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Teach me about climbing with sticks?

2380 Views 41 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  tddeangelo, 
T
Ok, so I got a Novix Echo.

Now I'm stick shopping.

There are places where I will be hunting that the trees look like a "telephone pole farm." Meaning, tall, bare(ish) trunks. I could lug my Summit climber in to those spots, I guess. That'd handle any height at which I care to sit.

For the Echo and sticks, I feel like I would be happy with a stick setup that I can use to get at least 15', with 18' being my ideal.

I've never used sticks, let alone an aider/swaider/etc.

Just looking for some ideas on what might do the job well for me... and how to use it to best effect.

I like the Tethrd Skeletor stick, but am open to ideas. I'd prefer to stay in the price range of the Skeletor if possible.

So...questions are:

-What's a decent mid-priced stick?

and

-How can I use that stick as safely as possible to reach to 15+ feet?

I do not want to set my stand higher than my top stick. I've seen youtube videos of guys doing that, and if it works for them, cool. I would prefer not to do that.
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Venari Cervorum
The Skeletors look really nice for the money.

I've been using 20" Hawk Heliums since they came out with 2 cable aiders. I had to sharpen the standoffs, but they've been great since.

How high a person can get with x number of sticks is very specific to each person, and something I personally feel people new to mobile stands/sticks tend to over think. I know I sure did.

I prefer cable aiders, but there's a zillion different types of aiders and everyone seems to like something a little different.

You'll likely end up burning more money than you planned by experimenting with equipment, but you'll end up figuring out what you like.
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Venari Cervorum
tddeangelo said:
Thanks!

I don't want to go right to high dollar sticks until I feel more comfortable knowing what I'm spending the money to get, if that makes sense.

I never thought of a rope step or two, but that could be a trick in my bag if needed to eek out a couple extra feet.Thank you for that idea! That's awesome.

Seems like the Skeletors are my pick. Maybe a 2-step aider on the bottom, a couple of rope steps in my pack, and I shoul be able to get to my desired height. The other stick I looked at is the Trophyline/Novix, and I like that the steps are solid and don't fold. I don't like losing 3" per stick, though.

The wife and I bumped a tax bracket and had a kid age out of the child tax credit (yet no bills went down...weird how that works), so I gotta get through my tax bill before I spend money on sticks, but then I wanna get on it so I can start practicing my climbing/setting up. I want to get comfortable setting thigns up. Since I have some woods on my property, I figured I'd practice setting up just like I will when I hunt, shoot a bit from up there, and just in general get acclimated to things well prior to the season.
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Perfect plan. Have fun!
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