Ultralight Climbers

[rogerthat]

From a macroeconomic perspective, Lone Wolf really missed the mark on that one. A grand for a climbing stand that probably costs about 50 bucks to produce is actually ludicrous... and they discontinued an excellent option at a much more reasonable price to poke dudes in the eye like that.

With how tight money is for most people right now, I'd be very surprised if they sell many of them. I'd go saddle or hang on before even considering it.

I agree except for the part about not selling many. There is a limitless supply of hunters dropping big dollars on hunting gear. Look at the performance hunting gear clothes and packs. A grand doesn’t seem like much when you compare that to what you pay for big ticket stuff

 

[RemingtonRules]

limitless supply of hunters dropping big dollars on hunting gear
Fixed it...
limitless supply of wannabe "hunters" dropping crazy dollars on hunting gear they will hardly ever use but get to take pictures with.

 

[rjthehunter]

I switched to a saddle a couple of years ago. Best decision I've made. You can shoot 360 degrees around the tree, and it's comfortable. No way I'm over $1k with my setup. Hawk helium sticks with their platform piece on the top stick. It's light, I can get up a tree and set up in under 10 mins being almost completely silent!

I hunt private land often, so I just trim out lanes from trees I like to hunt. Instead of having 20 stands set (how many thousands does that cost?) I can get up any tree with the same setup that's on my back!

 

[rogerthat]

limitless supply of hunters dropping big dollars on hunting gear
Fixed it...
limitless supply of wannabe "hunters" dropping crazy dollars on hunting gear they will hardly ever use but get to take pictures with.

Yea!!

 

[rogerthat]

limitless supply of hunters dropping big dollars on hunting gear
Fixed it...
limitless supply of wannabe "hunters" dropping crazy dollars on hunting gear they will hardly ever use but get to take pictures with.

The more you spend the more likelihood of success right?

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

I switched to a saddle a couple of years ago. Best decision I've made. You can shoot 360 degrees around the tree, and it's comfortable. No way I'm over $1k with my setup. Hawk helium sticks with their platform piece on the top stick. It's light, I can get up a tree and set up in under 10 mins being almost completely silent!

I hunt private land often, so I just trim out lanes from trees I like to hunt. Instead of having 20 stands set (how many thousands does that cost?) I can get up any tree with the same setup that's on my back!

I hear so many guys say they can shoot 360... I found I couldn't even shoot 180 out of a saddle. I couldn't get steady swinging around the tree, with the tether yanking me back to the side, and then the stupid bridge gets in the way of your draw elbow half the time.

I also fidget like a tweaking cat. Saddles just encourage me to swing around in my full grown man diaper. they ARE awesome for weight savings. But they aren't my cup of tea.

 

[Sheltowee]

I think a saddle is the way you're going to want to go for a true ultralight setup.

Slightly off topic, but is there any better nap than one taken in a big climber like one of the old Summits or a Muddy Woodsman?

 

[rjthehunter]

I hear so many guys say they can shoot 360... I found I couldn't even shoot 180 out of a saddle. I couldn't get steady swinging around the tree, with the tether yanking me back to the side, and then the stupid bridge gets in the way of your draw elbow half the time.

I also fidget like a tweaking cat. Saddles just encourage me to swing around in my full grown man diaper. they ARE awesome for weight savings. But they aren't my cup of tea.

I've had people tell me it's not possible to shoot 360... So I climb up a tree and have had a couple people put a target wherever they wanted and I'd shoot it. It's kind of a fun game!

Sounds like you probably have your tether set too high up on the tree. I've never had an issue with the bridge or tether being in my way.

Practice in the yard or something shooting 360. Once you get it figured out, it's really easy! I'm pretty nimble though.

 

[Steiny77]

Treewalker climber is what I've been using for 15 years.
I think the whole thing weighs 21 lbs.

 

[jakenbake]

I've had people tell me it's not possible to shoot 360... So I climb up a tree and have had a couple people put a target wherever they wanted and I'd shoot it. It's kind of a fun game!

Sounds like you probably have your tether set too high up on the tree. I've never had an issue with the bridge or tether being in my way.

Practice in the yard or something shooting 360. Once you get it figured out, it's really easy! I'm pretty nimble though.

I'm going into year 3 in a saddle and it's absolutely a learning experience. One step forward, one step back, eventually I'll get the hang of it. For someone that doesn't get out nearly as much as I want to because of family responsibilities, it's hard coming from a Summit climber making the adjustment. But, ultimately, it's lighter and can get me in more trees. One day I'll get all of the adjustments to where I'm comfortable, but up to now it's been a lot of powering through discomfort. I will say, a good set of knee pads is a nice addition to be able to rest against the tree and not beat your legs up.

 

[rjthehunter]

I'm going into year 3 in a saddle and it's absolutely a learning experience. One step forward, one step back, eventually I'll get the hang of it. For someone that doesn't get out nearly as much as I want to because of family responsibilities, it's hard coming from a Summit climber making the adjustment. But, ultimately, it's lighter and can get me in more trees. One day I'll get all of the adjustments to where I'm comfortable, but up to now it's been a lot of powering through discomfort. I will say, a good set of knee pads is a nice addition to be able to rest against the tree and not beat your legs up.

My saddle is a tethrd Phantom. I got the backrest and that helps a lot with comfort. I will usually pull it out if I'm sitting for more than 3 hours! It's similar to hunting in any stand. You have to adjust once in awhile to stay comfortable.

