walk very slowly....have a Summit climber that I wear on my back...very mobile.

DaveH

I have used screw-in steps for the past 20 plus years and, consequently have become fairly quick at setting up with them. I can set up as quickly using the screw-ins as I can with my strap on ladders and my climbers. If I used the ladders and climbers more I figure I'd be quicker with them. For ease of transport, nothing beats the screw-ins.

neck4752

How many per stand Dave? and do you feel that you need to bring the screw in starters or hand crank accessory?

gzg38b

I work up quite a sweat with screw in steps. 7 or 8 steps should get you up to 15 feet. If your tree has branches, less steps are needed. Although they are not the easiest, they are easy to carry. I think a good climbing stick like Lone Wolf is the easiest way to go overall.

Bob H in NH

Screw in steps are illegal here in NH (without landowner permission, good luck on state/town land!)

I used a combination of strap on steps and now mostly stepp ladder steps, they are rock solid, no weight limit and fast, easy and quiet to put on the tree. I take the bottom 4 out with me.

tsoc

Screw in steps that have a very tapered point go in pretty easily and fast.Obviously the softer the tree the easier they will go in.I always wear gloves when installing steps so they don't chew up my hands.I space mine appx.2 feet a part and place them high enough so I am stepping down on to the stand.Always think safety,wear some type of a climbing belt going up the first time and then set up a rope and prussic hitch system for every time there after.WHen in doubt put another turn on a tree step,when climbing make sure you have three points of contact ie.two hands and one foot,or two feet and one hand,in addition balance your weight so all of your weight is never on one hand or foot.
If there are additional questions that you have feel free to PM me or anyone else here who has responded.