Great idea Paul, very easy climbing method. I use 30” hawk helium sticks, I made the aiders 30” and 48” and reach 21’ with 3 sticks, I’m 5’10” and 65 yrs old, easy peasy
Guess I don’t understand everyone hating on this. You’re using a method that works well for you. I use one 15” homemade stick with a three step aider and can get as high as I want. My tether is around the tree the entire time. Set my stick, climb up, set my tether, pull my stick and repeat until I’m at the height I want. Rappel down when I’m finished. Whole setup weighs about 6 pounds. You do you. This looks like it works great.
thanks for your remarks. Yes, it works well for me and is as simple as it get's without presetting trees. You method sounds great too. I'm trying to get into a two tether climbing system as in the one demonstrated on youtube by Scott Atkins. He's got a really slick method.
I like the ideal ,because your not having too fool around trying to get your boots in the straps, and you don’t have too worry about them coming off your boots. You need to patent your ideal before someone else does!
Great video Paul, you’re a thinker and a doer. Funny how some of those watching didn’t actually pay attention to what you said. Your method is light and quiet, awesome.
Oh man, that's cool. Thanks for saying so. I have some more I want to make but just haven't had the time. I've passed a lot of young bucks this year and some I would have shot a year ago, because I have a few real old bucks I know are in my hunting areas, so I've been holding out. If I get one, I'll make a few more videos again. I have some good ideas to share.
Swaider like concept, but a little different. Seems like having a hook instead of the little loops to put over the step would be more efficient and like you mentioned a piece of elastic cord to keep the ends near your waist would be nice. The wide belt is definitely a plus!
I’ve ended up just using it just like in the video. Elastic cord just got messy and in the way. I find it really simple to lift my foot and reach for the strap when I need to, which is only once on the way up and once when I climb down.
Soft loop is better for the ladder, and less likely to slip off. Not every tree is that straight. Just want to be sure your sewing is good, or use knots.
@@HondoTrailside yup, sewing is first rate. I made sure of that. I prefer the loops. They go on easy and feel solid. It's easy to tell that I have a good solid connection to the step on the stick. No slippage. It's easy to slide on and slide off as I advance. The hardest part of any climbing method so far, it advancing the lineman's lanyard. I always hate letting go of my sticks to work the linemans. That's with any climbing method. Even with preset bolts. Nothing like having a lifeline in the tree, but for mobile hunting, that's not possible. Could use a throwball and get one in the tree that way, but if I was going to do that, I would SRT up the tree.
Thanks for watching. It is pretty slick. My knees have started bothering me this winter so I think I'm going to go with slightly smaller steps on some new sticks. On another note, I think I mentioned it in the video, but, it's important when you try things out, you do so with bulky clothes to emulate the kind of bulk you'll be wearing while hunting and also work on some less than perfect trees. There tend to be a lot of leaners out there and fighting gravity is a real thing while saddle hunting. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions. There is a lot of content out there now on saddle hunting. You should be able to learn fast.
I like it. But it doesn't seem any easier than the one stick method. I may be wrong. I'm currently using one stick but that said I'm 6ft 180 and pretty athletic. It's not simple but I love the weight reduction of just one stick and aider
Yup, one stick is half the weight of 2. I just find this a lot faster and a lot less effort. Some guys have some pretty slick ways of attaching and detaching their sticks for one sticking though that looks pretty slick.
I personally had an opportunity to use Paul's final product and I'm SOLD! Would never go into the woods again with more than three steps. His mod with the elastic on ankle and hip make them awesome.
Ive thought about making a follow up. My tripod and cell phone holder was "misplaced" at a job site. So I have to purchase some gear to make more videos.
I would use my bridge hook up as I go up and down, a little slower but if your foots slips off the tree to one side you could find yourself in a bad situation. I’ve already experienced this on the ground level.
I’d sew a magnet on the strap ends and one on each side of the saddle. I’m just hypothesizing that would be easier than reaching down and grabbing them.
yeah, I tried the knaider and swader, just couldn't get as much distance per stick with them. I also thought they took longer to put on and I like the wide strap on the webbing I took from the tree stand safety harness.
Give the versa strap a try. I just had trouble with the shoes I use hunting and so decided a wider strap was needed to ease the discomfort. You might not have the same issue. Sorry for the late update.
Great video. I like your method, but honestly, it doesn't look very safe. I use four sticks, the linemen belt AND my bridge/rappel line connection which gives me another connection to the tree and a way to rappel down if a stick breaks or something happens. Stay safe my friend. :-)
Good idea, its just that setting up in the dark would be more difficult due to all the steps. Those ropes on ur stix look so thin for someone ur size....what is the weight carrying capacity on it?
WIBOWHunter darkness doesn’t seem to be an issue. 7/64 Amsteel doubles up in a daisy chain is way strong enough. I don’t know the specs but off the top of my head I’m thinking 3500 lbs.
Yes, one is shorter than the other. I don't know the overall length. It will be different for everyone, depending on your height, how high you can attach your stick, etc.
New Subscriber. Try the S.M.A.R.T. Climbing method, it would work well with your system. I've only made one video so for on one stixing.(One Stixing like a BOSS). Because one stixing is so dangerous, and this makes it safe and easy. But it pairs well with any climbing technique. I search for a diy tree squeeze, a couple yrs. ago it seems, and found yours. I would like to give you credit. In a new video. You won't see me using it in this one. I used clips from an older video. Detailed video coming and it will be pointed out. Should I mention your channel? Thanks
How did you determine the length of the aiders? I am switching to sticks next year from primal steps and have old harness stuff laying around wanting to utilize that
it was kind of a trial and error method. But I used strong clips to hold the loops where I wanted them and put my foot up to where the top loop would hook over the bottom step of the stick and without putting weight on the aider. I make adjustments until I thought it was good and then took them to a shoe repair place where they sewed them up.
