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Saddle Death… Stay safe out there.

If he was in a dryad without the hammock deployed and all his climbing gear was at the bottom of the tree, I could easily see how the harness that comes with the drey could cause suspension trauma, especially for a heavier guy. Unclear how he got up 6 ft with his climbing gear at the base of the tree but maybe he had a stick that fell off?
I own a Dray with the lineman belt ,just for a quick test tried to one stick with just the belt with the leg straps. Results for me it is extremely painful . I could see if the hammock part was not deployed it could be a death trap. Jmo If he lost the stick for whatever reason and being a bit overweight. ,may have cause this . Praying for the family
 
I own a Dray with the lineman belt ,just for a quick test tried to one stick with just the belt with the leg straps. Results for me it is extremely painful . I could see if the hammock part was not deployed it could be a death trap. Jmo If he lost the stick for whatever reason and being a bit overweight. ,may have cause this . Praying for the family

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents here. I think there is something to say about how much surface area is present in a saddle or suspension system that we are not fully appreciating. I had a few experiences in a size normal Phantom where the thing either slid up on me or I was in a weird position, and it was definitely uncomfortable and harder to breathe. I switched to a size 2 Aerohunter this year, and almost too big for me, BUT every time I have my entire weight suspended in the saddle (ie ascending and descending) it's comfortable and I never find myself in the position I did previously.
 
I own a Dray with the lineman belt ,just for a quick test tried to one stick with just the belt with the leg straps. Results for me it is extremely painful . I could see if the hammock part was not deployed it could be a death trap. Jmo If he lost the stick for whatever reason and being a bit overweight. ,may have cause this . Praying for the family
Just presenting an alternate perspective but I used my drey this way all last season with one stick climbing - no hammock deployed. Moderately uncomfortable but doable for the short duration of my climb. Pressures for me were similar to a rock climbing harness but I never found myself in a dangerous situation to find out if my way was wrong though.

During the off season I found myself in a similar position as some other people mentioned- evaluating the simplicity of the climbing systems I was employing.

Great to hear professional input from someone very experienced on the subject. Hope we can all take something away from this and implement changes if needed.
 
Just presenting an alternate perspective but I used my drey this way all last season with one stick climbing - no hammock deployed. Moderately uncomfortable but doable for the short duration of my climb. Pressures for me were similar to a rock climbing harness but I never found myself in a dangerous situation to find out if my way was wrong though.

I tried using a Drey last year in SRT without hammock deployed. Found it doable but very uncomfortable. I think I could easily see it becoming dangerous if I was forced to hang just on the minimal RCH for more than a few minutes. I decided it wasn’t safe (or pleasan) for my style of climbing and went back to my Cruzr.
 
another thing to remember.....if you are stuck pretty good, don't be afraid to call for help (phone or otherwise) before it gets critical.....it's sorta like getting lost while hiking, the first and most important step is realizing and accepting that you don't know where you are and might need help
 
I tried using a Drey last year in SRT without hammock deployed. Found it doable but very uncomfortable. I think I could easily see it becoming dangerous if I was forced to hang just on the minimal RCH for more than a few minutes. I decided it wasn’t safe (or pleasan) for my style of climbing and went back to my Cruzr.
Im probably an outlier on this one. I’ve seen the one stick/drey combo conversation come up quite a few times in the last year but rarely see people talking about doing it without the hammock. That said I decided to use two single sticks to accomplish what I was doing with one stick climbing last year and hopefully won’t find myself in a prolonged suspended situation.
 
First off, my heart goes out to his wife and loved ones. That can't be said enough. I too want to say that his wife must be an amazingly strong person to continue to update and talk about her husbands death in hopes that all of us, who are sitting back reading this, can do better and be safer. I know personally, this ordeal has made me thing a bit differently about how I approach climbing into trees with a saddle. My mindset now is not IF, but WHEN something happens and having the knowledge and items needed to get myself down out of the tree safely. Its unfortunate incidents like this that wake folks up a bit and hopefully, make us all evaluate our processes and safety plans.

Again, be SAFE all. Plan for the worst case scenerio and have options for getting yourself down to the ground safely.
 
another thing to remember.....if you are stuck pretty good, don't be afraid to call for help (phone or otherwise) before it gets critical.....it's sorta like getting lost while hiking, the first and most important step is realizing and accepting that you don't know where you are and might need help

PS....satellite communicators/rescue beacons are awesome.....i watched various places and got one 40% off a few years back (garmin)
 
PS....satellite communicators/rescue beacons are awesome.....i watched various places and got one 40% off a few years back (garmin)

Yup, those things are great when you need them. Here in PA, you can rarely go more than a mile or two without hitting some kind of dirt road in the mountains. Out west is a completely different story. That said, I don't have a comm device other than my phone. I know plenty of places in our mountains where I phone just doesn't get any service.

My two best friends and hunting partners all started saddle hunting this year. One thing we all agreed on is that on days we go out alone and hunt, we let each other know the vacinity of where we are going. If we have service, drop a pin on onx and share it quick with each other. Its a simple thing that could go a long way in saving each other if it ever came to that.

No matter what, my thoughts are to ensure I have the items necessary to self rescue and or get myself out of a jam. I keep a prussic, carabiner, knife and a suspension relief strap in my pants cargo pocket. I am attached to my rappel the entire climb, hunt and descent via the madrock. I feel like I'm in as safe a position as possible to get myself down in the event of an accident, dropped stick, etc.
 
