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How long does it take you to set up?

Pilk64 said:
are your times with the saddle on or off...i.e. do you wear your saddle in or put that on at the base of the tree also?
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I wear my saddle in. My longest walk on the property I am hunting is 3/4 of a mile. I don’t find my saddle bothersome during walk in. I am currently using a CRUZR XC, which is light and have been using the Teufelberger Resc Tech rope for linemans and tether. Those are light on each hip. I’m carrying my rappel rope in my sling pack, it feeds out of the top for quick easy access for the climb. I bring my short tether and use it depending on conditions. My time began when I got to the base of the tree.
 
These 20-45min climb times seem excessive to me. I’m curious as to what people struggle with...that causes their climbs to take so long.
 
Gbk68 said:
These 20-45min climb times seem excessive to me. I’m curious as to what people struggle with...that causes their climbs to take so long.
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I think it’s repeated through this thread. The climb can be done fast. It’s the situation and variables that impact true hunting climbs. I know I can climb (one stick) sub 10 mins. But in a true hunting scenario, variables can impact the climb. How quiet it is, weather, limbs, bark, etc.. Many have stated that climbing stealth is vital to their success. Stealth adds some time. Well, it does for me.
 
Agre
KYRanger said:
I think it’s repeated through this thread. The climb can be done fast. It’s the situation and variables that impact true hunting climbs. I know I can climb (one stick) sub 10 mins. But in a true hunting scenario, variables can impact the climb. How quiet it is, weather, limbs, bark, etc.. Many have stated that climbing stealth is vital to their success. Stealth adds some time. Well, it does for me.
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Agreed. On super quiet mornings...I def take longer, but some of these 45min climb times seem crazy to me.
I won’t miss lugging my LW climber thru the woods....but boy is that thing quiet when climbing.
 
On a afternoon climb and placing all my stuff, 20-30 minutes- a lot of it depends on the tree.

I try to keep my trees straight and basketball sized, but I had some harder than expected climbs this year, one tree had a small zig-zag thing going on right at the base. I didn't think of it as too much of a big deal at the time, but it really ****ed up my first step going up and last step coming down with my aider, it definitely added a few minutes. The last tree I hunted this year had a bump from an old branch that had broken off and healed over a little bit above platform height- this bump was the size of a grapefruit, maybe larger and it sat literally exactly where I wanted the bottom step of my last climbing stick to be- it stuck out just a bit more than my step. I learned this thing was a mega PITA, I had to move my stick up a bit (too big to put it in between step feet) which threw off my aider placement- I hunted this tree quite a few times and it was an exceptionally difficult transition. What I did like about that bump though was it pushed my aider away from the tree making it easier to get my boots in- my black diamond 5 step aider wasn't built for my lacrosse alpha burlys and you can tell, the extra room really helped.

I didn't set up a stand in the dark this year- I didn't trust myself with timing and such. Every tree I sat in in the wee hours of the morning had been set up the afternoon before. I think next year I'm going to change out my aiders, the 5 step as I said was a huge PITA, I'm going to go with more of a ladder type that I can get my boot into, that'll save me about 5 minutes in my ascent and decent that I wasted trying to get my boot in the hole and have the support be past the toe and actually under a part of my foot that mattered.
 
Gbk68 said:
These 20-45min climb times seem excessive to me. I’m curious as to what people struggle with...that causes their climbs to take so long.
Click to expand...
For me it just accumulates. It's not one thing that takes 15 minutes. For example, sometimes I use the LWHC seat. It goes roughly as follows under ideal conditions.

Arrive at tree.

Remove saddle from pack and put on (I dont like wearing it out).

Remove tether from pack and attach to tree.

Place LWHC on tree with best guess of angle that won't require adjusting belt more than at most once.

Attach recovery cord of LWHC to tether.

Attach pull up rope to bow.

Stand on LWHC and connect tether to bridge.

Begin climbing. Duration varies depending on height and how many times I need to adjust the belt on the LWHC.

Once desired height is reached, attach gear hanger.

Hang pack (I usually climb with it on as it is almost empty by the time I'm ready to climb).

