Guide Gear Tree Stands and Ground Blinds

What Guide Gear makes for hunters and campers

Guide Gear covers a lot of ground on this site, most of it about getting off the ground. The grid above sorts the lineup by type:

• Ladder, tripod and tower stands, the biggest group
• Hang-on and climbing tree stands and a saddle platform, a smaller group
• Climbing sticks and steps, steel, in ladder sections and single sticks
• Stand accessories: blind covers that wrap a stand, and a stand umbrella
• Ground blinds: hub pop-ups, a turkey blind, a hay bale blind
• Chairs: swivel blind chairs, a turkey chair and oversized camp chairs
• A cot and crossbow bolts, at the edges of the lineup

Most of the specs in the grid came from Amazon listings, and the grid marks them. Where a listing doesn't give a field, you'll see a dash. A dash means nobody wrote it down. It doesn't mean it isn't there, and it doesn't mean it is.

The grid changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the groups and what separates them, not about how many are listed this week.

Safety first, because this page is mostly stands

Wear a full-body harness every time your boots leave the ground. That's my one opinion on this page, and it isn't really mine. The Treestand Manufacturers Association's guidelines say to wear a full-body fall arrest harness every time you leave the ground, including on the way up and down. Single-strap belts and chest harnesses are no longer allowed, per the same guidelines.

The rest of the TMA list, in short:

• Read the stand's warnings and instructions every season, and keep them
• Never exceed the weight limit the maker gives
• Use a haul line for your bow and pack; climb with empty hands
• Keep three points of contact on every step: two hands and a foot, or a hand and two feet
• Inspect the stand and harness for wear before each use
• Pick a live, straight tree, never a leaning one, within the maker's size limits
• Don't leave a stand up for more than two weeks, per TMA

If you can't recover from a fall in a harness, TMA says to hunt from the ground. That's what the ground blinds further down are for.

Lineup notes: the Guide Gear ladder stand

Ladder stands are the core of the brand's grid. The listings run from a 10-foot stand up to a 22-foot one:

• 15-Foot Climbing Ladder Tree Stand and 15-Foot Single Shot: one-person ladders, the shortest tall ones
• 16-Foot Ladder Tree Stand: one person, 300 lb, a shooting rail that flips back
• 16-Foot Swivel Ladder Tree Stand: one person, 300 lb, a swivel seat, a shooting rail and a 32 x 32-inch platform per the listing
• Double Rail 22-Foot Ladder Stand: one person, 300 lb, a flip-back rail and a 19-inch seat
• 20-Foot 2-Man Ladder Tree Stand: two people, 500 lb, a shooting rail and a 55 x 14-inch platform
• 10-Foot Ladder Stand: steel, 500 lb, with a 48 x 48-inch platform per its listing

So the split is height, people and rail. A flip-back rail moves out of the way for a bow shot; a fixed rail is a rest and a fence. The swivel seat matters if your deer come from more than one direction. Mine always do, and never the one I'm facing.

A ladder stand is heavy and awkward to put up alone. TMA says to practice installing the stand at ground level, with a responsible adult present, before you hunt. Read the stand's own instructions for how many people the install takes. The ladder stand page compares ladders across brands.

Lineup notes: tripods and the tower

Tripods stand on their own legs, no tree needed. That's the whole point of them: fence rows, field corners, cut-overs with nothing but saplings. The grid holds two:

• 12-Foot Tripod Deer Stand: one person, 300 lb, a swivel seat, a shooting rail and a 20-inch round platform
• 20-Foot Tripod Stand: one person, 300 lb, a swivel seat, a shooting rail, a 42-inch round platform and an 18-inch seat

The 12-Foot Tower Tree Stand sits between a tripod and a box blind. Its listing gives two people, 500 lb, a 57.5 x 57.5-inch platform, a swivel seat and a shooting rail, with no enclosure included. Guide Gear sells a 2-man tower blind replacement cover separately, and the grid lists it with the accessories.

Here's the thing about tripods: a 20-foot tripod in an open field is a tall thing standing in the weather. Read the stand's instructions on anchoring it before the first windy morning, not during it. The tripod deer stand page covers them across brands.

Lineup notes: hang-ons, climbers and the saddle platform

The grid also holds a smaller group of Guide Gear hang-on and climbing tree stands, plus a saddle platform. These are the lighter way up the tree. You carry them in, hang them or climb with them, and carry them out. For the trade between them, see the hang-on tree stand page, the climbing tree stand page and the saddle platform page. Saddle hunting has its own guide.

The tree-stand type as a whole is on the tree stand page.

Lineup notes: climbing sticks

Sticks get you to a hang-on or a saddle. The Guide Gear sticks in the grid are all steel and all rated 300 lb, per the listings. They split by style:

• Ladder-section sets: the 20-Foot Climbing Ladder, the 25-Foot Climbing Stick Ladder, the Full Step ladder and the 20-Foot Wide Maxi, which lists a cam strap
• Single sticks: the Quick Climbing Sticks 3-Pack with double steps, and the 20-Foot Rapid Climbing Sticks 4-Pack, with 60-inch sticks and cam straps

A ladder section is a ladder you build up the tree. Single sticks with steps are lighter to carry in, and you place each one as you climb. Either way, TMA's rule holds: three points of contact on every step, and a harness or lifeline from the ground up. The climbing sticks page covers sticks across brands.

