Engineering solution
Contributors to this thread:Massachusetts
From: Jebediah
14-Jun-17
Decided I wanted to take down a ladder stand tonight, and none of my teenagers were available. They're busy guys, you know. The scary part with ladder stands, to me, is when you're up at the top with the strap unhooked from the tree. So I rigged up this thing with a recovery strap and a comealong hooked from the top of the stand to a tree maybe 30 feet behind the stand tree. Tighten it up, then go up and unhook the stand, come back down and let off the comealong. Works like a charm. I replaced my kids with a $30 winch.
From: mdodraw29
15-Jun-17
Nice, I've never enjoyed taking down stands
From: BruceP
15-Jun-17
Yeah Jeb, I'm with you on that one. I don't go up the ladder at all until the top is secured to the tree. To put up a ladder stand I'll get it stood up and manuevered into place, and then I go up the back side of the tree with a set of climbing sticks and secure the top to the tree before ever climbing the ladder itself. Just reverse the process to take it down. Works like a charm.
From: Jebediah
15-Jun-17
Agree Bruce, I've done this in the past also, works well.
From: Fatkid1979
16-Jun-17
I do go up the ladder, but in segments. I don't do the crisscross strap. I do individual straps halfway up, so when I do go to the top, the middle is tight and the top is pushed into the tree.so then, I just have to do 1 strap at the top and the strap for my safety harness. I also go with a friend. We go out together, so we work out our schedules. 1 day for both our stands.
From: Jebediah
18-Jun-17
Used the same basic method, but in reverse and with minor modifications, to put stand back up today. Strap-and-pulley setup works quite well. Putting it back up this way was actually a little more efficient than taking it down to begin with. The first session offered some lessons for the second session.
From: drslyr
19-Jun-17
Iv'e got 1 we call the sky box.Its 24ft. 2 of us could barely stand it up with a rope thrown over a branch to help haul it up. Me scared to even try to take it down. I wouldn't even climb it to attach it to the tree. My daredevil pal climbed it. It reminds me of Alaskan bush people when they tried to put up their first wind turbine. BOOM!!!!!!!
From: Paul
19-Jun-17
I use a pair of ratchet straps 20 ft long tighten them before the climb and ladder can't move when you losenTop strap
From: Jebediah
19-Jun-17
I think that's probably a better idea than mine. But I feel kind of manly when I use my winch.
