Gents,

I need a tree stand for bow hunting. I just got into this archery thing about two years ago in Arizona. There it was all spot and stalk. No trees big enough for a stand.

I recently moved to northeast Washington State. Lots of big trees and lots of deer.

Anyway I've been looking at stands and quite honestly I don't know squat about them. Rather than get hosed by a salesman at a sporting goods store who is going to try to sell me what he has in stock as opposed to what I really need I figured I'd get some advice from others more knowledgable than myself.

I won't say that price isn't an issue, but I'm inclined to buy upper end equipment once as opposed to something I don't really like and replacing it later.

Migra

http://www.deerstandsusa.com/

I hunt in West TN, lots of creek bottoms on my place. Also, I am a fairly large individual, and some of the stands for sale scare me. Check out the link above, their Bowman is the finest bow hunting stand I have used. Strong, rigid, easy to set up, and a dream to hunt out of. Talk to them at the factory, and see if they will make the angled bowman, (they dropped it from the online catalog), but I much prefer it to the straight seat modle. I have two, and have taken deer each year from both of them for the last five years.

I use a hang-on stand and a ladder to get into it. I look at the trees in the woods and it seems very few where I hunt would work for a climber. My favorite stand is the Rivers Edge Bigfoot. Cabela's Magnum Climbing stick is a good ladder for the money. I can carry the stand on my back, the ladder over one shoulder and my bow one the other and hike a mile or more if need be. Jim