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Rambling Conclusions

Phaedrus

New Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2018
Messages
34
Location
Middle GA
So here’s my thoughts. They’re worth less to you than they are to me, but I like em alright, so I figured I’d share:

There isn’t a great, almighty, one-size-fits-all, “if you’re not doing it this way, you’re a booger-eater” method to get up a tree.
Spurs: nice and deadly. Excellent on poplars, sweet gums, younger oaks and hickory trees. Ok on pines. Light weight. Takes skill (practice equals betterness, betterness is better). Putting them back on from a ring of steps requires a minimal beer belly (if ya ain’t there yet, keep living).
Screw in steps: pre-season (where legal) or private land middle of the day set up. It’s possible to put them in quietly, but expect to sweat. Period. I’ve read oodles of warnings about them breaking, but if ya follow the directions, things seem to work out. They tend to stick out a little too far for my particular lineman’s belt, but I may be nit-picking. Great for presets in pines on private land.
Sticks (plural) - soooooo yesterday. Proven. Heavy-ish. Bulk is more my issue.
Stick (one) - Purdy darn snazzy. Noisy as a climber, but I've killed deer from a climber, so... Takes a little skill, really just takes a lot of practice. And a rope to rappel down, unless you like to always be the last one back to camp to prove you really waited till it was surenuff dark before you came down from the stand.
Bolts - hmmmm. Not bad. Not as quick as spurs or a practiced one-sticker. Can be super quiet. Great for presets since bolts are cheaper than steps.Left them in and the tree grew? You lost a half inch of foot space instead of weakening/breaking a tree step. Pretty decent for the impromptu “this tree looks good” type of hunt, just plan for a 10 minute trip to the top.

So them’s ma thoughts. Those are the methods that I’ve tried. Each has its place. I think we keep searching for the one method that is the best, particularly when starting out (so we don’t waste money). I don’t think there’s a best overall. I think it depends on the day, the tree, and the you.

Need to get in super deep and super quiet? Should’ve preset.

Going light and fast in the hardwoods? Try one stick or bolts.
Etc, etc, etc.

Rambling over. Carry on.
 
I hunted with sticks and a homemade platform all season. Bulky but 5-10 minutes and I was hunting. I just got the bolt kit and a ridge runner platform so the light weight and easy packing is a better deal for me. I’m planning on pre set locations and also keeping the sticks with me for a quick setup.
 
Dont have enough land to use bolts. Cant use spikes bolts or screw in steps on phblic hear so sticks it is for me. Good post
 
Great thoughts. Thanks for sharing. Do you have any plans to try the wild edge steps and share those thoughts?
 
Great thoughts. Thanks for sharing. Do you have any plans to try the wild edge steps and share those thoughts?
Not really.
I hunt mainly private and what little public I do I just one-stick.
I just haven’t felt the need to try WE Stepps. I know a lot of people love them.
 
I hunt a lot of private and love my spikes. Lots of talk on here about how it’s going to kill the trees.

Somehow I continue to find a way to sleep soundly at night.
 
I hunt a lot of private and love my spikes. Lots of talk on here about how it’s going to kill the trees.

Somehow I continue to find a way to sleep soundly at night.

Yeah, I climbed the same trees several times with them myself last year. The trees are still there. But, I’m no tree doctor, so what do I know?
When I spoke about them being deadly above, I was referring to the climber, not the climbee.
 
Yeah, I climbed the same trees several times with them myself last year. The trees are still there. But, I’m no tree doctor, so what do I know?
When I spoke about them being deadly above, I was referring to the climber, not the climbee.

I know what you meant bud. We’re all deadly. I just wanted to affirm that I can still look myself in the mirror after using spikes lol. The last two weeks have been hard on us spike guys haha.

A couple guys have asked for data and I would like to see data too. Lots of people say stuff on both sides of the argument but nobody has ever shown real data, just anecdotal opinions.

I will have my own data eventually because I climb in my yard all the time.
 
I know what you meant bud. We’re all deadly. I just wanted to affirm that I can still look myself in the mirror after using spikes lol. The last two weeks have been hard on us spike guys haha.

A couple guys have asked for data and I would like to see data too. Lots of people say stuff on both sides of the argument but nobody has ever shown real data, just anecdotal opinions.

I will have my own data eventually because I climb in my yard all the time.

You won’t get data because there are too many variables and ill defined wording. People don’t understand how complicated the puzzle is, and each side wants only point out the downside of the other. Like every other problem we have.
 
Stick (one) - Purdy darn snazzy. Noisy as a climber, but I've killed deer from a climber, so... Takes a little skill, really just takes a lot of practice. And a rope to rappel down, unless you like to always be the last one back to camp to prove you really waited till it was surenuff dark before you came down from the stand.

Everyone is different and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That said, in my opinion, if your one-stick method is as noisy as a climber, then you're not doing it right, haha. :D

With the exception of shag bark trees, I can one-stick to hunting height in almost complete silence as long as I take my time and do everything methodically. In retrospect, my quietest ascents with my climber were still probably louder than my noisiest one-stick ascents. And once you factor in time spent at the base of the tree setting up the climber, I think one-sticking is still faster.

Everytime I one-stick up and hunt from a saddle in a less than perfect tree in a perfect spot, I get pissed off...

