Being physically limited and slower, it takes me forever just to get prepared for a hunt. In the years in the past, I did not have the modern items for comfort that are demanded and required for today. There is a trade off, more items means more weight and takes more time to setup thus requiring greater effort...... If anyone has ever hunted Black Warrior, you have to get up real early, travel, walk in (always a hour or more), and setup which takes a great deal of time just to start the hunt, not for the faint hearted, and not for those who require to see a deer. Most of us carry a light climber (Vipers are popular) with different items, always considering the weight, I have too......What things have you learned to make your hunt last longer and more enjoyable while cutting down on your preparing time, weight and effort? What are the "must have" items? Your setup? Modifications? Your ritual?...... Looking for great ideals to be shared.

For those who use tree stand climbers. Ever find a new tree to climb, unpack, and then the stand did not fit the tree because the tree was a hair too big for the cable to wrap around?...... I use a short rope (or the one that ties your foot climber to the seat climber) with knots to measure around the tree before unpacking to see if the stand will fit the tree......In the summer, I went around in the yard finding the biggest tree that my stand(s) will hang around, the max size tree, and then adjusted the knots in the rope as max indications. No more guessing the tree size limit in the dark woods.

Do you have feet that sweat, no matter what, ending up in having cold feet while on stand? A trick that I use is to wear cotton socks while walking to the stand, which soaks up the moisture in the boot. When settled in, I then change out the wet cotton socks to a dry insulated poly sock, works great for real cold weather. Plus adding boot blankets when the temperature gets down below freezing. Warm dry feet is nice.

If your climbing stand uses a seat of some kind, look into switching it out to a Summit seat for they are most comfortable. It can be pulled out some what to where one can lay down to some degree to switch up the sitting combinations for the long hours in the stand. I like to lay down side ways using the Summit seat on my Timber Tall climbing stand (14 lbs), for the seat that came with the stand is really bad.

For cold feet I wear rubber boots. Mine are the Magellan with like 400g insulation. The lacrosse rubber boots would probably be a little better though.I just wear regular dickies work socks in the boot. Really the only part of my feet that get cold are my toes. After I'm set up and my feet start to get a little chilly I put a hot hands in a wool sock and put the sock on the outside of my boot. That puts off enough heat to keep my toes warm for at least a couple of hours. Then if its a long hunt I just add a new hot hands.

Another great ideal to take weight off of your back when carrying the climbing stand into/from the deep woods, use a plastic clip buckle with a web belt that can go around your mid section. I use a metal pin that has a wire guard to attach the belt to a rung on the stand, thus carrying most all of the stand's weight on the hips to save the back......Extra pads that goes on your carrying straps helps also, keeps the straps from cutting into your shoulders during that long hike.

The best thing I have done to deal with the weight of my stand (Summit Open Shot) and pack (Sitka Tool Bucket) is add the XOP treestand system, the way it distributes the weight makes it feel like it isn't even on my back. Makes long walks a breeze.

I'll be 51 in less than two weeks and I feel like my days of being able to ramble the woods with a climber on my back for distances are certainly numbered. One game changer has been putting the Molle kidney belt on my climber to keep the weight more into your waist rather than your back. I also keep a small-sized backpack with my little items in the V of my climber with a mini bungee strap to keep it held in.

If ground hunting, I'll bring a turkey lounger that has a carry strap and I'll have my Badlands backpack, with kidney belt, that employs a rear carry so I can carry my rifle on my backpack.

I don't use a backpack. It just seems to be one more thing to get in the way and all I ever did was fill it full of stuff. Between the pockets in my safety harness and shirt and pants pockets, I have room for everything I need. I never walk in with my jacket on, I tie it to my stand and ease it on later as I cool off in the morning. As far as boots and cold feet, I just wear my Muck rubber boots. If it's really going to be cold, I wear two pairs of socks, one thin pair and a heavier pair and stick a toasty toes in between. Guess I'm fortunate that I've never had a problem with cold feet.

With all that said, there's nothing more fun to me than rifle hunting from my climber in a new tree during the rut. Once I'm finally up, I try to stay as long as possible. Good luck.

