New ladder stands 2010

[Realtree]

Some pics of two new ladder stands I made for our deer camp this year. Thanks to donated scrap lumber from some customers on my route, each stand cost me only about $20 to make (screws, hardware and chain):





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[deadeye]

Looks like a kings chair to me. 

[MNBucKKiller]

Looks great :-)

[fishnutbob]

Looks good should be safe.

[MTCOMMER]

I bet those dont squeek in the cold  (like mine does sometimes)

VERY NICE - are you sitting in them this year, or are you giving the deer time to adjust?!  - I would assume you will be sitting in them.
How did you rig up a seat?  A cushion - i hope its not just wood 

[Cody Gruchow]

scott those have got to be the coolest deer stands i have seen. very nice work

[Outdoors Junkie]

Nice work Realtree!

[HUNTER2]

Looks like they are about 10' high. I hope that is treated lumber so they last longer. Looks good. When can you come over and put some at my place?

[Realtree]

Looks like they are about 10' high. I hope that is treated lumber so they last longer. Looks good. When can you come over and put some at my place?

The first one is 11' from ground to the top of foot platform and the second one is 14' from ground to top of foot platform. I made these 2 out of both treated and non-treated lumber mixed as I was trying to develop a design that I like and then i plan on making a few more out of all treated lumber to stand the test of time. I figure I should still get 5-7 years out of these 2 at least...time will tell.

[Realtree]

Nice work Realtree!

Thanks OJ, you're welcome to come out and sit in one anytime my friend! 

[Realtree]

scott those have got to be the coolest deer stands i have seen. very nice work

Thanks Cody! Our neighbor at the woods had one somewhat similar set up on his land where we sometimes hunt so I took some cell phone pics last spring when I was out turkey hunting on their property and tweaked some of the design of theirs on things I thought I could make better and more sturdy. I took a bunch of pics of the 2nd stand before I put it up so I have something to go off of when I make the next one (or 5). Sitting in it, it is just like an adirondak chair on stilts. 

[Realtree]

I bet those dont squeek in the cold  (like mine does sometimes)

VERY NICE - are you sitting in them this year, or are you giving the deer time to adjust?!  - I would assume you will be sitting in them.
How did you rig up a seat?  A cushion - i hope its not just wood 

We will be using them right away this year. The seat is made up of (4) 2 X 4's with a 1" gap between the boards and a backrest set on a 9 degree angle from perpendicular that extends up to about my neck level for comfort. It is the perfect height to be able to use some seat cushions with the tie on straps from an extra set of our patio furniture. Very soft, comfy cushions !!! 

[Realtree]

As i get some spare time (after deer season) I will be going over my notes and pics from these 2 stands and fine tuning a "build sheet" and "cut list" if anyone is interested just pm me with an email address and I will try to forward you what I put together.

[Woody]

Nice looking stands!   


I couldn't tell by the pics, but is there a hole in the seat? This way you could do your business and not even have to climb down!    Just have a hole dug in the ground below.   

[BiggA]

Those are pretty nice lookin. My only question is how hard was it to stand that thing up? I have a 2 man ladder stand and thing can be a pain to stand up I imagine this would be way more top heavy than that thing.

[Realtree]

Those are pretty nice lookin. My only question is how hard was it to stand that thing up? I have a 2 man ladder stand and thing can be a pain to stand up I imagine this would be way more top heavy than that thing.

The first one we put up, my Dad and I used the tractor so that was pretty easy. The 2nd one I had 2 friends from my hunting party help me stand it up from ground level. We put a ratchet strap around the bottom ladder rung and around 2 small trees nearby to keep the bottom from sliding as we slowly stood the stand up. It worked well and we just slowly "walked it up" from ground level. It IS pretty top heavy, but with 3 guys hanging onto and steadying it, it actually went pretty well. I didn't weigh either of the stands but I would guess them to be around maybe 150-175 pounds total with the full ladder assembled. These stands will both be left up year round so I wasn't overly concerned about the weight of them as much as the stability and sturdiness when I was building them.

[HD]

Those look pretty cool, nice work! 

[Realtree]

thanks for all the positive posts everyone! We broke in both of the new stands this weekend by taking an 11 pt buck from mine and a nice doe from the other stand...will be posting pics soon