Novix treestands?

[nywaw]

Seems like a few companies have come about with very similar designs to Lone Wolf.  I've always enjoyed seeing what's new in the treestand world, which is what brought me to find Novix.

I tend to hunt from ladders more now than I did in my younger years, which brought me to this ladder stand

https://www.novixoutdoors.com/collections/ladder-stands/products/raider-ladder-treestand

Two things stood out:

1.  It's only 47 pounds at 18' to the seat!!!
2. $670 (normally $799), OUCH!  How can you leave that in the woods or is the expectation that you carry this in and out every time?

[nywaw]

Oh and it is ZERO assembly!

[mowin]

Looks nice, but too expensive.  I like side bars on my ladder stands.  This is way to open for me. 

[nywaw]

It's just such a crazy high price, I can't understand how it's a marketable a product for them.  So many treestands are just reaching insanity prices.

[Splitear]

1 hour ago, nywaw said:

It's just such a crazy high price, I can't understand how it's a marketable a product for them.  So many treestands are just reaching insanity prices.

Especially considering that most of us have spent time in stands made out of scrap lumber and an old bucket

[Wolc123]

Crazy high height and crazy high price. I usually remove the lower sections of the ladder, and extend with 2x4 pt lumber as necessary to get them in the “sweet spot” : 5-10 ft up.  $ 20 is the most that I have paid for any of my ladder stands.  No big deal, if a stand bandit snags one.  We have a few of them in this area.  

The cheap or free ones are not always the most comfortable however.  I just finished a new hinged fold-away seat, that I am going to add to a cheap single metal ladder stand that a buddy gave me.  Fold away seats are the best, because you can quickly and quietly get them out of your way for stand up hunting, and put them back up when you need a sit-down break.   

I spent some time with a file, putting a big radius on the front edge, to make it comfortable.  I’ll have to experiment with the height, before I nail it to the tree.  This is “free” stand that I am using it on:

 

That first seat that I made for it (note the boards across the back of the safety rails) was very uncomfortable and way too high.  

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Wolc123

[mowin]

50 minutes ago, Wolc123 said:

Crazy high height and crazy high price. I usually remove the lower sections of the ladder, and extend with 2x4 pt lumber as necessary to get them in the “sweet spot” : 5-10 ft up.  $ 20 is the most that I have paid for any of my ladder stands.  No big deal, if a stand bandit snags one.  We have a few of them in this area.  

The cheap or free ones are not always the most comfortable however.  I just finished a new hinged fold-away seat, that I am going to add to a cheap single metal ladder stand that a buddy gave me.  Fold away seats are the best, because you can quickly and quietly get them out of your way for stand up hunting, and put them back up when you need a sit-down break.   

I spent some time with a file, putting a big radius on the front edge, to make it comfortable.  I’ll have to experiment with the height, before I nail it to the tree.  This is “free” stand that I am using it on:

 

That first seat that I made for it (note the boards across the back of the safety rails) was very uncomfortable and way too high.  

 

That doesn't look very sturdy.. 

[Bucksnbows]

2 hours ago, nywaw said:

It's just such a crazy high price, I can't understand how it's a marketable a product for them.  So many treestands are just reaching insanity prices.

I’d gladly pay that price. But it better come attached safely and level to the tree of my choice with several shooting lanes cut in. 

[boo711]

19 minutes ago, mowin said:

That doesn't look very sturdy.. 

I was thinking the same thing!!

[Wolc123]

1 hour ago, boo711 said:

I was thinking the same thing!!

It’s rock solid.   The lower  diagonal metal brace takes all of the wobble out of the ladder on the climb.  Each 2x4 on the extension is held to the metal ladder with (2)  steel u-bolts.  That stand would probably support over 500 pounds.  
 

Before I put the new fold-away seat on it, I will move it about 100 yards to the east.  I noted heavy deer and turkey traffic in that area last year.  That will make for a longer walk from my parking spot in the trailer park, but should put me into some more action.  
 

Maybe I’ll bring my range finder and locate the “perfect” tree, 501 ft from the nearest trailer, but still on the back side of the swamp.  Currently, it is 300 ft from the nearest double-wide trailer, which means I can only hunt it with a crossbow or bow.  501 ft would open it up for my shotgun and ML.  

My parents own the woods to the east and the south, but I can’t get to this high/dry section from their house on the next road, because of a deep swamp in between.  It’s a nice dry walk from a dead end road in the trailer park, where the supervisor is an old high school buddy of mine.  
 

I’m going to try and make this move before May.  The only turkey that I ever killed was from a tee stand, so I will try that again.  I saw a big Tom back there last fall, a week after the season closed.  I’d much prefer my 12 gage over my crossbow for turkeys, so finding that perfect “501 ft from the trailer” tree is important.  I probably ought to do it before the leaves come out on the trees, making lazer range sighting the trailers tougher.  
 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Wolc123

[Swamp_bucks]

Novix is lone wolf. Just a rebranded name.   Think they are using that name now 100% because lone wolf custom gear owners pulled the rights to the lone wolf name they were using. 
 

 

[boo711]

2 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

It’s rock solid.   The lower  diagonal metal brace takes all of the wobble out of the ladder on the climb.  Each 2x4 on the extension is held to the metal ladder with (2)  steel u-bolts.  That stand would probably support over 500 pounds.  
 