I'm wondering if it would be safer to climb with a rappel device. This year I bought a new tether with prusik to climb and hunt with instead of using my rappel line/rappel device the whole time. If something were to happen while climbing I could repel down.
 
I'm wondering if it would be safer to climb with a rappel device. This year I bought a new tether with prusik to climb and hunt with instead of using my rappel line/rappel device the whole time. If something were to happen while climbing I could repel down.
There are some resources on using a Figure-8 and ATC Guide in both ascender and descender modes. Not sure what descender you're using but I'm sure it's doable.
 
I'm wondering if it would be safer to climb with a rappel device. This year I bought a new tether with prusik to climb and hunt with instead of using my rappel line/rappel device the whole time. If something were to happen while climbing I could repel down.

Bingo. I climb, hunt and rappel on my madrock safeguard. I do this for a lot of reasons, one being as you said, I can just rappel down if things get sideways or a drop my stick, etc. The other big reason for me was this. I'm a minimalist and prefer things to be as simple as possilble when my butt is off the ground. I'm not transferring from one rope to another, ever. I hook up to my madrock after I reach the top of my stick from the ground and I can test things right there make sure everything is right. If I fell at 7ft off the ground because something wasn't done right, its going to hurt like hell, but I will live. I use my rappel rope to pull up my bow as well. One less string or rope in the way. Bottom line for me is, I have two things to make sure I do right... connect rappel rope to the tree with the quick link, and make sure my madrock and biner are connected correctly to my bridge. I also use my linemans as I climb as I don't see any reason in the world not to. It make climbing on aiders far easier, I'm connected twice to the tree and as long as I use the linemans properly, maintaining slack and keeping it above my waist, I significatly reduce the risk of a big slack tether fall.
 
There are some resources on using a Figure-8 and ATC Guide in both ascender and descender modes. Not sure what descender you're using but I'm sure it's doable.

Im doing this with my ATC...schwabish above which the ATC easily tends and a prusik below for extra safety. Climb and rappel this way vs the madrock and feels super safe.
 
Bingo. I climb, hunt and rappel on my madrock safeguard. I do this for a lot of reasons, one being as you said, I can just rappel down if things get sideways or a drop my stick, etc. The other big reason for me was this. I'm a minimalist and prefer things to be as simple as possilble when my butt is off the ground. I'm not transferring from one rope to another, ever. I hook up to my madrock after I reach the top of my stick from the ground and I can test things right there make sure everything is right. If I fell at 7ft off the ground because something wasn't done right, its going to hurt like hell, but I will live. I use my rappel rope to pull up my bow as well. One less string or rope in the way. Bottom line for me is, I have two things to make sure I do right... connect rappel rope to the tree with the quick link, and make sure my madrock and biner are connected correctly to my bridge. I also use my linemans as I climb as I don't see any reason in the world not to. It make climbing on aiders far easier, I'm connected twice to the tree and as long as I use the linemans properly, maintaining slack and keeping it above my waist, I significatly reduce the risk of a big slack tether fall.

My climbing method as well. Although once at height I add a tether as my main line and leave my rappel line attached to tree and move it to my lineman’s loop.


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So… I have been following this out of curiosity for a bit.

I have a bit of a concern.

When all this first came out I searched his name on the JRB group where this was first posted. He posted lots of technical questions and had many back and forth conversations on the topics.

Now I just searched his name again. Nothing… everything gone/deleted.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm…….
 
So… I have been following this out of curiosity for a bit.

I have a bit of a concern.

When all this first came out I searched his name on the JRB group where this was first posted. He posted lots of technical questions and had many back and forth conversations on the topics.

Now I just searched his name again. Nothing… everything gone/deleted.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm…….

If a family member shuts down your facebook account, then would it remove all such postings automatically?
 
So… I have been following this out of curiosity for a bit.

I have a bit of a concern.

When all this first came out I searched his name on the JRB group where this was first posted. He posted lots of technical questions and had many back and forth conversations on the topics.

Now I just searched his name again. Nothing… everything gone/deleted.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm…….
So giving technical advice that could kill you over the internet in an uncontrolled environment might have been a bad idea?
 
So giving technical advice that could kill you over the internet in an uncontrolled environment might have been a bad idea?
I mean, all saddle hunters are fit and lean and smarter than the climbing treestand sheeple. They're big boys and can take care of themselves. I mean, they're not "big boys" but they're...nevermind.

In all seriousness, I wanna thank @redsquirrel for declaring his "year of safety" what...3 years ago? I've talked to WAY too many people who were too comfortable with the gear, and who even when told the technical limitations of the gear and gear pairings they wanted to use would tell me, "I mean, I know you have to say that, but like, for real? Everybody is doing it this way. I watched XYZ and he seems to know what he's doing. Those numbers have margin built into them. We live in a litigious society and people have to protect themselves. Maybe if you're working with the gear for a living that matters, but for what we do...etc...etc..."

If pages really are pulling his posts (and other people's responses), I feel a certain way about that. I've been involved with a local environmental protection group that's fighting a bad decision the power company seems determined to make and I'm sick of too much profits-over-people in my life. I really hope this isn't more of the same.
 
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