how do you get into a ladder stand (heights issues)?
 

ok i feel silly but what can i say, im scared of heights. I have a climber stand and oddly enough when i use it i feel pretty safe, but i was hunting this week with some new people with ladder stands set up, and ive never seen anyone actually get into one (tried to find it on youtube but no luck). So my question is, once you climb to the top rung, whats your ballet move to get your butt on the seat? Let me preface by saying, im wearing 13 boots and im 6 3" and 250. I swear there just doesnt seem to be enough room when i get up to the top to spin my feet around and get facing out and my butt on the seat in what seems like a safe way to me....help

AMEN brother..I'm right there with ya..I was at a place 3 weeks ago..another hunter was going to put me in one..At 20-30 years old..I may risk turning around since I was much stronger..but at 56 when you are much weaker and since we both have a fear of man made stuff at heights that shake..I came right down that ladder stand..I told a white lie and said my knee were too sore to climb..but actually like you..I wasn't going to chance turning and trying to sit in that tiny little seat..

There 's seems to be a lot more room in my Summit Climber and I feel much safer in it.PLus the ladder stands mostly go 15 foot..my limit is 14 footLOL

lol i think thats where the rope/safety harness originated...
i hated the feelin i got at the top as well, until i got used to it..but basically at the top step is where i make my turn...2nd from top step is a normal, but the top step i have my foot turned, so all i have to do is plop down on the seat.

I don't do ladder stands or loc ons...I'm 6ft 5 and 235...I have 2-API Grand Slam Magnums, the harness is attached to the tree as I go up...

We have had 2 local hunters die from falls from ladder stands in the past 2 years...

Just get ya a harness and force yourself to do it. Eventually you will get over it. Something like 9 of 10 Americans are actually afraid of heights. So don't feel bad.

I'm not afraid of heights, I'm not even afraid of falling...it's the abrupt stop that scares me. I only use my climbers and haven't been in my ladder in three years. It all depends on the ladder stand itself, if you have one that's got a wrap-a-round shooting rail and a good foot platform it's no problem. All of the ladders on the land I hunt, except mine, are just an open seat and platform. I stopped hunting them for fear I was going to fall, even wearing my harness.

Sorry to hear that. Ya got to be able to trust your gear. If you cant trust your gear then what is the point of having it? I don't guess it would be of any consolation that from what Ive read more people have fallen from climbers than ladder stands.

I have a GoMuddy harness and it comes with an ascent/descent rope you leave on the tree at your stand. you just clip on and slide the prusic knot as you go up. in the event of a fall at any height you're connect to the fall restraint at all times. http://www.gomuddy.com/shopping/Departments/Safeguard-Harness.aspx

they don't show the A/D line in the video but it does come with it.

Sounds like it is the type/design of ladder stand that is giving you the problem. The ones I have have a large seat and platform. When you get to the top you just climb straight on in to the stand. I have a nylon cord I pull my rifle up with so there is no problem getting in the stand with it. They are a heavy built stand. I'm 6'2" and about 245 and have no problem.

Good Post
 

It's just assumed by "everyone", liars included, that every American hunter is a born climber. And it has nothing to do with hunting.

I've climbed over the decades, starting with climbing ladders on box cars on a siding, when I was a ten or eleven years old. But there was some climbing, others could do, that I never attempted.

I could climb up on roofs, but I never would stand at the very end of a roof and look down at the ground. There was climbing I'd do and climbing I wouldn't do.

Some can use a climbing stand, but don't like or use what I call-diving platforms. Those are stands that are just the same. Like one step and you're diving towards the water. Instead, you're quickly diving towards the ground. It's like an open diving platform at a pool.

At my age, if I have to find a new tree stand, I'll buy it used. I know some will buy a good treestand, use it once, and never use it again. And of course there is the fitness question. How long will you stay in shape, at that weight, to carry in or out, a treestand. Or will you fall back, in the beginning, to one lone stand in the forest.

