How many does everybody use? How many use them? I am thinking of making a few. We went to the dump today during school and found some really good 1/8" tubing and im thinking I should make a few whare it is free. I have enough materials for about 6 or 8. It is only going to cost me padding for a seat.

What does everybody think of this plan?

Any form of homemade stand should be built according to a certified safe construction plan , don't just guess . Falls over 25 feet are usually fatal according to stats . That 1/8" tubing sounds a little flimsy , unless it's steel I'd go with something beefier .

Having that many stands is not a bad idea. There is about 10 or more stands down where I hunt but most of them we put up permanent ones. We did make about 5 portable ones and a few of them are hanging too. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Be careful that any stand you make is strong enough!!!! I made one out of 1.5" angle stock (heavy!!) the stands are a chore to transport but very sturdy!!! I mostly us two portable hang ons and one summit climber throughout the season.

When I am hanging from a blowing tree with just a chain and cantileaver I want the most strudiest piece of steel below my feet. All I am saying is if you are wanting to built a stand you may want to consider using more rather than just getting by! We have a welder at the cabin but in pricing out the steel, factoring in the labour I just ended up buying chain on's...not saying fabrication and building isn't fun or worth effort but it rarely is a lot cheaper..catch my drift. Whatever you do buy a top quality saftey harness, that is a 5 point system (ie: seat o pants) and use it everytime you climb in the tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As to how many stands I have 5 but I only use them for bear hunting now, I prefer being on the ground and the extra mobility/freedom it offers for my areas. If you want to stand hunt then either a climber or min. 3 hang ons should be in your arsenal for wind direction and patterns switchs IMHO.

Hey thanks for the responses. It is 1/8" steel tubing and my welding teacher is a hunter who is bring in one of the stands he bought and we are trying to go with the basic pattern, while adding a little extra support.

Skeeter nice job on pointing out the safety harness. I've used one every since a friend of mine fell asleep in a stand, fell out & broke his back.

We have about 45 ladder stands.

I have five fixed position stands and one ladder stand and they are all used throughout the course of a season. In the past we built wooden permanent stands that really are not permanent. We also built some wooden hang on stands from instructions out of a magazine. I wouldn't recommend building your own stands in general unless you are a combination mechanical engineer and fabricator. Stand manufacturers have done the research and have the experience as well as the lightweight materials that make the stand much easier to hang.