photoviewer
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2018
- Messages
- 1
I thought I would make a post about how I have come to use my saddle as ive not seen any reference to this approach yet. I’m sure its not an original idea but it works well for me.
Where I hunt there aren’t many tall straight trees with no limbs and having to climb around said limbs safely often led me to pick another tree until I came up with my present system. I would often prep a tree with a top rope and leave it so I could come back and be attached no matter how many limbs. Limbs also present a problem with getting the bow up there though but that’s another issue, I still prefer a straight/clean tree but don’t live where that’s common. It seems possible that the safety police may take issue but ive found this method safe enough and in line with past alpine climbing experience.
In general, I find bow hunting to be regrettably gear intensive and some of this came out of that, I agonized about buying a second ropeman but it was worth it.
To climb: I take my tether rope, 12-15’ long and tie one end to the left side of saddle. Pass the rope around the tree and connect a ropeman to the right hand side, caribiner to rt side of saddle. Climb until you are blocked by tree then pass the bitter end which was dangling back around the tree above the limbs and tie to the left side of saddle. Attach second ropeman/biner to right side and tighten up. Im now tied in two spots with a loop of loose line between two tensioned ropemen on rt side of saddle. Untie the first lineman rope and climb. Repeat as needed. Its worth noting that I thought I would do something similar with a single carabiner on the left and two dangling leads on the right but found uncliping the ropeman side of things harder/noisier and find tieing and untying knots quieter and less frantic as you wont drop the ropeman by accident.
After stepping onto perch, you take the dangling end on your right side, and use it to make up your tether above you. Unclip the loose ropeman and attach to bridge. Tighten it all up, adjust the saddle and youre set. remove the lineman setup to move freely. I climb with an extra carabiner and hollow block prussic in the event that I fumble the second ropeman and need a backup but generally found that any prussic was inferior to the ropeman on the rope I have for adjustments.
As I see them, the benefit of this system is I only need one rope and while I am always tied to the tree the rope is always tied to the saddle and cannot be dropped. For what its worth.
Where I hunt there aren’t many tall straight trees with no limbs and having to climb around said limbs safely often led me to pick another tree until I came up with my present system. I would often prep a tree with a top rope and leave it so I could come back and be attached no matter how many limbs. Limbs also present a problem with getting the bow up there though but that’s another issue, I still prefer a straight/clean tree but don’t live where that’s common. It seems possible that the safety police may take issue but ive found this method safe enough and in line with past alpine climbing experience.
In general, I find bow hunting to be regrettably gear intensive and some of this came out of that, I agonized about buying a second ropeman but it was worth it.
To climb: I take my tether rope, 12-15’ long and tie one end to the left side of saddle. Pass the rope around the tree and connect a ropeman to the right hand side, caribiner to rt side of saddle. Climb until you are blocked by tree then pass the bitter end which was dangling back around the tree above the limbs and tie to the left side of saddle. Attach second ropeman/biner to right side and tighten up. Im now tied in two spots with a loop of loose line between two tensioned ropemen on rt side of saddle. Untie the first lineman rope and climb. Repeat as needed. Its worth noting that I thought I would do something similar with a single carabiner on the left and two dangling leads on the right but found uncliping the ropeman side of things harder/noisier and find tieing and untying knots quieter and less frantic as you wont drop the ropeman by accident.
After stepping onto perch, you take the dangling end on your right side, and use it to make up your tether above you. Unclip the loose ropeman and attach to bridge. Tighten it all up, adjust the saddle and youre set. remove the lineman setup to move freely. I climb with an extra carabiner and hollow block prussic in the event that I fumble the second ropeman and need a backup but generally found that any prussic was inferior to the ropeman on the rope I have for adjustments.
As I see them, the benefit of this system is I only need one rope and while I am always tied to the tree the rope is always tied to the saddle and cannot be dropped. For what its worth.
