My primary treestand setup is a fixed stand and set of 3 independent sticks like the Lone Wolf or recently acquired Hawk Helium. Hunting mostly on private land, I tend to set them up before season and leave them up unless they require a bit of relocation for better action. However last season I went back to public land several times to keep from overhunting my primary spots and add a bit of spice to the mix. The state land jaunts were ground hunts with a folding stool and my brush nippers for impromptu sitts, but I really found the desire to get in the air at a few spots that looked good. So with that in mind, I have been shopping this year to find a stand that is relatively lightweight and also offers a mounting system that can be set up and then the stand dropped in place. That way I can potentially leave the mount and sticks in place for a couple consecutive hunts while taking the platform with me to assure it doesn't "walk away" while I am gone. I looked at the Hawk Xplor, but know of no one that has one to get feedback. Millennium offers several, but the M50 is heavy, and the M100/M150 have the seat type that makes it tough to stand for a shot. Lone Wolf and XOP have the hook, but that doesn't look ultra strong to me and I took it off my LW Alpha when I got it a few years ago in favor of the versa button and dual strap setup. Thus I came upon the Muddy Vantage that is a 13# aluminum stand with their "super mount" and it looked pretty good. When I discovered that Rural King had them on sale for $99, it was just too attractive to pass up. Got one on order today and it should be here mid-week to test out. I hope it pans out and gives me that "run and gun" option that I have been looking for...
I had one and I really liked the set up! Just two things that I didn't like. One is that the ratchet style bracket is hard to get started around the tree and two I used it to pack in and out but the set seemed to be noisy. Love my Lw
If I find the security strap of the Vantage is not to my liking, my backup plan is to buy a versa button and strap from LW and convert it. There are also Youtube videos of converting a LW to a rope and that is also an option for the Muddy. I have a second super mount on the way so I can set them up in good looking spots and just haul in the platform. I have high hopes for this setup and getting on to a nice buck from the Muddy.
Rural King was great on speedy shipping and the Muddy Vantage arrived last Tuesday. The platform was indeed a powder coat or dipped light gray color, so the first order of business was to buy a can of Rustoleum flat black and tone that down. I found that odd because the seat platform and upright were both black??? Once it dried a couple days, I installed the pieces-parts and tried it out in the backyard about 18" from the ground to get the hang of the super mount and security strap. Figuring that the mount would be put in place ahead of time, along with sticks or steps, the actual effort of getting it set in place and strapped in was minimal. It seems like a pretty good design and I look forward to trying it out in the woods this fall. Once I have some "seat time", I will report back on my field impressions.
Curious as to why you spray painted the platform black? I would say the reason the uprights are black and platform is gray is for less visibility. The gray won't contrast as much as the black to the sky, and the uprights would blend in better to a darker tree trunk. I'm not talking about the deer seeing it, but you mentioned public ground, and I think the all black platform would stick out to people more. Just my opinion.
The majority of my stands are either a dark olive drab, very dark gray or black from the manufactuere....not a light gray. Since I don't plan on leaving this out for long on public land, my concern is deer seeing it in thick woods while I am standing on it vs people running across it. Plus I just didn't care for the appearance of it and fixed it for $3.89. 8^)
