Cold weather tree stand

[Whopper Stopper]

I am on the hunt for a blind that attaches to a fixed tree stand or ladder stand. I want it for bow hunting so it has to be fairly roomy. I want to be able to use a buddy heater in it for the cold days. I have no interest in a box blind or tower sstand. I had hopes of Double Bull comming out with something for the tree stand hunter but as of yet nothing.

Has anyone come across anything that would fit this criteria!

             Thanks for any help or leads!

                 WS

[Empty Quiver]

Man you have your work cut out for you. That thing is gonna be huge. You may want to look into the electric powered vests and socks, they make some very high quality units, expensive but they work well.

Get on the ground and your options open up considerably. I'm sure I haven't told you anything here, but you are asking for quite a bit out of portability. That much canvas in a tree will sorta defeat the stealthy part of a treestand anyway, not to mention wind noise from the canvas flapping.

If you are willing to stop at waist high, your options open up. use the "shooting rail" on a gun type stand as an attachment point as well as the base. You will need the two man style ladder stand probably to avoid a fire situation up there. Wind will still be a problem I would bet, and windy days are the coldest.

[Whopper Stopper]

All good points and all comments appreciated. I never really thought much about the heated clothing. No experience with any of it. Do you have any recommendations on which ones are the best? I have one stand that is called The Buck Castle. It basically is a soft canvas that comes up off a fixed stand and wraps around your shoulders. You sit on a bucket which has a small heater in it. Anyway once this thing is up it is great. The problem is it takes an act of God to get it set up in a tree and it is made for a smaller person.

Maybe the heated clothing would be worth checking into.

          Thanks again!

              WS

[Graybeard]

I would strongly discourage the use of the gas heat up in a treestand personally. Even if you were able to find an enclosure large enough to accomodate you and it there is still a lot of danger involved.

I think a better plan is to just find another way to stay warm. For that I suggest you take a look at the wrap that is basically a sleeping bag that you put on kinda like a cocoon. A standard sleeping bag would work but they make this one more roomy at the feet better to stand in or to sit as you wish. It zips up so nothing but your head is out and quickly opens for the shot when the time comes.

I've never used one as they aren't cheap and here in Bama most of the time it's really not cold enough for such. I have however taken a sleeping bag to the stand with me a few times when it was unusually cold and it too worked nicely.

I've long since stopped climbing trees as the last trip up was almost the last hunt ever for me. I'd had a few close calls before that one but that time while coming down from my home made ladder stand I just turned loose for who knows what reason and was heading to the ground head first when I some how managed to reach out and the tips of my fingers caught the top of the 2"x12" boards on each side of the opening I go in and out of in that stand. I'm talking so close that barely the last digits of the middle fingers managed to be over the back side of those boards.

I'll never know what happened for sure. I dunno if I blacked out a moment or if the pack on my back just pulled me over or what. All I know is that my head was not much shy of 20' in the air and I was falling out backward with a heavy pack on my back pulling me head first to the ground. Why I didn't let the pack down on the rope I had for that purpose as I did my rifle I also don't know as that's how I normally did it.

What I do know for sure is I'll never go up a tree again whether in a climbing stand or a ladder stand.

[Whopper Stopper]

Thanks again! I have a Heater Body Suit and yes it works great. The problem with them is that when hunting in weather when the temps. reach +10 to -15 or so you still need to wear a bunch of clothes under the suit. This is what I am trying to avoid because my bow shooting skills head south when I am overly bundled. 

I understand the concerns of a heater in a stand but being from Minnesota heaters are a way of life, be it in a stand or later on in a fish house placed out on a frozen lake some where.

Anyway thanks for the tips and concerns. I will still investigate the heated clothing. Maybe a combination of it and the body suit would be the way to go.

                                WS

[Graybeard]

Plus ten is kinda rare here. So far as I know in my 65 years of life so far it has never dropped to -15 where I live. I have zero experience with such temps.

[Empty Quiver]

Guess what, I saw about what you are talking about in an older Bass Pro catalog. Claims to be for archers as well as gun. Looks like it would work on a ladder stand.

Remember the old saying, "build a man a fire he is warm today, set a man on fire he is warm for life" or something like that, good luck.

[carbineman]

The Coleman Black Cat Propane Heater worked well for me in an elevated ladder stand. I use a revamped for one guy Big Game Partner Plus. The Black Cat Heater takes the edge off in zero degree weather.