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Whats everyone's preferred climbing method

There are a lot of ways to keep the step open. I've used rubber tubing around the step as well as a bundle of zip ties (8 or 10) with the square catches cut off. I zip tied the bundle to the bottom of each "rung". It worked very well.
 
I've been using a Treehopper drill bit for 20 years. It's 4/1000ths over sized and set to depth. It allows you to use grade 8 3/8 bolts 6" long. when you get done hunting you can take them with you or hide them at the base of the tree. no one ever knew you were there. also i'll take them up about 10' sometimes then go to sticks. I'll remove the bolts on the way down, keeps everyone honest!!!! Bit was 20 or 30 bucks, had the same one for 20 years works great. last time I checked they still had a web site
 
I have tried almost every climbing method we've discussed and I use them all depending on where I am. Pre-set trees on public land with screw in steps. Spurs on public land where allowed. Sticks on the county land where I can only have 1 tree set up at a time. Tree hopper bolts at another spot that I am only allowed to access and I can get away with prepping just before the season. I just got the wild edge stepps over the winter so I'm going to work on getting comfortable with them this summer. I've been fooling around with SRT for a few years now but I still don't have it at a point where I'm happy with it in a hunting situation.
 
I've gotten pretty good with the SRT over the last few years. It can definitely be a little bit of a pain being limited to a tree with a branch or Y just above hunting height. But, the fact that you can leave a piece of throwline and come back years later, tie your climbing rope on and get setup in a few minutes is pretty slick. Also, rappelling down a tree after shooting a nice buck might just be the coolest feeling ever:). And I've got to imagine it is the safest way to climb as well as you are tied in at all times. I've started wearing a climbing helmet too as my headlamp is nice and secure on it. The latest addition has been ernie's platform which I think is going to make it much more comfortable. I was using a single muddy stick with a few cranford steps around the tree and my feet would get pretty sore even with some padding on the steps.
 
Jonathan Hicks said:
I've been using a Treehopper drill bit for 20 years. It's 4/1000ths over sized and set to depth. It allows you to use grade 8 3/8 bolts 6" long. when you get done hunting you can take them with you or hide them at the base of the tree. no one ever knew you were there. also i'll take them up about 10' sometimes then go to sticks. I'll remove the bolts on the way down, keeps everyone honest!!!! Bit was 20 or 30 bucks, had the same one for 20 years works great. last time I checked they still had a web site
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So do you use the hand drill type? I am interested in this Treehopper climbing method. I need something lightweight that I can use to get 30 feet up. I am tired of carrying clanky steps around. I am open to any other type of info and tips you have from your experience. Do you possibly have a picture of your little kit for me to see?
 
Treehopper is the best IF: you can drill holes In your trees, if
You can predrill with a drill in advance. Just carry a bag of bolts. Mine are dipped in plastidip up to where they insert into the tree. I have the manual hand drill and a few extra bolts with me just in case.

For spontaneous locations and great comfort, climbing with a handclimber seat as a platform and then hunting from it is pretty great.
You can traverse branches if you just have an aider with you.

I have also done the aider-only climbing. I find it to be about as easy as one-stick. Less clunky, less weight, you don't bang your shins against the stick.

For the Climber Seat and for aider only, I like rappel descent
 
I have went almost exclusively to 3 modified helium sticks with foot straps - my rationale is I want to perfect one method and be able to use it anywhere/anytime and to have my stem ingrained in my little brain. There have been too many times with preset trees, or when using steps, bolts, etc., that I hunt a morning and then find really hot sign a few hundred yards away and I am stuck with screw in steps in a tree I just left. Or I walk in during an evening hunt and decide to hunt a totally different tree/area then originally planned.

I am always prepared when I am in the woods to set up on a moments notice. last year I went to a tree to hunt one evening and the wind had blown the dang thing over - had I not had sticks with me hunt was over. Gaffs are too loud for me and how I hunt, screw in steps are illegal and take way too much time and effort, .... I have tried just about every method out there and for sneaking in close to bedding (which is how I hunt 90% of the time) I have found nothing more versatile, quiet and quick then my helium sticks and foot straps. And after using just this method in hundreds of trees - I can do it in the dark with no light on all but the very darkest of nights. Add in my platform and I have yet to find a tree I cannot hunt - and where I live most trees are not hunter friendly.
 
I have the hand drill setup. If it weren't for picking up a pair of spurs this year, I would have been heading out late summer to prep a couple dozen trees with it.

I made the mistake of trying to use flex seal instead of plastidip on the bolts and it didn't hold up.
Doing the drill by hand can either be a breeze, or exhausting.... it depends on the tree. You don't want it too soft, but too hard is difficult too.

I think the spurs will definitely be my main climbing method.


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I watched a video using a LW Hand Climber top for climbing a tree. This looks like a simple and lightweight doable option if you have a straight tree with no branches. Thinking by carrying another rope style step to clear branches other trees could be climbed as well. Anybody experiment with this?


