First Time Climbing with Spurs

[LooyvilleLarry]

Today was the first time I finally made it out with my Buckinghams (w/caddy pads).
I learned 3 things

1) I have a new found respect for people that work in these
2) I'm not as young as I thought
3) Gravity really sucks .

Yeah, I should have been doing this since May, but there's been darn few opportunities where it wasn't 90+* outside, and I didn't want to whine about the heat.

I'll try again soon

 

[vitalinvader]

Hang in there, it gets easier with time. As a lineman I've been climbing for 28 years. Gravity does suck the older we get. The good thing is it's not timed like the linemans rodeo or pole top rescue. Take your time and enjoy. Soon you'll be swinging like a monkey.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

Thanks Vitalinvader! I can surely see the benefit of a stiffer flipline, but will likely make do until I figure this out.

 

[g2outdoors]

I feel your pain. I almost sold my brand new spurs after my first climb. It took me 3 tries before I even got above 10 feet!

Now, I feel pretty confident with them. I've yet to do a hunt, but I will soon. I even got setup to rappel down. woohoo!

 

[vitalinvader]

I feel your pain. I almost sold my brand new spurs after my first climb. It took me 3 tries before I even got above 10 feet!

Now, I feel pretty confident with them. I've yet to do a hunt, but I will soon. I even got setup to rappel down. woohoo!

That's what I want to do next. Although I do think its a lot easier coming down than going up, but on long sits I take off the hooks and that would eliminate putting them back on......plus the fun factor.

 

[halltrail]

I used my spurs on last two hunts. I really like them for new trees that you arent sure you want to commit too with the tree hopper setup...and definitely faster than one stick method. I was up to hunting height yesterday in 1.5 min. lol. I climb up with my 40 foot rope attached to my saddle and hanging. Once at hunting Height, I use the rope as my tether line. Wrap around tree, attach gri gri to bridge, undo linesman belt, drop down a little bit and set the platform, remove spurs and hang off my backpack, pull up bow and hunt.

 

[flinginairos]

Used my spikes yesterday to help my dad hang a huge double ladder stand and had so much fun doing it lol. I climbed up the tree and hung a pulley that we ran to the stand. After that I hooked into the rope with a Munter hitch on my sit drag and put my weight into the rope while he pushed the stand up. Once we got it up, I tied that rope off and climbed the tree again and installed the ratchet straps for the stand using my spikes. So much easier and safer than climbing a stand that doesn't have straps! Lol. I feel very comfortable using them now and find it fun. My buddy was watching me climb with them and was pretty impressed with how fast I could climb. He said "it's pretty sweet but I'll stick with my climber!"


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[Erniepower]

I've been using mine all fall. On softer trees, they are awesome, but I need to put a sharper/finer tip on them for some of the oaks. I don't like to stab hard because of the noise. I would rather set the point and then add weight. But I have been gaffing out of the harder oaks with that process.

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[huck72412]

If you're allowed to use them and you aren't then you're cheating yourself. If you aren't allowed to use them, well that's a shame!

 

[Scoutman]

What kind of spurs are you using?

 

[huck72412]

I use buckinghams with heavy duty T-pads. I'm stuck in the in the Jurassic period though. Other guys on here talk about lighter and more user friendly alternatives.

 

[Scoutman]

I'm a dinosaur too, lol. Not supposed to pierce bark where I may be hunting but never seen a gw at my tree in 35yrs of hunting. Not condoning anything just saying.

 

[huck72412]

It's not typically my style to encourage anything unlawful but the circumvention of the " not damaging the trees" law couldn't possibly be more justifiable. I have climbed hundreds of trees in 20+ years of spur climbing and the evidence just isn't there to substantiate the claims. Perhaps there have been cases that I am unaware of but I can revisit trees in yards that I have done work on in the past and they are flourishing as if I had never climbed them. I have trees that I have climbed 10-20 times per deer season for 15 years and they are in perfect healthy shape. Maybe 100 years from now they will become dilapidated and fall to the ground because of today's abuse but I somehow doubt that as well!

 

[g2outdoors]

Good to know Huck. I'm going in deep on my next blind hunt with spurs. Have to practice my rappel!

 

[IkemanTX]

It's not typically my style to encourage anything unlawful but the circumvention of the " not damaging the trees" law couldn't possibly be more justifiable. I have climbed hundreds of trees in 20+ years of spur climbing and the evidence just isn't there to substantiate the claims. Perhaps there have been cases that I am unaware of but I can revisit trees in yards that I have done work on in the past and they are flourishing as if I had never climbed them. I have trees that I have climbed 10-20 times per deer season for 15 years and they are in perfect healthy shape. Maybe 100 years from now they will become dilapidated and fall to the ground because of today's abuse but I somehow doubt that as well!

The last 3 trees I set up in were ringed with literally hundreds of woodpecker holes. I seriously doubt that a spur will do more damage to the health of the tree than that.


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[Scoutman]

Lol, I hear you brother!

 

[IkemanTX]

A lot of trees I set up in wind up being cottonwoods... is there any issue with spurs on these?


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[Scoutman]

I would think bark would lend itself to spurs but I haven't personally climbed one yet.

 

[Autumnrider]

I've been using my spurs a good bit this year but only during the windy days because the leather of the t pads squeak.
How can I get the squeak out of the t pads?

 

[Scoutman]

I may be wrong but any sound climbing by any means has to be quieter than a climber. just a observation.