two man ladder stand

[korn_fish]

My gf wants to go out hunting a couple times. She doesn't want to hunt, but wants to see what it is all about.

Going to be taking her scouting a couple times and out early season bow hunting. Who makes a good comfortable two man stand that can be bow hunted out of?

[bigbucks]

I've seen a few that look like they'd work pretty well in both the Bass Pro & Cabela's catalogs. Seems like they ranged from $150-300. I was thinking when my kids get old enough to go with they might be nice. Although I'd probably just use one of our bigger permanent stands.

[PerchJerker]

I have not bowhunted out of a 2-man ladder stand, but I sat in one during rifle season last year. Not sure what the brand was. The stand was very comfortable for gun hunting when I was in there by myself, but I have 2 comments.

1. There was an awfully big gap between the foot platform and the safety railing. If you were standing and not paying attention it would have been easy to step off the platform with 1 leg. And I wouldn't want a young kid up there with such a big gap.

2. To shoot a bow out of that stand, I think you would have to be standing with your bow outside of the safety railing. I have several 1-man ladder stands I bowhunt from and I can shoot from all of them while sitting. I don't think I could have made a sitting shot from that 2-man stand.

Maybe you should consider 1 hanging portable stand and 1 1-man ladder stand (a deluxe padded model). Put up the ladder stand, then put up the hanging stand so it's just above the ladder and just off to the side. I have a friend that hunts like this with his young son and it sounds like it works great.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[chucker34]

I bought a Hunter's View Buddy Stand. It has a safety railing that I didn't put on to make shooting the bow much easier. The railing does not affect the structural integrity of the stand. I did, however, make sure to get a good 5 point safety harness as the platform is not that deep but longer to accomodate two people. I have not hunted out of it yet but practiced out of it and it worked well enough. I got it from Petter's Warehouse for $78! Though, I usually see it for about $130. Two stand might make more sense, though, as it might be easier to make a shot with only you in the stand.

http://www.huntersview.com/03hvls400.htm