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Shooting the weak side made easy.
- Thread starter SYWTALS
- Start date
TNbowhunter
Well-Known Member
Nice video! This is why I prefer a platform over a ROS or other options. Sure, it's a bit bulkier to carry around, but well worth the extra weight to me.
True. The only thing that I didn’t like about doing it that way was that on a big tree it’s hard to get that much length in you tether to do it at full draw. It’s also a problem if you have more limbs on the tree.
Sniper4hire
Well-Known Member
absolutely
ofor
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2019
- Messages
- 1,072
Looks like his tether is set about a foot above his head. I usually set mine at forehead height. My setup would not allow my to circle around a big tree.
This has been shown before many times on the site, and each time, i have wondered why the safety police give it a pass, but raise cain about less risky items.
This is not a dig at you, but at them. It is a choice you make to move so that the tether is that close to your neck in an odd way and I respect that personal choice, but for the sake of newbies seeing this, the food for thought is what if your platform broke while you are in that position and is there an ever so slight chance that you could injure your neck vertebre or worse doing so? I have not seen anyone willing to demonstrate a fall from that exact position to date on video. What fuels my thought is that a middle aged hunter died in an even less precarious position on gamelands I hunt when the foot piece of his climbing stand broke out from under him at less than 12 ft high and the safety harness strap snapped his neck on the fall. Highly unlikely to happen, but more so than other call outs on here.
This is not a dig at you, but at them. It is a choice you make to move so that the tether is that close to your neck in an odd way and I respect that personal choice, but for the sake of newbies seeing this, the food for thought is what if your platform broke while you are in that position and is there an ever so slight chance that you could injure your neck vertebre or worse doing so? I have not seen anyone willing to demonstrate a fall from that exact position to date on video. What fuels my thought is that a middle aged hunter died in an even less precarious position on gamelands I hunt when the foot piece of his climbing stand broke out from under him at less than 12 ft high and the safety harness strap snapped his neck on the fall. Highly unlikely to happen, but more so than other call outs on here.
Am I missing something or do you think that the tether is over the shoulder and not under the arm? I could see a possible concern if you swim under the tether and position it next to your neck but the tether here is under the arm.
Interesting point @Bwhana. My thought as a new saddle hunter is that if I have the tether going over my right shoulder with my back against the tree, the tether is so tight I can feel it in my shoulder and neck area. If the platform slips or even catastrophically breaks, I would think your weight would be unbalanced and you would shift towards the left and the tether is still quite tight...not much slack to drop anywhere. I may be wrong but I think there would need to be failures in multiple pieces of gear for the worst case scenario. I think you'd be more likely to injure your shoulder with the tether in your armpit with a platform failure.
The fall restraint harness likely was not taught so the hunter fell a foot or two before the slack was out, creating a nasty whip action. Looking forward to others point of view on this idea, especially those with more time in the saddle .
The fall restraint harness likely was not taught so the hunter fell a foot or two before the slack was out, creating a nasty whip action. Looking forward to others point of view on this idea, especially those with more time in the saddle .
The tether in the video is not over the shoulder. It is under the arm the same exact way it would be if you were shooting on the strong side or behind you
I didn't say anything about the video. @Bwhana mentioned what he sees at a flaw in the video. I am interested in "others point of view on this idea, especially those with more time in the saddle" as it relates to safety when having a tether go under the arm or over the shoulder when you have your back to the tree for a weak side shot. @g2outdoors made a video this week showing the tether going over the shoulder and I feel more secure to the tree doing it that way. Build a back yard saddle hunting tree - CHEAP and FAST
I understand that. My only point was that if someone clicks on this tread about this video they would get the impression that there was something unsafe. Which is not true. I have hunted out of a saddle for 15 years and I use this same technique.
Anytime you climb a tree you're taking a risk.
I'm glad @Bwhana pointed this out so we all pay attention to our actions at hunting height.
PERSONALLY, I feel extremely confident executing that particular move with my equipment. I inspect my gear REGULARLY. I only use gear that has a safety factor FAR ABOVE what has been deemed safe by testing agencies like the ASTM and ANSI and the third party lab tests I've conducted myself. Furthermore, I practice with my equipment in a low threat environment.
I also feel like pretty much all the educational resources available echo those same ideas (use tested gear, inspect your gear, practice with your gear, etc.).
However, it's a valid point. I don't really know what would happen if there was a catastrophic gear failure while in that shooting position.
Based on the position of the tether, and lack of slack in the rope, my suspicion is the hunter would sustain a minor injury, probably drop his bow, and most certainly have to replace his pants.
But I'm not an expert. I'll see if I can't build some Bubba testing to try it out. Luckily I'm friends with Carl and Ernie who can pretty much build and engineer anything.
Sent from my IN2019 using Tapatalk
I'm glad @Bwhana pointed this out so we all pay attention to our actions at hunting height.
PERSONALLY, I feel extremely confident executing that particular move with my equipment. I inspect my gear REGULARLY. I only use gear that has a safety factor FAR ABOVE what has been deemed safe by testing agencies like the ASTM and ANSI and the third party lab tests I've conducted myself. Furthermore, I practice with my equipment in a low threat environment.
I also feel like pretty much all the educational resources available echo those same ideas (use tested gear, inspect your gear, practice with your gear, etc.).
However, it's a valid point. I don't really know what would happen if there was a catastrophic gear failure while in that shooting position.
Based on the position of the tether, and lack of slack in the rope, my suspicion is the hunter would sustain a minor injury, probably drop his bow, and most certainly have to replace his pants.
But I'm not an expert. I'll see if I can't build some Bubba testing to try it out. Luckily I'm friends with Carl and Ernie who can pretty much build and engineer anything.
Sent from my IN2019 using Tapatalk
Whatever, I never said either method was unsafe. Guess it's up to each person to decide what risks they will or won't take. Good luck to you this year!
You're not wrong. As a card carrying member of the fun police... You're introducing something like 18" of slack to go from a 45* lean to standing up. I've hunted with an RC for years out of a hangon, but tether was always under arm, and never had more than about 6-8" of slack. 18" could generate some serious forces on a static anchor system. And they'd be going in weird directions. Maybe testing would reveal low likelyhood of bad things happening. But it is certainly worth considering. In my head, I see the force on your hip generated by bridge should spin you the way you want IF you're facing straight away from the tree, or less rotation. If you go beyond straight away, in opposite direction of your tether(which i could easily see happening if you're tracking a moving animal waiting for a shot), you could be in a real bind in event of failure. And it doesn't take a platform failing. Slipping off the side because of a miscalculation of size of it when shuffling feet could do it.
Sniper4hire
Well-Known Member
Orginally, the saddle concept's main advantage was to be able to hunt 360-degrees. We made platforms in various ways to get all the way around a tree, and set the tether line high, so there was more line fed to the bridge. You would simple back into the shot like a crab swims. Its controlled, and smooth, and safe. Not perfect, but much easier to maneuver.