I have ladder and hang on stands. Well I was thinking of about buying a self climber. Well my question is how do you get your gun or bow up in the tree? With the hang on and ladder i use a rope and pull it up.

same way. i cut a 20' piece of rope, this way i know when i am 20' up in the dark. you just attach the rope to the stand or to your belt.

I've done something a little unusual on my climber. On the back just behind the seat is a 1 inch square reciever kind of like a reciever hitch for a truck. I built a gun holder for it out of some "scrap" aluminum I just happened to "stumble" across at work. I used surgical tubing to secure the rifle in the holder while I climb the tree. Works great although it does make the top section of the stand slightly out of balance. Just remember to make sure that there is no bullet in the chamber when climbing up or down the tree.

When I first started using climbing stands, I made the big mistake of trying to climb with my rifle. Needless to say, I dropped my rifle when I was 30 feet up and it broke the synthetic stock and cracked the scope lens. Good thing I didn't have it loaded. Now I always use a rope and pull it up after i'm done climbing.

If you tie a piece of rope to your stand. As you are going up wont that tend to bounce your gun or bow around.

use a 20+ foot piece of rope. tiue one to the gun/bow the other to the stand. climb tree, get situated..i.e. safety harness hang your pack hang any accesories you want. turn around sit down ...pull up bow/gun untie rope and either let it hang or I always wrap mine up and bungee it to my stand for easy access when i want to get down