Lineup notes: stand blinds and the umbrella

Guide Gear sells covers that turn an open stand into a small blind: a Universal Tree Stand Blind, a 16-Foot Swivel Ladder Stand Blind cover and the 2-Man Tower Blind Replacement Cover, the last two in Dead Leaf camo per their listings. The Deluxe Tree Stand Umbrella lists a steel frame and a DXZ camo pattern.

Rule of thumb: a cover that matches your stand's model name is the one that fits it. A universal cover fits most of them, which is a different thing. Measure the rail before you buy.

Danny asked if the umbrella came in a bigger size for the cooler. It doesn't. The cooler stays on the ground, where it belongs.

Lineup notes: the Guide Gear ground blind

The ground blind group covers one-person hubs, two-person pop-ups and two specialty blinds:

• Lightweight Hub Blind: one person, 64-inch center height, 55 x 55-inch footprint, 270-degree view, see-through walls and silent windows
• Field General 1-Man Ground Blind: one person, 82-inch center height, 72 x 72-inch footprint, 360-degree view, see-through walls and silent windows
• HuntRite Deluxe Pop-Up Ground Blind: two people, with shoot-through mesh
• Dual Hub Turkey Ground Blind: two people, with see-through walls
• Spring Steel Hay Bale Ground Blind: two people, silent windows, shaped like a round bale for field edges

So for one hunter, the choice is footprint and headroom. An 82-inch center height lets most people stand up to stretch; 64 inches does not. For two, it's the window style: mesh you shoot through, or windows you open.

Shoot-through mesh is a maker's claim, so read the listing's notes on arrows and broadheads before the first shot. And put orange on the outside during gun seasons. Let's Go Hunting's ground blind safety article says to place hunter orange on all sides of the blind, since closed windows and camo screens can hide you from other hunters. The ground blind page has blinds across brands.

Lineup notes: blind chairs and the turkey chair

A ground blind needs a seat. The grid holds four swivel blind chairs and a turkey chair:

• 360 Swivel Blind Chair and Huntrite 360 Swivel Blind Chair: 300 lb, full swivel, a backrest, and a silent claim on the listing
• Big Boy Blind Chair, with or without armrests: 500 lb, full swivel, steel frame, silent claim
• Magnum Turkey Chair: 300 lb, low profile, a backrest, in Mossy Oak Obsession

"Silent" is the maker's word, and the listing is where it lives. A swivel chair you can turn without a squeak is worth more than a bigger window. The turkey chair sits low, for leaning on a tree trunk with a shotgun or a bow across your knees. The hunting blind chair page and the swivel hunting chair page compare them.

Lineup notes: oversized camp chairs and the cot

The camp side of Guide Gear leans big. The chairs in the grid list steel frames and capacities from 400 to 600 lb:

• Folding quad chairs: the Club, the Oversized, the Oversized XL Padded and the Mammoth, padded on most, with one or two cup holders
• Oversized Zero Gravity Chair: a recliner, 500 lb, 21-inch seat
• XXL Oversized Rocking Chair: 600 lb, 25-inch seat
• Oversized XL Padded Camping Sofa: a two-person loveseat, 600 lb

The XL Magnum Folding Cot lists a steel frame, 600 lb and a packed size of 45 x 7 x 9 inches. That's a long bag. It rides in the truck bed, not the trunk.

A rocker on a cabin porch is a fine thing. On soft ground at a fire ring, it sinks one runner at a time, so put it on boards or gravel. The heavy-duty camping chair page, the zero gravity chair page and the camping cot page cover them across brands.

Lineup notes: crossbow bolts

Two Guide Gear bolt packs show up in the grid, both carbon with half-moon nocks: the Trophy Hunter Pro Carbon 20-inch bolts in a 3-pack with lighted nocks, and the Trophy Hunter bolts in a 6-pack. Match the length and nock to what your crossbow maker specifies. The crossbow bolts page explains how.

How to choose within the Guide Gear lineup

First: how do you get up?

Ladder, tripod, tower, or a hang-on with sticks. A ladder needs a straight tree and a helper. A tripod needs no tree. A hang-on and sticks need a strong back and a plan.

Then: how high, and how many?

Heights run from 10 to 22 feet in the grid. Two-person stands and the tower list 500 lb; the one-person stands list 300. Use the maker's number for the stand you buy, and count your gear in it.

Then: the seat and the rail

Swivel seat or fixed. Flip-back rail or fixed rail. These are the parts you live with from 5:30 to 10, so pick them the way you'll sit on them.

On the ground: footprint and headroom

For blinds, read the footprint and center height against your spot and your height. Then match a chair that swivels without hitting the wall.

Check the inside of the stand's box for the warnings and the instructions, and keep them in the truck. Next September, when you rehang it, you'll want them.