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Increasing efficiency for 1 stick climbing

I started 1 sticking early this season after giving WE stepps an honest chance. I went with the stacked outdoors stick, mainly because they were in stock and sold as a single. It has its pros and cons. The depth of the steps and the standoff distance are the biggest pros. If you need to take a short rest, it is very easy to sit on the top steps. For example, I was about 10’ up in my climb the other day and heard a deer coming in from behind. I had to wait her out for a good 5 minutes to resume the climb. Just sat on that top step with the tether cinched up and hugged the tree. Never got busted. The cons are the cam buckle and the positioning of the “buttons”. The buttons are situated a little lower on the stick than other models which means that you have to either reach a little farther down between your legs to get it loose or reach around under your thigh. I use the Cain’s method and prefer that to swinging off to the side. There’s very little risk to dropping a stick that way, especially since they steps don’t fold. I either have the stick pinned to the tree with my tether or have it pinned with my crotch depending on what position I am in. The only mishap that I did have this years was with my cam strap falling off during a stick move, but that was only because I was using a cam strap off of a XOP stick which has slightly larger loops than the factory stacked stick. I thought it would make for easier hook/unhook from the buttons, which it certainly did. I was able to use my gear grappler to retrieve the strap and continue climbing. I have gone back to the factory cam strap to significantly lessen that risk. I have also moved into rappelling since that hunt and if it were to happen again, I would simply rappel down if I did ever drop a stick or strap.

Has anyone tried putting a cam cleat on a hunting beast stick. They are lighter than muddy pros and super durable. Folding steps are not a must for me since I am not packing my stick in a pack.
 
Deerinthawoods said:
I started 1 sticking early this season after giving WE stepps an honest chance. I went with the stacked outdoors stick, mainly because they were in stock and sold as a single. It has its pros and cons. The depth of the steps and the standoff distance are the biggest pros. If you need to take a short rest, it is very easy to sit on the top steps. For example, I was about 10’ up in my climb the other day and heard a deer coming in from behind. I had to wait her out for a good 5 minutes to resume the climb. Just sat on that top step with the tether cinched up and hugged the tree. Never got busted. The cons are the cam buckle and the positioning of the “buttons”. The buttons are situated a little lower on the stick than other models which means that you have to either reach a little farther down between your legs to get it loose or reach around under your thigh. I use the Cain’s method and prefer that to swinging off to the side. There’s very little risk to dropping a stick that way, especially since they steps don’t fold. I either have the stick pinned to the tree with my tether or have it pinned with my crotch depending on what position I am in. The only mishap that I did have this years was with my cam strap falling off during a stick move, but that was only because I was using a cam strap off of a XOP stick which has slightly larger loops than the factory stacked stick. I thought it would make for easier hook/unhook from the buttons, which it certainly did. I was able to use my gear grappler to retrieve the strap and continue climbing. I have gone back to the factory cam strap to significantly lessen that risk. I have also moved into rappelling since that hunt and if it were to happen again, I would simply rappel down if I did ever drop a stick or strap.

Has anyone tried putting a cam cleat on a hunting beast stick. They are lighter than muddy pros and super durable. Folding steps are not a must for me since I am not packing my stick in a pack.
Click to expand...

@Deerinthawoods Are you using the Stacked stick as your platform? I thought I would do that and combine it with one sticking, but I got a lot of popping noise from the Stacked Outdoors top step when I shifted my weight. I did find that standing on the lower step seems to get rid of the noise. I have thought about adding some serious padding to the top step and just use the bottom step as my platform and the padded top step in place of knee pads.
 
mtsrunner said:
@Deerinthawoods Are you using the Stacked stick as your platform? I thought I would do that and combine it with one sticking, but I got a lot of popping noise from the Stacked Outdoors top step when I shifted my weight. I did find that standing on the lower step seems to get rid of the noise. I have thought about adding some serious padding to the top step and just use the bottom step as my platform and the padded top step in place of knee pads.
Click to expand...

I am using the predator platform. I will say that the stacked is not the quietest stick I have used but I had a deer com within 30 yards the other morning during my climb.
 
Murph4028 said:
In this video I review 1 stick climbing techniques and how a muddy pro can enable you to do it better. Any stick with a rope cam installed will give you the same results. If you want to save energy, ditch the cam buckle.



Click to expand...
What happened to your video?
 
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If you like daisy chains this knob mod I made has been working great for me.


Sent from parts unknown
 
So other than the muddy pro and a DIY with cam cleat, what is the recommended/preferred stick for 1 stick climbing?

I’ve tried Helium’s. Didn’t like. I’ve tried muddy pros. Quality wasn’t what I wanted and the cleat didn’t hold well. An older set ( sold unfortunately) did hold but there was too much play in the step assembly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
iamcorey said:
So other than the muddy pro and a DIY with cam cleat, what is the recommended/preferred stick for 1 stick climbing?

I’ve tried Helium’s. Didn’t like. I’ve tried muddy pros. Quality wasn’t what I wanted and the cleat didn’t hold well. An older set ( sold unfortunately) did hold but there was too much play in the step assembly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Make one? That’s what I did, used the measurements I wanted for me (18”) and got double step stand offs and a double step with artisan platform and attached 1 step aider (~18”) and the knob in post above for ease of use with daisy chain. But you can make exactly what you want, might cost a little more than modding a stick you already have but you get exactly what you want and don’t necessarily have to compromise.

Check out the short stick threads on here, if I didn’t want to have my run and gun platform assembled and take my RR for my platform I would go shorty, like @always89y made.


Sent from parts unknown
 
SnakeEater said:
Make one? That’s what I did, used the measurements I wanted for me (18”) and got double step stand offs and a double step with artisan platform and attached 1 step aider (~18”) and the knob in post above for ease of use with daisy chain. But you can make exactly what you want, might cost a little more than modding a stick you already have but you get exactly what you want and don’t necessarily have to compromise.

Check out the short stick threads on here, if I didn’t want to have my run and gun platform assembled and take my RR for my platform I would go shorty, like @always89y made.


Sent from parts unknown
Click to expand...

Thanks. I’m going n the list to receive the shorty and am looking forward to my turn. That’s the style I’m looking for I think. The shikar minis come close, but want to try out always89y’s creation before pulling the trigger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
iamcorey said:
So other than the muddy pro and a DIY with cam cleat, what is the recommended/preferred stick for 1 stick climbing?

I’ve tried Helium’s. Didn’t like. I’ve tried muddy pros. Quality wasn’t what I wanted and the cleat didn’t hold well. An older set ( sold unfortunately) did hold but there was too much play in the step assembly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Been using a stacked outdoors stick. Wide enough and sticks out far enough from the tree that I can comfortably use it as a platform. Good price too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
d763a0b8acff67ed4ee933de95c7e4d5.jpg

May have missed some context but here is my current set up. No real complaints.
Just realized this threads a bit old


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