Sat. AM project replacement Stepp ropes & whoopie sling

[hickstick]

Got my replace ropes for my traded for Stepp Ladder steps in Thursday....ans today it's freezing rain up here in MA so no hunting. So I decided to replace the ropes and prep for the week.

The included instructions (& watching Jim do it on YouTube) were super easy to follow. So I got them all replaced easy while watching a Amazon prime doc on Scythian kurgans.

Once done I remembered I had some leftover Amsteel from doing the rope mod on my leverage steps a couple years ago. Dug it out and had about 8 feet +-. So I used the fid that came with the replacement ropes to whip up a whoopie sling to use as an aider for the Stepp ladder.

Gonna first try to girth hitch to Stepp rung and see how that works. (Don't particularly like the idea of carabiner to Stepp metal-metal contact....for safety & sound.)

No hunting on Sundays here in MA so my next opportunity to try them out will be Tuesday. And the season ends on the 31st so this will have to be a quick trial.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[brydan]

Looks like a good rainy day project. Didn't know MA was a no Sunday hunting state.

 

[DanielB89]

Got my replace ropes for my traded for Stepp Ladder steps in Thursday....ans today it's freezing rain up here in MA so no hunting. So I decided to replace the ropes and prep for the week.

The included instructions (& watching Jim do it on YouTube) were super easy to follow. So I got them all replaced easy while watching a Amazon prime doc on Scythian kurgans.

Once done I remembered I had some leftover Amsteel from doing the rope mod on my leverage steps a couple years ago. Dug it out and had about 8 feet +-. So I used the fid that came with the replacement ropes to whip up a whoopie sling to use as an aider for the Stepp ladder.

Gonna first try to girth hitch to Stepp rung and see how that works. (Don't particularly like the idea of carabiner to Stepp metal-metal contact....for safety & sound.)

No hunting on Sundays here in MA so my next opportunity to try them out will be Tuesday. And the season ends on the 31st so this will have to be a quick trial.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Not questioning your whoppie sling, but that doesn't look right to me. Does it go out and come back in?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hickstick]

Not questioning your whoppie sling, but that doesn't look right to me. Does it go out and come back in?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The eye is brummel locked and tapered inside. The loop goes back inside then out about 3 inches down from the end of the taper, and the tag end is just fed back into itself to make it thicker so it so it won't pull back through.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[hickstick]

The eye is brummel locked and tapered inside. The loop goes back inside then out about 3 inches down from the end of the taper, and the tag end is just fed back into itself to make it thicker so it so it won't pull back through.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Ah, you might be talking about the dark spot where the corner of the Stepp carry bah is. That's just a shadow from the bag.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Apex7]

Nice job . Here in Pa there is no Sunday hunting ether but are late season starts the day after Christmas and in the area I hunt which is 2B it runs until end of January. That is archery and muzzleloader.

 

[hickstick]

@Apex7 yeah, the season ends in MA on the 31st. but I'm thinking about buying a 2018 permit for CT as I have access to a private land spot down there and they go through 1/31. (then I'll aready have the tags for next fall too) Didn't hunt down there at all in 2017, and still have stands and a prepped tree for a saddle....so it may be worth at least getting down there to drop the stands.

 

[hickstick]

ugh....temps in the negative/single digits for the next week here in MA....looks like I may not be trying these out til January down in CT. lol (I don't hunt much when temps stay below 20 degrees.)

 

[Apex7]

Tomorrow here in Pittsburgh it's going to be 10 degrees with a wind chill of 3 degrees seems like a good day to work on my Reds climbing system.

 

[ImThere]

good deal

 

[hickstick]

I will say with my VERY limited experience with the stepp ladder aider copy (whoopie sling) I made...it was nice to be able to adjust the loop up and down to accommodate the differences in step placement.

The aiders I have on my Leverage Sticks are fixed, but because I have way more experience hanging them....I rarely get the spacing off.

so the whoopie worked. i did not make it long enough (it was remnant amsteel I had laying around)...so I just girth hitched a spare prussik loop to the stepp tread and clipped the fixed eye to the prussik loop with a locking 'biner. that part worked fine. was able to attach a step as high as I could reach, and the first step at about sternum height (I'm 5'7") and the extended whoopie/prussik combo...fully open was easy foot access, the simply pulling on the tag end raised my foot up until my knee was just above the 1st stepp, I was able to reach it.

things learned:
- found that starting with foot in the loop then pulling up the tag end of the whoopie worked well,
- found out if I didn't put the second step high enough on tree, when tightening the whoopie I tightened it too much and had trouble pulling my heavy lug boots out of the whoopie loop
- cam'ing over Stepp ladder steps can be tricky on odd shaped trees (the tree cross section was more 'triangular' than round and the uphill side of the lean was the 'flat spot'.
- definitely did not like the strap of the carry bag digging into my trap/neck. will have to rig up a dump pouch or something to hold the steps on my kestrel molle loops if i plan on using these as a platform.
- fishing the whoopie through the stepp was not a problem (in daylight.) and if I only fished it through a few inches I could slip the toe of my boot into the loop right below the stepp, before lowering down.