How Long to One Stick Climb to 20'?

[boyne bowhunter]

So you still attach your retrieval rope in the same manner? On the same side of the link, and not to it? I thought @ckossuth attached to the other side or even to the link/carabiner. I didn't know if one way was better than the other when trying to work the rope through limbs. Have you tried it both ways? And if so have you found that it makes a difference one way or the other?

Excellent question!

Hooking direct to the link is better for pulling out of busy limbed trees because you only have to pull the tag end through the limbs. The downside is that it takes a bit more force to break the girth hitch loose if you connect to the loop end because you need to overcome the friction of the rope in contact with the entire diameter of the tree in order to loosen the hitch. The way I hooked it up in the video you only have to overcome the friction of the rope through the link to loosen the hitch.

If I'm in a tree where the last limb I've gone over has a sharp crotch that's likely to wedge the rope I'll hook it up as Carl does to keep from wedging the link in the crotch of the branch. Most of the time though I end up doing it like I showed since it eases the pull loose force on the girth hitch.

Edit Example shown below:
Blue line = Climbing Rope, Grey line = Pull down string, Red Arrows = where rope has to move to come loose
View attachment 7133

 

[Hawkeye Bowhunter]

Super helpful video for a newbie like me evaluating the one stick method. Thank you!!

I second that emotion!

 

[Maryland Mark]

I am in the same boat. I sweat like crazy, but I think I MIGHT could make it work, especially if I integrated repelling into it.

I am not as concerned about sweating on the way down. Using the steps (not efficiently, l still have some practice to do) I worked really hard and once I got to 20-25 feet I was pretty drenched. I am not overweight or out of shape, just think that I am working harder than I need to. This looks like it might be doable but do I really want to spend more money on a stick? I guess it is better than 3 or 4 of them. lol!

 

[boyne bowhunter]

I am not as concerned about sweating on the way down. Using the steps (not efficiently, l still have some practice to do) I worked really hard and once I got to 20-25 feet I was pretty drenched. I am not overweight or out of shape, just think that I am working harder than I need to. This looks like it might be doable but do I really want to spend more money on a stick? I guess it is better than 3 or 4 of them. lol!

I actually tried to buy a single Hawk helium to make a back up last year and ended up canceling that order and buying a set of three for just slightly more than the cost of a single.

 

[DanielB89]

I am not as concerned about sweating on the way down. Using the steps (not efficiently, l still have some practice to do) I worked really hard and once I got to 20-25 feet I was pretty drenched. I am not overweight or out of shape, just think that I am working harder than I need to. This looks like it might be doable but do I really want to spend more money on a stick? I guess it is better than 3 or 4 of them. lol!

I agree. I am gifted in the sweating department. It's insane how much I can sweat just from climbing a tree. I have been in a summit climbing stand and been drenched when I got to hunting height, and that's with climbing wearing the bare minimum and taking my time.

 

[pesqimon]

Nice video! @boyne bowhunter would you clarify what is on your tether? At times it seemed like you had an ascender at other times I saw a friction hitch. May be I also see a shock absorber? Would you talk about how you assembled your tether? Thank you.

 

[woodsdog2]

This video is great. When you get a chance, and perhaps you have somewhere already, can you provide a list of the gear you used in this video including the different tether for climbing etc ?

 

[boyne bowhunter]

Nice video! @boyne bowhunter would you clarify what is on your tether? At times it seemed like you had an ascender at other times I saw a friction hitch. May be I also see a shock absorber? Would you talk about how you assembled your tether? Thank you.

Yeah, I definitely made some changes between 2018 and 2019. I have some video than needs editing describing those changes. I'm just slow at processing.

I went to short tether this year to keep the rappel line drier. Dealing with a 40' length of frozen rope is a PITA. I also changed to a distel hitch from the ascender for two reasons. First I didn't like the idea of having slack line hanging off a Ropeman (the Safeguard I wasn't so worried about but I needed to free it up to be available to attach to the rappel line) and the metal ascender made a metallic clank if my girth hitch link bumped it. That doesn't happen with the distel. I prefer to be able to quickly disengage the tether at the tree to go around branches so I want the link there.

I also added a screamer after taking @kyler1945's posts earlier this year to heart. Falling three feet on a three foot section of rope would not feel good. The screamer should help slow the deceleration (and hence the shock load) if something does go awry. The screamer is a static 22kN, 48 inch runner that has been folded and sewn together (commercially purchased, NOT DIY) so that it is about 8 inches long. Under static load up to about 500lbs it just holds the weight. When the 500lbs weight limit is exceeded (under a falling load situation) the stitching starts to pull out and slows your rate of stopping reducing the fall force. I take the screamer out of the system once at height because the extra length forces my tether too high. It's not really needed in a static situation anyway, just when there's slack while climbing.

 

[pesqimon]

Yeah, I definitely made some changes between 2018 and 2019. I have some video than needs editing describing those changes. I'm just slow at processing.

I went to short tether this year to keep the rappel line drier. Dealing with a 40' length of frozen rope is a PITA. I also changed to a distel hitch from the ascender for two reasons. First I didn't like the idea of having slack line hanging off a Ropeman (the Safeguard I wasn't so worried about but I needed to free it up to be available to attach to the rappel line) and the metal ascender made a metallic clank if my girth hitch link bumped it. That doesn't happen with the distel. I prefer to be able to quickly disengage the tether at the tree to go around branches so I want the link there.

