I absolutely love them! I am actually about to order more for my other steps!

I genuinely appreciate that! I certainly don’t claim to be the smartest or best at anything, but I figure I might can help folks answer some of the same questions I have in life.

I agree

That’s awesome to hear! Be safe out there and good luck!

I really appreciate that! I try not to let the naysayers have a lot of volume in my head, so I normally don’t listen to them at all

I appreciate that! Thank you for watching

Thank you for that! I have found the aider to be a bit less sturdy than I’d prefer but as long as I get my foot into it and dig my toe into the tree, it seems to be sufficient. I’ll check out the Nader! Have fun and be safe out there!

Hey thanks! I love that hoodie because it's such a thick and warm hoodie during the winter months. I also do love climbing trees. It's always been the "kid" in me lol

Thanks a bunch! My plan is to add more aiders to get just a bit higher this season!

Oh that is very very true. There's definitely a lot of practice that has to take place before you feel comfortable with them!

I think I'm going to get some additional 1 step aiders to add to my remaining sticks just for some additional height. I've not quite gotten the bug to do 1 stick method yet. Perhaps with time, I'll try that one out. I do know it's growing in popularity and guys love it!

I have considered using the tether rather than a lineman’s rope but I was waiting until this winter (off-season) before making any sort of changes. I definitely wanted to practice before implementing in the darkness of the morning or evening.

Thank you! So since making this video, I have added aiders to all of my steps. I now only use 3 of them and achieve a similar height as I did in this video

@@lifeonthehilltn I made a 3 step wider for the 1st stick, the next 2 have 1 step aiders on them. I also used a longer moveable aider on the 2nd and 3rd sticks. Tried it today and got exactly 20'. I did not push hard on the spacing.

So that is certainly a weak part of climbing with a saddle. You could take the extra time to also use your tether and just loosen and move it up as you go as an added bit of safety, but I suppose without it, you’d just be forced to eat a bunch of bark if you were to slip. It is something I’m just extra careful and cautious with. I’ve been that way with any tree stand method whilst climbing. That’s always the most dangerous part of any suspended hunting. Winter (other than it being cold) is a great time to practice because you don’t have leaves and stuff to worry about while climbing and you can just see and concentrate better

Thank you! Unfortunately, I don’t really remember what the song was. I use 1 of 2 sites for my music for my videos for Royalty free music so I don’t get flagged for copyright infringement issues. It either came from Artlist.io or from epidemicsound.com

@@lifeonthehilltn Thanks!

Very true, indeed. I mostly mentioned the bow height (more as like a footnote) for someone that may possibly be new to archery or tree stands in general and have the release point in mind or for someone that was just kinda curious in general. I would wholeheartedly agree that platform height is certainly your "height" though.

Heights never really have bothered me for some reason. I get the equipment trust factor, too though. Although, I’d challenge you and think about everything else that you put trust into in life.. bridges holding, brakes stopping, tires not blowing, drivers not falling asleep. You get my point lol I just think that the versatility of the saddle and platform is unmatched by anything else at the current moment. Still not a thing wrong with a climber or traditional stand.

Yea! I’d like to be able to get slightly higher just as foliage does go away, so I’m adding aiders to my steps which will stretch them and help with that!

@@lifeonthehilltn I just ordered a 2 step aider from the amsteel guy for my beast minis. Should put me at around 17ft without alot of stretching, or I could leave one stick at home and still reach 14 or so. Depends on the situation, you know how it goes

Yes I would agree with that! I think I’ll make sure I have 2 step aiders for all of my sticks just so I’ll have the options if needed. Might not always use them but you know what they say. Better to have it and not need it as to need it and not have it

@@lifeonthehilltn did you ever add the aiders to your sticks and find out how high you were able to get

I do have the additional aiders, but I haven’t had a chance to climb with them to re-measure. I’m going to try to do that this week!

Yea, that’s what I was able to get. Keep in mind, I spaced them conservatively apart from one another trying to keep in mind the colder hunts when I’ll have more clothes on and not be as flexible. I also didn’t place my platform above the top of the last stick because I like to be able to swing around the tree by stepping onto the stick. So if you didn’t do that, you could very easily be at 16’ or more

@@lifeonthehilltn four stix and four aiders should get you to 20' easily, especially putting platform @ 18" above last stick

@@mr.skeptical3071 nooo I didn’t have aiders on all of my sticks.. only the first one. So it was only one aider in this video. I’ve since changed this setup, but I only used the one when filming this video

Eh, maybe so. I’ve seen lots of mature deer killed out of ladder stands which are normally only about 16’ I’ve changed my setup since this video and I’m higher than I showed in this video now anyway

Maybe if that mature buck goes downwind of you by about 40 yards, then yeah being 25ft up would be nice..but like he said, plenty of nice deer shot out of ladder stands. We had a deer stand that was made out of 2x4s. Just a platform in the middle of a big Oak tree, only the hunting legends know how many deer have been taken out of that deer stand! Constantly fixing it up over the years. It has such good solid cover, you are really hidden. one of the best trees right in the middle of a funnel on the side of a ridge. It's about 15 yards away from the main deer trail. We've had mature bucks walk right up on the backside of the tree where you access the stand from that side. Only 6 feet down to the ground on that side. On the backside towards the creek, it's about 15 feet down to the ground/creek ,On the front , it's about the same as the access side ,only 7 feet down to the ground. My dad had a huge 10 point buck walk right up the ridge, access side of the stand. His rack was floating right next to the platform. He couldn't move,. The deer kept walking and quartered away. Big bucks aren't predictable,.they'll come in from anywhere. Moral of the story. No matter what elevation you hunt from,..you better have good cover and play that wind.

I only had an aider on my first stick (not all 4) and I also set them apart conservatively as to consider the bulk associated with winter clothing. Math will get you close, sure. These were my personal results that I actually hung on a tree, so they’re a good representation of what I will achieve in a hunting scenario

Not really sure what you mean, here.