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

[robstewart]

Are you climbing DRT or SRT?

I tried DRT but didn’t like it. I climb single stick or using the platform from my self climber or SRT or a combination.

After finding myself standing in my ring of steps looking down at my stick hanging sideways partway down the tree one day, I realized climbing with a 30’ tether would afford me options in a situation like that. The natural progression was to rappel down and that lead immediately to doing SRT to move up the rope.

My last couple of hunts involved single stick with small SRT sections to get up. I then leave my ring of steps and stick up the tree and rap down for the night. In the morning it’s a quick SRT up in the dark.

I plan on scouting out some trees for next season and prepping them with paracord for pure SRT setups.




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[hickstick]

Are you climbing DRT or SRT?

you don't need to be doing SRT or DRT....you can rappel from any saddle setup as long as you have a long enough rope and a belay/rappel device (ATC, fig 8, grigri, etc). I was thinking of sticking up the tree and rappeling down with an autoblock/extended belay so I can stop on the way down to remove the sticks...I just doesn't really make sense weight wise to haul both sticks and 75' of rope at the same time. going to experiement with DRT in the offseason to see if I like it.

 

[DaveT1963]

I once had a stand in a small pine and it got really windy - like 30-40 mpg winds - I was nervous as all get out until i got smart enough and got the heck down. I do not like heights anyways, but typically, I feel pretty safe in a saddle.

 

[robstewart]

you don't need to be doing SRT or DRT....you can rappel from any saddle setup as long as you have a long enough rope and a belay/rappel device (ATC, fig 8, grigri, etc). I was thinking of sticking up the tree and rappeling down with an autoblock/extended belay so I can stop on the way down to remove the sticks...I just doesn't really make sense weight wise to haul both sticks and 75' of rope at the same time. going to experiement with DRT in the offseason to see if I like it.

Well to begin with you can cut that rope in half or less. My “tether” is about 35’ not including the loop on the end. It’s not that heavy a rope and I prefer the over all safety aspect of rappelling down instead of climbing down as well as eliminating the risk of being stuck in a tree looking at my step/stick/platform out of reach below me. That’s what happened once and it’s why I started with the 30’ tether and how things just evolved from there.




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[hickstick]

Well to begin with you can cut that rope in half or less. My “tether” is about 35’ not including the loop on the end. It’s not that heavy a rope and I prefer the over all safety aspect of rappelling down instead of climbing down as well as eliminating the risk of being stuck in a tree looking at my step/stick/platform out of reach below me. That’s what happened once and it’s why I started with the 30’ tether and how things just evolved from there.




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the 75 feet was for DRT not just rappelling. ie if I scouted into an area where all the trees were branchless and I needed my sticks to get up, or scouted another area where DRT would work.

 

[ngiese83]

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.

Man I did the same exact thing! The lower part still had green leaves but by the time I made it to the top I realized it was dead. Just rushed the tree choice because time was running out. Not something I thought I’d ever do, but I had no problem and learned to look even closer.


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[Patriot]

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

I have and I’m not a softy either. Like you I am pretty comfortable doing most things, first time I ever wore a saddle I also wore spikes for the first time and I just climbed up to about 22 feet and set my brand new predator up and stood on it. It was a little spooky but I was cool.

BUT, The only time I didn’t feel safe at hunting hight was after a gnarly spike climb where I gaffed out and my buckles got all messed up and I had to fix my spikes. Did you have a scary climb? If you didn’t have a scary climb I don’t understand why a guy like you would feel weird at hight.

That being said, if you didn’t have a gnarly climb and the event is kinda inexplicable then I wouldn’t worry one bit. I am a firm believer in intuition. The universe is a weird place and it talks to us, we just don’t always listen. Your intuition could have been telling you to get down because that big tree was going to give you a surprise if you climbed down in the dark. So your intuition made sure you climbed down well before sunset.

Keep listening to your gut. Tune into it like a fuzzy radio station.

 

[Exhumis]

Around rut I was hunting a new property I just obtained permission to hunt. Had the spot picked out but when I got there realized they were all hickory trees which I've had a hard time getting my RR to setup correctly. Climbed and deployed the RR but just could not get it stable, kept rocking. Ended up climbing down and setting up in two other trees before I got comfortable.