At what age did you feel comfortable turning them loose in a climbing stand?

At 11yo he would get up at 5oclock in the morning, drive our farm truck 1/2mi up the road and get up in an Ole man climber. I doubt thats common.

This is the first deer he killed in a climber by himself. If the date is right, he was 8yo.seems a little young to me but the datestamp on the pic is nov 15 2015. I guess it would have to be youth season too.

I taught my daughter in the yard and let her practice a lot with me watching her and then had her climb I a tree that I could watch her the first year I think she was about 14 when it all started

Glad to see them starting young....I knew nothing about deer hunting and had to educate myself on everything and all the gear, I think I didn't use a climber until I was 29-30 yrs old, had to do my research and learn from others the dos and don'ts of using a climber and deer hunting in general, I am still using them today....might not go as high as I use to, but I have learned a lot.....

14

The right age is the age you feel confident they will wear a safety harness no matter what.

A word of advice for someone who is thinking about letting them start young. When they can hunt without you, theyll want to hunt without you. Independance is a two edged sword

Both mine started about 12

Not true for mine, First hunting and fishing trips with me he was only 3 years old. Hunting out of a ladder stand by himself at 11 or 12 years old, though I was either in sight or hollering distance. Was way before cell phones. Now he is 48 and would still rather hunt with me than just going alone.

Well, i hope if im still around when Joseph gets to be 48yrs old, he will sit in the shooting house with me. But right now, hes all about doing it his way. Just life i guess. We still fish together some

I was 12 or 13 when I started climbing on my own, crazy to think I climbed for damn near 10 years not using a safety harness, i did have a few close calls...

Varies by the boy. Some are strong enough and responsible enough earlier than others.

With the advanced safety harnesses these days, the fall risk can be mitigated if worn properly.

All the other hunting related risk are present with or without a climber.

Stephen was 11 but I climbed the tree right beside him. At 12 he picked his spot I watched him climb up and walked 400yds to my spot and climbed up. 30 minutes later he killed a 10pt.

My dad let me start climbing "as soon"... As Soon as I could buy my own. I was 16 when I decided to save up instead of hoping to get one given to me.

I let both of my boys start when they were 12. They climbed in the backyard and with a harness on at all times. I only allowed them to climb when I was present. That summer they wore the bark off the tree up to 12-14 ft. Once they understood the mechanics of safe climbing, I then started to introduce common problems that occur. Key thing was to have a quality harness and get hooked up as soon as they stepped into the climber. They developed trust in the harness when I would bump the foot part of the climber away.
That fall I climbed a tree next to the one son as he used the climber for the first of many trips.
Safety first and foremost.

I started climbing in the 70’s with those damn homemade angle iron jobbers, maybe 10 years old. My how times change, feral kids back then.

Any youngster should go ahead and acquire some rope skills and have a descender also since they have the strength to hook-in and utilize such instead of hanging from the rope like a dufus if they fall. They should be able to tie a prusik knot even if they are using the ready mades. They can also do their rope when they get up so it’s impossible to fall.

Personally I only use a seat harness and still have the ability to climb the rope by hand if need be. The last thing I’d want is to be hanging there by the scruff like a dog moving her puppies whilst looking for the relief to step into.

Gloves make life simpler and prevent rope burn if you have to ride one down.

Teach them to have that bottom tethered with 2 cords.

I believe in a lanyard for the rifle too because when them pines start swaying I have taken some epic naps. 😂🤣😂

Tell them not to worry about noise, just get up and setup, from 20 yards away it sounds like a squirrel going up a tree.

Once I get the rope to height I screw in a hook on the back of the tree so the rope can never slip and most times I leave the rope hanging because its a tree I will use again or leave my climber attached to.

I clamp a Camo umbrella on the left side of my bottom and open it forward after I get setup to hide my movements, taking a piss, or whatever. Its not really clamped, I use these rubber coated wire things. I wrap it a few times and twist them.