Another vote for one sticking

[MattMan81]

@boyne bowhunter has probably converted more people to one sticking than anyone else. I watched him do it at a meet up, and you can't help but go... Dang, that looks easy.
I went to the first meet up to try out saddles, and left wanting a one stick.
I really like rope climbing. But only on a preset or during the day time when I can see for a throw ball. I can't imagine trying to do it in the AM silently. But if I'm not in a pre set, I prefer one stick. Love the simplicity of multiple sticks. But hate carrying them, And hate trying to move up the tree with them.

 

[boyne bowhunter]

Great video. Lots of short moves instead of a few big ones and it looks like it works well. Nice.

Short moves, single step aider, are my means to assure that I limit how far I can climb above my tie in point. I am NOT comfortable on long aiders so I'm one step into an aider and another step onto the stick where I've got securely three points of contact (both feet and alternating hands) while I advance the tether.

The babbling brook in the background was a nice touch.

Background music courtesy of Mother Nature! Hope she doesn't hit me up for royalties!

Wish I could say I planned it that way. It was just a convenient spot not to far off the two track to climb a tree.

 

[loujo61]

I tie a Michoacan on the repel/ascending rope and attach it to the saddle bridge with a hunters bend so there's no biner to clank off of the one stick while I'm climbing. I do attach the rope to a Munter on my right Linesman loop so there is some redundancy, it also keeps the rope out of the way while climbing. I can repel off of the right lineman's Munter if need be but I usually hook it to my shorter bridge when coming down. My JRB one stick mod.

 

[phatkaw]

Hey @loujo61 , you got a picture or two of your hitch and bridge setup?

 

[loujo61]

 

[phatkaw]

What is that that you have your carabiner clipped into? ^^^

 

[loujo61]

The Munter (biner) is on the short bridge in the pic and the Hunter's bend and Mich (hand is in the way) are on the long bridge, tried to get a pic of the Munter on the Lineman loop but it didn't load.

 

[phatkaw]

Duh!
Never mind, I figured it out...

 

[loujo61]

Duh!
Never mind, I figured it out...

9mm line and 7mm cord, the Mich holds well and breaks easy even after being fully loaded, the pic reflects the repel mode. I wrap a Munter around a biner on my right linesman's loop while climbing in case the Mich doesn't grab. The Hunters bend also unties easily after it's been loaded. Thanks JRB!

 

[phatkaw]

I like the Hunters Bend but I gotta watch the videos over and over to get it right...

 

[loujo61]

I like the Hunters Bend but I gotta watch the videos over and over to get it right...

I tie mine like this

 

[GeoFish]

I hunt where the cover is so it varies. My typical preference would be with my feet right around 20-23 ft (4-5 stick moves) but I've hunted as low as 10 ft and as high as 33 ft this year.

My whole pack, including outer layers, EDP, camera gear, etc, usually comes in about 32lbs. I use my turkey vest for a pack so everything I carry other than my weapon and saddle goes in there. I don't carry anything attached to my saddle. I climb with the pack on my back and my weapon attached to a pull up string. In reality though whole pack weight doesn't mean much though because we all have preferred gear we carry and different climates we need to dress for.

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As you can see the stick, EDP, layers and rappel rope are carried in the pouch (rappel rope is in the bottom).

The stick weighs in at 2.7lbs and the 40' of canyon elite rappel rope and Safeguard weigh in at a 2.8 lbs combined. So my climbing method weighs under 6lbs total. I've said it before here but for me its not really about the weight, its the compactness and quietness of the setup that drew me to saddle hunting. This is a very quiet and compact climbing setup that allows me to hunt at any height (up to 35') while accessing and climbing pretty quietly.

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You have me thinking about trying this. Still have some hunting season left. Then it's going to be a long summer. Plenty of chance to try this.
But I need to get the weight down, yes I am a weight weenie.
Question please, I see some people are one sticking down. How practical is this? I never hunt above 20 feet, most of the time around 18 feet.
So if I rappel down with 25 feet of rope and a figure 8, weight won't be too bad.

