DIY Climbing Sticks|DIY Equipment|Forum|Bow Hunters of Alabama

Here’s my summer project that I had been planning to do for about 8 years.

I know there’s a lot of climbing sticks on here and mines not much different except, mine goes up with Lag bolts and not straps. I built mine out of 1″ & 3/4″ square 14 gauge steel. Steps out of 3/4″ and main backbone out of the 1″. I also used 1/4″ thick x 1-1/2″ wide x 6″ long flat stock for the offsets. I bent the flat stock in a hydraulic press 90 degrees and welded everything together. I attach to the tree using 4-1/2″ x 5/16″ lag bolts with a cordless impact drill. 4-1/2″ lag bolts work best for me on straight trees but irregular trees I go to 6″x5/16″. I use 2″wide x 24″ Velcro straps to bind the four 5′ sections together.

Most importantly, is the time saved. I can walk up to the tree, unbind the sections, insert the lag bolts through the holes (2 per 5 foot section), put them together, push them up against the tree and start drilling. 2 minutes max. This was done on a straight tree. I don’t have to worry about falling out of the tree trying to sling a strap around the tree and ratcheting it down. Those lag bolts aren’t coming out if done correctly. I drilled the holes through my sections where the standoffs are welded to the backbone. I built a vat out of plywood and bought a 5 gallon can of exterior primer and just dipped the entire pieces in it for paint. I have a cattle farm, so I used my barbed wire fence to hang the parts on to dry.

Cost was approx. $450. That’s for 12 sets of 20′. I had 12 sticks of 20′ of the 1″, 6 sticks of 3/4″ that were 24′, 3 sticks flat stock 1/4″x1-1/2″×20′, 5 gallons primer, 2 gallons thinner, 2 cans camo spray paint, and 30 pcs of 2″×24″ velcro straps.

This is my first year using them. I was able to hang 12 stands in one day versus 5-7 per day when I was putting in tree steps, plus I didn’t feel like I had been beaten with a club at the end of the day. I almost got emotional and teared up knowing I wasn’t going to have to strap myself to the tree while I put in the tree steps. It actually took longer to get my stuff to the tree than putting everything up. 17 years of tree steps sucked the big fatty. Plus I can remove the bottom section when I’m done and just use screw in steps for the first 5′ feet to try to prevent theft. But we all know, if someone wants them bad enough, they’ll come prepared.