As this season progressed with the lack of rain and just overall frustration of not seeing anything I decided that I have needed to be more mobile. I bought a set of LW sticks going off the advice of Justin and man those things are bad a$$. Worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. Now I am on to trying to pick out a good lightweight stand. The other day I did buy a Muddy Outdoors Bloodsport. It uses there cam system to secure the treestand. After 3 sits and a couple of just practice sessions I don't like it. Only 1 time have I got it set as sturdy as what I thought it should be and that was after wrestling with the ropes for an extended period at ground level. I never felt in danger but when I would think i would have it tight I would get in it and the top teeth that should be against the tree would pull away about an inch. I will be returning it tomorrow. Now my question. Really how solid are the lone wolf stands. Even though the sticks work great I'm still a little leary of just cam buckles and not ratchets holding up the stand. So how solid are they really?
The key with getting the stand tight to the tree is pulling tight on the top strap, then seating the bracket down on the tree so it bites into the bark. I always do this first, then extend out the platform and adjust as needed. Once I've got the platform level, I put the 2nd strap on, lift the platform about 1/4 of the way up, give it a good pull, then re-seat it against the tree. If you do this the stand will not move, guaranteed. It will be rock solid without the need for a ratchet strap. The only times I've had to put a ratchet on a LW stand are when I'm hunting any sort of tree with shaggy bark. No matter how hard I try I just can't get them as tight as I'd like to prevent noise. It's just the nature of the beast really, and you have that problem with any stand. In those cases I still use both cam straps that come with the stand, then throw a camo ratchet strap around the tree and over the post to really lock it down. IMO you can't put a price on the versatility a set of LW sticks and hang-on stand affords you. Late season is a great example. Food sources are changing and deer patterns and alterting drastically from what they were earlier in the year. If a new food source heats up, or the deer start entering the field on the opposite side of your stand, you can pull it and re-hang in a manner of minutes. That can mean the differnce between success and failure.
Thanks for the tips. Definitely going to be upgrading to a lone wolf set up this next year for my carry in set up. This late in the year I think I'm going to skip buying a $200+ stand and just use my cheap one from Menards. It's about 6lb less than the other stand I have been using and while I do have to very careful not to make noise in it I think it can get me through this year. Looking forward to the upgrade next year though.
Sounds good... though the late season is what really makes a LW shine. That's when their quietness shines. When every other stand I had would creek, pop and clank in sub Freezing temps, LW stays silent
I cant wait to try mine out this winter last year i had a cheap stand and it would creek all the time while i would move, Ill be hunting hard the last month and have yet to use my hang on but it will be put to good use while i try to tag my first buck still.