Pull up bow and hang on opposite side of tree from pack.

Remove quiver from bow and hang on different gear hook so it is out of the way.

Nock an arrow.

Put on release.

At this point, I'm hunting.

It doesn't seem like much, but taking my time and being deliberate about every step (checking carabiner gates, cinching and checking the gear hanger before putting anything on it, etc.) adds up. I was surprised honestly when I looked at my watch before and after.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
I use 3 full size Hawk sticks with wire rope aider. I am also a first year saddle hunter. After working out my system I think I probably average 10-15 minutes. I primarily morning hunt so I set up in the dark. Naturally it was much slower at first.
 
Mr Price said:
4 min flat. At 25' bowhanger up, bow hung and waiting to slock a critter.
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aint buyin it unless you are using a lock on stand thats already hung with a ladder of steps already in place...even that may still take longer than 4 minutes
 
sweats said:
For me it just accumulates. It's not one thing that takes 15 minutes. For example, sometimes I use the LWHC seat. It goes roughly as follows under ideal conditions.

Arrive at tree.

Remove saddle from pack and put on (I dont like wearing it out).

Remove tether from pack and attach to tree.

Place LWHC on tree with best guess of angle that won't require adjusting belt more than at most once.

Attach recovery cord of LWHC to tether.

Attach pull up rope to bow.

Stand on LWHC and connect tether to bridge.

Begin climbing. Duration varies depending on height and how many times I need to adjust the belt on the LWHC.

Once desired height is reached, attach gear hanger.

Hang pack (I usually climb with it on as it is almost empty by the time I'm ready to climb).

Pull up bow and hang on opposite side of tree from pack.

Remove quiver from bow and hang on different gear hook so it is out of the way.

Nock an arrow.

Put on release.

At this point, I'm hunting.

It doesn't seem like much, but taking my time and being deliberate about every step (checking carabiner gates, cinching and checking the gear hanger before putting anything on it, etc.) adds up. I was surprised honestly when I looked at my watch before and after.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
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the time adds up fast...there are a lot of movements and steps that need to be done with vigilance...I just dont see 10 mins being very likely...your description seems very accurate and realistic!
 
Mr Price said:
I had a video once, deleted it because of the method I used wasn't what people wanted. And the fact that I got sick and tired of hearing their junk. It was using the climbing aid me and a friend built. I don't use sticks or aiders. I simply hate them. But that's why there is more than one way to skin a cat or in this case to climb a tree.
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I would love to see the video...anytime we can learn and improve is an awesome opportunity
 
Gbk68 said:
These 20-45min climb times seem excessive to me. I’m curious as to what people struggle with...that causes their climbs to take so long.
Click to expand...

It seems excessive to me too and I'm a guy that takes 30 minutes! I have to take my saddle off my pack and put it on. I have to open my pack quietly and put ropes on my saddle and hang my step bags off my saddle. I have to pack up anything that got loose back into my pack and put it back on. I have to attach my pull rope to my bow. Doing all that quietly takes several minutes. I hang 12 steps. I can do it faster, but hanging each step and stepping probably takes close to 1 minute because I am hanging them, adjusting tether and lineman's lanyard, and then stepping up. So, it take around 15 to 17 minutes to be at height on a straight tree where I don't have to trim anything (12 minutes of climbing plus the few minutes getting ready to climb). I then hang my platform and adjust everything so I can step onto it carefully and safely (tether in right position, etc). Sometimes I have to do this twice to get right angle and so the tree isn't squeaking. I then get my tether and my backup safety line squared away. I then hang my pack, pull out my tree strap with bow hanger and get that on the tree, pull up my bow, remove my quiver and stow quiver on pack, hang my bow, nock an arrow and put my release on. All that stuff at height takes 5 to 10 minutes.