Before I put the new fold-away seat on it, I will move it about 100 yards to the east.  I noted heavy deer and turkey traffic in that area last year.  That will make for a longer walk from my parking spot in the trailer park, but should put me into some more action.  
 

Maybe I’ll bring my range finder and locate the “perfect” tree, 501 ft from the nearest trailer, but still on the back side of the swamp.  Currently, it is 300 ft from the nearest double-wide trailer, which means I can only hunt it with a crossbow or bow.  501 ft would open it up for my shotgun and ML.  

My parents own the woods to the east and the south, but I can’t get to this high/dry section from their house on the next road, because of a deep swamp in between.  It’s a nice dry walk from a dead end road in the trailer park, where the supervisor is an old high school buddy of mine.  
 

I’m going to try and make this move before May.  The only turkey that I ever killed was from a tee stand, so I will try that again.  I saw a big Tom back there last fall, a week after the season closed.  I’d much prefer my 12 gage over my crossbow for turkeys, so finding that perfect “501 ft from the trailer” tree is important.  I probably ought to do it before the leaves come out on the trees, making lazer range sighting the trailers tougher.  
 

Get permission from the people that  live in the trailers and you don’t have to worry about moving that stand if it is in a good spot. Using line distance on OnX helps determine distance from dwelling to your spot also.   Ranging a 150 yd distance can be tough in the timber. 

[Wolc123]

5 hours ago, boo711 said:

Get permission from the people that  live in the trailers and you don’t have to worry about moving that stand if it is in a good spot. Using line distance on OnX helps determine distance from dwelling to your spot also.   Ranging a 150 yd distance can be tough in the timber. 

I’ve met and got permission from the guy who that owns the trailer closest to where I park.  He usually his suv  parked at the end of the dead end road in front of his trailer and I park right next to it.  He is an interesting character who smokes like a chimney.  His wife must not let him smoke in their trailer, so he is always outside.  
 

The trouble is, there are about a dozen trailers within 500 ft of the current stand location.  When the leaves are down off the trees, I can see those trailers from another stand that I have on the front side of the swamp, closer to my parents, from which I have killed several deer. That stand is about 900 ft from the nearest trailer.  
 

I have seen lots of deer movement from that stand , and from my current “trailer park”, on the high ground, behind the swamp.   The trouble is, the high ground behind the swamp is narrow, and close to the trailers. I’m not sure if I will be able to find a new, dry location for this stand, that is not at least 500 ft from the nearest one.  
 

Maybe, I can find one where there would only be one or two, that I’d need to ask permission from.  It can’t hurt to ask I suppose.  I need to move the stand further east anyhow, to catch more deer and turkey movement.  If they say No, I’ll just stick with my crossbow.  
 

Im also thinking about asking my buddy (the trailer park supervisor), if I can cut a short lane from my parents woods, to the dead end trailer park road, that appears to but right up against it.  
 

The ground of My parent’s woods, in that back corner, is a foot or two higher on average than the trailer park road surface.  The back corner would be a great spot for a campsite.  I’d like to make a “spike camp” back there, for the early September antlerless season.  

It would also be a great spot for hauling firewood out.  There’s lots of nice cherry trees, and a few dead or dying ash in that high back corner of the woods, that are not easily accessible from the front side of the swamp. 

This is the corner that I’m talking about:

 

You can see my wife’s van parked next to that guy’s suv and his double-wide over on the right.  That broken off ash, on the back edge of my parents woods, is the first one I’d haul out of there.  It’s been down a few years and would be ready to burn as soon as I cut and split it.  
 

[GreeneHunter]

14 hours ago, nywaw said:

Seems like a few companies have come about with very similar designs to Lone Wolf.  I've always enjoyed seeing what's new in the treestand world, which is what brought me to find Novix.

I tend to hunt from ladders more now than I did in my younger years, which brought me to this ladder stand

https://www.novixoutdoors.com/collections/ladder-stands/products/raider-ladder-treestand

Two things stood out:

1.  It's only 47 pounds at 18' to the seat!!!
2. $670 (normally $799), OUCH!  How can you leave that in the woods or is the expectation that you carry this in and out every time?

Looks nice but would not want to take a Nap in that thing !  LOL

[phade]

In searching for property there are people with way more money than I could ever imagine earning.

Had a $6.7M piece show up with a realtor I know and it’s impressive, and sad at the same time lol. Barndo style layout, truck bed deer mounts, and the best of the best on 1K acres in the Midwest. It’s probably not high volume but I’ve been surprised a few time with what the market bears. Had a guy order $20K in cameras once, out of the blue, to put on his place in FLORIDA for deer. Not Iowa, but Florida where a 120” is a near myth lol.

My guess is that they don’t sell to a lot of people but those who buy it, probably buy many. I’d rather sell a lot to few people than the other way around. Less cost of acquisition. I bet quite a few rich farms are dialed up with these in the Midwest. Don’t have to dink around with assembly, the creaking and popping that invariably comes with ladders, etc. 

I bet it’s not comfy. Amazing how high price and comfort in stands have that relationship.

Ive also sold a lot of Reconyx and Spartan. People leave plenty of money out in the woods.

Edited March 11, 2023 by phade