With buddy ladder stands, at what age did you start taking your kids up in a tree with you? How do you handle safety harnesses etc. if they are pretty small?

Just string a lifeline from the tree to the ground and push your prussik knot up as you go. If they're too young to figure it out, they're too young to climb.

+1 on the lifeline w/ prusik knot. Just learned about this, and that's what I'm planning next year.

We have 1 2-man ladder stand that just isn't very comfortable, and a pain to put up. Next year the plan is to have climbing sticks set up in key locations (with lifelines), and carry in/out 2 loc-on stands...probably a millenium and lone wolf. That way we can sit safely and comfortably in the same tree, but also have the flexibility to change locations easily. Can't do that with the 2 man ladder...

Just my opinion if they can climb ladderstand with no problem or hesitation theyre fine to hunt them...

My son is 10. I would not put him in a loc on. But, we hunt out of ladder stands all the time. You can get safety harnesses for kids.

I won't do loc ons either and my son is 13. We do two climbing stands in the same tree or a climbing stand set up above a ladder stand.

We started out with a climbing stand above a ladder stand when he was 10 and started using two climbing stands last year.

My son hunted with me since he was 6 mostly out of shooting houses and ground blinds. He killed his first deer when he was 8 from a single ladder stand sitting in my lap. I would climb up directly behind him and once we were up I would set my harness then I had a rope around him tied to me. We then invested in double ladder stands and a full body harness for him and he killed several deer this way. He is now 13 and he hunts by himself out of lock ons, ladders, and climbers all the time, 100% tethered at all times. I have a dear friend that fell out of a stand and broke his back, thank God he has made a 100% recovery, but my son knows the struggles he went through and understands the importance of safety when hunting.

Man, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Only takes one mistake by the top person to take both people out.

What kind of mistake? Slipping down the tree? Bottom of the stand falling free? I don't think so, but I guess anything is possible. I would rather climb the same tree with my son than have him climb a tree by himself at this point.

We are both tethered from the time we step in our stands, our stands are offset 45-90 degrees, one person moves at a time, and the other person doesn't move until the first person is set. My son is above me on the tree and we are never more than about 2-3' apart ascending/descending. I usually help him move the bottom section of his stand and make sure it is set before he moves his top piece up/down. It is time consuming, since my son can only move about half the distance in each move that I could if I was climbing by myself.

And all of our gear (backpacks/weapons) is sitting on the ground and pulled up once we are at our final height and our stands strapped to the tree as per the Summit instructions.

Nothing says your ladder has to be 12312' high. ~6' off the ground can be enough in many places.

Get you one of these:
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/i...system?a=681072

Started letting my son climb a 2 man 12ft stand with me for "hunting"lol at 2.The next season was short sits for about an hour and you guys may laugh at me but I bungie corded him in with a cord contraption I made.He is 16 now and uses my old viper just as well as I do.Just started on his own with it this year.I think alot of it depends on the child and their nimbleness.I wouldnt let my daughter climb 6ft off the ground.That child can trip over fresh air.

My oldest son started sitting in loc-ons at the age of 9. I usually hang several loc-ons each year, and when we'd go to one of our sets I'd climb up the sticks into the stand. From there, I'd attached a light loc-on onto the tree, attach a life-line to the tree, and drop it down for him to attach to his harness. He'd climb up the steps, into the stand, and both of us would be there for the hunt - him in one stand and me in another. At the end of the hunt, I would reverse the steps. Works well IMO... bought a Millennium lite loc-on this year, and I like using that stand with this system.

This is exactly what I plan to do

Do you have any kind of shooting rest/rail for the loc-ons? That is the other concern of mine with my son.

The other reason we do the climbing stands now is we have to carry our stuff in/out every hunt.