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Treehopper bolts/ best way to find the holes in the dark

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dp3

New Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2021
Messages
21
I am doing presets with the treehopper bolts and was wondering if anyone found a good way to mark the holes u drill so there easy to see in the dark and easy and quick to put in. I am thinking about putting glow in the dark paint on the end of the bolts so i can c them in the dark but unsure of a easy way to mark the holes in the tree's that i am prepping? thanks
 
I always spaced them at knee height starting with the right side first. Once I found the first one, I knew where to look for the rest.
 
I have used screwins for so many years and when i went to bolts the spacing is the same so i know where they will be.But the golf tees are a great idea Good thinking
 
Need more info.
What time of the year are you drilling and what species of tree? You can't drill holes in June for example and expext the holes to still be open enough to insert bolts in the fall.
And holes on certain species open up better, and remain open better, than other species. Even an individual tree can have different grain characteristics within the tree itself.
Frankly, for presets, I think it’s best to bolt it when you set the tree. And if you can't bolt during presetting, then drill and bolt when you hunt.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Need more info.
What time of the year are you drilling and what species of tree? You can't drill holes in June for example and expext the holes to still be open enough to insert bolts in the fall.
And holes on certain species open up better, and remain open better, than other species. Even an individual tree can have different grain characteristics within the tree itself.
Frankly, for presets, I think it’s best to bolt it when you set the tree. And if you can't bolt during presetting, then drill and bolt when you hunt.
Click to expand...
I was thinking and read from other forums you could drill now or summer and should be able to set bolts in the fall, but would have to redrill tree next year. I am drilling whatever tree is in the right spot. maples, oaks, pine, balsam fir.. i take it you mean leaving bolts in the tree for presets? thats just too much money in bolts for me to do that, was looking to drill the holes in trees and then return to hunt in fall...
 
Why not just leave bolts in the tree if your doing pre sets ? That’s what I do
 
dp3 said:
I was thinking and read from other forums you could drill now or summer and should be able to set bolts in the fall, but would have to redrill tree next year. I am drilling whatever tree is in the right spot. maples, oaks, pine, balsam fir.. i take it you mean leaving bolts in the tree for presets? thats just too much money in bolts for me to do that, was looking to drill the holes in trees and then return to hunt in fall...
Click to expand...
I tried that the first year I used bolts and the holes had grown in. I drilled over the summer and by October they had filled back in at least halfway. You can clean them out but take your drill with you to do so when you hunt. I found out the hard way that they grow back. If you drill a tree in the fall, after the growing season, when the tree is dormant, it will likely remain open until spring green up.
 
dp3 said:
I was thinking and read from other forums you could drill now or summer and should be able to set bolts in the fall, but would have to redrill tree next year. I am drilling whatever tree is in the right spot. maples, oaks, pine, balsam fir.. i take it you mean leaving bolts in the tree for presets? thats just too much money in bolts for me to do that, was looking to drill the holes in trees and then return to hunt in fall...
Click to expand...
The premise of my question, I guess, was more of a comment than it was a question,
My point is that there are so many variables involved that make early drilling undependable.

Some of the variables...

What part of the country are you talking about? Southern areas have a longer and faster growing season than Northerly areas. But I'd say pretty much any hole, North or South, will have at least some amount of growth if the holes were drilled in June or July. The more South, the more extensive the growth (hole shrinkage) will be.

Tree species has to be taken into account. Semi soft trees like Cottonwood, aspen, etc grow faster than extremely hardwood trees like osage or oak, and even then there are varieties within each species.
Even identical species on the same acre will grow at a different rate. Genetics, or soil fertility, soil moisture...some trees (oak for example) just grow faster than one 50 feet away. The holes of that faster growing tree will close faster than the slow tree.