Wow I thought I was the only one who was afraid of the ladder stand I have been in it 3 or 4 times. I feel a lot safer in my climber. I think I have got it figured out. Because I am in full contact with the tree in the climber plus I am attached through out the climb by a harness I feel safer. In the ladder you are dependent on being in contact at 3 points with no harness attached until you reach the top and connect the harness to the tree. The transition from the ladder to the platform both ascending and descending are the scariest part.

To a degree I am in the same boat. I use a Big Game Stealth Deluxe ladder stand with a gun rest. I get up, lower the gun rest then turn around and sit down. Oddly, the gun rest wouldn't do much to keep me from falling if it came down to it, but gives me the confidence to turn and sit without worry.

true that..i found that going up and hangin my bow....then comin down to get my bag and goin up and puttin it up on stand, and then climbing in with-out holdin anything, makes me lighter, more maneuverable and alot more confident than being loaded down. definitely a rope holdin all that is nice, but when you never been there, and somebody didnt think of that for you..gotta improvise.

I wouldn't climb one for 100.00 I hate them..NOW I don';t mind climbing and using ones I built..but those store bought ones to me are to flimsy..I love my Summit ....I have 2 of them.

The other day I climbed almost to the top..and reallized I;'ll never get turned around..so I said to myself..I don't care if the other hunter thinks I'm a sissy or not..I'm coming down.It wasn't our stand anyways..we just stimbled upon it. so it wasn't right anyways

ok guys thanks for the replies, makes me feel better im not the only one in the boat. If id had a harness with me i might would have risked it but i didnt and nobody told me to bring one.....ive been in this situation hunting with new people several times and it seems to be kind of a prevalent attitude that its "only a ladder stand" and its no big deal...but im usually the biggest guy there, i think if i was a little smaller then scampering up there might not scare me as much. Im going to look into some of these new harnesses and start throwing one in my pack.

oh i did see one cool thing on my youtube search, i think one of you alluded to it in your post, but its a 22' ladder stand by summit with a trap door feature, you climb right up thru the stand and raise the foot platform and climb thru, you are enclosed by the shooting bar and you spin around and sit down and put the foot platform down, very slick.

A harness does little good..as you can't use it until your up to the top.unlike the climber..I had a harness on me..I still wouldn't risk it..

The first 15 foot you can't use the harness anyways....then we are to stand up on top ..wrap the rope around the tree..shaking like a leaf I'm sure..no sir,,,just an accident awaiting to happen as far as I'm concerned..I'm too big , fat and old to take such chances...PLUS..you are very limited on positions you can actually shoot..then we got to turn around...untie the rope..and pray to God the metal doesn't bend..LOL not for me ever..

Incorrect Chuck. With the proper gear you can use a harness while climbing. But most hunting suppliers do not sell or advertise belay or fall arrest gear designed for use unless you are already sitting down.

It is called a ladder climbing devise. It attaches to the bottom rung of the ladder and is a wire that is stretched tight to the top rung. You are attached to the wire using camming system that slides freely going up, but stops you cold if you descend at faster than two feet per second. Take one step up and fall and it stops you in less than a quarter of an inch. If you are worried about falling while setting the stand up, then all you have to do is take a rope toss it over a sturdy branch (Minimum of 8 inches thick for someone less than 300 pounds, there are other things to do if you don't have a branch that big, but we will cover that when someone asks), bring it down, tie a figure eight to your harness. Take a shorter length of rope tie a double half hitch around another tree at an angle (double half hitch is obviously tied near the ground on the trunk of the tree), and in the end of the rope tie another figure eight, pick up a self belay beaner from any one of a thousand climbing websites and use the figure eight in the tree on the ground, run your free end from the top rope through the belay beaner and pull it tight, tie another figure eight to the figure eight that is already tied to your harness then climb. It will allow you to climb and descend as normal, but if you fall it will stop you. Or you can set up with someone there to belay for you, That makes it so you only have to tie one knot.

