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Who climbs with their bow?

ryderofred

New Member
SH Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2022
Messages
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Does anyone climb with their bow strapped to their pack? I’m already climbing with my backpack on so I got to thinking about why I don’t just strap my bow to it? I’m sure some of you are out there doing this. Is there anything I’m not considering?


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I hook my bow to my saddle with climbing JRB method. Bag gets tied to one tail end of my ropes and pulled up, clipped to daisy chain on tag end to use weight of bag to keep in place and ropes get stuff inside bag and bow hung on hero clip
 
Always climb with my bow now. Found a bow sling with a magnet that allows me to stow it out of the way when shooting
 

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If I still used a bigger backpack I might strap my bow to that. I’ve hooked it to my saddle with HeroClip when I dropped my pull rope once. Didn’t enjoy having 7# of gear hanging low off my diaper like that but it was doable. Sling makes sense especially if you have a real small pack or none at all.
 
If I still used a bigger backpack I might strap my bow to that. I’ve hooked it to my saddle with HeroClip when I dropped my pull rope once. Didn’t enjoy having 7# of gear hanging low off my diaper like that but it was doable. Sling makes sense especially if you have a real small pack or none at all.

Yeah, I already have 2 sticks and my platform hanging off my saddle so I don’t even think I could fit my bow on it. I use a pop up 28 so I think there would be plenty of room for my bow.


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Thanks @Red Beard

I use what’s called the bow spider.
.
They make permanent or molle options. I have one of each.
Depending on your pack, I can run two sticks on the sides and my bow in the middle and be totally hands free on the walk in. Or carry bow in with pack, then at the base of the tree, I get all four sticks off of the pack as well as my platform, then attach my bow to the pack and ascend the tree with everything all at once. No tangles. No ropes or anything. I still carry 25ft of 550 cord just in case. I hunt out west a lot also and that is where I discovered the bow spider. It may not be for everyone. Also, you can get additional mounts for your truck or wall or whatever and just quickly secure your bow to whatever you want. I know someone else even has one on their gear hanger as well to hang their bow from while in the saddle.
 
Nah, I climb with my pack and my pack has my predator platform on it. The bow is easy to pull up/light.

I don't like my cams getting dirt in them though.
 
Can you, or should you?
For a variety of reasons I don't and won't unless it's a last resort.
I don't believe it safe to climb with 4 razor sharp broadheads strapped to my back. The "fall aspect" is obvious but even if an arrow somehow becomes partially dislodged from the quiver and the hood, it could cause damage to bowstrings or my body.
And in a lot of the trees that I hunt it's just not possible to climb with a bow. I try to cut as little as possible in a tree that I hunt. There are situations that I can barely squirm MYSELF over, under, and between branches on the way up. There's no way that I could do it with a bow strapped to me.
I firmly believe that Dave Toms is correct about developing a system of packing, climbing, setting, etc and sticking with the system. Deviating from the system invites fumbling, mistakes, noise, or accidents.
I'm hunting with simple trad gear and I won't climb with the bow.
I can't fathom doing it with sights, rests, cables and all that other tech stuff that can get bumped or damaged during a climb. But even when climbing totally branch less trees the thoughts of accidentally falling on my bow makes this a no brainer.
Wrap your haul line in a figure 8 so you won't have tangles, and put the bow out of your drop zone in the unlikely event of a fall.
 
I hate laying my bow on the ground for this reason.

Yeah, I almost don't want to shoot a deer if my bow has mud there because it'll get in the track, but I of course would.

At home, I've had good luck with a soft bristle boot brush that is clean (never used for boot dressing) and just warm water and work it all over the string and groove.
 
Thanks @Red Beard

I use what’s called the bow spider.
.
They make permanent or molle options. I have one of each.
Depending on your pack, I can run two sticks on the sides and my bow in the middle and be totally hands free on the walk in. Or carry bow in with pack, then at the base of the tree, I get all four sticks off of the pack as well as my platform, then attach my bow to the pack and ascend the tree with everything all at once. No tangles. No ropes or anything. I still carry 25ft of 550 cord just in case. I hunt out west a lot also and that is where I discovered the bow spider. It may not be for everyone. Also, you can get additional mounts for your truck or wall or whatever and just quickly secure your bow to whatever you want. I know someone else even has one on their gear hanger as well to hang their bow from while in the saddle.
I too have used the bow spider. It's not currently on my bow but I may go back to it. I had it on my pack hip belt and one sticked with it. I thought it would get in the way but it never did. Worked well.
 
Looks cool. I haven't seen it up here in BC but can see it being useful onong hikes in!
Can the Bow Spider provide any level of retention if the receiver gets turned upside down or would the bow just drop out, say reaching down to move your stick up?
 
Falling out of a tree would suck. Falling out of a tree and ruining my bow would just add insult to injury. Plus the safety risk. No judgement on those who climb with a bow but it's not for me.

I have climbed with a rifle (single shot, hammer down, comfortable that it won't AD) and I didn't notice it was there until the muzzle caught on branches on my way up. In general I tie my pack to my rappel rope and my rifle to my dog leash (with the line replaced with throwline).
 
Looks cool. I haven't seen it up here in BC but can see it being useful onong hikes in!
Can the Bow Spider provide any level of retention if the receiver gets turned upside down or would the bow just drop out, say reaching down to move your stick up?
Yes it does. It not only locks in a downwards fashion due to the weight of the bow dropping down into the slot but you also have to move it slightly inwards or outwards as well to get it to come out.
 
Nah, I climb with my pack and my pack has my predator platform on it. The bow is easy to pull up/light.

I don't like my cams getting dirt in them though.
I like to run my fig. 8 cord thru a hole in my riser, then loop over a cam or anything it will hook onto. That way my bow lays flat on the ground and goes up and back down laying flat. Less chance of something getting into cams.
 
I like to run my fig. 8 cord thru a hole in my riser, then loop over a cam or anything it will hook onto. That way my bow lays flat on the ground and goes up and back down laying flat. Less chance of something getting into cams.

Thanks! I'll probably use this. I saw someone advocate hooking to their d loop with an s biner. And I know that it probably would never move given that it holds your bow string.....but I didn't like that.

Your idea sounds better.
 
Thanks! I'll probably use this. I saw someone advocate hooking to their d loop with an s biner. And I know that it probably would never move given that it holds your bow string.....but I didn't like that.

Your idea sounds better.
I just tie a large loop in the end of my cord and it slips over a cam or my string stop. On my recurve it goes around riser and hooks on quiver. Limb tips won't stick in the dirt that way.
 
I forgot my hoist rope twice this year and attached my rifle to my pack and climbed with it attached. I hardly even noticed except the extra weight when taking it off to hang it.
 
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