I remember getting an O'l man climbing stand 12 years ago or so...you know the strap attachment kind that was like 39 lbs? I was up and using it just fine with 1 day of practice....and the kind they make these days are WAY better.

don't forget to take a string and tie the bottom and top platforms together! this is important cuz if you drop your bottom part by accident, you are going to be seriously SOL!

another good thing is to buy a pair of pruning sheers. I don't know what your trees are like but in NJ we have alot of great trees to climb but you need to cut baby branches of in order to climb to a desired height. I have a pair that ratchet and they work beautifully.
good luck

yea i had to bear hug my way down one mornin... get the bottom of my stand... bearhug back up and them climb back down ...it sucks

Amen...Do This.....

Thanks for the advice everyone. I tried my climber tonight and it wasn't that bad. It took a few minutes to figure out the mechanics, lol, and I had a few scary moments but thank God I was wearing my safety harness on the way up or I would have been toast! I never lost the platform end but the seated end did end up sliding on me a couple of times and if it were not for my safety harness I would be seriously hurt or worse. It is going to take some more practice but it will not be long before I am setting up in the dark and climbing trees in a jiffy I think! I also tied both ends together with the rope that it came with but I may get another one and have two of them just in case!

Question. I thought of maybe taking an extra D ring and hooking the seated end up to the rope on the tree that holds the safety harness. That way if both ends slip they won't slip to far. What do you think?