Then if you are really big and out of shape, you could even go so far as to set up counter weights so you don't have to do all the work yourself, but that is another lesson for another time ;) Trust me they are worth it even when you aren't out of shape.

Edit: Sorry for the late info.

Using the above advice, you can set your anchor points on the tree while you are setting up for the first time, so you are 100% tied off the whole time. Go out to your stand before the buttcrack of dawn and hook to the ladder climbing device. Climb to the seat and tie off to your anchor point before unhooking from the ladder climbing device, then unhook from the ladder. No shaking like a leaf in the wind involved, no risk of falling, no risk of death, and ya can use any type of stand ya want without being scared.

get the biggest platform you can....not one of those 12"x10" you want a 24"x30" type platform...

ps- I can't believe how many people are afraid of heights, or who are claustrophobic?

be scared of something scary, like killer snakes! haha.

Mods, Im sorry, but Im gonna get some complaints.

People are scared of what they are scared of. Poking fun at them isnt going to help em any. Doing so not only makes you look like an *******, but it also makes you look ignorant. Please shut the hell up.

Something like 90% of the U.S. population is afraid of heights. Most don't know they are, even more wont admit they are. Being nervous at heights is completely natural. It is something we learned through years of evolution (or if you don't believe in it, God made us scare of them to keep us from doing stupid **** and getting killed). The only thing those of us that don't have that fear can do to help is to educate them how to do it safely. Being an an ass (like you just were) does not help anyone.

lol 8" i cant find anything like that anywhere i wanna hang a stand

Honestly..for me ..fear is a good thing..it's kept me alive 56 years..

I have never heard of or seen the device you speak of sir ..but I don't plan to get a ladder stand.I do all my hunting on public land and like it that I can take my climber in and out..

Relax Francis. (psycho from stripes)

Apparently god forgot to give you a sense of humor.

Apparently you never razz your buddies.

This site is for fun and education, not to yell at others joking around.

climb up the ladder lol now i will go back and read your post

i guess i climb up the wrong way there is only 2 stands that we have that i use a pull up rope for my bow. one stand there is no ladder just branches that you have to climb up to the lock on thats about 25 feet up that sits in the v of the tree. and another one is where you have to climb a ladder to the top about 15 foot then climb the tree to the other ladder then climb a few branches to another ladder to get to the stand. that sits just over 30 feet off the ground only time your connected to the tree is when you get up to the stand and connect yourself to the tree. but every other stand i hold my bow with one hand climb up the ladder stand get to the top step lay my bow on the seat get my bow holder out hook that up to the seat put my bow on it then swing my pack around get my safety strap and all my other stuff out then put my pack on my bow holder then sit down and enjoy the hunt.

The trunk of the tree above where you are going to set your tree is larger than 8 inches.

I find the biggest rock, or a downed tree that I sit on.
problem solved.

I used to be a roofer, but out in the woods, all alone, climbing a ladder, big clumsy boots on, with a back pack.
errrrrrrr, not for me anymore.

and who can sit still with a 50 yo back. I have to move around and stretch every so often.

I used to have this fear on some of the smaller platformed ladder stands. I bought a Fall Guy 20' retractor that can be used for connection when climbing up and down.

I also used to never use the rather small rope that was shown to connect to the top of the ladder, criss-cross and wrap around the tree, down too the bottom of the ladder. I always thought WTF would that ever do to prevent anything. Well, now I know. It's for that precarious moment when you first place the stand and later take it down. When you have to climb the ladder and attach the ratchet around the tree. I learned this year, that without that extra rope for protection, you can have the top rung lean back on you.

You just gotta get use getting up there and finding what the best way of gettin set up is. I panacked when i was 13. I got up but forgot how to get down. My dad gave me some constrictive critsism and i was fine after that. Just make sure the stand is safe and use a harness if you must.