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Gorilla King Kong XLS Treestand Review

Hunting Gear Review

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The first thing I noticed about the Gorilla King Kong XLS Treestand was the quality put into making the stand. I recently invested in a hang on tree stand from another manufacturer which to say the least was lacking in construction, fit and finish. The Gorilla Treestand showed quality from the moment it came out of the box. The welds on the stand were all first rate and the feel of its few moving parts were precise and accurate.

Assembling the Gorilla King Kong XLS Treestand

Assembly of the treestand took less than thirty minutes and much of that time was spent talking with a friend. The directions of the stand were accurate and well written by someone with English as their native language. In addition the directions had pictures just in case there was some doubt as to what you were to do.

Once assembly of the Gorilla King Kong XLS was complete it folded nicely back into place for transport into the woods. A nice feature of this treestand is they provide the backpacking straps already attached thus there’s once less thing you have to carry with you.

Mounting the Gorilla King Kong XLS Treestand

The mounting of the treestand took a little longer than I would have liked, but much of the blame for that is on my shoulders as I never bothered to read the mounting directions at home, instead waiting until I had the treestand at the tree of choice. Myself and a friend struggled with the ratchet strap provided by Gorilla. I’ve never met a ratchet strap yet that didn’t want to give me a hard time and this one was no exception. It seemed there was an overabundance of strap provided which wanted to kink up in the ratchet itself. After a few moments we were able to adjust the ratchet to work properly and the stand quickly mounted to the tree.

The Gorilla King Kong XLS comes with the ability to level the stand via the XLS (Xtreme Leveling System). The tree I chose had some rough bark on it and although the XLS did dig into the tree a good bit adding an extra measure of safety, it didn’t level the stand completely as I had hoped. There was still the slightest bit of a downward slant to the stand.

Function of the Gorilla King Kong XLS Treestand

Most important to myself was did the stand feel secure. After jumping up and down on it as hard as I could I was very pleased with how steady the stand remained. The stand including the XLS system had an excellent hold on the tree. I felt so secure with the holding power of the Gorilla King Kong XLS that I didn’t attach a chain or a cable as a back up which I often do for an added measure of safety.

I was also very pleased with the seat provided by Gorilla Treestands. It sat very high and was well padded. Best of all it moved quietly with just some backwards pressure from my legs. As I stood up at the sign of approaching deer several times I was able to move the seat out of the way without creating a sound.

The platform of the Gorilla XLS is very generous at 24” x 30”. Because of my size having ample room to move was very important to me and the Gorilla XLS Treestand provided more than enough room.

One minor disappointment of the Gorilla XLS Treestand

The safety harness provided by Gorilla unfolded to be a sea of straps and buckles. Gorilla provides a booklet or manual for using this harness which was surprisingly thick. I’m sure the harness is very secure once applied correctly and I appreciate the extra effort by Gorilla to provide such a harness, however with the busy lives most people lead I don’t see a lot of hunters taking the time to learn how to use the harness which was very complicated to say the least. I can’t stress enough the importance of using a fall restraint when tree stand hunting. I would like to see all of the major treestand manufacturers come up with a simpler to use systems that most hunters can easily learn to use without reading a lot of complicated directions. In my own case I decided to use a safety belt provided with on of my climbing stands which essentially is a strap around the waist and one around the tree. In the near future I will be purchasing a treestand safety vest from Rocky or one of the other companies that manufacture them.

Final thoughts on the Gorilla Treestands King Kong XLS Review

I was very happy with the tree stand. I’ve seen several of the hang on treestands on the market, many of which are poorly constructed or hard to assemble. There’s more than one of them I consider unsafe and wouldn’t hunt out from. The Gorilla King Kong XLS is well made, quiet and sturdy. It gave me a very secure feeling when I was in the tree stand and left little doubt the stand was going to stay in place. I purchased the stand for approximately $130.00 and I believe it was well worth the investment. I liked the stand so much I’m hoping to pick up another one after the hunting season is over I look forward to trying one of Gorilla’s Climbing Treestands in the near future.