I’ll second the Molle kidney belt as well as adding Molle shoulder straps. For stability and tight packing add some third hand archery or lone wolf straps to cinch the stand top and bottom together. I also use some HME rubber wrapped wire around the stand to attach my backpack while in the stand for easy access. I will also take my jacket or outer layers and run them across both back pack straps at the bottom and use them as a cushion between my lower back and the stand.

As far as cold feet the answer for me was good wool socks. Between the wool socks and wool base layers I’m good to go.

When I wore rubber boots my feet were always cold, I swapped to Danners with 400gram and never looked back and feet never get cold, my average hunt in my climber usually is around 4-5 hours. My safety harness is the best type by HSS and it has pockets for a small flashlight and a tree hook for if I get tired of holding my rifle. A drink and safety strap, and a pull rope 30ft.

I agree on feet leather boots wool socks and if it's really cold throw a toe warmer in

For my climber I’ve just always bear hugged a tree if I think it’s too big before I unpack. For me if I can touch my fingers I know it’s not too big. I’m sure that doesn’t work for everyone though

To add on to lots of other comments...I use a fanny pack that has detachable shoulder straps- that way I limit what I carry, but the shoulder straps distribute weight better. Even when cold, I carry light gloves and 4-6 handwarmers rather that bulky gloves and lightweight gloves. I have one of the Ol' Man Vision folding cushions- very light and has straps with clips on them to hook to packpack. Two small flashlights and red flagging tape, bright eye tacks.

I would just carry a tree seat (bunch of options) and forget about getting up a tree. Hunt from the ground.

That is the easiest option.

2 options
1. I just ordered a Millennium tree seat for deep walks. I sat on the ground a couple times this year but a couple buddies have those tree seats that are so light weight and comfortable.
2. My pack is way too heavy to keep tying to my stand. I put a couple large zip up camo bags on my stand. I think they came from Hunters Safety Systems.
If it wont fit in those it does not go in with me. Most of my areas I already have stands hung so I just go in with my pack.
P.S. That XOP system is awesome. jdbowhunter76 put one on his stand and I tried it. Thats a game changer! If my wife asks ,I may or may not have just ordered one of those too

I use a Texas rig decoy carabiner to hang my pack from the stand. Got it at Academy for about $6. It’s been extremely helpful and keeps my bag where I can still get to stuff easily.

Weightless small web straps that have a plastic buckle (1/4", 3/8", 1/2" and up sizes with any length) will (clinch) strap down anything or the two climber stands together. I took an old bicycle inter tube (with super glue) and cut rubber pads where the two stands touch/meet, keeping them from sliding and clanging together, no more metal to metal.......The small web straps that have the plastic clip/buckle can un-clip if too much stress is applied to the strap, but works great when sewn on to a fanny pack/any equipment to attach something. This style of clip buckle/strap works good to clip/attach any pack to the arm of the seat climber fast, putting it out of the way off to the side when climbing and hunting. Bungee cords adds weight and Velcro makes that rip noise.

An off to the side gun holder is a must to free the hands for a quick motionless grab. Hi Point (I think that is the correct spelled name) makes a plastic gun holder that is light weight, but don't step on the U shape part, it can/will break (I did that). Both U's can be removed with a wing nut and placed into a fanny pack for transportation if one is a hazard person, leaving the mounting part still attached to the square tubing. If mounted on the top arm of the climber, it is out of the way when traveling, no problem most of the time when left in tack. Metal gun holders add too much weight and a screw in step in the tree above adds to much arm motion.

I usually walk 3/4 to 1 mile into a lot of places I hunt. I do not take a stand at all, nature provides seats. I wear regular leather boots in and change to my mucks to keep my feet from sweating. Carry my heavy fleece to put on after I get settled. Toilet paper, binoculars, snacks and bottled water is all that is in my backpack. Laugh, but I wear my crocs on my drive to keep my feet from getting too warm in the truck.
If I have a dirt road or good path, I’ll pull my game cart in most of the way, as 99% of the time I’m solo and don’t want to walk all the way back to the truck if I kill one. Last Saturday, I put in about 4 miles getting in and out of the place I was hunting.
I see and kill plenty of deer from the ground, just use the natural terrain to your advantage. I’m getting too old to shimmy up a tree in the dark.
I also have a place where I have 9 different bucks about 100 yards from a main roadway and three of them are good’uns. Just got to wait till the time is right before I hunt them.