I find it easier but I hate laying my gun down in the snow, rain, mud etc. Make sure you have a muzzle guard (I just use high quality electrical tape, I put one piece up down, the other piece sideways like a "+" over the muzzle and then wrap around those with one or two wraps on the barrel. It stays and does not impact accuracy whatsoever. You could also have a gunbearer pack type system and have it come up with you as you climb but some trees have branches and other cover in my setups and the gun can get caught up which becomes a real noisy pain. I hang mine sling on the hero clip and that works fine too. If possible, adjust your sling so you can wrap it a little tighter for longer distance shots. Depending on the angle the bridge can be a decent shooting platform. Please, unload your firearm before hauling it up! Be sure to haul it muzzle down (hence the muzzle guard suggestion) and do not place your pull up rope anywhere in or around the trigger or trigger housing or trigger guard. I like to loop my Doyle's around the buttstock sling swivel it picks the gun up from the butstock but remember, you want something covering the muzzle so dirt and debris do not enter the muzzle of the firearm which can cause a super dangerous barrel obstruction.