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Thinking of starting to 1- stick......don't sell your sticks to quickly

DOMMA

DOMMA

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
280
I jumped into 1-sticking. Thought I would share my initial thoughts. A little background, I have been saddle hunting for 2 years with close to 100 sits. All my climbing has been with 4 Beast Sticks with 1 aider on the first step. There were three big advantages to 1-sticking in my view:

1. Climb to any height, sometimes it is advantageous to get higher than my 4 sticks allow
2. Carry less weight. I hunt a few locations that require a long hike in and out with difficult terrain. Carrying one 12" stick and rope is a lot easier than carrying four 24" sticks.
3. Rappelling out of the tree, specifically in the dark, is easy and fast

After purchasing all of the gear, I even found a Mad Rock Safeguard, I practiced this weekend. I climbed multiple trees both Saturday and today.

Here is my opinion based on my limited experience and why I will keep my 4 sticks and only 1-stick when necessary.

1. I use my climbing/rappelling rope as my tether. Unless you are using a lineman's rope, there is multiple times during the climb where there is slack in the tether. Wearing a lineman's belt makes one sticking difficult, I tried it many times. Without it, it is difficult to avoid the slack in the tether, which is dangerous.

2. Climbing is pretty easy. It takes a few tries to determine the best height to sit to the side and retrieve your stick. To high and the reach is difficult, to low and progress is slow. Once I got this straight, 4-5 climbs, I could make pretty good progress.

3. Rappelling was surprisingly easy and smooth, no issues at all.

4. Retrieving the rope after the rappel can be difficult. If you have to go around a couple of limbs, it is very difficult to retrieve your rope. The Dynaglide is fine if the tree has a smooth bark and no limbs. Climb a rough tree with limbs and good luck pulling your rope down. In fact, one time I had to use my Beast Sticks to retrieve my rope.

One sticking will be regulated to long hauls or when hunting certain areas where I know I have to get higher than the 17-18 ft. I can get with my Beast Sticks. I will continue to practice and establish a routine so I feel more comfortable in the dark. Regardless of how much I practice, I believe 4 sticks is easier and safer.
 
All good points. Two plus seasons for me, hundreds of sets (training and hunting) and after long conversations with a lineman, flcanopystalker, i use my linesman rope. Linesman tight, tether slack. tether tight, linesman slack. yep, takes a few extra minutes (its only two moves). I use 1/2’ tubular nylon to retrieve my rappel rope, so i dont know about the dynaglide issues. Never had an issue getting it down. Go with what you feel comfortable with.
 
And if it’s not for you…..and you sold your sticks too soon…. Then you have to do this
869d226b03bd7b57d6a8912cbb31efe4.jpg



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I did it for practice. And monitors hunts this year and just….nope. Not sure what it was. Back to sticks I go. Sticking with the repelling tho


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I saved my sticks as well but I have not used them since trying one sticking. I think it's all personal preference on what bothers you and what doesn't. Go with your comfort level and don't be afraid to refine you system hunt after hunt getting little things to your liking getting better and better.
 
DOMMA said:
I jumped into 1-sticking. Thought I would share my initial thoughts. A little background, I have been saddle hunting for 2 years with close to 100 sits. All my climbing has been with 4 Beast Sticks with 1 aider on the first step. There were three big advantages to 1-sticking in my view:

1. Climb to any height, sometimes it is advantageous to get higher than my 4 sticks allow
2. Carry less weight. I hunt a few locations that require a long hike in and out with difficult terrain. Carrying one 12" stick and rope is a lot easier than carrying four 24" sticks.
3. Rappelling out of the tree, specifically in the dark, is easy and fast

After purchasing all of the gear, I even found a Mad Rock Safeguard, I practiced this weekend. I climbed multiple trees both Saturday and today.

Here is my opinion based on my limited experience and why I will keep my 4 sticks and only 1-stick when necessary.

1. I use my climbing/rappelling rope as my tether. Unless you are using a lineman's rope, there is multiple times during the climb where there is slack in the tether. Wearing a lineman's belt makes one sticking difficult, I tried it many times. Without it, it is difficult to avoid the slack in the tether, which is dangerous.

2. Climbing is pretty easy. It takes a few tries to determine the best height to sit to the side and retrieve your stick. To high and the reach is difficult, to low and progress is slow. Once I got this straight, 4-5 climbs, I could make pretty good progress.

3. Rappelling was surprisingly easy and smooth, no issues at all.

4. Retrieving the rope after the rappel can be difficult. If you have to go around a couple of limbs, it is very difficult to retrieve your rope. The Dynaglide is fine if the tree has a smooth bark and no limbs. Climb a rough tree with limbs and good luck pulling your rope down. In fact, one time I had to use my Beast Sticks to retrieve my rope.

One sticking will be regulated to long hauls or when hunting certain areas where I know I have to get higher than the 17-18 ft. I can get with my Beast Sticks. I will continue to practice and establish a routine so I feel more comfortable in the dark. Regardless of how much I practice, I believe 4 sticks is easier and safer.
Click to expand...
You do make some god points but some of your issues would be resolved with more experience/practice. You did say you only tried it for a weekend.
 
Squirrels said:
You do make some god points but some of your issues would be resolved with more experience/practice. You did say you only tried it for a weekend.
Click to expand...

