National Tree Stand Museum???

[ruskbucks]

Yikes. Did check and make sure there wasn't any bodies under those stands. I have one like the second pic I found on our place at home. I have one on my hunting land welded up out of old round pipe. The guy was not a welder. Maybe why he only put it up about 6ft off the ground.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I started with an old Baker climbing stand, and the "safety strap" went around your waist. I had to bear hug the trees to climb them (like Natty said he did). Looking back, if the stand would have slipped - or I lost my balance - I would have been left hanging by my waist, probably with a ruptured spleen from the shock of the belt biting into my innards, and bleeding out or suffocating while hanging there.

I've seen old wooden pallets nailed into trees, 2x4's nailed for steps, all kinds of rickety wooden rigs nailed into trees that I wouldn't have climbed into if they were NEW!!! The craziest thing I ever saw was a pick-up truck cap fastened into a tree as a shelter from the weather. It was about 18 ft. off the ground. I would have loved to have seen the installation of that thing!!!

 

[Bill]

That second stand in the first post is how we made them. But we used aluminum and bolts. Big fender washer under the plywood with an eyebolt to attach the cable back to the seat. I’d never get in one now, but at 17, no problem.

 

[PatinPA]

I started with an old Baker climbing stand, and the "safety strap" went around your waist. I had to bear hug the trees to climb them (like Natty said he did). Looking back, if the stand would have slipped - or I lost my balance - I would have been left hanging by my waist, probably with a ruptured spleen from the shock of the belt biting into my innards, and bleeding out or suffocating while hanging there.

I've seen old wooden pallets nailed into trees, 2x4's nailed for steps, all kinds of rickety wooden rigs nailed into trees that I wouldn't have climbed into if they were NEW!!! The craziest thing I ever saw was a pick-up truck cap fastened into a tree as a shelter from the weather. It was about 18 ft. off the ground. I would have loved to have seen the installation of that thing!!!

That was my first stand too. My dad's friend worked as a mechanic at a chevy dealership and got us surplus seat belts. Seat belt around you and through the safety strap around the tree. After we heard about the waist thing we started sliding them up under our armpits.

 

[pilotpip]

My dad is a welder by trade. Up until a couple years ago we were still using a couple stands he built in the early to mid 90s when he worked at a ship yard and had access to tons of bar stock scrap and welded up about 50 of them for himself and friends during slow periods at work. They were a bear to put up because they weighed about 30lbs but once up, with a chain, and a ratchet strap at the top and bottom they were rock solid. The platforms were big enough to dance a jig on and they didn't make a bit of noise when you were moving around. I think he has one or two still in his shed and I'm seriously thinking about grabbing them and putting them up on my property where I don't want anyone else hunting (nobody else uses hang-ons).

 

[356]

This one was on our property when we bought it eleven years ago. It's still there. I hunted in it one time...never again. The base is still sturdy, but the "ladder" is 2x4's nailed to the tree. I used a regular ladder the one time I "checked it out."

 

[Treefrog]

I can remember back in the 80s helping some buddies make some steel tree stands. None of us knew how to weld, but we stuck those things together good enough to be alive today. lol
Kinda scary thinking back about it.