I don't know why it takes that long. If I was still in my 20s and more impatient and less concerned with safety and being quiet, then it would probably be cut in half. I do want to speed things up. The bottleneck is my 12 step climbing method, but I love this method for other reasons (light, safe, quiet). I probably need to video tape myself and note the time spent at each task and figure out how to streamline. I would also be sped up if I wore my saddle in with as much stuff already attached to it as possible, but I can't stand doing that while walking over a mile up and down steep hills. The backpack belt gets boogered up on the saddle, stuff hanging off the saddle is getting hung up....one of my reasons for saddle hunting is to be streamlined and able to wear a super nice and comfortable pack.
 
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raisins said:
It seems excessive to me too and I'm a guy that takes 30 minutes! I have to take my saddle off my pack and put it on. I have to open my pack quietly and put ropes on my saddle and hang my step bags off my saddle. I have to pack up anything that got loose back into my pack and put it back on. I have to attach my pull rope to my bow. Doing all that quietly takes several minutes. I hang 12 steps. I can do it faster, but hanging each step and stepping probably takes close to 1 minute because I am hanging them, adjusting tether and lineman's lanyard, and then stepping up. So, it take around 15 to 17 minutes to be at height on a straight tree where I don't have to trim anything (12 minutes of climbing plus the few minutes getting ready to climb). I then hang my platform and adjust everything so I can step onto it carefully and safely (tether in right position, etc). Sometimes I have to do this twice to get right angle and so the tree isn't squeaking. I then get my tether and my backup safety line squared away. I then hang my pack, pull out my tree strap with bow hanger and get that on the tree, pull up my bow, remove my quiver and stow quiver on pack, hang my bow, nock an arrow and put my release on. All that stuff at height takes 5 to 10 minutes.

I don't know why it takes that long. If I was still in my 20s and more impatient and less concerned with safety and being quiet, then it would probably be cut in half. I do want to speed things up. The bottleneck is my 12 step climbing method, but I love this method for other reasons (light, safe, quiet). I probably need to video tape myself and note the time spent at each task and figure out how to streamline. I would also be sped up if I wore my saddle in with as much stuff already attached to it as possible, but I can't stand doing that while walking over a mile up and down steep hills. The backpack belt gets boogered up on the saddle, stuff hanging off the saddle is getting hung up....one of my reasons for saddle hunting is to be streamlined and able to wear a super nice and comfortable pack.
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ya...I’ve got a good system for my stand/sticks, but still can’t stand lugging it around.
I’m changing over to a saddle for the simplicity of it and the fact that I can hide behind the tree...among other advantages
My madrock and climbing rope are coming later this week....so I’ll be doing a bunch of climbing during the off-season to perfect a system
 
Gbk68 said:
ya...I’ve got a good system for my stand/sticks, but still can’t stand lugging it around.
I’m changing over to a saddle for the simplicity of it and the fact that I can hide behind the tree...among other advantages
My madrock and climbing rope are coming later this week....so I’ll be doing a bunch of climbing during the off-season to perfect a system
Click to expand...

If you are lugging in 4 full length sticks and a hang on or a climber, then that is usually a good bit faster than a system that weighs half as much to get the same height.
 
raisins said:
If you are lugging in 4 full length sticks and a hang on or a climber, then that is usually a good bit faster than a system that weighs half as much to get the same height.
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faster than spurs and a tethrd predator platform?
 
As long as it takes to be a ghost. I have never compared my methods or time to anyone else. It would make me rush. I am slow walking in, and slow climbing. As quiet as can be.
 
This is my first year as well, if it is a tree I've been in before (with the saddle) it seems to take me around 15 minutes. But if I'm going in blind and have not prepped the tree I've had setups take an embarrassing amount of time. Usually I find what the shortcomings of my gear are on these new setups, which is half the fun in this world I'm learning! Get to change or improve every week!
 
I timed myself twice this season. Averaged 30 minutes.

For clarification: that was total time to setup. Arrived at the base of the tree wearing baselayers only. Measured time included 4 sticks, platform, pulling up bow, putting on heavier outer layers on AT climbing height. Basically the whole deal to get ready to hunt.

If I was measuring the time “just” to get up a tree using 4 sticks, no platform, and not all the extras needed to hunt, it could be much less, but that’s kind of irrelevant to me.
 
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