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Tips for hand drilling?

Teamclark

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2019
Messages
24
Hey guys, I just got my tree hopper drill and bolts yesterday and used them for this morning’s hunt. Way better than carrying in sticks. That being said, how is everyone going about drilling in their bolt holes? More specifically, I found that drilling at hip height was the easiest to drill for my arm position but I found that my lineman’s belt kept getting in the way since it is at the same location. Any tips or tricks that I may be missing that would make this easier?
 
When I am facing a basketball size tree, I drill at knee height, at my 2oclock position then my next bolt is at my 10 o'clock position using my knee height on the first bolt I drilled, and just repeat process up the tree to your desired height or until out of bolts. I put my ring of steps 1 foot above my last bolt , to ensure if any issues I can still manage to descend down without over extending my self. try using your tether as you climb that way always attached to tree, and use linemen belt for when getting around a limb.
 
Use a little more slack in your Lineman’s belt and position it a little higher That is what i do on my left hand side Ol wore out shoulder so that is the best place for me also
 
Nutterbuster has a good YouTube video tutorials on his channel, may want to check them out!
 
I drill my first one at knee height.. the next one is at knee height off the first bolt. Then i go from my elbow to finger tips to get a measurement for the 3rd and 4th bolt. I can drill the first 4 without leaving the ground. After that they are all at knee height. Nutterbuster's video is good.. one thing he says that stuck with me is, "knee high and nipple wide". That's what I go by!
 
I guess I want to clarify if you are drilling at knee height (on the tree roped in), are you standing on only one bolt while you drill? Like for your drilling your 7th bolt, are you standing left leg on bolt 6 and right leg floating so that your drill is right at the same level as your right knee? Or are you standing left leg on bolt 6 and right leg on bolt 5 so your drill would be somewhere around your right hip when drilling? To me the 2nd scenario seems more stable and comfortable but that’s when the lineman’s belt gets in the way of the path of the drill handle going around in a circle
 
I guess I want to clarify if you are drilling at knee height (on the tree roped in), are you standing on only one bolt while you drill? Like for your drilling your 7th bolt, are you standing left leg on bolt 6 and right leg floating so that your drill is right at the same level as your right knee? Or are you standing left leg on bolt 6 and right leg on bolt 5 so your drill would be somewhere around your right hip when drilling? To me the 2nd scenario seems more stable and comfortable but that’s when the lineman’s belt gets in the way of the path of the drill handle going around in a circle
The majority of my weight will be on the second to last bolt I drilled. My other foot will be on the last bolt I drilled (highest one) ..... that will give me my measurement for drilling my next bolt. Just slide your linemans belt up or down to get it out of the way. Once you do a couple trees this will be alot easier. I thought it was too much work initially but stick with it.. it gets real easy. Like I said, i get the first 4 off the ground. That leaves me 6 more holes once i start to climb. I only use 10 bolts to go up.. then i'll throw a couple in as a ring of steps to stand on.. Keep practicing!
 
Here is how I have been doing it this season and I can tell you that I don’t think I will ever drill with my left hand again!

7 bolts to 21 feet high


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How long does it take you guys to drill a tree for the 10 bolts? I’m considering this myself and want to understand the time taken. Thanks!
 
How long does it take you guys to drill a tree for the 10 bolts? I’m considering this myself and want to understand the time taken. Thanks!

I can measure, drill a hole, and insert a bolt in 45 seconds at a leisurely pace. I can measure, drill a hole, and insert a bolt in 25 seconds if I drill as fast as possible.
 
How long does it take you guys to drill a tree for the 10 bolts? I’m considering this myself and want to understand the time taken. Thanks!

Something like 8-12 minutes to climb. I might take 15 if it's really cold and I have a bunch of clothes on, need to drill 12 times due to shorter step length or taller tree, and don't want to work up a sweat.

But, I can climb down, and my climbing method is shoved in a pocket, in about a minute.

Total climb time up and down - normally about 12 minutes. Total time to unpack to deploy the method, climb up and down, pack up, about 12.5 minutes.

For me, with multiple sticks, climbing time might be 4-5 minutes up, 2 minutes down. But I'm adding taking pack off at tree, deploying sticks to climb, and packing everything up when I get down. That total is something like 12-15 minutes, just like bolts.


For me, carrying 1-2lbs of gear that fits in a pocket, over bulky sharp heavier metal things, is a no brainer anywhere I can drill.

One stick climbing versus bolts is a much closer calculation, and I do both depending on where I'm hunting.

I've been using bolt/aider combination and rappelling a good bit this season, and this is even faster going up, same speed coming down.
 
The majority of my weight will be on the second to last bolt I drilled. My other foot will be on the last bolt I drilled (highest one) ..... that will give me my measurement for drilling my next bolt. Just slide your linemans belt up or down to get it out of the way. Once you do a couple trees this will be alot easier. I thought it was too much work initially but stick with it.. it gets real easy. Like I said, i get the first 4 off the ground. That leaves me 6 more holes once i start to climb. I only use 10 bolts to go up.. then i'll throw a couple in as a ring of steps to stand on.. Keep practicing!
That's exactly how i do it. Much more comfortable and stable than just standing on one bolt.

Im right at a minute per bolt total climb time. Climb down and tear down is insanely fast compared to sticks.

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One other use I found for bolts.. If you want a hang a game camera higher up in a tree. Instead of carrying a stick with you to get it up higher in the tree, i'll take my drill and 2 bolts. Drill two bolts in and hang your camera up higher. I bury the two bolts at the bottom of the tree or near by so when I come back I just stick them in and climb up to check it.
 
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