The grain and fiber characteristics of some species will drill much "cleaner" than other species. Osage drills a nice clean, well defined hole. In some cases, those holes may still retain their diameter weeks or months later. But there are other trees (hickory, butter nut, etc) which have extremely wirey grain that doesn't always drill cleanly. I've had trees in which bolts were difficult to insert immediately after drilling let alone a couple months later.

Grain characteristics change within an individual tree, too. You can prove this to yourself the next time you split a tree for firewood. The closer to the trunk the tougher the grain and fibers are. Even on one side of the tree versus the other side of the tree...grain changes. Different grain drills differently.

Yeah, lots of reasons why you cannot depend on being able to slip a bolt into a hole that was drilled several weeks earlier.
My thoughts on pre-sets is that I want to show up at O-dark-thirty and have everything ready to hunt. If I get to the tree and struggle to get even one bolt fully inserted then my set has become undependable and that's unacceptable to me.

Other than bolting the tree, what else will you be doing to preset the tree? Are you carrying a stand in for each hunt? ROS for each hunt? Lock-on stands that you hung during the summer?
 
Yeah just leave the bolts in. It is a few dollars a tree. People worry about someone hunting their bolts. I would rather walk in and someone is in "my" tree, than to not know someone is 60 yards upwind. With all that being said, I only do bolts on private land, so if anyone is using my bolts they are also getting arrested for trespassing with a deadly weapon.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
The premise of my question, I guess, was more of a comment than it was a question,
My point is that there are so many variables involved that make early drilling undependable.

Some of the variables...

What part of the country are you talking about? Southern areas have a longer and faster growing season than Northerly areas. But I'd say pretty much any hole, North or South, will have at least some amount of growth if the holes were drilled in June or July. The more South, the more extensive the growth (hole shrinkage) will be.

Tree species has to be taken into account. Semi soft trees like Cottonwood, aspen, etc grow faster than extremely hardwood trees like osage or oak, and even then there are varieties within each species.
Even identical species on the same acre will grow at a different rate. Genetics, or soil fertility, soil moisture...some trees (oak for example) just grow faster than one 50 feet away. The holes of that faster growing tree will close faster than the slow tree.

The grain and fiber characteristics of some species will drill much "cleaner" than other species. Osage drills a nice clean, well defined hole. In some cases, those holes may still retain their diameter weeks or months later. But there are other trees (hickory, butter nut, etc) which have extremely wirey grain that doesn't always drill cleanly. I've had trees in which bolts were difficult to insert immediately after drilling let alone a couple months later.

Grain characteristics change within an individual tree, too. You can prove this to yourself the next time you split a tree for firewood. The closer to the trunk the tougher the grain and fibers are. Even on one side of the tree versus the other side of the tree...grain changes. Different grain drills differently.

Yeah, lots of reasons why you cannot depend on being able to slip a bolt into a hole that was drilled several weeks earlier.
My thoughts on pre-sets is that I want to show up at O-dark-thirty and have everything ready to hunt. If I get to the tree and struggle to get even one bolt fully inserted then my set has become undependable and that's unacceptable to me.

Other than bolting the tree, what else will you be doing to preset the tree? Are you carrying a stand in for each hunt? ROS for each hunt? Lock-on stands that you hung during the summer?
Click to expand...
NO planned on doing presets for the saddle, so id just be hanging the predator and basically be set. if i hunt sept and oct, could i get away with drilling them holes out end of august for sept-oct hunting or theyd still be grown in mostly..
 
You should be good drilling in September, but always carry the hand drill with you. I can't tell you the amount of deer I have killed because I had a set of bolts and drill in my pack. Get down around 9-10, find good sign and hunt that in the afternoon. If I am doing a present, I leave the bolts and hang my mission the day I hunt. How many preset are you truly going to do? Even if you do 5 trees that is still under $100 to leave them in the tree.
 
I preset 13 trees this post season , every tree I’m 25 feet or higher and it cost me less then 150$ . I use a miluakee drill with a 3/8x4” Irwin wood bit and it’s amazing .
 
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