The range finder is the most important, yeah you can walk off yardage, but what happens on the way to the stand and the monster buck is in front of you with his head in a does butt? A stand is good for deer hunting, a range finder can be used in ever type of hunting, not only that but what if you "walk off" yard age and the buck is just a little bit farther than you walked?
FOOD 4 THOUGHT
Brett

i was gonna to say a range finder becuase you dont want to mis judge that shot, but i'm gonna witha stand, you can always borrow a rangefinder before your hutns and mark the yardage out and flag it...then when the time comes, you'll have a good idea how far they are.....before i got my range finder, i would ribbon a 25 yd. diameter around my stand.

I got along fine for years without a rangefinder, but not without a climber.

Get the stand. You can learn to judge distance accurately.

I voted for climber first. The climber is going to cost less and you will use it more often. In my opinion, unless you will be rifle hunting with longer shots or bow hunting in unfamiliar areas where you have not been able to walk off some distances, you really do not need it.

I would get the climber. You don't need a rangefinder, those are a waste of money IMO. The climber will come in more handy, I have two climbers myself and plan on buying another. You can always learn how to judge yardage(it's not that difficult), and a stand is very important in still hunting.Think about it this way- Which can you deal without this year?

Range finder a waste of money? Come here to colorado in the open sage brush country with an open sighted muzzleloader and lets see how bad you want a range finder.

I started buying climbers in the middle eights, did not buy my first rangefinder until 2005.

I would have to go with a climber because it gives you a greater advantage than hunting from a blind. If you practice enough from a stand in the woods than you should be able to judge your shoots.

Im a bowhunter myself and dont see how you really need a rangefinder, if theres something you are unsure about then you should walk it off before the time comes, i can judge distance simple enough and 1 or 2 yards that i may be off are easily corrected by the speed of my bow, i just dont see spending money on a rangefinder but thats the way i raised