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DaveT1963 said:
I have went almost exclusively to 3 modified helium sticks with foot straps - my rationale is I want to perfect one method and be able to use it anywhere/anytime and to have my stem ingrained in my little brain. There have been too many times with preset trees, or when using steps, bolts, etc., that I hunt a morning and then find really hot sign a few hundred yards away and I am stuck with screw in steps in a tree I just left. Or I walk in during an evening hunt and decide to hunt a totally different tree/area then originally planned.

I am always prepared when I am in the woods to set up on a moments notice. last year I went to a tree to hunt one evening and the wind had blown the dang thing over - had I not had sticks with me hunt was over. Gaffs are too loud for me and how I hunt, screw in steps are illegal and take way too much time and effort, .... I have tried just about every method out there and for sneaking in close to bedding (which is how I hunt 90% of the time) I have found nothing more versatile, quiet and quick then my helium sticks and foot straps. And after using just this method in hundreds of trees - I can do it in the dark with no light on all but the very darkest of nights. Add in my platform and I have yet to find a tree I cannot hunt - and where I live most trees are not hunter friendly.
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Good post Dave. This really made me think. I think you are right on with having a setup that you can repeat efficiently and quietly. And thanks for the info you have shared with your helium stick mods in the past. I did the mods on my set this spring and I think I will really like it. I really like that it shortens them up for packing as well as reduces weight.

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DaveT1963 said:
I have went almost exclusively to 3 modified helium sticks with foot straps - my rationale is I want to perfect one method and be able to use it anywhere/anytime and to have my stem ingrained in my little brain. There have been too many times with preset trees, or when using steps, bolts, etc., that I hunt a morning and then find really hot sign a few hundred yards away and I am stuck with screw in steps in a tree I just left. Or I walk in during an evening hunt and decide to hunt a totally different tree/area then originally planned.

I am always prepared when I am in the woods to set up on a moments notice. last year I went to a tree to hunt one evening and the wind had blown the dang thing over - had I not had sticks with me hunt was over. Gaffs are too loud for me and how I hunt, screw in steps are illegal and take way too much time and effort, .... I have tried just about every method out there and for sneaking in close to bedding (which is how I hunt 90% of the time) I have found nothing more versatile, quiet and quick then my helium sticks and foot straps. And after using just this method in hundreds of trees - I can do it in the dark with no light on all but the very darkest of nights. Add in my platform and I have yet to find a tree I cannot hunt - and where I live most trees are not hunter friendly.
Click to expand...

As usual Dave you make some good points. Nice to see you back on the site.


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I like pre-set with drill and screw-ins but my over all and most dependable is 4 muddy stick with two 5 step aiders added to the two bottom sticks. I'm usually 22' - 24' every time, unless I have some limbs to use as steps. I'm planning to order another 5 step aider to add on to the 3rd stick and leave the 4th stick in truck. Lighten up just a little.
 
@DaveT1963 - I'm going to disagree with you that spurs are too loud/slow. With a quick strap/buckle mod, my spurs are deadly silent (quieter than my sticks) and I can be 20' up a tree in 2-4 minutes.

However, you are SPOT on about the idea of being 100% comfortable and CONFIDENT with whatever system you choose. You've found your sweet spot with your sticks. Whatever system (sticks, gaffs, bolts, SRT, Stepp Ladders, anti-gravity shoes) gets you on the deer is the system you should use!
 
g2outdoors said:
@DaveT1963 - I'm going to disagree with you that spurs are too loud/slow. With a quick strap/buckle mod, my spurs are deadly silent (quieter than my sticks) and I can be 20' up a tree in 2-4 minutes.

However, you are SPOT on about the idea of being 100% comfortable and CONFIDENT with whatever system you choose. You've found your sweet spot with your sticks. Whatever system (sticks, gaffs, bolts, SRT, Stepp Ladders, anti-gravity shoes) gets you on the deer is the system you should use!
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I agree with ya here. I used my spurs the whole season last year and for ME they are what I am confident in. Just like anything else with a little practice you can be quiet and fast with them. The buck I killed was literally bedded 70 yards from me and I was able to climb 35' and he had no clue I was there

Would you happen to have a pair of the anti-gravity shoes? That just might be a game changer! Haha


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:nomouth: Sometimes an unobstructed view from the upper deck is the best place to watch the ballgame unfold!!!!
 
That's why it's an individual sport. Ive tried spurs and they were noisy and i personally didn't trust them on icy or wet oak, hickory, ash or maple.... That and it was a pain to carry them in and put them on at base of tree before sunrise. But no doubt they work and obviously well for some. Over 40 years of bowhunting I've tried just about everything, and at my age and fat butt, sticks are King.
 
Don't forget that everyone hunts in different conditions. Dave is hunting in lots of thick short trees with lots of branches if I am not mistaken. In a tree like that he might be able to be quieter and quicker with his 3 sticks.

I set up a tree with my spurs the other day with lots of branches. I didn't want to cut them all off so it took some extra time to get up going around them. If I end up liking the wild edge stepps with aider I may end up using them to get up this tree instead.

I think its better to have all the options at your disposal :D
 
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