There's a lot of adjustments you can make to help with comfort. If you feel like you're being pulled or leaning one direction or the other, you can change where your tether chokes down to correct any leaning left/right.

Time in a tree is invaluable! You learn new things every time. Set it up at home and play around with it if you have 20 mins and can't commit to hunting, it'll help you get dialed in quicker.

 

[jakenbake]

My saddle is a tethrd Phantom. I got the backrest and that helps a lot with comfort. I will usually pull it out if I'm sitting for more than 3 hours! It's similar to hunting in any stand. You have to adjust once in awhile to stay comfortable.

There's a lot of adjustments you can make to help with comfort. If you feel like you're being pulled or leaning one direction or the other, you can change where your tether chokes down to correct any leaning left/right.

Time in a tree is invaluable! You learn new things every time. Set it up at home and play around with it if you have 20 mins and can't commit to hunting, it'll help you get dialed in quicker.

I have the same saddle and just picked up the back band (one more thing to figure out...). Somehow like an idiot I just discovered this summer how to adjust the bridge. Talk about a freaking light bulb going off. For the life of me I hadn't been able to figure out how guys could have the tree attachment at chest height because the bridge required me to have it so high otherwise I couldn't maintain tension. 100% in agreement - any time in the tree is good time, even just 20 minutes to sort out where you want things to be.

The steps are another thing to figure out (part of what I loved about climbers is you hook the top/bottom on, attach to the tree, and away you go). I have a short 4 piece set of sticks with an aider on the bottom step and don't feel like I get quite high enough, but also don't really trust aiders on the rest of the steps. Plus each new attachment (step) is another place to go wrong. It always feels like it takes 3x the time it should and I'm getting 5x sweatier than I would in a climber but 80% of that is flop sweat from berating myself about how bad I am at the whole thing. Man, do I have issues

 

[rogerthat]

I have used a climber to go up a tree and then a saddle once I’m up. My climber isn’t that much heavier than a set of sticks and I wear the saddle so don’t notice it. I like the ability to swing around the tree and shoot behind me if I need to and depending on the tree, I can go super high if I want

 

[rjthehunter]

I have the same saddle and just picked up the back band (one more thing to figure out...). Somehow like an idiot I just discovered this summer how to adjust the bridge. Talk about a freaking light bulb going off. For the life of me I hadn't been able to figure out how guys could have the tree attachment at chest height because the bridge required me to have it so high otherwise I couldn't maintain tension. 100% in agreement - any time in the tree is good time, even just 20 minutes to sort out where you want things to be.

The steps are another thing to figure out (part of what I loved about climbers is you hook the top/bottom on, attach to the tree, and away you go). I have a short 4 piece set of sticks with an aider on the bottom step and don't feel like I get quite high enough, but also don't really trust aiders on the rest of the steps. Plus each new attachment (step) is another place to go wrong. It always feels like it takes 3x the time it should and I'm getting 5x sweatier than I would in a climber but 80% of that is flop sweat from berating myself about how bad I am at the whole thing. Man, do I have issues

With 4 of the hawk helium 20" climbing sticks, I can get up to about 16'. I can go higher if I stretch it. But most of what I hunt is between 12-16ft. Much higher and I'm up into more limbs and I don't want to deal with that. I've hunted as low as 8'. I shot my buck a couple of years ago out of a stand hung at 7-8ft. It's all that the spot allowed but worked well. Shot the buck at 10 yards!

I don't personally use an aider, but I have considered getting a couple for the bottom 2 sticks. But I haven't really come in to a situation where I felt like I needed to be higher.

 

[howl]

If you're in the SE and rifle hunt watch classifieds for a Tomcat I. They're usually about 13# and sell for under $100.

For bow, you can occasionally find a Loggy Bayou.

Either is great as long as there's no rust.

 

[Treeshark]

You can make a climber feel a lot lighter by attaching the correct straps/packing apparatus to it (or just using a pack frame).

I would rather have a comfortable climber than a super light one- saddles aren’t it, and the seat on that Lone Wolf one is just ridiculous. Cmon now, how are you supposed to sit on that for more than 30 minutes?

Find a nice Summit or something along those lines, and figure out how to carry it- even if it’s 30lbs, that nothing on a decent frame. Guys do many miles or that in the mountains per day with more weight, a mile or two isn’t a big deal.

 

[mplane72]

Seriously just had this pop up after first looking at this thread. If I were younger maybe I would give a saddle more consideration but probably not.


When I need a climber I use an older LW sit and climb. Only mod is a sling seat and third hand straps. Heavier yes but good back pack strap with waist belt makes it no problem to carry long distance with every thing else strapped to it. 1k for a climber? No Way but I'm sure they'll sell.

 

[utah400elk]

I have 4 of the Tethrd one sticks with and double aider on first step and a single aider on the other three. I can easily get over 20’ with my set up.

 

[rogerthat]

Seriously just had this pop up after first looking at this thread. If I were younger maybe I would give a saddle more consideration but probably not.
View attachment 297318

When I need a climber I use an older LW sit and climb. Only mod is a sling seat and third hand straps. Heavier yes but good back pack strap with waist belt makes it no problem to carry long distance with every thing else strapped to it. 1k for a climber? No Way but I'm sure they'll sell.

Why is the caption blacked out on the knee pads?

 

[mplane72]

Because it's lewd comedy and this is a family site.