I also added a screamer after taking @kyler1945's posts earlier this year to heart. Falling three feet on a three foot section of rope would not feel good. The screamer should help slow the deceleration (and hence the shock load) if something does go awry. The screamer is a static 22kN, 48 inch runner that has been folded and sewn together (commercially purchased, NOT DIY) so that it is about 8 inches long. Under static load up to about 500lbs it just holds the weight. When the 500lbs weight limit is exceeded (under a falling load situation) the stitching starts to pull out and slows your rate of stopping reducing the fall force. I take the screamer out of the system once at height because the extra length forces my tether too high. It's not really needed in a static situation anyway, just when there's slack while climbing.

Nice, that explains why I didn't see the screamer at the end!

Thank you

 

[sojourner]

Great video. Every year I say to myself I am going to try the one sticking.

Quick questions, do you have any issues 1 sticking on a severely leaning tree? What side of a leaning tree do you 1 stick on?

I am just thinking this may be difficult on a severely leaning tree. That would make me want to just use straight trees.

Thx!


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[JGH]

Yeah, I definitely made some changes between 2018 and 2019. I have some video than needs editing describing those changes. I'm just slow at processing.

I went to short tether this year to keep the rappel line drier. Dealing with a 40' length of frozen rope is a PITA. I also changed to a distel hitch from the ascender for two reasons. First I didn't like the idea of having slack line hanging off a Ropeman (the Safeguard I wasn't so worried about but I needed to free it up to be available to attach to the rappel line) and the metal ascender made a metallic clank if my girth hitch link bumped it. That doesn't happen with the distel. I prefer to be able to quickly disengage the tether at the tree to go around branches so I want the link there.

I also added a screamer after taking @kyler1945's posts earlier this year to heart. Falling three feet on a three foot section of rope would not feel good. The screamer should help slow the deceleration (and hence the shock load) if something does go awry. The screamer is a static 22kN, 48 inch runner that has been folded and sewn together (commercially purchased, NOT DIY) so that it is about 8 inches long. Under static load up to about 500lbs it just holds the weight. When the 500lbs weight limit is exceeded (under a falling load situation) the stitching starts to pull out and slows your rate of stopping reducing the fall force. I take the screamer out of the system once at height because the extra length forces my tether too high. It's not really needed in a static situation anyway, just when there's slack while climbing.

what kind of ascender is that your using ? Nice video !!!! You make it look easy!!!

 

[NikoTheBowHunter]

I might have to give this a try. I have the knock of stepps and I really work up a sweat climbing up. This looks like a little less effort. Thanks

This is one main the reasons I switched to single stick from using the WE stepps. Trying to cam the WE stepps over seemed like to much work and caused me to get sweaty.

 

[SILhunter]

For all you guys that 1 stick would one of the small platforms that attaches to the top of a stick work while doing this or would it get in the way?

 

[swampsnyper]

Alright, I admit, you got my gears turning. How much does your one stick and SRT gear weigh?

 

[Ontariofarmer]

Alright, I admit, you got my gears turning. How much does your one stick and SRT gear weigh?

One stick. 1.9 pounds. More or less depending on the stick.
Rappel gear 2.5 pounds including dan o bag 40 feet Oplux safeguard a few carabiners a prussic rope. And a delta link
SRT need a hand ascender and foot loop. .75 pounds approximately

It is compact and the fiddle factor is small


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[boyne bowhunter]

The stick is just over 2# and it's 21" long. I carry 40' of rope, a little more than I need, that's spec'ed at 6.1# per hundred feet (2.4 lbs + link, say 2.6 lbs conservatively). The Safeguard is 156g (.3 lbs). You need a tether and lineman's anyway. So I'd put the weight of the climbing/rappel system at less than 6 lbs.

 

[Ontariofarmer]

With Oplux. 40 feet safeguard bag and a DanO stick drilled out and a carbon fibre cam cleat it is only 4.5 pounds.
For rappel and one stick

And srt. Less than one pound more.


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[bj139]

Great video. I knew people would question where you clipped your pulldown line. On a straight, limbless tree it doesn't seem to matter, IMHO. You explained the difference in subsequent posts. I helped a neighbor cut a tree yesterday and climbed up SRT and cut a few limbs but I couldn't reach higher to cut more. If I had a stick with me I could have one sticked further up. We cut what was left from the ground. I did reduce the weight of the limbs. To get a rope up a tree I continue to use my electrical rope pusher pole. It is cheap and effective for getting 15 to 18 feet high while doing SRT. I have gone 7 feet higher by tethering and pushing my rope further up the tree.

Electrical Rope Pusher Pole Success

I used my 10 foot electrical conduit rope pusher to push the rope up a tree. It worked. I shot a doe. Now I can try for the buck. My tether was set at 17 feet which seems kind of low but the leaf canopy was around there so I could not see as far if I went higher. It was so thick in there at...

saddlehunter.com

 

[NikoTheBowHunter]

Alright, I admit, you got my gears turning. How much does your one stick and SRT gear weigh?

My one stick w/ aider and rope weighs in at 34.6 ounces (2.16lbs). Add in my figure 8 and 40ft of 10mm rappel rope, I'm sitting at 4lbs if I remember correctly (can confirm when I get home). Less than the 5 stepps I was using with aider. Not to mention i can climb way higher with my one stick than i could with those 5 steps without having to add additional weight like one would have to do with WE steps if they are wanting to get higher up the tree.

 

[woodsdog2]

Boyne what is your aider length at the bottom of your stick?