Plinker603,



First i hope your hunt is going well and the tree stand is still up!



A friend of mine made a couple of ladders stands using box section steel and it actually worked out cheaper than buying decent wood but it was quite a lot of work especially if you intend cutting the steel by hand.



Ladder stands are very expensive in the UK (it seems that everything bloody is!) and a basic 12’ aluminium unit with a seat and shooting rail similar to that picture I posted will be around $450 if not more. The one in the picture is actually a new fibreglass model that’s just come out and that is in the same price range…way to expensive for me; i simply stole the picture to show you what I meant!



Various people are making basic steel versions for around $150 but they are very heavy.



Another friend makes his own based on relatively common, relatively cheap 12’ folding ladders like the ones below.







I picked one up on sale for $60 but they usually go for around $90 here. You need to double check the locks on the hinges as some ratchet very loudly when opened or closed, while other designs allow you to disengage the ratchet and open the sections fairly quietly.



There are a couple of ways to use these for high seats but the way my mate does it puts the seat 10’ above the ground while other designs use seats and rails similar to the first pic and that puts your seat at the full 12” level…



If you can get a cheap ladder like that over there, I would use that and then use your conduit for the seat and rifle rail ect...



Regards,



Pete