Why you shouldn't buy cheap treestands!

[Triple_B]

After that hunting incident a couple months ago, which I'm sure most of you know about, we refrained from hunting for a little while. Today we decided to go and change the locations of a few of our treestands away from the spot where the incident happened. So we start by putting out some feeders where we planned to put the stands. After that, we go to my dads stand and my brother goes and gets his climber. Through the trail, we find the ladder that my uncle made to access his lock on stand, it was completely ruined and the steps were torn out of it (it was made from a 2x6 and some screw-in steps). That had us concerned, but we continued on to my dads stand. My brother goes off to get his climber while my dad and I go get his ladder stand. So my dad is in the stand, unstrapping the top from the tree (hes all the way up to the top of the 15 foot stand) when it completely bends backwards off of the tree and buckles down, throwing my dad into the ground on his back, and completely destroying the stand. At the time my dad was holding onto the stand for dear life and it snapped right where he was holding, sending a broken piece of metal through his finger and TEARING it open. Now my dad is lying on his back in a pile of sticks, and I am FREAKING out. Immediately I went to get him up and he was luckily ok, except for his finger. It was now gushing blood, so we rushed down the hill to find my brother with his climbing stand on his back and he later told us that someone had been using the climber since there were cigarette butts all over the ground and in the tree the stand was on. That pissed him off. Anyway, we continued down the hill to come across the spot where my uncles stand was at, and it was gone. Someone stole it.... We texted my uncle that it was stolen and hes FLIPPING out. But back to my dads injury, we drive back to the house, my mom gets it rinsed off and then they go to the hospital. Here are some pics:

8 stitches. We are going back up tomorrow to get the broken stand, my stand, all the feeders, and we are never going back there again. I will be taking pictures of the broken stand also.

The stands are from cabelas, cheap sh*t!!!!!

 

[Awk08]

damn BBB, you guys are having some real sh*tty luck this year !!!!!
as for the laddrr stands, i have a cheap ($50) one from gander mt. that i bought for my son, it's been in the same place for 3 seasons now, i just sat in it the monday after thanxgiving, still solid as a rock, and i'm surprised nobody has stolen it yet, although it's in a small little lot, close to the houses where not many hunters go.
but i usually use my summit climber, and it comes home with me every nite

sounds like someone sabotaged your dads ladder stand ???
prolly that same dude who was asking to be kilt and buried back in october ????

hope dad's alright, it coulda been alot worse !!!!!!!

 

[Triple_B]

Yea dads good now, hes taking it easy. It ruined his week though, my brother, dad, and I all got gift cards to a new range that just opened up, and he got 10 boxes of .40 and 9 mm ammo for xmas so we were gunna go shooting this week, but thats out now. Plus he goes to the gym to work out everyday and he cant do that now. Hes bummed out but im glad nothing else happened.

And i dont think the stand was sabotaged, it was in the same physical state as it was when we bought it. Its made out of sh*tty tubing though and i knew it was bound to break. As for my uncles ladder for his lock-on, that was sabotaged, yes. not sure if thats what you were talking about. But my uncle is ticked off about someone destroying the homemade ladder and stealing the lock on.

 

[Awk08]

gotta ask....did the cabela's treestand have the center brace and straps for the ladder sections, and if so were they assembled correctly ???

 

[Triple_B]

gotta ask....did the cabela's treestand have the center brace and straps for the ladder sections, and if so were they assembled correctly ???

Yes it had the brace that connected to the ladder and strapped on the tree. It bent and broke right above it, and yes it was assembled correctly. We even added different, stronger pins that connect the ladder pieces and the seat itself. Its some china sh*t metal and we wont be buying anymore of them!

 

[Triple_B]

This is the stand

Cabela's: Ameristep® Team Realtree® 16-ft. Gunner Ladder Stand

 

[Awk08]

so it has a 3 piece ladder ???
i see why it broke
it should have had 2 braces, 1 at each ladder joint

the one i have is a 2 piece, 15 ft., the seat is part of the top section,
with only 1 lower section,
but it does take 2 people to carry it, and each section is 7'+ long
thats why it's been in the same place for 3 years, lol

 

[Triple_B]

so it has a 3 piece ladder ???
i see why it broke
it should have had 2 braces, i at each ladder joint,

the one i have is a 2 piece, 15 ft., the seat is part of the top section,
with only 1 lower section,
but it does take 2 people to carry it, and each section is 7'+ long
thats why it's been in the same place for 3 years, lol

Yea its 3 pieces, 2 pieces for the ladder, one piece for the seat thing. And it takes 2 people to carry also, but its very light and and I'm not surprised it broke. I'm just glad hes ok now and that nothing worse happened

 

[Awk08]

when you guys are ready to move up to climbers, there are none better than a summit !!!
when i first borrowed my buddies to test it, i stood with with one foot on the one outer corner and jumped up and down, it would not budge
they are rock solid, while climbing and while in stand
4-5 moves and i'm over 20' up

quit seeing deer just out of bow range, just move closer the next hunt

heres the one i use, only 15lbs. my backpack i carry weighs more than it does.
but they have others with the safety rail's/gun shooting rail

Summit New Openshot SD Climbing Treestand 81086 (716943810865) | eBay

 

[Triple_B]

^^^ Thats what we are thinking about doing. My brother already has a climber and he likes it. Easy to carry and easy to setup.

 

[Larry's Shee]

I'd have to read the directions myself, but are you sure you're supposed to be on it when taking it down?

 

[Triple_B]

I'd have to read the directions myself, but are you sure you're supposed to be on it when taking it down?

How else are you going to get the top strap off? Theres NO other way to get the strap off. However, someone should have been holding a rope connected to the stand and pulling the stand onto the tree so it didnt back away from the tree when the top strap was released

But thats not the point, the point is that the stand should be able to hold a person up without bending back and breaking. It says right in the manual, 300lbs capacity, my dad is 245 lbs.