I was at the dealer today looking at ten points and ravins. I asked the salesperson how they managed to cock their bows up in their treestands. He told me he cocks it on the ground and raises it like that to his platform , nocks a bolt and is ready to go. He said the ratchet made a bit of noise and the cocking rope was not easy to do for a lot of people.

I told him that it sounds like a very noisy proposition, and raising a cocked bow to your platform sounds like a dangerous proposition for the crossbow. I might just have to buy a compound bow and deal with that .

Thoughts ?

Hunt from the ground. Problem solved.

Been pulling them up to the stand for years. NEVER had a problem.

So you are relying on the safety? Like I said only thing that could happen that way is dry firing and possibly ruining your hunt .

Yes, relying on the safety and keeping a lane clear to pull it up in. Pull from the stock so even if it somehow fired (what would cause that?) the force would be toward the ground. Have done it hundreds of times with no issue. Also lower it the same way.

Yes, relying on the safety and keeping a lane clear to pull it up in. Pull from the stock so even if it somehow fired (what would cause that?) the force would be toward the ground. Have done it hundreds of times with no issue. Also lower it the same way.

Also, I have cocked mine many times in the stand with no issues. Put the stirrup on the stand, cocking rope on and just stand up. Yes it makes noise but this is always after a shot, so the little noise is not really an issue.

Good to know, thanks

I cock mine with the crank at my car, and carry it to the stand that way, no bolt loaded. The safety is very positive and it also has an anti-dryfire device. I carry the rope cocker for reloads and wouldn't try that aloft. It's hard enough on the ground.

My crossbow has two safety's. The manual "safe\fire" safety, and also a safety that wont allow trigger pull unless a bolt is fully inserted in to the crossbow rail. I dont load the actual bolt, until I am seated in my stand.

I cock mine at the tree and haul her up. I haul using the foot stirrup as the tie point, and no bolt is in the track. If the bow dry fired, the string was cut, or the rope failed, there would be no safety issue. As the crossbow reaches my stand, I grab it BY the stirrup and swing it into the stand...never any contact with the string, trigger, or top of the rail.

I'm also able to cock the crossbow while in the stand, and have done so on many occasions. Mostly when tribes of raccoons decide the corn feeder is theirs.

Biggest safety issue is being extra careful with broadheads around strings, but I've been cognizant, and never had an issue there either, but it could happen.

I cock it at the ground, pull rope at the butt of the crossbow, no bolt until seated in the stand. Safety is, of course on. I would suggest NOT pulling it up from the stirrup for one reason; if the bow did manage to dry fire and limbs failed, it WOULD be thrown forward, away from the butt of the weapon. (Also, that is the direction that would allow a twig in the trigger guard to fire the weapon.)

by the way, most ratchet winches have a silent mode. also, some high end crossbows use compressed air and self cock at the touch of a button.