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Talk me out of bolts

Hunter260

Hunter260

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2019
Messages
1,585
Location
Ash Flat, AR
The more I think about it, the more I think bolts would fit my style of hunting. Is there any reason to not use them? I hunt mostly private and already have a good setup for public land, I wanna be super mobile, I don’t like bulk. I climb a ton of big giant trees that I can’t get my strap from my stick on and I think that’s where the bolts would come in handy. Should I just buy a treehopper drill and bolts?? How hard is it to drill a hardwood tree with the hand drill?
 
Hunter260 said:
The more I think about it, the more I think bolts would fit my style of hunting. Is there any reason to not use them? I hunt mostly private and already have a good setup for public land, I wanna be super mobile, I don’t like bulk. I climb a ton of big giant trees that I can’t get my strap from my stick on and I think that’s where the bolts would come in handy. Should I just buy a treehopper drill and bolts?? How hard is it to drill a hardwood tree with the hand drill?
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Yes, you should, and never look back, I’m 100% sold on bolts and plain hate everything else.
 
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Moved this to the climbing method section for you.

And yes, you should get a tree hopper drill and bolts. I balked at using them at first but after using them the second half of last year I plan on sticking with them for most situations. It usually takes me about 15 min to drill 10 holes and set up myROS which is a little longer then some methods but, it’s pretty sweet to climb down and packed up in 30 seconds. And it’s really nice if you go back to the same tree.
 
rhagenw said:
Don't bother buying tons of bolts like I did...found out it was so easy just to re-install in existing holes if drilled in season or just to drill a new tree.
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That was actually gonna be a question I had and never thought much about. Can you reuse bolts or do you have to leave them in the tree? I always thought once they’re in the tree, that was it and you would have to buy more if you wanted to continue to use the system.
 
I have over a hundred high quality EZ Climb steps and I never use them anymore since I started bolts.
The Treehopper hand drill is great and it easily bores super hard trees like osage. I think it actually drills hard wood easier than softer wood.
If you can do presets, then use a cordless drill. Unbelievably efficient!
About the only issue that I have with a hand drill is on huge trees. It takes 2 hands to use the hand drill (you can do cordless holes with one hand). Huge trees are almost impossible to wrap and manage the lineman so it's hard (impossible) to hand drill with 2 hands and hang on to the tree (or the last bolt). Its one of the few times that I prefer a screw-in step over a bolt. And yeah I know...climbing without a lineman is a risk. Sometimes I gotta do what I gotta do.
 
Westdesign03 said:
That was actually gonna be a question I had and never thought much about. Can you reuse bolts or do you have to leave them in the tree? I always thought once they’re in the tree, that was it and you would have to buy more if you wanted to continue to use the system.
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They pull out with a breeze if used once and removed. Depending on location the trees may not be in dormat and may grow tight around the bolt or freeze. If I drilled a tree in September they could be tight come December but not impossible to remove.
 
Westdesign03 said:
That was actually gonna be a question I had and never thought much about. Can you reuse bolts or do you have to leave them in the tree? I always thought once they’re in the tree, that was it and you would have to buy more if you wanted to continue to use the system.
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There is another thread... Bolts revisited...that answers every question you could dream of.
I've said it a dozen times...get a pair of mini vice grips for removing bolts.
Depending on the tree fibers, a bolt, even in a freshly drilled hole can be snug and difficult to remove. Wood fibers can be really inconsistent from tree to tree and even within an individual tree. Sometimes bolts easily slip in or out and sometimes they get snug enough that you'd want vice grips. Climbing down after a 12 hour sit, with cold hands, darkness setting in, can be a little fumbly trying to remove a tight bolt. A tree can be inconsistent...one bolt is loose enough to pull with 2 fingers, and the next bolt is tight. Use vice grips.
 
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Allegheny Tom said:
There is another thread... Bolts revisited...tgat answers every question you could dream of.
I've said it a dozen times...get a pair of mini vice grips for removing bolts.
Depending on the tree fibers, a bolt in a freshly drilled hole can be snug and difficult to remove. Climbing down after a 12 hour sit, with cold hands, darkness setting in, can be a little fumbly yrying to remove a tight bolt. And a tree can be inconsistent...one bolt is loose enough to pull with 2 fingers, and the next bolt is tight. Use vice grips.
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Thanks I’ll check out that thread. I guess I’ve never considered bolts because I assumed you bought them and had to leave them in the tree forever basically and could never get them back to use again.
 
Bolts yes, hand drill, meeeeeh, maybe as a back up. You definitely want the quick detach drill bit, a 20v impact driver, and a spare battery. You can drill many trees in a day with minimum effort, and shoulder/elbow/wrist wear.
 
I have a set from when I hunted private. Loved them. Never drilled in season. Prepped a couple trees in the summer with a drill. Awesome method where legal. 12 bolts got me to hunting height. I bought mine at tractor supply because they charge by weight instead of per bolt.
 
GCTerpfan said:
Moved this to the climbing method section for you.

And yes, you should get a tree hopper drill and bolts. I balked at using them at first but after using them the second half of last year I plan on sticking with them for most situations. It usually takes me about 15 min to drill 10 holes and set up myROS which is a little longer then some methods but, it’s pretty sweet to climb down and packed up in 30 seconds. And it’s really nice if you go back to the same tree.
Click to expand...

My bad on the post, how easy is it to re use holes??
 
Hunter260 said:
My bad on the post, how easy is it to re use holes??
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I used them for several years on private ground. If you drill them in season, especially after the leaves have dropped the holes will generally stay open until the tree begins to grow again in the spring. Then the holes will grow in. I made the mistake my first season of predrilling about 10 trees in July and august and not leaving the bolts in the holes. The holes had halfway grown in by fall and I had to clean them out with the drill. I found the best way was to use a cordless drill to do presets. It is much faster and less work. I've never seen the drilling hurt a tree and have redrilled that same tree several years in a row. The picture below was three seasons worth of holes grown back in ready to be drilled for a 4th.
 

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