I was watching one of Michael Waddel’s youtube videos about this old stand his daddy built back in the 80’s and how tall it was……They went and measured it and it turned out to be right at 38 ft……It reminded me of the climber that was on a pine tree at our old club in Camp Hill back when I was about 16-17 years old. It was one of those first climbers people really started using….I forget the names of them that were made out of square aluminum.

Anyways, the other guys that my dad and uncles were in the club with had this climber on a pine tree that had been limbed up to 50 ft overlooking a young clear cut…..It was a measured 50 ft too so there was no doubt. Well, I decided one day I was gonna hunt there and go all the way up to that limb where the other guys were hunting……

It was all good until probably the 35 ft mark when the little up/down ratchet process you do when climbing turned into baby steps of about a foot at a time…..Then at about 40 ft it turned into sitting there thinking about it awhile and looking around deciding how bad I really wanted to go up to that limb……Finally at probably 43 ft or so the wind started blowing some and that’s when I said screeeeeeew this and went back down about 10 ft for my afternoon sit. I remember looking up at the limb thinking….its only another 6 of 7 feet but that swaying around boogered me up.

There was a fella that hunted a club I was in at Skyline that had a few lock-ons that I swear were 60 foot up in the trees. I decided to climb up one once when it was really cold and I had a lot of bulky clothes on. I got about halfway up the stick ladder and my hands were frozen and my arms were cramping and I felt like my arms were holding more of my weight than my legs. I decided I didn’t want to die that day and came on down. This was before I ever wore a safety harness, but it might’ve been what triggered me to start wearing one.

The first old tree stand I ever got in was a homemade built job up the fork of white oak about 25 ft up when I was 13 years old....You had to climb cotton picker spikes up to it and right at the end it felt like you were actually leaning backwards trying to climb.....It was before daylight and lets just say that my uncle had to do a little coxing that morning to get me in it. It's crazy looking back on some of those things.....of course we never had any safety harnesses or anything.

We have a stand called the mimosa stand. It's about 35 ft up a huge pine. It's a metal homemade stand with swivel seat and hand rails. Stick ladder with lifeline. You have to climb up about 8 ft before you clip on the lifeline. Been over 15 good 8 pts killed out of that stand.

We had one that we called the helo stand . It was 40 foot up a huge beech tree. First 10 foot or so was 2x4’s nailed for steps then the rest of the way was climbing limb to limb to a couple of 2x8’s for a seat. Everyone who shot a buck from it had their initials carved into it above the seat. That was back in the early 80’s . I remember a bunch of nice bucks taken out of that stand.

Cotton picking spindles bring back memories.. Had a stand call the skyrocket. You could see above the trees in the next hollow. Finally cut the tree and killed it to save a loggers saw on down the road.

In a big ol birch tree leaning over a swamp. Was dry when I built it. Was gonna measure it. Let a 30 tape down. Buddy on the ground couldn't see it finally looked up still so high he could reach it so almost 40'. Dang tree fell after a couple seasons. Probably a good think. Killed a bunch out of it bow and gun

I had a stand 40 ft up in the first crotch of a tree in a 40 acre clearcut in Ga when I lived there. I took my boss one morning and sent him to the stand before daylight. I climbed in another about 300 yards away. Daylight came and I could see the stand was empty. Couple of hours later a buck ran under the tree and towards me, I killed it. I walked to the other stand and boss was sitting at base of tree. He said he climbed, and climbed, and climbed...said hell with it and climbed down.

I love hunting up at the 35’+ height, but I’ve got to feel safe doing it. And I almost exclusively hunt out of Summit Viper’s or Goliath’s. Best tree to ever climb is a pine. Second best is a persimmon. Thing about the persimmons is they neck down very quickly, so it’s hard to find one that works with a climber where I can get up at 35’.

60’ was one his lower ones. He was a crazy dude. RIP

We had an expanded SS platform with solid rails and a sling seat almost exactly 50' up on a huge Hickory tree. Actually, it was a few inches over. It was large, roomy and secure feeling stand we called The Penthouse. There was only 3 of us that would climb the 3/8" drill rod steps to get to it though. It overlooked a clearcut on the edge of Uchee Creek in Russell County and was a great spot to sit on a cold clear morning. I killed 6 bucks there the first season.

We also had three 30' homemade ladder stands and a 22' homemade tripod. They were all solid as well and most everybody would climb into those. We had about 700 acres and most of it was clearcut the year before I joined up. I still have one of the 30' ladders but it's not on a tree at this time.

I like to hunt as high as I can get, especially on the edge of large cuts where I can see down into it. There's also the thing about my scent being pretty diluted and distant before it reaches deer nose height. I've had countless deer come in close from downwind and never have a clue I'm there. I can only guess that if they smell me at all, the scent is so diluted that they think I'm long gone from the area.

I’m scared of heights there ain’t no way I’m going up 50’ for shitt

Had one in my old club that was on old power poles

We had one called the crows nest it was 35+ and not much to sit on when u got to it, my dads cousin came up from Florida and climbed it one evening and couldn't get down, we had to get an extension ladder for him

My cousin built one in the top of an old field pine one time. It must have been 50' or more. I climbed it early one morning, got settled into my seat and noticed a safety harness but did not put it on. When it got daylight I looked down and realized how high I was, scared the shoot out of me. I immediately reached for and put the harness on.

I saw all kinds of crazy high stands over the years while looking at land and timber, but that dude’s stands were by far the highest. Not just one in a particular spot, but all of them.

I only saw 3 of them that I can remember, I would’ve chickened out trying to hang them. I only tried that one time to climb one. That was enough.

I took a climber up to 60 feet(with three 20’ pull ropes linked together) in a big pine tree on a small ridge with surrounding clearcuts back in the 90’s when I was younger, dumber and lighter. I could see both sides of that ridge, way into a hardwood bottom a couple hundred yards away, and most of a 400 acre clearcut. It was NICE until a little breeze turned into a wind. It made the sway of the tree feel like I was going in 20 foot circles. Forget about trying to make a shot.
These days I’m happy enough at 15-20’. Much higher and I can’t see anything but midstory branches where I’m usually hunting anyway.

I use a 40’ rappel line with my saddle and one stick. There have been a bunch of times while rifle hunting where I got to a height that I could see everything I wanted to and looked down to see then end of my rappel line was 5-10’ up off the ground.

We have one at the club that’s 40’-50’ with railroad spikes going up to it
Been there a long time and the tree is rotten
No way I would on my best days gotten in that thing