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Anyone ever get setup and just not feel comfortable (safe) at height?

hickstick

hickstick

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2016
Messages
294
I've been saddle hunting for 3 years, the last 2 exclusive to the saddle. I've never got up and set and felt unsafe for any reason....that is until saturday night. I set up in a funnel on a self off the side of a saddle hill. in a big old oak. so big that I couldn't reach around it. aside from struggling to pass the ropes for the modded sticks, the linemans, and the tether around the tree, when I finally got my cam strap around for my platform I just couldn't get it set to my liking. having both linemans AND tether attached, I still did feel safe. there was a few lumps and twists in the trunk that made it difficult to set my tether height, and perhaps maybe in imperceptible lean that I hadn't detected. All things I'd dealt with previously without issue. I literally said to myself aloud, 'no deer is worth this', and climbed back down.

perhaps it was because it was the last 2 hours of bow season, and I was making 'rushed' decisions...but I didn't feel comfortable. I ended up using my platform as a tree seat and sitting for the last hour and a half.

as I said, been saddle hunting exclusively for 2 seasons , I also rock climb, and do other 'high risk' adventures. but something shook me. I definitely have confidence in my gear and my abilities and will be back out there climbing this week after the orange army runs amok for the first few days of the season...just wondering if anyone else ever had a similar experience
 
hickstick said:
I've been saddle hunting for 3 years, the last 2 exclusive to the saddle. I've never got up and set and felt unsafe for any reason....that is until saturday night. I set up in a funnel on a self off the side of a saddle hill. in a big old oak. so big that I couldn't reach around it. aside from struggling to pass the ropes for the modded sticks, the linemans, and the tether around the tree, when I finally got my cam strap around for my platform I just couldn't get it set to my liking. having both linemans AND tether attached, I still did feel safe. there was a few lumps and twists in the trunk that made it difficult to set my tether height, and perhaps maybe in imperceptible lean that I hadn't detected. All things I'd dealt with previously without issue. I literally said to myself aloud, 'no deer is worth this', and climbed back down.

perhaps it was because it was the last 2 hours of bow season, and I was making 'rushed' decisions...but I didn't feel comfortable. I ended up using my platform as a tree seat and sitting for the last hour and a half.

as I said, been saddle hunting exclusively for 2 seasons , I also rock climb, and do other 'high risk' adventures. but something shook me. I definitely have confidence in my gear and my abilities and will be back out there climbing this week after the orange army runs amok for the first few days of the season...just wondering if anyone else ever had a similar experience
Click to expand...
Last hunt I couldn't get my perch to settle in.it kept shifting and I moved down, reset and still not solid enough to feel cofortable.
 
Alan zanona said:
Last hunt I couldn't get my perch to settle in.it kept shifting and I moved down, reset and still not solid enough to feel cofortable.
Click to expand...
my hunt friday I was up in a forked maple and realized that with the lean of trunk my platform wouldn't be under where gravity 'wanted' me to be, so I slacked way off on my tether and climbed back down to the second from top step and simply un-cammed my platform and shoved it in the direction of the lean and re-cammed it. climbed back up and it was perfect. hung from 10am til dark. I think the girth of that particular tree Saturday just threw me.
 
hickstick said:
I've been saddle hunting for 3 years, the last 2 exclusive to the saddle. I've never got up and set and felt unsafe for any reason....that is until saturday night. I set up in a funnel on a self off the side of a saddle hill. in a big old oak. so big that I couldn't reach around it. aside from struggling to pass the ropes for the modded sticks, the linemans, and the tether around the tree, when I finally got my cam strap around for my platform I just couldn't get it set to my liking. having both linemans AND tether attached, I still did feel safe. there was a few lumps and twists in the trunk that made it difficult to set my tether height, and perhaps maybe in imperceptible lean that I hadn't detected. All things I'd dealt with previously without issue. I literally said to myself aloud, 'no deer is worth this', and climbed back down.

perhaps it was because it was the last 2 hours of bow season, and I was making 'rushed' decisions...but I didn't feel comfortable. I ended up using my platform as a tree seat and sitting for the last hour and a half.

as I said, been saddle hunting exclusively for 2 seasons , I also rock climb, and do other 'high risk' adventures. but something shook me. I definitely have confidence in my gear and my abilities and will be back out there climbing this week after the orange army runs amok for the first few days of the season...just wondering if anyone else ever had a similar experience
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your experience! Sounds like you made the right decision.
 
I climbed a tree which I thought was OK but when I got set at height I realized it was a dead tree but not dead a long time. I felt a little uncomfortable but thought it was just new seasoned wood. It may have been a recent kill of the Spotted Lanternfly. I thought about climbing down but did not and everything was OK.
 
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I had a similar experience on Sunday. Found a new spot and the only trees available were leaning pretty hard. This was my first time hunting a tree with significant lean and it definitely has a much different feel. I realized that I have a strong preference to the tree trunk being a bit closer to me. I also didnt like having more of my weight on the platform than usual, and less on teh saddle (that may have just been my perception of things...dont know if the physics adds up!). I did stay in place though, thinking my "uneasy" feeling was a learning curve. I did get the hang of it though.
 
