• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

3 step aider pluses and minuses

DE bow hunter

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Messages
98
Location
Delaware
Talk to me about 3 step aiders. Pluses and minuses?

I’m thinking about getting two in Amsteel for my Hawke minis for the upcoming season, but was waiting to see if there is a Memorial Day sale.

If my math is correct I should be able to get close to 16’ +/- with two sticks and two three step aiders, but I’m worried I won’t be able to get it high enough in the tree (I’m 5’7) to make it worth it and then would go three sticks and two step aiders. Also worried about how stable it would be coming down especially in the dark.

Thanks y’all
 
The longer the aider, the more unstable. Before you buy anything, try hanging your stick as high as you can and attach both ends of a piece of rope to the bottom steps to make a single step the same length as the aider you’re thinking of buying. Step up and try it out to see how it feels.
 
when I use climbing sticks I will commonly use a two step aider on the bottom stick only. The rest of my sticks have single step cable aiders. Even with a 2 step aider, things can get squirrelly fast. It doesn’t take much of a leaning tree, wet conditions, a foot not seated squarely on the step, or a toe planted Firmly into the tree for a kick out to happen. For me I’ll carry a few extra pounds and some extra bulk to keep things simple and safe. Lately I’ve even been contemplating doing away with the 2 step aider.
 
Based on my experience aiders on multiple climbing sticks are asking for problems, especially multi step aiders. A 3 step aider on your first stick is doable, I would not recommend it on your second stick. If you run multi step aider on your second stick you should climb and descend with your tether or better yet rappel out. Climbing down in the dark with a linesman belt and multi step aiders is asking for trouble. There have been lots of falls onto the stick below and some serious leg wounds. The linesman's belt just keeps you close to the tree it doesn't do a good job stopping you from falling further down. After one season with hawk sticks and 3 step aiders I switched to a one stick and rappel setup. You still climb a stick with multi step aider however you climb with your rappel rope or your tether so if you advance your tether with each move you will not fall too far. I am playing with two tether climbing however I am not convinced I want to give up my one stick yet. 2TC will be your most cost effective and safest climbing method that will let you climb as high as you want.
 
Last edited:
Talk to me about 3 step aiders. Pluses and minuses?

I’m thinking about getting two in Amsteel for my Hawke minis for the upcoming season, but was waiting to see if there is a Memorial Day sale.

If my math is correct I should be able to get close to 16’ +/- with two sticks and two three step aiders, but I’m worried I won’t be able to get it high enough in the tree (I’m 5’7) to make it worth it and then would go three sticks and two step aiders. Also worried about how stable it would be coming down especially in the dark.

Thanks y’all

Not only are we from the same place, we're the same height....lol.
I'm not a fan of any more than one step on an aider. You have to be careful not to get caught, miss, or load one of the steps wrong. Even a single cable aider on the bottom stick has gotten me before.
 
Thanks guys. I have a single aider on the bottom stick now and a mobile aider for use when I need it on the other sticks.

After hearing all of the positives, I think I’ll stick to what I got currently.

Appreciate the feed back
Not only are we from the same place, we're the same height....lol.
I'm not a fan of any more than one step on an aider. You have to be careful not to get caught, miss, or load one of the steps wrong. Even a single cable aider on the bottom stick has gotten me before.
lol! My mom always told me good things come in small packages
 
I use four sticks and a three step aider on my bottom stick only. This routinely gets me to around 18-20’ no problem. I don’t need to employ aiders on any other sticks because of my initial start height.
 
When I used climbing sticks, I used a single rope aider on the bottom of each stick. This helped me gain more height. The thick/stiff climbing rope that I used helped in getting my boot in it, because it holds its' shape.
However, I have the older Muddy Pro climbing sticks that are 32" long with 3 fixed steps. The stand-offs on these sticks help keep the rope away from the tree and therefore easier to attain. Plus, the rope is attached through the holes in the step itself, which also helps in keeping it further away from the tree. :)
I set this one up for "one sticking" and it gets the job done.
Muddy Pro 2.jpg
 
I've used 2 step on bottom stick off and on.. also used on second stick but much prefer a single step after first stick. It's easy to do when you have light but at dark or morning it can be a bit tricky especially if the tree has some lean etc.
 
I use 3 sticks. Bottom stick is 3 step Amsteel aider. Second stick is 2 step aider. Top stick is 1 step aider. I’m routinely over 20’ with these if I want to be. But I’m also 6’3”. I wouldn’t use a 3 step aider on anything other than my bottom stick. But I’ve never had any issue with aiders at height. Just take the extra 5 seconds to really make sure you’re secure and toe’d into the tree on your descent.

But to each their own
 
I still don't understand the concept of how progressively shorter aiders make peeps feel "safer"...I don't see a difference between 6ft off the ground or 16 foot if u are comfortable with multi step close to the ground it's the same thing further up......imo amsteel makes a horrible aider. I want an aider that has a wide foot bed/step. 1"webbing would be a very minimum for me. My aider is made 2" webbing. If I was to build another I would do 1" webbing on the main "chassis" and 4" wide foot bed/step.

I've played with aiders a bunch and I can tell ya an alternating rung style is much more stable climb than a ladder style....no toes into the trunk...set ur instep against the truck and u will find it more stable. The other huge difference is with an alternating rung aider once have ur foot in a rung and ur instep set into the trunk and u are leaning back into ur linesman's belt u simply rotate ur hip rotating the unweighted hip away from the tree and the next rung swings out away from the trunk allowing us to easily put ur foot into the next rung. I also always recommend to climb with kneepads....set ur knee into the trunk and rotate away from the tree makes the next foot going into that rung even easier
 
Before I transcended above climbing sticks I was using 2 16" sticks and a 3 step aider about 7 foot long. 2 moves plus a couple extra feet setting up onto the platform u can easy hit 16ft. There's nothing stopping u from disconnecting your first stick and using it as a third if u need to go 3 moves high.....I guess I should add u need to be in shape and good balance if u messing with this kinda stuff
 
I still don't understand the concept of how progressively shorter aiders make peeps feel "safer"...I don't see a difference between 6ft off the ground or 16 foot if u are comfortable with multi step close to the ground it's the same thing further up......imo amsteel makes a horrible aider. I want an aider that has a wide foot bed/step. 1"webbing would be a very minimum for me. My aider is made 2" webbing. If I was to build another I would do 1" webbing on the main "chassis" and 4" wide foot bed/step.

I've played with aiders a bunch and I can tell ya an alternating rung style is much more stable climb than a ladder style....no toes into the trunk...set ur instep against the truck and u will find it more stable. The other huge difference is with an alternating rung aider once have ur foot in a rung and ur instep set into the trunk and u are leaning back into ur linesman's belt u simply rotate ur hip rotating the unweighted hip away from the tree and the next rung swings out away from the trunk allowing us to easily put ur foot into the next rung. I also always recommend to climb with kneepads....set ur knee into the trunk and rotate away from the tree makes the next foot going into that rung even easier
Interesting, what brand of alternating rung aider are you using?
 
As far as I've seen nobody makes anything equivalent....I built mine. Don't rake me over the coals if there's is something commercially available cause I really don't pay much attention to all the different companies making stuff......however if u contact @always89y and customer gear modifications he will make u whatever u want. He already has wide foot bed stirrups so might not be too difficult to make a good aider with wide foot bed alternating rungs
 
Back
Top