Some of you guys must be climbing and setting different kinds of trees than I climb.
I love cover in my tree. Branches and limbs are an asset. I try to remove as little of them as possible. Not only do limbs help me hide from deer, it also helps me conceal my tree from other hunters. The more you cut, the more obvious a stand tree becomes to other hunters.
I can't imagine trying to climb some of my trees and maneuvering between branches during the climb with a bow attached to me, and that's with a trad bow with no sights, rests, cables, etc, etc, etc. Don't you guys run the risk of bumping sights and rests when climbing with your bow attached? Doesn't any of that complex equipment ever get tangled in branches and stuff while you climb? And if you hunt public, you are not even allowed to prune stuff on the way up.
My typical climbing scenario is...Lean the bow against the tree in a safe position (nice thing about a recurve is I can lean it, no need to lay it on the ground), take my haul line (which was wrapped in a figure 8 so it won't tangle) and the little loop I have on the end of it goes between the string and bow limb and the loop goes over the limb tip. it's 100% secure with no metal clips. I climb, and after I tether, I pull up the bow and maneuver it safely up the tree. I don't understand why using a haul line to pull the bow up after the climb is a difficult thing for some guys.