So do you never climb trees with limbs in them or do you have a technique for crossing them?
I use a LWHC and have been reading about the rappelling option. Currently I carry my tether with a ropeman 1 on it for the actual climb (Same as 1 sticking basically) but also carry a 1/4" amsteel daisy chain to use as a secondary tether in the event I need to cross a limb or jump rigging for any reason. I have been contemplating carrying a full length rope to use as my tether and rappel down but I'm having a hard time in my mind justifying carrying the extra rope and figure 8 plus the autoblock just to save me 1-2 min climbing down. I typically hunt at around 30' according to my range finder and can make the descent in about the same time as the ascent. I'm just trying to justify the gain for rappelling (Besides the cool factor) vs just continuing to climb down. I actually already bought (saddlehunter affect) 40' of oplux, the Kong chuy tactical and the beal Jammy plus I got a figure 8 to compare so I will atleast give it a try.
I keep a versa strap girth hitched to my left linemans loop to combat getting around limbs. I keep finding ways to carry less and/or more compact stuff in with me more and more. Not all the ideas were of my own though, picked up good ideas from others here and there. I weighed my complete hunting setup, which included everything but my weapon and clothes. I'm talking binos, rangerfinder, kill kit, pooping kit, gloves, hat, handwarmers, coffee thermos, platform, gear hanger, climbing system, rappel setup, seriously everything I take in on a hunt minus my clothes and weapon and I was spot on at 17lbs.