Agreed about the nervousness! And the type we use you have to crawl under the seat to attach the lower of the two straps. But we only move stands when we have 3-5 adults, so at least three people are holding the ladder while one person (me) climbs up to attach the ratchets.
My cousins, who are not as experienced taking down ladder stands, tried to take one down without loosening the stabilizer bar, which was pushing outwards against the ladder. When they popped the ratchet open, the ladder under pressure launched the person at the top off like a catapult. When he tried to land on his feet from 15 feet up, he shattered his heel bone. Still has pins in it.
Absolutely - I don't skimp on ratchet straps. To be honest (and not the best of options), if I'm going to a lock on to hunt that I haven't checked, I'll carry a ratchet strap in my backpack. I'll climb up to the top of the steps, anchor myself to the tree and quietly put the ratchet strap on while still dark and then get in. When I'm getting down, I'll readjust everything.
Safety ropes are a great idea, but how would I have a safety rope installed before I have a stand up to install it?
I may not be doing it all correctly, but I thought the main purpose of the long cross straps is to somewhat secure the seat section to the tree before you climb the ladder. If these are wrapped around the tree and tied at bottom of the ladder, the top shouldn't pull away from the tree as you climb to put on the ratchets. When taking down a ladder stand, the long cross straps are the last last thing you should remove, after the ladder brace and the ratchets. I agree completely, they are a pain, but they may have prevented your cousins catapult and others who have separated from the tree when putting on or taking off ratchets.
Had never thought of that, but you are certainly correct that's what those straps are for. We'll have to think about that in the future. We had only been using them to keep the feet of the ladder from springing out of the ground and away from the tree when the tree sways in windy weather. With the old-style ladder stands without pins holding the ladder sections together, having the ladder ends come out of the ground often meant sections of the ladder coming apart, especially the ones right up against the seat. The newer stands not only have pins, the don't have a ladder section at the floor that can pull out (the top section is attached to the floor with side braces). But we still use a lot of the older stands.
Back when I only had about 5 lock-ons, I would go around each year, typically in Jan-Feb, and loosen all my straps. By the time deer season came around. They just needed a click or 2 to tighten. Not having that stress for 7-8 months from the tree growing definitely helps preserve the straps to have a longer lifetime. I also try and get the straps that are more "plastically feeling", as I feel they take much longer to dry rot. If I know it's the last time hunting a particular stand for that year, I'll go ahead and loosen when I'm getting down.
Going more than one season with a lock-on strap scares the bejeebers out of me!
All valid points, and I do wish they still made them with chains. Those still require maintenance and more often, because if left unattended, you'll need some bolt cutters. I've contemplated converting mine to that. One chain and one ratchet should give plenty of ease.Going more than one season with a lock-on strap scares the bejeebers out of me!
Seriously, Young Man, those should be totally replaced at least annually.
I don't use lock-ons as much as in times past,
but when I do, I prefer chains over straps.
I have some Millennium lock-ons with which I typically use a chain,
then add a strap so they're then truly "locked" down
The original "hang on" stands (decades ago) I believe all used chains.
Unless you are using an extension ladder on the back of the tree to put your ratchet strap on, this is very dangerous. There is a reason that straps come with stands, they are designed to keep the mid section tight against the stabilizer bar, which should also be attached before you ever climb up the ladder. I have read several stories of midsections of these stands buckling just as yours did, and just about every one of them had the same failure, they buckled at the middle due to the straps not being tied or stabilizer bar not being used. You got lucky.
And that's why we move a fair number of them each year. Eventually the deer learn their location and avoid them. I even run a statistical and spatial analysis each spring to help me identify which ones need to be moved. However, I find climbers to be nightmares. If I had to use climbers, I would become a dedicated ground hunter! I just like the ease and convenience of ladder stands, although obviously setting up, moving, and hunting out of them has downsides and safety concerns.
I guess the question in the future will be weighing convenience and speed (we have one weekend to move many ladders, with family flying in just for the "event"), versus safety. We've never attached the cross straps and stabilizer bar before strapping the stand to the tree. Yet I can see where doing both would be much safer. Although both would need to be undone and redone to get the floor/seat of the ladder perfectly level before tightening the ratchet. Again, lots to think about safety-wise.
It really is not that difficult. If you have the straps tied at the tops before you ever stand the stand up against the tree, you just leave them hang. Once you have the stand pushed up to the tree, you pull them around the tree, crisscross them and pull them back to the bottoms of the ladder where you tie them off. I have even heard of people using the straps with an extra person and some rope tied to them to help pull the stand up from behind the tree. For transport, when you pull the stand down, just wrap the loose straps around the stand and tie them off, could take an extra minute or two tops.
