I've never bought a stand, everything I've used Is home made. The stands my dad and I make are hang on metal stand's. I know I'll never find a store bought stand that Is as solid as these stands we make. Here's my pros and cons with the stands that I make and use.

Cons....

1. To heavy.
2. To noisy.
3. A pain In the ass to put up!
4. Ping In the cold (15 degree's and colder)


Pros....

1. Unbelievably solid!
2. They can go up In a sharp leaning tree and still be level.
3. Not bulky.


As you can see the cons out do the pros. The seats I use are also home made and are not part of the stand which Is not a problem. More movement and freedom. What I'd like to know Is what stand would best suit me as a Traditional bow hunter? Remember everyone, Traditional bows are much longer then your compounds, they can be a big pain In the ass when In a tree. I'm curious to see what Is out there that may work. 7 or 8 years ago I checked out a few of these store bought stands and I hated everyone I checked out. They were nothing near as sturdy as my home made hang ons are when standing In a tree. I don't remember what the brands were and I could care less. Someone give me an Idea what might work with a Traditional bow hunter.

I like to be mobile. I can't stand looking at the same patch of woods every year. I know people are productive doing this, but I like hunting a new stand, or chasing buck sign. You just can't do that with fixed hang ons. I have some now. And have some ladder stands. But I use my climber 80% of the time.

Some our favorites are the Gorilla (the biggest one they sell) which were purchased at Walmart after the season for $40 each. We also use a bunch of Big-Game stands that are rather large, and have a curved up foot rest on the edge (they arenice since you know where the edge is at all times, they also have very nice harnesses that come with it). The Big-game also have a metal mesh seat that can be used without a cusshion. Both of the stands are rather lite. We also use a bunch of ladders.

For my climber I use a Lone Wolf (not the sit and stand model).

Why can't you Mark? I do all the time. I'll put up my same stand In 15 to 20 different stand locations a year. I'm just wondering If there's something else that will work better.

Since I own my own land, I build all my stands as well. I get 1" metal square tube and weld up what I want. I hang them and leave them where I like. If I need another, I just make another and hang it where I need it. I have had one stolen one time, but that was during a time of heavy treaspassing. Not the G.W. frequents my land, so the treaspassing has stopped. Had lots of poaching going on as well. That has stopped too.

If your moving that much, would it be easier to just use a climber?

It takes me a good 2 hours to move a portable.

I can have my stands down In a minute and It probably takes me about 15 minutes to put It up. They are a pain to put up- a tad to noisy and kind of hard on the body. It gets old after a while and I was hoping there was something a little easier. Maybe there Isn't and I'll just have to stick to my home made stands like Burnie.

Climbers are out of the question In my woods. Not to many tree's with out branches and limbs.

A friend of mine uses one of these. They are nice in that you can leave a bunch of cables on trees and still just use one stand, take a look.

HERE

I hunt almost exclusively from a Lone Wolf hang on. I put it up and take it down each hunt. Its more work than a climber, but it allows me to climb almost any tree available with little to no limb cutting. Its light, quiet and easy to use.

One option for you could be the Millenium system. You have multiple sets of sticks and you carry the stand in with you each time. The Millenium is extremely comfortable and I have that system going in my honey hole stands that will be hunted multiple times.

Well man, sounds like you got it all figured out.