• 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

Cutting sticks equals less height myth?

If I've said it once, I've said it 1,000 times. There's no such thing as the perfect system. Only the system that's perfect for you. And I'll go one step further...your "perfect system" might be totally dependent on the situation and can change throughout the season.

Aiders are AWESOME for me. I love them and find them really easy to use. In fact, I wouldn't DREAM of using a climbing stick without a multi-step aider. However, some people find them dangerous or unnecessary. That's great too. HYOH.

The thing that annoys me is when someone starts to tell others that an idea or method universally works or doesn't work. What works for one, may not work for someone else. Luckily, we don't have much of that on this site.

As a general rule, this forum is concerned with finding new creative solutions to common problems. Where this forum takes it to the next level is the community jumps in, refines the idea, pushes the idea, tweaks the idea, and makes the idea awesome. It happens all the time and that's why this forum is my favorite one on the net.

The KNaider/SWaider is the perfect example. There have been at least 4 or 5 people involved in tweaking that method. For me, the WE stepp ladders were unusable before I discovered this method. I bought and sold 2 different sets of 10 or 12. For me, it was too cumbersome to attach a whole bunch of them. But after messing around with the KN/SW, the WE stepps might be my go-to public land system this year.

A lot of the fun for me is all the fiddling around with new gear. I love the fact that in the off season I get to mess around with different climbing methods, and ropes, and platforms. It's a ton of fun. Sure, I spend a lot of money chasing down every new idea. So what? I could spend it on hookers and blow :)
 
g2outdoors said:
If I've said it once, I've said it 1,000 times. There's no such thing as the perfect system. Only the system that's perfect for you. And I'll go one step further...your "perfect system" might be totally dependent on the situation and can change throughout the season.

Aiders are AWESOME for me. I love them and find them really easy to use. In fact, I wouldn't DREAM of using a climbing stick without a multi-step aider. However, some people find them dangerous or unnecessary. That's great too. HYOH.

The thing that annoys me is when someone starts to tell others that an idea or method universally works or doesn't work. What works for one, may not work for someone else. Luckily, we don't have much of that on this site.

As a general rule, this forum is concerned with finding new creative solutions to common problems. Where this forum takes it to the next level is the community jumps in, refines the idea, pushes the idea, tweaks the idea, and makes the idea awesome. It happens all the time and that's why this forum is my favorite one on the net.

The KNaider/SWaider is the perfect example. There have been at least 4 or 5 people involved in tweaking that method. For me, the WE stepp ladders were unusable before I discovered this method. I bought and sold 2 different sets of 10 or 12. For me, it was too cumbersome to attach a whole bunch of them. But after messing around with the KN/SW, the WE stepps might be my go-to public land system this year.

A lot of the fun for me is all the fiddling around with new gear. I love the fact that in the off season I get to mess around with different climbing methods, and ropes, and platforms. It's a ton of fun. Sure, I spend a lot of money chasing down every new idea. So what? I could spend it on hookers and blow :)
Click to expand...
Amen. I also believe each and every person should find what works for them. I also think sometimes on this site, and in life in general we make a blanket statement without considering whether it is 100% true or not. That's why I brought this conversation up. Not to convince anyone that they should use aiders, or not use aiders. Cut their sticks, or not cut their sticks, or even use sticks. The reason was more to point out that just because you cut your sticks, it does not mean you can't climb as high. I believe some guys especially new ones to the site and maybe even some old ones could be misled into believing that a longer stick with aider will get them higher than a shorter stick with an aider, and it's simply not true. It may mean the difference between a single step and multi-step aider. It is also true that a shorter stick used only by itself will not get you as high as a full-length one.
I love this site and all the guys who bring all the information here and work together and discuss things in a civil manner. This site turns out some of the coolest and most innovative ideas I've ever seen. Not every idea that comes out on this site is a winner, and the ones that are, aren't necessarily for everybody. There's a reason Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors. But I also think sometimes even though we're not being a-holes, we can still be misleading unintentionally. I know I'm as guilty as anybody for speaking before I think sometimes(just ask the wife),so I'm also not trying to call anybody out. Just hoping to stop some guys from packing around full-length sticks in the woods(when they may not have otherwise done so), just because they misunderstood a concept.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
g2outdoors said:
If I've said it once, I've said it 1,000 times. There's no such thing as the perfect system. Only the system that's perfect for you. And I'll go one step further...your "perfect system" might be totally dependent on the situation and can change throughout the season.

