I did this last year and I'm planning on doing it again this year. I didn't have any problems with anything being ruined. What I did encounter was bugs making my seat a home, but I can live with that. What I did was move the seat into a position to where the back and bottom of the seat was exposed. That way when I got into it and flipped the seat into the correct position it would be dry. Only once after a couple of days of good hard rain did I have a problem. Luckily I thought about this before going out and packed an extra coat to sit on. I would highly recommend using not one but two ratchet straps. One on the top and one on the bottom.

The only reason that I did this was because I have two climbers. the one that I left hanging is much older and more importantly louder. So I had the option to keep my better climber for its intended use.

I will leave my climber in as long as I am planning to hunt that spot again the next hunt. But I don't have a problem with people walking on my land. Now animals I have had problems with. They chew everything.

i leave everything on my stand but the seat cover and i never have any problems with it

I have hang-on stands that I leave out all year. On all my stands I use a short chain with a turnbuckleto make the stand more solid when I'm using it. After season I remove the seat cushion and the straps leaving the chain and turnbuckle to hold the stand in place. It doesn't hurt to loosen the turnbuckle a little to allow for the tree growth. A couple of weeks before season I go back and put the seat cushion on and install the rachet straps. Anything not metal will be chewed up by rats.

We started using climbers as lock-ons 2 years ago. We wait until walmart/rural king has a sale on their steel climbers. They cost about 70 bucks but are really comfortable. They are more comfortable than most lock ons I've used. We also use the climbing sticks with them. It has worked great so far. I personally wouldn't leave a 200$$+ climber hanging for very long.

good luck
RBBH

LMAO! We need Preacher!

hahahahah, i belive he meant ruined!

Ha! Yep, I'm sure that's what he meant, but I guess "rewined" could be defined as a drunken state achieved by drinking wine to alleviate a hang-over you got from drinking too much wine in the first place.[8D]

Edited to add that where I hunt, I don't think I'd leave my Summit Viper SS in the woods at all. It cost too much to have someone else become it's new owner.

Last season I left all 3 of my hang on stands out. One I left the previous year without issue & I put them in the same trees year after year so I figured, why not? So far nothings been chewed or damaged.

I have left climbers on trees overnight when I left at dark and planned to return before light the next day. These were my old climbers that were a pain in the *** to put on and take off of the trees.

Now that I have a Viper, it is very easy for me to pull it off and pack it out, so I won't be leaving mine out.