At the Ranch - Whitetail: Comparing Different Treestands

When it comes to hunting from a treestand, there’s actually a few different options that you can come up with depending on what kind of stand you actually hunt out of. In this video, I want to talk about three different types of treestands and I’m going to go ahead and compare and contrast those. I’m going to talk about what I like, what I don’t like, and depending on what style of hunting that you are going to be doing, each style is going to involve a different kind of treestand that you might want to use.

First off, we’re going to talk about a ladder stand. A ladder stand is bigger and there’s an actual ladder connected to the platform. To use, you prop it up against the tree and ratchet it in. Off the bat, some big time advantages of the ladder stand is that they’re very comfortable as there’s a much bigger seat usually associated with them. You can also get them in double ladder stands. These types of stands can be a lot safer because the ladder is easier to climb up and you can keep points of contact much easier. A couple downsides of the ladder stands is that they’re much more difficult to move around, so once it’s in a tree, it’s not a stand that you’re going to want to move around a bunch as it’s big, bulky and there’s multiple parts to it that you are going to need a couple of people to move. Another downside to a ladder stand is that it’s not going to typically conceal you as well. Usually, you have to clear out a tree pretty well to get a ladder stand up there. You can bring in some secondary cover to tie to it and stuff like that, but for the most part it is going to be harder for you to stay concealed. The last downside is that deer might pick up on easier. If you’re someone who owns a property or maybe leases out a property and you want to get a handful of stands up and not move them at all, a ladder stand might be the best treestand option for you.

Next, we’re going to talk about a hang-on stand which is just a platform which you would put climbing sticks or screw-and-steps in a tree to climb up to it. As you can see, it is a much smaller unit than the ladder stand. A couple things off the bat with the hang-on stand is that it’s much smaller so it’s way more mobile. You can take this, grab the backpack strap, go hang and you can do my favorite style of hunting which is the hang and hunt. You hang the stand, hunt off of it and then in the same hunt, you pull it down. So hang-on stands are much more mobile and they’re much lighter. Another advantage is you can get in a lot of difficult trees with these whether it be pine trees or oak trees with a lot of branches. These stands are also going to hide you much better as you can get into trees that have a lot of cover with a stand like this. The downside is that it is less safe to climb up than other treestand options. You need to make sure you have your harness hooked on while you’re using it. Another downside with these, even though they’re small, they can still be pretty heavy, so I would definitely look into different types of hang-on stands if you plan on moving up to the bunch. But overall, this is definitely my favorite type of stand to hunt out of. I employ mostly hang-on treestands and they are easily my favorite because of the mobility and because of that, I can get in pretty much any type of tree.

The last stand that we’re going to talk about, which is easily my least favorite, is a climber stand. Climber stands have two parts that are tied together. I don’t like a climber because you typically can only get in straight trees with not many branches and you have to get these cables around anything on the backside of the tree, so you typically need a straight tree with not much in it. Some upside to climbers though is that they can be very mobile and they can be very comfortable with the way that their platforms are. They have a railing so if you’re rifle hunting it can be very great for that. Overall, I’d rate the three as 1 hang on stand, 2 ladder stand and 3 climbing stand. Depending on your style of hunting, I hope you’re able to make a selection that’ll suit you best and help you this fall.