Aiders are AWESOME for me. I love them and find them really easy to use. In fact, I wouldn't DREAM of using a climbing stick without a multi-step aider. However, some people find them dangerous or unnecessary. That's great too. HYOH.

The thing that annoys me is when someone starts to tell others that an idea or method universally works or doesn't work. What works for one, may not work for someone else. Luckily, we don't have much of that on this site.

As a general rule, this forum is concerned with finding new creative solutions to common problems. Where this forum takes it to the next level is the community jumps in, refines the idea, pushes the idea, tweaks the idea, and makes the idea awesome. It happens all the time and that's why this forum is my favorite one on the net.

The KNaider/SWaider is the perfect example. There have been at least 4 or 5 people involved in tweaking that method. For me, the WE stepp ladders were unusable before I discovered this method. I bought and sold 2 different sets of 10 or 12. For me, it was too cumbersome to attach a whole bunch of them. But after messing around with the KN/SW, the WE stepps might be my go-to public land system this year.

A lot of the fun for me is all the fiddling around with new gear. I love the fact that in the off season I get to mess around with different climbing methods, and ropes, and platforms. It's a ton of fun. Sure, I spend a lot of money chasing down every new idea. So what? I could spend it on hookers and blow :)
Click to expand...
Very solid ending. You must've done well in writing class. "Make sure you keep your audiences attention through the very last sentence." Hahahahaha. You may have money left over after this season if all goes well...:smirk:
 
Country said:
Very solid ending. You must've done well in writing class. "Make sure you keep your audiences attention through the very last sentence." Hahahahaha. You may have money left over after this season if all goes well...:smirk:
Click to expand...
As long as he stays away from hookers and blow I think he'll be okay. And if he doesn't he better just make sure he brings enough to saddlepalooza for everybody

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Where are you attaching your aider on a cut off stick ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I try to "keep it super simple" but we have to be flexible. I want the ability to climb 30ft if my tree is in a valley and climb 20ft if the tree is just plain gnarly. My system is what I would call a hybrid, I carry 3 modified heliums with with a single step aider for each if needed and 4 to 5 WE stepps in a 5 step bag.
Most situations will be 3 stepps from ground level then sticks from there in one trip. Can mix it up if needed. Most methods are good for Most but seeing and trying other methods should always be considered. Sometimes it takes a while for a method to get tweaked enough before it really catches on, then it gets tweaked and perfected to what works for the individual.
This forum is so much fun and I appreciate everyone's input. All this info shortens the learning curve so much.
 
I think cutting sticks down is highly personal.

For me, my biggest pet peeve is gear catching on brush. We can get VERY thick down here in the south with our long growing seasons, and I need to be as stealthy as possible when sneaking in. That is pretty hard to do in dense, 10 foot tall giant ragweed or in chest high greenbriar. I am dead average height/weight at 5’7” 150. That means that a 30” stick either hangs low enough it catches the brush I step over, or hangs high enough it catches the brush I try to duck under.

Cutting 6” off each stick reduces the packing profile such that if my body fits through the hole, my gear will too. I only lose 1.5 feet for a complete reduction in snags. Even if I didn’t use aiders, that would be TOTALLY worth it. If I hunted open woods, it might not be a necessary mod for me to make.

With aiders, the percentage of lost height is negligible. It all depends on hunting style, the composition of your forest, and wether or not you are comfortable on aiders.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
IkemanTX said:
I think cutting sticks down is highly personal.

For me, my biggest pet peeve is gear catching on brush. We can get VERY thick down here in the south with our long growing seasons, and I need to be as stealthy as possible when sneaking in. That is pretty hard to do in dense, 10 foot tall giant ragweed or in chest high greenbriar. I am dead average height/weight at 5’7” 150. That means that a 30” stick either hangs low enough it catches the brush I step over, or hangs high enough it catches the brush I try to duck under.

Cutting 6” off each stick reduces the packing profile such that if my body fits through the hole, my gear will too. I only lose 1.5 feet for a complete reduction in snags. Even if I didn’t use aiders, that would be TOTALLY worth it. If I hunted open woods, it might not be a necessary mod for me to make.

With aiders, the percentage of lost height is negligible. It all depends on hunting style, the composition of your forest, and wether or not you are comfortable on aiders.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Makes good sense. I might cut mine down for this reason


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
3 Cut versus 4 Uncut comparison.
5a7b5732c6c4b820573d1530c377ce47.jpg
c88094eb53f007b1e935ad15f469f926.jpg
957ab35f7c5bc59615710054862e9c37.jpg
63add27347ebd9ae643c24b41ebb80d8.jpg


Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top