Also looking at the OOAL Shikar mini stick. At about 1 lb, that would save alot. I don't see any info here on this stick. Anyone know anything about this stick?

 

[goody94]

I like 1 sticking, tried small platforms but like a larger style platform from the existing style 1 sticks. I designed my own DIY by using cut down LW sticks and trophyline EDP. I use 2 step aider EWO. Works great for me. I’m going to be working on a 1 stick DIY design with a LWCG fix platform. One stick is an extra tool in the tool box.

Can we see a picture of this? Is the EDP attached to a LW stick? Or am i misunderstanding that

 

[Cbigbear]

Question please, I see some people are one sticking down. How practical is this? I never hunt above 20 feet, most of the time around 18 feet.
So if I rappel down with 25 feet of rope and a figure 8, weight won't be too bad.

Practicality depends on the tree. On a good tree I can climb down faster then dealing with a rappel system. On bad trees the rappel setup shines.

 

[BTaylor]

Practicality depends on the tree. On a good tree I can climb down faster then dealing with a rappel system. On bad trees the rappel setup shines.

I assume you mean unclimbing the tree and pack up?? In that scenario I would agree you prolly are just as fast or maybe a shade faster. I am not.

 

[colin.704]

You have me thinking about trying this. Still have some hunting season left. Then it's going to be a long summer. Plenty of chance to try this.
But I need to get the weight down, yes I am a weight weenie.
Question please, I see some people are one sticking down. How practical is this? I never hunt above 20 feet, most of the time around 18 feet.
So if I rappel down with 25 feet of rope and a figure 8, weight won't be too bad.

Also looking at the OOAL Shikar mini stick. At about 1 lb, that would save alot. I don't see any info here on this stick. Anyone know anything about this stick?

go ahead and get the 40ft rope. it doesn't weigh much and you can work your way up. it is so effective late season. my whole setup including bow is 26lbs. 2lbs of that are optics and I carry 3 ways up a tree, with 1 stick primary. others are hand ascender, foot loop for SRT, and treehopper drill and carbon bolts (14). I climb any trees out there with this. get a setup with wings on platform like the EWO and predator so you can grab good with knees. I've shot at 4 nice bucks using this setup this year -2 recovered, 1 clean miss and unfortunately 1 lost due to my mistake. this setup got me in front of those deer

 

[woodsdog2]

I’ve been one sticking back down a lot more this year. I do not recommend this but in several instances it afforded me a quicker descent than getting everything set up for the rappel down. Again, and I stress, this is not the thing to do as I am entering slack into
My system several times on my descent which can be very bad if I should slip or something breaks away. I’m sure with a more refined, shorter and more gradual and methodical practiced approach I could really eliminate much of that risk however.

 

[phatkaw]

A guy could one-stick up and 2TC down.
That would shave some weight.


That's actually not that bad of an idea. I might as well try it one of these days...

*edit* One-sticking down sucks!

 

[BTaylor]

I’ve been one sticking back down a lot more this year. I do not recommend this but in several instances it afforded me a quicker descent than getting everything set up for the rappel down. Again, and I stress, this is not the thing to do as I am entering slack into
My system several times on my descent which can be very bad if I should slip or something breaks away. I’m sure with a more refined, shorter and more gradual and methodical practiced approach I could really eliminate much of that risk however.

I have noticed a few folks mention the time to setup to rappel rather than 1 stick or 2TC down. I assume that means you are not climbing and hunting on your rappel line and also adding a device such as ATC, an 8 or some other device. Is that correct?

 

[woodsdog2]

I have noticed a few folks mention the time to setup to rappel rather than 1 stick or 2TC down. I assume that means you are not climbing and hunting on your rappel line and also adding a device such as ATC, an 8 or some other device. Is that correct?

Short answer is yes. I climb on a separate tether and only use my rappel line to rappel. My device for my tether is a ropeman and my device for the rappel is the Mammut Smart 2.0 with an autoblock backup on my LB loop.