Saddle hunting safety questions

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Oct 5, 2019
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Hey everyone, don’t know how many saddle hunters are out there but I had a few questions. I’m thinking about getting into saddle hunting next season and was wondering how you guys safely run them. Do you guys wear a lineman’s rope in addition to the tree tether? Or do you wear fall protection? What would be your back up fall protection if the tether failed? Maybe I’m over thinking it. I spend a lot of time in a lineman’s belt for work so I’m not afraid to trust the correct equipment. Anyway, just wanted to see if you guys were doing anything extra for safety.
 

Brendan

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I don't double up on tether and linesman belt once I'm up the tree, it'd take a LOT for my tether to fail. I do take the end of the tether below my prussic and clip that off to my saddle as a backup in case the prussic (or ropeman) were to fail.

The one thing I've thought about is while using a ropeman, if you fall, does that have the ability to cut your tether as they're designed as an ascender, not for fall protection. There's some speculation out there on this one, but that's avoided if you use a prussic.
 

Beendare

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I think Brendan is dead on. I also use a ropeman 1 on my tether with a simple stop knot behind it. That rope is rated for much much higher stress than I will ever give it if I fell 5 feet.

I use a lineman style rope to climb, then the tether....when trying to condense down your kit- a guy really needs both so that you are always connected.
________

I sewed my own saddle, customized to my substantial posterior and spent last summer testing a bunch of climbing methods here at the house. FWIW, I liked some- like the SRT and DRT [singel/double rope technique] but when it came to in the dark and in the woods it was a bit of a rodeo. Multi step aiders and other strategies just made it too dangerous for me in the dark.

Factor in my hunting is in some pretty remote spots....not on some farm. I'm literally bushwhacked into a steep hole at some wallow in elk country where by the time they found me I would be a skeleton....so I err on the side of being a puss.

Easiest for me is my Hawk sticks with the rope mod...I'm all in at 10# with gloves and saw.

...
 

Brendan

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Multi step aiders and other strategies just made it too dangerous for me in the dark.

This is actually a good point. I use cut down sticks and a multi step aider I take up the tree with me. On two occasions I've had a stick "kick out" because I was trying to climb a crooked tree, and the aider ended up out of line with the stick (Mental error on my part). Neither did serious damage because I was tied in with my lineman's belt, but on one of them it was looser/lower than I'd like as I was ascending and I fell 3' or so before the lineman's belt pinned me against the tree.

The dangerous part? Rescuing yourself from this situation when you're bear hugging a tree suspended by your lineman's belt while wearing all your gear. NOT EASY, and you really should have a plan and practice this.

Not that this should be any different than climbing a hang on, but IMO one of the potentially dangerous areas.
 
OP
Shakeandbake
Joined
Oct 5, 2019
Messages
55
I think Brendan is dead on. I also use a ropeman 1 on my tether with a simple stop knot behind it. That rope is rated for much much higher stress than I will ever give it if I fell 5 feet.

I use a lineman style rope to climb, then the tether....when trying to condense down your kit- a guy really needs both so that you are always connected.
________

I sewed my own saddle, customized to my substantial posterior and spent last summer testing a bunch of climbing methods here at the house. FWIW, I liked some- like the SRT and DRT [singel/double rope technique] but when it came to in the dark and in the woods it was a bit of a rodeo. Multi step aiders and other strategies just made it too dangerous for me in the dark.

Factor in my hunting is in some pretty remote spots....not on some farm. I'm literally bushwhacked into a steep hole at some wallow in elk country where by the time they found me I would be a skeleton....so I err on the side of being a puss.

Easiest for me is my Hawk sticks with the rope mod...I'm all in at 10# with gloves and saw.

...
Thanks for the info, this helps a lot. I also hike in very far on public, if I fall I’m in trouble. If you ever get a chance, could you post a picture of how you set it all up?
 

Brendan

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Thanks for the info, this helps a lot. I also hike in very far on public, if I fall I’m in trouble. If you ever get a chance, could you post a picture of how you set it all up?

I personally don't have any pictures of how I set it up, because I'm climbing the tree...

A good place to start is saddlehunter.com or here:

 

Beendare

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Yeah, no pics here either. Brandons right...self rescue is a key. Its not a bad idea having a length of 20'-30' of climbing rope and know how to rappel out of a tree with just a carabiner.

I replaced the rope on the sticks, used amsteel rope. Don't go smaller that 1/4" even though the rope is rated very high, its hard to undo.

I can see a guy stretching the sticks with a one step aider. that hangs from the top step and you move it ......and I've seen a slick setup for an aider that has a standoff for the step. The one step aider is talked about a lot on Saddlehunter site.

I think the key is to test your setup then modify to your own purpose....so you can do it in your sleep.
 
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