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SRT Climbing

jakhammer

jakhammer

Active Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2020
Messages
140
So I have crawled down this rabbit hole that is saddle hunting and been accumulating gear for a couple weeks and the latest tunnel I have been looking at is using ropes instead of sticks to climb.
I would really like to hear from guys that have done a significant amount of both and which you recommend and why.
I really appreciate how halpful (and patient) you all have been with me and other newbs to the game.
 
I’ve been down most the rabbit holes when it comes to climbing methods

Eventually it comes down to what you feel more confident in/comfortable with. After all my trail and errors I’m back with muddy pros. Easy to use. Killin deers is the goal. Your gear shouldn’t be a hindrance to that.
 
I don’t know what counts as significant but I’ve done both. For my part I would just say go with what makes the most sense for the hunt ok which you’re about to embark. If I know there’s a good tree with limbs/crotch or if I have a preset paracord loop I’ll do SRT. If I don’t know and don’t want to be limited I’ll do sticks.
 
Safety is a big advantage of SRT. Come to think of it, I have not seen an injury reported here which can be attributed to SRT. If anyone remembers one, please post.
 
bj139 said:
Safety is a big advantage of SRT. Come to think of it, I have not seen an injury reported here which can be attributed to SRT. If anyone remembers one, please post.
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There was a fall at a meet up within the past few months. The description was a bit unclear to me, but it was something related to an issue with retrieving the rope and then someone climbing the rope to get it if I recall.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
sweats said:
There was a fall at a meet up within the past few months. The description was a bit unclear to me, but it was something related to an issue with retrieving the rope and then someone climbing the rope to get it if I recall.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yes. I remember that now. That was pretty bad. The rope was girth hitched at a severe angle on a straight tree and slipped when the climber got near the girth hitch. That could happen with any tether on a straight tree.
 
There are two basic ways to do SRT, sit-stand, or rope walking, much easier in my opinion as the climber stays upright and uses legs to ascend. The arms are only used to stay upright, not to muscle your way up.
There are also two basic ways to set, or anchor the rope. In the canopy is cinching/choking it around a branch somehow, and second, a basal/ground anchor of passing the rope over one, or more branches and tying it at the base of the tree.
Srt climbing can be simple gearwise, or as expensive as you like.
 
jakhammer said:
So I have crawled down this rabbit hole that is saddle hunting and been accumulating gear for a couple weeks and the latest tunnel I have been looking at is using ropes instead of sticks to climb.
I would really like to hear from guys that have done a significant amount of both and which you recommend and why.
I really appreciate how halpful (and patient) you all have been with me and other newbs to the game.
Click to expand...
I was just mentioning on a different thread that I started saddle hunting in 2004 & still haven’t committed to a particular climbing method. I don’t think there is any I haven’t tried at this point other than DRT. I just got into SRT within the last year, but it’s definitely best with presets. So that’s what has led me down the path of One Sticking. That way if I like the wind for one of my presets, great... if not just having an extra stick with me isn’t much extra weight. And if one sticking then having a hand ascender/foot loop isn’t much extra weight. On top of that I can easily carry 100 foot of extra paracord at all times & if hunting somewhere new it now becomes a preset after hunting.
 
bj139 said:
Yes. I remember that now. That was pretty bad. The rope was girth hitched at a severe angle on a straight tree and slipped when the climber got near the girth hitch. That could happen with any tether on a straight tree.
Click to expand...
How exactly was the angle? Was it not tight and then tightened such that the long tag end got longer or did the hitch itself fall down the tree?
 
Thinking about running "pre-sets" next year, but leaving the entire climbing rope in tree, the heck with paracord. Thinking I can do it for about $30 a tree. Anyone doing this?
 
Jtaylor said:
I'd hate to find 3/4 of my rope chewed through by a squirrel as I'm almost to the top of my climb.
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Or be hanging from a rope that's been out in the sun all year.
sweats said:
There was a fall at a meet up within the past few months. The description was a bit unclear to me, but it was something related to an issue with retrieving the rope and then someone climbing the rope to get it if I recall.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
With SRT you should really make peace with the idea of leaving your equipment out in the woods if "necessary" as your number one safety move. Not that you shouldn't be able to retrieve it consistently, but...poo happens, and in the moment it can certainly be easy to make really sketchy decisions that veer into unsafe territory.
 
jakhammer said:
So I have crawled down this rabbit hole that is saddle hunting and been accumulating gear for a couple weeks and the latest tunnel I have been looking at is using ropes instead of sticks to climb.
I would really like to hear from guys that have done a significant amount of both and which you recommend and why.
I really appreciate how halpful (and patient) you all have been with me and other newbs to the game.
Click to expand...
Going into my first year of saddle hunting I was sure that SRT was going to be my "go to" method for getting up the tree. I was really amazed how effortless it was to climb a tree. It worked great all summer as I practiced in my back yard off of the lawn. Unfortunately, for me anyway, that ease didn't translate well into actual usage in the woods. Where I hunt it seems that trees either had no branches to throw over or there was to much understory to get the throwbag through cleanly. Add to that that the string snagged and wrapped on every stick and twig imaginable on the ground. I like to hunt really mobile so presets don't appeal to me. I gave it up and started looking for a different method of climbing. I think I've tried most everything I've seen on this forum and I found one sticking was the most versatile legal method for me for the conditions and areas I want to hunt.

FWIW, I still carry my SRT set up (a Ropeman 2, Petxel Pantin and a Rollclip Z carabiner combined with my Safeguard) in my pack to go back up a tree if I need to get down during a hunt for a short period of time. Once the rope is in the tree it is the easiest climbing method I've found.
 
If one can afford a hybrid srt device with a foot ascender is one of the easiest and most efficient way to ascend. Of course rope walking is a necessity when climbing big trees - Redwoods, Sequoia's etc. Having presets lends itself well to this way of climbing. Many on here use a variation of a RADS system while very affordable is one of the most inefficient ways to quickly ascend but is fine at the relatively low heights most hunters climb.
 
cedar paul said:
If one can afford a hybrid srt device with a foot ascender is one of the easiest and most efficient way to ascend. Of course rope walking is a necessity when climbing big trees - Redwoods, Sequoia's etc. Having presets lends itself well to this way of climbing. Many on here use a variation of a RADS system while very affordable is one of the most inefficient ways to quickly ascend but is fine at the relatively low heights most hunters climb.
Click to expand...

Can you link to an example foot ascender?
 
arm breaker said:
How exactly was the angle? Was it not tight and then tightened such that the long tag end got longer or did the hitch itself fall down the tree?
Click to expand...
I remember he tried to pull the rope down and it got caught on a knot or something. It was now at an angle and he climbed up without a tether backup and then it came down as he got close.
 
mattsteg said:
Or be hanging from a rope that's been out in the sun all year.

With SRT you should really make peace with the idea of leaving your equipment out in the woods if "necessary" as your number one safety move. Not that you shouldn't be able to retrieve it consistently, but...poo happens, and in the moment it can certainly be easy to make really sketchy decisions that veer into unsafe territory.
Click to expand...
Do you even climb SRT? I wouldn't leave my equipment in the woods.
 
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