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New to saddle hunting, rope preference question

T

Thorn

New Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2020
Messages
15
Hey all,
Switching over to saddle hunting from a climber setup. Wife got me a trophyline venetic saddle for xmas. Still have to piece the rest of the kit together and was curious. What is everyone's preference on tether and lineman's ropes? Trophyline vs Tethrd? 8mm vs 11mm? Looks like trophyline runs 170ish for both vs 150ish for tethrd, I like that trophyline is made in USA but can't find any info on where the tethrd ropes are made? Appreciate the input, I'm just slowly building my setup in prep for this season. From safety standpoint, is the prusic knot sufficient or should something else be added.
 
My guess is less than half the members use store bought kits as far as tethers, lineman's and rappel set ups. And I would guess the percentage is even lower for the one's using a prussic much or at all. If I was going to purchase one of the two kits you mentioned it would be the one from TL. If you are planning to climb with sticks, the kits and a prussic for that matter should work just fine because you likely will have less need for adjustability. When you get to the point you want to venture into alternative methods for going up and down the tree, you will want to explore the other rope and hitch options almost without question. There are lots of rope threads if you use the search function and giant thread just for hitches.

And we have a support thread for when you inevitably start chasin skwerls. ;)
 
BTaylor said:
Are you prepared for all the worms in the can you are opening? :D
Click to expand...
No he's not...

I'm gonna throw out Ape canyon outfitters as another alternative place for a tether/linemans combo. @John RB has a working relationship with them and has a discount code. All his info on his system and knots etc can be found here, https://jrbtreeclimbing.com/ , and may impact your choices in rope and hitch combo.

The prussic is good enough from a safety standpoint, but lacks in the ease of use category. I would spend a little time researching hitch cord and rope combos before diving into a kit that could be potentially frustrating for you
 
If I would do it again, id go to a smaller rope for tether and lineman's. Mainly just for space savings
 
8mm Predator tether and lineman’s with Kong Ducks. Keep it lightweight and efficient. Won’t beat that combo of ropes. Hang Free sells them. USA made.


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Save your money and spend a week reading on here before you buy anything. Then depending what you end up wanting (thicker ropes and thinner ropes have different pros/cons) buy your rope by the foot to save some $

Edited to add- I like 8mm for packability. Resc tech. Pretty sure I got mine from EWO (doublesteps.com)
 
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I like 11mm, it’s just easier for my hands to deal with but I am 69. I got my Tethrd ropes on Amazon for 65.00 each. The tether came with one carabiner and the lineman’s came with two. If I wasn’t dealing with a little bit of arthritis in my hands I would use 8mm for sure. The 11mm is mighty bulky and heavy.
 
krub6b said:
No he's not...

I'm gonna throw out Ape canyon outfitters as another alternative place for a tether/linemans combo. @John RB has a working relationship with them and has a discount code. All his info on his system and knots etc can be found here, https://jrbtreeclimbing.com/ , and may impact your choices in rope and hitch combo.

The prussic is good enough from a safety standpoint, but lacks in the ease of use category. I would spend a little time researching hitch cord and rope combos before diving into a kit that could be potentially frustrating for you
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I was tagged and so I will add my unpopular 2 cents: Saddle Hunting is an industry and it will sell you as much as you can be convinced to buy. I have no problem with y'all buying as much stuff as you want, but be aware:
1. We don't NEED most of it.
2. Even with all that gear, most folks are unknowingly taking chances with their safety.

What do we absolutely need?
A saddle, one good rope, some carabiners, cord, and some know-how. A throwball or a Maverick pole is gonna reduce our climbing time greatly. A platform is a luxury in my book, but I have no objections to anyone using one. I have probably filled a hundred tags without one, always in a branched tree.

I don't use sticks, steps, tether, linemans-belt, kneepads, rappel devices, or even a backpack... I wouldn't have anything to put in it.

I continue to write it all down... whether you use the information is up to you.

