John RB
Well-Known Member
Friends,
The first 10+ years of my saddle hunting career, I was a DRT/MRS climber. Then I started doing some SRT climbing. All of these methods can be accomplished with non-mechanical systems, just rope, cord and carabiners. With SRT, I was not a fan of the process of setting an anchor and retrieving it. It didn't take long to figure out that the anchor setting can be skipped entirely if I use a doubled-stationary (DSRT) climb and so that is my preferred climbing method that I use on most of my hunts... and there's a separate thread on that. But what I have learned from others in the last couple of years is that there are some scenarios where SRT has the edge over DSRT. Situations include:
1. It's a complex tree with a lot of branches, and there are multiple branches between the lines. In this case, we use a basal anchor and SRT climb.
2. We want to get in a different position on the tree than under the crotch. This is a good time to canopy anchor and capture the trunk so we can pick our spot to climb.
3. Ya didn't have enough rope for DSRT. If the only crotch was 40ft high and we had 75ft of rope, that's a good time to convert the DSRT system to SRT. We only climb as high as we want to hunt of course.
4. The climber prefers SRT. For whatever reason. It's an easier ascent in SRT than DSRT, with less technique, especially for a bigger person, and so that's reason enough.
So I made a "Non Mechanical SRT Playlist" on the JRB Tree Climbing channel, and I will leave links to the videos that are on it, as I address specific scenarios. There are different potential system designs which the climber has to choose based on their comfort level and knot tying ability. I have a few more scenarios in progress, but if you have specific "scenarios" that you would like me to address, please let me know and I will try to get to it. Although my season is opening next week and so I hope to spend most of my time hunting!
The first 10+ years of my saddle hunting career, I was a DRT/MRS climber. Then I started doing some SRT climbing. All of these methods can be accomplished with non-mechanical systems, just rope, cord and carabiners. With SRT, I was not a fan of the process of setting an anchor and retrieving it. It didn't take long to figure out that the anchor setting can be skipped entirely if I use a doubled-stationary (DSRT) climb and so that is my preferred climbing method that I use on most of my hunts... and there's a separate thread on that. But what I have learned from others in the last couple of years is that there are some scenarios where SRT has the edge over DSRT. Situations include:
1. It's a complex tree with a lot of branches, and there are multiple branches between the lines. In this case, we use a basal anchor and SRT climb.
2. We want to get in a different position on the tree than under the crotch. This is a good time to canopy anchor and capture the trunk so we can pick our spot to climb.
3. Ya didn't have enough rope for DSRT. If the only crotch was 40ft high and we had 75ft of rope, that's a good time to convert the DSRT system to SRT. We only climb as high as we want to hunt of course.
4. The climber prefers SRT. For whatever reason. It's an easier ascent in SRT than DSRT, with less technique, especially for a bigger person, and so that's reason enough.
So I made a "Non Mechanical SRT Playlist" on the JRB Tree Climbing channel, and I will leave links to the videos that are on it, as I address specific scenarios. There are different potential system designs which the climber has to choose based on their comfort level and knot tying ability. I have a few more scenarios in progress, but if you have specific "scenarios" that you would like me to address, please let me know and I will try to get to it. Although my season is opening next week and so I hope to spend most of my time hunting!