Yup. Sometimes hunting a steep hill side, “high enough“ on one side of the perch has made the view of the other side, especially all the way to the valley bottom, downright frightening. And I’ve been hunting from serious heights for almost 40 years. I usually get down, lol!
 
Once I added an rc harness under the JX3, and started climbing with both a lineman’s and tether, I have not been uncomfortable. Multiple failures would have to occur to cause me major problems. I think the most vulnerable I am is when disconnecting lineman’s to switch it to backup tether, because at that point I’m back to a single connection for a minute or so. Spose I could maintain two connections at all times if i added a temporary amsteel tether, or went to oplux and brought a third piece of rope. Follow your gut...
 
hickstick said:
in a big old oak
Click to expand...

I am not a fan of heights, so every climb is a heightened nerve experience. I can deal with it, except when I climb big trees. I prefer a basketball sized tree, but will normally only go up to a size I can still reach around and touch my fingertips. I preset a huge oak that violated my rule and hated every second of doing it. When I finally decided to hunt it, I was just too uncomfortable going up and moving the linesman rope, so I came down after getting halfway up and hunted from the ground that morning. I would have only been 13-15 ft to my ROS on it, but felt more comfortable on smaller trees at 25 ft than it. Those bolts will come out after the season.
 
I had a similar experience with a huge cypress tree this past weekend! It had a few vines on it but I was able to remove some of them but the remaining ones made for a difficult climb and decent! It was so big my linemans belt barely made it around the thing! The only thing I liked about it was you were completely hidden by its massive trunk! It seems that if I cannot get my arms around the tree I don't feel as safe!
 
Can’t say I’ve ever climbed down due to not feeling safe, but I did climb a sycamore this year during bow season that was sketchy. Couldn’t reach around it, barely got the lineman’s rope around it, Predator strap almost didn’t fit, bark was a combination of slick and noisy. When I got set up it was fine. Had a great view of a creek crossing. But said I wouldn’t climb that tree again. More of a hassle than a fear for my safety.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
bj139 said:
I climbed a tree which I thought was OK but when I got set at height I realized it was a dead tree but not dead a long time. I felt a little uncomfortable but thought it was just new seasoned wood. It may have been a recent kill of the Spotted Lanternfly. I thought about climbing down but did not and everything was OK.
Click to expand...

I climbed a tree last weekend that was almost dead, white ash, most of the climbable trees in that spot are ash and are all dying thanks to EAB.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
hickstick said:
I've been saddle hunting for 3 years, the last 2 exclusive to the saddle. I've never got up and set and felt unsafe for any reason....that is until saturday night. I set up in a funnel on a self off the side of a saddle hill. in a big old oak. so big that I couldn't reach around it. aside from struggling to pass the ropes for the modded sticks, the linemans, and the tether around the tree, when I finally got my cam strap around for my platform I just couldn't get it set to my liking. having both linemans AND tether attached, I still did feel safe. there was a few lumps and twists in the trunk that made it difficult to set my tether height, and perhaps maybe in imperceptible lean that I hadn't detected. All things I'd dealt with previously without issue. I literally said to myself aloud, 'no deer is worth this', and climbed back down.

perhaps it was because it was the last 2 hours of bow season, and I was making 'rushed' decisions...but I didn't feel comfortable. I ended up using my platform as a tree seat and sitting for the last hour and a half.

as I said, been saddle hunting exclusively for 2 seasons , I also rock climb, and do other 'high risk' adventures. but something shook me. I definitely have confidence in my gear and my abilities and will be back out there climbing this week after the orange army runs amok for the first few days of the season...just wondering if anyone else ever had a similar experience
Click to expand...


Done a lot of rock climbing, mountaineering...etc. myself. I know the feeling you are talking about. When something feels wrong, but you can't figure out what and it puts you on alert in a strange way. There have been many routes where I tried to push through that feeling against my better judgment and ended up taking a 30' whipper. Others you make it fine without a scratch.

I tend to take the approach I always have in climbing. Put in another piece of pro, double check my knot/tether/harness...etc. If I have had too much caffeine that is one way to make a rushed and uneasy setup.

But then again sometimes the setup is just not ideal and maybe backing off and using the platform as a tree seat is the way to go. Especially if it helps with confidence or piece of mind. When something rattles me enough to take notice I tend to listen a lot more than when I was younger. As you said, no deer is worth it.
 
Last hunt I got settled into a tree I had used last season. Nice multi-trunk tree. Then I noticed all the wood pecking around the tree and figured it was dead. Was alive and well last year so didn't climb down. Pretty windy that day and I started second guessing myself when I heard several trees fall around me that afternoon. I'm still here.
 
I’ve had similar experiance as well. But mostly trying to get a hunting/climbing system dialed in. I’ve gotten to tree to climb and got frustrated and just decided to hunt on ground. Which is cool because the hybrid works there just as well and beats the heck out of sitting on dirt with my spine in a tree. But at times Hunting really hasn’t been as fun this year because every time I hunt it’s like I’m having to figure it out as I go. This strap, that strap, this carabiner goes where? Not enough in my pack, too much crap carrying in. I’m ok with it because once I figure out what I like, and my system, I think it will be a game changer. I’m chalking this year up to a learning year. But I would be lying if I didn’t think of the days with my climber and how simple it was lol.
 
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