You are correct, I'm sure I can refine my technique and learn the nuances of 1 sticking over time. I will practice more this week.

But, my feeling is that I will always find 4 sticks safer, easier and just as fast. To me, 1-sticking has its place, but only when needed (long treks or situations where I need to get higher in trees)

The one area that is an issue for me is slack in the tether during the transition. When you are raising your stick and stepping into the aiders it is almost impossible to keep your tether tight during the aider steps and fist step onto your stick. This effort requires both hands and is difficult with a linesman belt. So, if I make 3 moves per climb, there are 3 times where I am forced into a situation with slack in my tether. I'm 54, even a short static fall will suck.
 
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Islandshooter said:
All good points. Two plus seasons for me, hundreds of sets (training and hunting) and after long conversations with a lineman, flcanopystalker, i use my linesman rope. Linesman tight, tether slack. tether tight, linesman slack. yep, takes a few extra minutes (its only two moves). I use 1/2’ tubular nylon to retrieve my rappel rope, so i dont know about the dynaglide issues. Never had an issue getting it down. Go with what you feel comfortable with.
Click to expand...

Yup use the lineman’s belt and it is just as safe as multiple sticks


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DOMMA said:
You are correct, I'm sure I can refine my technique and learn the nuances of 1 sticking over time. I will practice more this week.

But, my feeling is that I will always find 4 sticks safer, easier and just as fast. To me, 1-sticking has its place, but only when needed (long treks or situations where I need to get higher in trees)

The one area that is an issue for me is slack in the tether during the transition. When you are raising your stick and stepping into the aiders it is almost impossible to keep your tether tight during the aider steps and fist step onto your stick. This effort requires both hands and is difficult with a linesman belt. So, if I make 3 moves per climb, there are 3 times where I am forced into a situation with slack in my tether. I'm 54, even a short static fall will suck.
Click to expand...

I’m 56, fat and not a fan of heights at all, but I have been using a single stick for 3 years. Strangely enough the slack tether doesn’t bother me.

I will say this though, there’s plenty of methods talked about on here and shown on YouTube for one sticking that make me scratch my head. Let me just say this for you to ponder going forward; when you initially set your tether on the tree and clip in you should never have to adjust that orientation. When you get that figured out one sticking becomes very repeatable.

Also, there’s no reason to ever climb above your bottom step. I’ve seen videos and read where people climb all the way to the top of their stick then they have to rappel down to get their stick….insanity. I’m thinking these are the people taking 20-30 minutes and up to climb. Craziness.
 
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bowhuntr09 said:
A lot of people place too much faith in a lineman’s belt stopping your fall. It’s a work positioning device not a fall prevention device.
Skip to the 2:00 minute mark for the fun to begin.
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I agree and most of us including myself don’t use a linesman belt correctly while climbing on multiple sticks.
If your placing your hands on your climbing sticks when climbing and not on the linemen’s rope itself you are introducing slack into that system as well and it’s no better than a one stick slack tether or maybe even worse.


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Well. Buy once cry once. Then sell it. And repeat. Hahahaa. At least the first $300 of that order was “free” with proceeds fromToday’s adventure, if I can find my small fids, is to start 7/64 daisy’s.

But I need work to be quiet and let me goof off. So if I can find them at least I ll get started.

And I had like 30ish climbs on the 1 stick. Just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ll also add that if you a chicken legged, pear shaped dad bod dude who loves all things cheeseburgers…. One sticking isn’t as easy as it appears.

Plus I dropped my release once. Going to fetch that wasn’t pleasant. Hahah. Perils of the phat dude.


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dalton916 said:
Also, there’s no reason to ever climb above your bottom step. I’ve seen videos and read where people climb all the way to the top of their stick then they have to rappel down to get their stick….insanity. I’m thinking these are the people taking 20-30 minutes and up to climb. Craziness.
Click to expand...

I use the top step so I can put my tether as high as possible. This lets me minimize slack in my tether by tending my line as I climb. Not so crazy.
 
My first year I did with sticks, and I couldn't recall a climb where my lineman's belt slipped down below my waist, or I had tons of slop to get around something, or stepped on the tag end and almost knocked my self off trying to step up.
My point is simply calculated risk to every method you climb. Practice removes a lot. In the dark with a big buck on your mind can distort that.
 
I agree trying to get too much out of each move of the stick can be less optimal. If I do it right, I move my tether up with each step I take. I don’t use a lineman’s belt either. The slack in my tether is nominal and I do set it as high as possible too. That gear tie extension on top of my stick really helps to pull the stick up. Also if the attachment cord has a good slope behind the tree, it’ll come up further easier. Helps with releasing the cord out of my cam cleat too.
 
drew13 said:
I use the top step so I can put my tether as high as possible. This lets me minimize slack in my tether by tending my line as I climb. Not so crazy.
Click to expand...

So you hop up on the top step and raise your tether as high as you can get it. Then descend down your tether to reach your stick. Then raise your stick and step into the aider. Then stand up while taking the slack out of your tether at the same time. Then put your free foot on the bottom step and step up while taking all of the slack out of your tether at the same time. Then put a foot on the top step and step up while taking the slack out of your tether at the same time. Then raising your tether again? Do you tether into a second tether so you can raise your first without introducing slack into it?
 
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