Lots of firsts for me tonight. First deer spotted from the saddle, first time stomped at, first time hearing some fights in the woods, and first time being blown at by a doe. Passed on the first two and didn’t see the bigger one behind the tree. Had em dead to rights but didn’t feel right so I passed them. Such a cool experience. Once I got my bridge and tether sorted the saddle far exceeded my expectations. My steppladder teqnique is getting better every time so I’m down to about 20 mins to get set with bow in hand. Man I’m stoked.
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Kestrel/Steppladder system week3
- Thread starter Andovirus
- Start date
Justhanginground
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2017
- Messages
- 135
How many steps are you using? Are you using them as a base as well.
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I use 8 stepps and make a platform with 3 and a hand grab. I’m at about 16 ft right now but I haven’t started using the aider yet. Wanted to be good with the basics first. The deer tonight had no clue I was there until the wind shifted and I think they winded me.
kelly.jayp
Well-Known Member
I used the aider for the first time but used it for spacing on lower Stepps vs higher just to get a feel for it. Even just doing 2-3 added 4-5 ft in height. I set up same as you 8 + 3 Stepps platform and a hand hold / gear holder and my feet were at 22 ft
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Nice! Yeah I’ve tried it a couple times, just never used it in a live situation and did like you, used them on the first 3 stepps. Figure with time my comfort will get better. Took a tumble the first time I used them and I think it spooked me a little.
@Andovirus I have found my foot is more likely to kick out using the aider on small trees. I’m wishing I had a set of ten or twelve. It does get easier and easier with practice. If you find yourself needing a little more height I have used my tether with my ropeman slid all the way up grabbing the carabiner as a handle above my platform.
Yeah mine kicked out the very first try with no aider. Soft small tree so it was my error for sure. I try to use basketball sized trees now and avoid Elms. So you use a long tether? Thought about getting one and leaving it in place on a good tree but worry about the loose line below me. Always feel better on a tether line vs a lineman’s belt. But the lb seems like it would work better for the climb up. Ease of use that is.
My tether is about ten foot. I don’t leave it in the tree but when I want a handhold when climbing onto my step platform I will go ahead and attach my tether to the tree as high as I can reach then use my carabiner as a hand hold. I’m only using a set of 8 and using 5 to climb and three as a platform I get 18-21 feet. If I can’t get that high because of canopy blocking my view I will use a stepp as a handhold.