Advice on Tree Stand Access

[BHay]

I'm a new hunter looking for my first deer this fall. I worked on my first tree stand today and it's nearly finished. The way the boughs have grown allowed me to build a sturdy platform and seat but I can't access by climbing up the trunk. Plan A was to install foot holds on the trunk but I really need a ladder to access this stand. My blue fiberglass (with bright aluminum rungs) extension ladder is excellent for the job.

Now, in pursuit of my first trophy I'm willing to leave the ladder out and at the stand for a couple of weeks but I'm told it's going to spook the deer.

Can anyone with more experience tell me if they think this is true? If so does anyone have other suggestions for accessing the new stand? I've thought about a rope or chain ladder but mounting looks a bit tricky.

Thanks in advance for your advice

PS- the stand is on my property and not visible from a pubic area.

 

[jbkebert]

I do not believe that your ladder will spook your deer. Leave it in the woods and let the deer get used to its presents. However I really really do not like home made treestands. I attended a program yesterday put on by the TMA (treestand manufactures association). I became certifed as a master treestand safety instructor for the state of Kansas. Out of the 6300 accidents listed by the consumer product safety comission only 18 were found to be problems with manufactured treestands the rest were either accidents with homemade treestands or incidents refering to getting in or out of a treestand. Something like a scrape from a improperly cut branch while getting in or out of a stand is listed as a incident.

If you insist on using your homemade treestand make sure you check it over each and everytime you enter the stand. Boards rot nails bend or pull out, trees grow. By just about anyones standard for the money spent building a homemade stand you could have a pretty decent factory built stand for the same amount of money. And for goodness sakes use a fall arrest system.

Good luck in your hunting season, and be careful.

 

[ColeK]

Your ladder will not spook the deer.
If I were you I might put the ladder up a few days before the seaon opens.

 

[Armored farmer]

Im with jbkebert on this.
I have some permanent stands on my property that I built myself. In a matter od a few years they become unsafe. Changing deer patterns make them obsolete. Wind changes day to day put scent where you don't want it to go, etc, etc.
Since I bought a quality climber, I am much more apt to change locations as I feel necessary. Sometimes I just strap it on and go scouting for a new location, If I find an area I like...climb up look it over, saw off some branches for shooting lanes, and I am ready to hunt that area with a tree picked out and ready to go. No more stolen stands. No one sitting in my stand on opening day(never had that happen yet).
If you do make your own steps, remember that it will be dark, you will be carrying too much crap(gear), and bound up by heavy clothes. Make your steps pretty close together for easy climbing.
And yes....use a fall arrest. I have helped recover a fall victim, it is an unnecessary tragedy. A friend lost the use of his legs from this, it is real and it happens.
Sorry about the soapbox lecture.
good luck!