...pissed off that I didn't know about this 15 years ago. :laughing:

Also, I can probably climb down faster than I ascend, because I am less worried about noise and take bigger bites. I put my feet to the tree and push away in kind of a plank position. This allows me to move the stick down almost a full body length at a time. FYI - I use a button and cam strap; I'm not sure this would be possible with the rope and cam cleat.

But like we both said, everyone is different...
 
Everyone is different and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That said, in my opinion, if your one-stick method is as noisy as a climber, then you're not doing it right, haha. :D

With the exception of shag bark trees, I can one-stick to hunting height in almost complete silence as long as I take my time and do everything methodically. In retrospect, my quietest ascents with my climber were still probably louder than my noisiest one-stick ascents. And once you factor in time spent at the base of the tree setting up the climber, I think one-sticking is still faster.

Everytime I one-stick up and hunt from a saddle in a less than perfect tree in a perfect spot, I get pissed off...

...pissed off that I didn't know about this 15 years ago. :laughing:

Also, I can probably climb down faster than I ascend, because I am less worried about noise and take bigger bites. I put my feet to the tree and push away in kind of a plank position. This allows me to move the stick down almost a full body length at a time. FYI - I use a button and cam strap; I'm not sure this would be possible with the rope and cam cleat.

But like we both said, everyone is different...
Yep. I’m mostly on loblolly pines, so that’s where the noise comes from. On a poplar or sweet gum I can be super-secret-squirrel-stealthy. I should have clarified. Thanks for pointing that out.
 
So here’s my thoughts. They’re worth less to you than they are to me, but I like em alright, so I figured I’d share:

There isn’t a great, almighty, one-size-fits-all, “if you’re not doing it this way, you’re a booger-eater” method to get up a tree.
Spurs: nice and deadly. Excellent on poplars, sweet gums, younger oaks and hickory trees. Ok on pines. Light weight. Takes skill (practice equals betterness, betterness is better). Putting them back on from a ring of steps requires a minimal beer belly (if ya ain’t there yet, keep living).
Screw in steps: pre-season (where legal) or private land middle of the day set up. It’s possible to put them in quietly, but expect to sweat. Period. I’ve read oodles of warnings about them breaking, but if ya follow the directions, things seem to work out. They tend to stick out a little too far for my particular lineman’s belt, but I may be nit-picking. Great for presets in pines on private land.
Sticks (plural) - soooooo yesterday. Proven. Heavy-ish. Bulk is more my issue.
Stick (one) - Purdy darn snazzy. Noisy as a climber, but I've killed deer from a climber, so... Takes a little skill, really just takes a lot of practice. And a rope to rappel down, unless you like to always be the last one back to camp to prove you really waited till it was surenuff dark before you came down from the stand.
Bolts - hmmmm. Not bad. Not as quick as spurs or a practiced one-sticker. Can be super quiet. Great for presets since bolts are cheaper than steps.Left them in and the tree grew? You lost a half inch of foot space instead of weakening/breaking a tree step. Pretty decent for the impromptu “this tree looks good” type of hunt, just plan for a 10 minute trip to the top.

So them’s ma thoughts. Those are the methods that I’ve tried. Each has its place. I think we keep searching for the one method that is the best, particularly when starting out (so we don’t waste money). I don’t think there’s a best overall. I think it depends on the day, the tree, and the you.

Need to get in super deep and super quiet? Should’ve preset.

Going light and fast in the hardwoods? Try one stick or bolts.
Etc, etc, etc.

Rambling over. Carry on.

My thought is that adding rappelling to almost every climbing method is awesome. Spike up and rappel down. Hand climbing seat on your feet up, rappel down with it attached to your feet. Screw in steps up, rappel down and take them out as you go.

Stick or platform falls out from under you? Well you’re on a 30’ tether so rappel down and get it instead of calling the fire department to get you out of the tree!

On that note, add a prusik an foot loop and now you can do a quick SRT down/up the rope if your fixing a lose platform etc.




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Everyone is different and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That said, in my opinion, if your one-stick method is as noisy as a climber, then you're not doing it right, haha. :D

With the exception of shag bark trees, I can one-stick to hunting height in almost complete silence as long as I take my time and do everything methodically. In retrospect, my quietest ascents with my climber were still probably louder than my noisiest one-stick ascents. And once you factor in time spent at the base of the tree setting up the climber, I think one-sticking is still faster.

Everytime I one-stick up and hunt from a saddle in a less than perfect tree in a perfect spot, I get pissed off...

...pissed off that I didn't know about this 15 years ago. :laughing:

Also, I can probably climb down faster than I ascend, because I am less worried about noise and take bigger bites. I put my feet to the tree and push away in kind of a plank position. This allows me to move the stick down almost a full body length at a time. FYI - I use a button and cam strap; I'm not sure this would be possible with the rope and cam cleat.

But like we both said, everyone is different...

First thing I did after trying one stick was climb with a 30’ piece of rope as my tether.

I did this because I had my stick fall out from under me due to sideways pressure when using it as a platform. I was left hanging on my regular tether and had to use a screw in step to move down the tree and get my stick and reattach it.

The 30’ tether and ability to rappel down is the single safest thing anyone can add to their setup for any climbing method. But my opinion is mine and what works anyone else is fine too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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