@@paulcrave9149 Great video. So I'm about 6 foot tall and want to try this. How long is each aider?I was thinking 4 ft. and 2 ft, but when i see you take 4 aider aided steps to get to your stick, i'm a bit perplexed. I assumed roughly 2 ft. per step.
@@davidheffron4481 Get your stick as high as you can get it, have 2 straps with a footloops already sewn into them. Step up to the tree and put your foot as high as you can and wrap one aider around the bottom step of the stick. Mark it and sew it. Leave the loop big enough that you don't have to struggle to get it on the step. Once that is sewn, step up on it and do the same with the aider on the other foot. After that you just need to stop up into the second aider and then loosen the first one and hook it over the top step, step up and repeat it on the other side. That way you get 4 steps in before you get to your stick. Hope that helps.
Trees often have a limb, curve, knot, etc. that requires setting a stick a bit lower or higher than may be ideal. With only two sticks and your fixed aider length, it seems that situation would result in you always have to mount the stick lower and perhaps getting significantly less height, since you can't possibly mount the stick any higher than you are able to reach and/or step. How do you work around that caveat? Is it simply accepting that your tree choices are more limited?
Bham67 that’s a good observation and good question. The vast majority of the time I know the trees I’m going to be hunting ahead of time. I do sometimes lose a little height for the reasons you mentioned, but if I know there are trees I can get up into with two sticks, I’ll go with the two. If I know there is a crotch or something I need to get around, I carry a third stick.
Paul well done.. still amazes me how small ur Amsteel is... freaks me out.. lol.. I know it’s strong enough but still amazing. I just made a new Knaider hook to go over my Beast Stick step .. so much easier to hit the step rather than a little loop.. again great job
Mark Dohring thanks Mark. I know what you mean, those ropes look so tiny. They’re great for packing. Yup, a large hoop makes getting it over the step makes for less strain while climbing. Good luck.
I like the way you strapped it to your feet I had a instance when it came off and I was already dedicated to the step. The only thing holding me was a tethrd t hook. I will definitely employ that in my system.
I will admit , I got a little nervous when you started coming down . Nothing ventured nothing gained I guess. Probably the lightest method I’ve seen so far. Good job.
I will admit, I was a bit nervous. It feels fine on the first stick, but on the second one, there is more scary stuff that can enter your head. Lol. But using it more makes it a lot less intimidating. I actually really like the method now. I've tried multiple step aiders and I find them much more difficult to use. They are messy and if they are the carry up as you go type of aider, they get caught on steps and twisted with other pull up ropes. No good for me. I'm sticking with this method.
Luckily they weren't falling on me. Actually, I haven't seen many this year come to think of it. The lineman's lanyard is 8' long. Thanks for watching.
thanx for the reply and here too in my state very few black walnuts also and most nut trees..one of those years with not alot of nut bearing trees dropping...nice and quiet sitting afternoon posts without the non stop noise of squirrels cutting hickory nuts falling all over me
Larry D a lot less work actually than carrying two more sticks, attaching them and Unattaching them to a loop or something to take them up the tree with me, then attaching them to the tree. This is quite a bit easier and a lot less bulk to carry in. You really have to try it in order to understand. But I can understand if people don’t want to try it. If you don’t mind carrying more gear then you’re all set.
Great video, I haven't liked using aiders because of having trouble keeping them on my feet. That little bungee solves that and 16 feet is about as high as I want to get. Thanks
Already have the two pieces of webbing with me. They serve dual purpose. Aider has to be moved and is super sketchy coming down. That was my first time and I had my LB too tight. It’s super simple now.
I use a moveable aider as well, but I use a simple webbing loop that goes over the top of the stick and then hangs down in front of the steps. (DaveT method) I can do something similar to your method by taking the slack out of the webbing while I step up or down (so it stays on my boot and I don't have to fish for it). I understand the convenience of your method, and considered it, but I do not want my foot tied tightly to anything. In case I slip, I want to be able to free my legs so that I can self-rescue more easily.
MrShysterme yeah. I wouldn’t want to be hanging from my foot either. The elastic band that holds it to my foot isn’t weight bearing but it might still make getting my foot out difficult at best. The nice thing about it is I don’t even bother to remove them while hunting.
Love the homemade ingenuity. For anyone interested in Paul's sticks, he's got a video here on how he made them. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-27E2odY1KHI.html
The saddle community will soon be climbing trees on 8 penny finish nails spaced 48" apart with a monofilament rope swing off an eagles back. Cant fault anyone for trying but unfortunately as long as we want to hunt from the trees we just gotta lug stuff to climb em.
For me, this seems like too much complication. A tree like that - I could be up and hunting in 5 minutes with my LW Hand Climber. It's only 2 pieces and it's so light on my back I don't even notice it. I did the saddle thing for years and enjoyed it, but I'll never go back. My LW climber is so much simpler, faster, and easier in my opinion.
The thing about climbers are when you go into areas that are briars and thickness every thing that can slap metal will and ting with an echo and stealth entry\exits are gone like the game animals we are hunting. Saddles give the ability to become as silent as a ninja. One sticking this year so we shall see.
@@jamesmoore1124 I use both. Everything takes effort to stay quiet. The big drawback of climbers is you can't go around limbs. Other than that they are way eaiser than any other method.
