NY Bowhunter

Seems like not many people are too keen on hunting ladder stands. I was just wondering why. I can see if you throw one up during or just before the season changing what the deer have been looking at all summer long. But if you have ladder stands that have been up and never come down for years what's the difference? Don't they become part of the woods as far as the deer are concerned? Also if they are brushed in well doesn't that make it a non issue? Just curious what the anti ladder stand people have to say.

Western MA Hunter

I use both... it all depends on the location and cover the tree can give you... I have had success out of ladders, lock ons, & climbers...

RockinChair

I like ladders but absolutely love my Gorrila Hang on, they are convenient and easy to set up and more comfortable than ladders. But ladders can present some pretty awesome set ups.

crenshaw

Ladders, Hang-ons and climbers. Not a huge fan of homebuilts, some are really nice, but most of the ones i see are death traps.

dandbuck

Hey NYBowhunter
Here is how I see it. By the way, I own ladder stands, climbers, lock on's and most recently a Tree Saddle. When I walk through the woods, if a stand(any stand) captures my attention easily, it is a bad set-up. I have seen a lot of ladder stands setup with the ladder right in the middle of a good trail making it "seen" very easily. When I use a ladder stand, I try to to use a tree with a lot of underbrush and "junk" around it so it doesn't "stand out". This makes the ladderstand a great tool to get set up quickly and quietly. To me, being honest, they tend to stand out if not properly hidden. Now the same goes for a climber or strap-on stand also. Try to get up by the branches, in the middle of the "junk" to break up your outline. If you see your stand from a long ways off, it's not hidden well enough, and your chances of success on a mature whitetail just went down. I'm not saying it will not happen, but it goes down.
Does this make sense?
Dandbuck

TreednNC

I use and have used climbers, lock ons, ladders, and permanent stands.

I like my climber for comfort, awesome gun stand, to hunt where I feel I need to be 20'+ (usually 30-40 when gun hunting), and mobility obviously.

I like my lock ons for putting in nasty trees that nothing else would work in, and can get high, did I mention the ability to hide and tuck into a place no readily seen, theyre just so versitile in methods you use to get into them, whether it strap on, seperate ladders like the LW, or one piece economical strong built ladders, or using screw in steps.

I like my ladder stands for ease of putting up. To me it's by far the easiest stands to put up. Maybe not to carry in, but fairly easy. I rarely use them in bow season, because I like to be higher than 15'. I camoflauge mine with cedar. Not very comfortable, but versatile. I generally use them for gun season, although I bow hunt out of them a couple times a year.

I havent used a permanent stand in a while. Ive only had two in my short 8yrs of hunting. One was built in the fork of a chestnut oak, on a ridge, over looking a draw. Greatplace to hunt, as the draw went straight into a bedding area. Never was picked off while hunting in it. Comfortable, but a bear to climb into (made it user UNfriendly to curb other hunters from using it, was in a club with some disrespectful members). Also had a 6x4 condo with a roof and shelves and enclosed with windows. Was a nice stand located in some pines at an intersection of 2 skidder trails.

TreednNC

I should also mention, something that most already know, but when using ladder stands I generally cut whole (small) cedar trees down, or trim some limbs from a near by tree from up as high as possible or some thick brushy looking pines or holly (can hurt climbing sometimes lol) and use plastic zipties (or tie wraps, whatever u call em) and zip tie them to the verticle bars on my ladder, and brush in the top the same way, with limbs ziptied vertically, as to help break me up. Very effective. I try to use ever greens of some sort for durability and quietness. Need to try to get some pics up.