JRB Tree Climbing - JrbTreeClimbing.com

Sitemap Generic selectors Exact matches only Search in title Search in content Post Type Selectors page JRB Tree Climbing & Saddle Hunting JRB provides this website as a free service to share best practices in climbing and hunting, with an emphasis on SAFETY. It doesn't matter how you CAN climb...
jrbtreeclimbing.com


JrbTreeClimbing.com, w/JRB15 Coupon at ApeCanyon.com
 
I started with 11mm tether and lineman's ropes. Other than the bulk I found them very usable. To try to save some weight and space I moved to 8mm ropes. Those were just too small in diameter for me to feel comfortable gripping in my hands. I settled on 9mm Canyon Elite (its closer to 10mm) and I've stuck with that ever since. I built my own but @DanO offers premade tether and lineman's setups on his website too.

doublesteps.com

Tether/Lineman Kits

We offer a variety of tether/lineman kits that work equally well as a tether or a lineman’s rope. Some are paired with a mechanical device (Kong Duck) and the others use a 6mm eye-to-eye slin…
doublesteps.com doublesteps.com
 
Assuming you understand what a prusik is (sounds like you do) and/or can tie a few knots yourself, I would absolutely NOT spend $150+ on premade rope kits. Save that cash for weapons, licenses, or other saddle gear.

For $60-80 and ≈1 hour of your time, you can very easily make your own excellent tether and lineman's belt with some rope, hitch (prusik) cord, two carabiners, a little paracord, and four easy knots. All climbing-rated materials can be bought from reputable sellers like doublesteps.com or wesspur.com.

People here will argue, but the 99% of the time you are hanging from your tether or leaning on your lineman's belt, an uber expensive rope kit does absolutely nothing better than a tether/LB that you can make yourself by tying simple knots. You might save +/- 4 seconds per adjustment using mechanical devices instead of prusiks (read: unnecessary.)

I can elaborate on DIYing ropes if you want. It's very simple. But maybe starting out you're just inclined towards kits, and that's okay. If so, the EWO link from @boyne bowhunter is a good start.
 
Rutman said:
8mm Predator tether and lineman’s with Kong Ducks. Keep it lightweight and efficient. Won’t beat that combo of ropes. Hang Free sells them. USA made.


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This is the setup I run too


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I’d also recommend 9mm ropes (Canyon Elite, Apr Canyon Rogue, etc.) for hand feel and since you can use regular sterling 7mm hitch cord. It is also a third the cost of the 6mm sterling TRC most folks use on 8mm ropes. I replace all my hitches each year but my mainline has been good for several years now so hitch cord adds up on a budget.
 
I wonder how many hunts do people put on regular tethers and lineman’s ropes before they buy new? I imagine long climbing ropes don’t last as long due to their length.
 
1canvas said:
I would think buying from a reputable well known saddle company would make better sense. How are you really going to know where the rope you buy from the classifieds come from?
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Buy from a reputable member here, they're not going to mis-lead you, i.e. @Brocky .

I also am currently having 9mm Protac sewn into custom tether/lb setups, and those will hit the classifieds here, once I receive them...
 
1canvas said:
I wonder how many hunts do people put on regular tethers and lineman’s ropes before they buy new? I imagine long climbing ropes don’t last as long due to their length.
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My current tether and lineman's rope are five years old (some 400+ sits) and show no wear. FWIW the linesman's doubles as my bridge once set up in the tree. I've used a Distel hitch of 6mm accessory cord for tether adjustment on my tether the entire time. The same longevity couldn't be claimed back when I used mechanical adjusters. Since we typically tie into the same size trees to hunt the teeth of the mechanical adjuster are always biting in roughly the same spot on the rope and create a wear pattern there. Those ropes showed wear after a single season. The use of a soft hitch eliminates that wear.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
My current tether and lineman's rope are five years old (some 400+ sits) and show no wear. FWIW the linesman's doubles as my bridge once set up in the tree. I've used a Distel hitch of 6mm accessory cord for tether adjustment on my tether the entire time. The same longevity couldn't be claimed back when I used mechanical adjusters. Since we typically tie into the same size trees to hunt the teeth of the mechanical adjuster are always biting in roughly the same spot on the rope and create a wear pattern there. Those ropes showed wear after a single season. The use of a soft hitch eliminates that wear.
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I ended up using a Ropeman on my tether because setting my tether at head height my knot length and carabiner was just too long for some settings. With the Ropeman I’m able to cut that distance down by a few inches. I a green a friction knot would be better for the rope and I believe safer on the tether.
 
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