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Treebolts revisited

I hunted the last 4 days and drilled a new tree every morning and evening. My elbows now hurt at night going to sleep. It will be a while before I can get out to drill another. Rest them up then do it all over again! Lol
Think I need to drink an ensure
 
Must say it’s nice to quickly climb down a just pull the bolts, drop into cargo pocket and you are done. No removing sticks. Then clamping them together, the strapping to backpack. Wish it was allowed on public land for those hunts.
 
I am going to slam in some lag bolts for a permanent tree on Friday. I’ll bring my Milwaukee 18v and send em home. The spot isn’t near any bedding so I will just get out early to set up.

There are a few other trees I would like to perminently set up with lag bolts. I might have to experiment with tools to find a quiet way to set those up as they are closer to bedded deer. Wish I could have done it sooner.

Has anyone tried installing 3/8” lag bolts by hand?
 
I am going to slam in some lag bolts for a permanent tree on Friday. I’ll bring my Milwaukee 18v and send em home. The spot isn’t near any bedding so I will just get out early to set up.

There are a few other trees I would like to perminently set up with lag bolts. I might have to experiment with tools to find a quiet way to set those up as they are closer to bedded deer. Wish I could have done it sooner.

Has anyone tried installing 3/8” lag bolts by hand?

The bolts we are using are grade 8 bolts. They have a much high shear strength. I have heard stories of standard bolts breaking. I’d think lag bolts being threaded all the way gives it an even smaller diameter making it weaker. Something to think about.
 
IMG_0493.PNG IMG_0496.PNG For anyone who has not bought the EZ Kut drill. You can get 20% off. Just enter preseason20 in the coupon code box. Takes off 11.99 off the the Hand drill. Brings the price down to 47.96.
 
Took a set in another preacher seat I made...I call it The Circuit Riding Preacher Stand cause one traveling long distances must be light. This one is made out of 1/2 pine plywood and has nothing but the bridge, a small cushion and a couple of backpack straps. (No Televangelist camera mount on this one)

I used the bolts for footpegs/platform. Worked out great, but I did learn a hard lesson.....Have more bolts than you need in case you drop one!!! Oh well the ninja needed the exercise!
 

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I hunted the last 4 days and drilled a new tree every morning and evening. My elbows now hurt at night going to sleep. It will be a while before I can get out to drill another. Rest them up then do it all over again! Lol
Think I need to drink an ensure
So you drilled 8 trees with the hand drill? Are you crazy man!? :eek:

Is anyone consistently using the hand drill to hunt? I love using the bolts and I'm using them a lot, but I feel like I have to go and drill the trees before I hunt them. I think it is too much effort with the hand drill and it takes too long to do at the time of a hunt. I keep the hand drill on me at all times in case I need to clean out a hole and that is it. I bought this last week and was optimistic but I could barely get it into the tree https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7K3S5U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought grade 8 bolts off ebay. I shrink wrapped the ends. No bends and they work great.
 
I am going to slam in some lag bolts for a permanent tree on Friday. I’ll bring my Milwaukee 18v and send em home. The spot isn’t near any bedding so I will just get out early to set up.

There are a few other trees I would like to perminently set up with lag bolts. I might have to experiment with tools to find a quiet way to set those up as they are closer to bedded deer. Wish I could have done it sooner.

Has anyone tried installing 3/8” lag bolts by hand?

Lag bolts are a grade 2 bolt. Do yourself a favor and don't use them. If you must don't go with anything less than 1/2".
 
So you drilled 8 trees with the hand drill? Are you crazy man!? :eek:

Is anyone consistently using the hand drill to hunt? .
I don't LIKE it. But I didn't find it to be any more work than screw in steps (I don't like that either). But if your positioning is bad or if you try to drill up high over you head,,,forget it.
 
I don't LIKE it. But I didn't find it to be any more work than screw in steps (I don't like that either). But if your positioning is bad or if you try to drill up high over you head,,,forget it.
For comparison, I wouldn't use screw in steps in a mobile set up either :D. Both are great options for pre-set trees. The reason I want to find a way to put the bolts in at the time of hunt is I don't want to go to the tree anytime from let's say June until I hunt it. If I could find an easy way to drill a tree out then I could stop pre-setting trees with screw ins and just use this.

I do have to mention that when I redrill a tree with the electric drill it is much easier if I use the same holes. So a hand drill might work ok if you are only redrilling holes.
 
So you drilled 8 trees with the hand drill? Are you crazy man!? :eek:

Is anyone consistently using the hand drill to hunt? I love using the bolts and I'm using them a lot, but I feel like I have to go and drill the trees before I hunt them. I think it is too much effort with the hand drill and it takes too long to do at the time of a hunt. I keep the hand drill on me at all times in case I need to clean out a hole and that is it. I bought this last week and was optimistic but I could barely get it into the tree https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7K3S5U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought grade 8 bolts off ebay. I shrink wrapped the ends. No bends and they work great.
I do not have or use a hand drill. I just use the battery drill for "preset" trees. If they change paths, I will go in at mid day and drill a new tree if needed and then let the area rest a week before hunting the next weekend. If there is somewhere I want to hunt later that day or in the next few days, I use the Stepp Ladder with aider. 5 to 6 stepps gets me where I need to be. I currently use 2 at the top for a platform so 6 to 8 stepps are all I need. If I am going to put in all the time and work of a hand drill, I will use Stepps. They are faster and quieter than a hand drill. I only drill where I think I am going to hunt multiple times. This saves the set up and tear down!
 
So you drilled 8 trees with the hand drill? Are you crazy man!?

Is anyone consistently using the hand drill to hunt? I love using the bolts and I'm using them a lot, but I feel like I have to go and drill the trees before I hunt them. I think it is too much effort with the hand drill and it takes too long to do at the time of a hunt. I keep the hand drill on me at all times in case I need to clean out a hole and that is it. I bought this last week and was optimistic but I could barely get it into the tree https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N7K3S5U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I bought grade 8 bolts off ebay. I shrink wrapped the ends. No bends and they work great.

Actually it was 7. Only made a morning hunt the last day. Ended up shooting a doe the last morning but hit high on shoulder and didn’t get much penetration. Dog tracked for about 100 yards on no blood that I could see then he lost interest. Sucks. I’m sure she will be ok though.
 
For comparison, I wouldn't use screw in steps in a mobile set up either :D. Both are great options for pre-set trees. The reason I want to find a way to put the bolts in at the time of hunt is I don't want to go to the tree anytime from let's say June until I hunt it. If I could find an easy way to drill a tree out then I could stop pre-setting trees with screw ins and just use this.

I do have to mention that when I redrill a tree with the electric drill it is much easier if I use the same holes. So a hand drill might work ok if you are only redrilling holes.
what about filling the holes with spray foam? that way you could drill them earlier, the holes would be visible from the foam and then just use the hand drill to quickly take the foam out and you would be good to go for the rest of the season!

Mr. Womack says that he could drill a fresh tree to set up height and set his stand up (Loc On Limit) in 10 minutes.
 
I plan on drilling more trees this weekend. Its just an easy and safe way to climb. I went to the hardware store and lunch and got 3 more bolts...two to complete the walk around steps and 1 for an oops
 
Mr. Womack says that he could drill a fresh tree to set up height and set his stand up (Loc On Limit) in 10 minutes.
One of our other members mentioned doing that also. I'd like to hear more from them because I'd love to have the option if I could do it quickly. Maybe I just need to practice more but I find the hand drill a PITA. It doesn't get much more compact than a bag of bolts and a hand drill.
 
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