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Originally posted by Reloader66:
The Tree lounge will climb a steel well casing pipe and not slip, also will support as much as 1400 lbs. The Tree lounge is one strong well designed quality piece of hunting equipment. I believe the Summit tree stand is a close second on it's ability to scale any tree regardless of the bark. The key to safety is follow the manufacturers directions and you should be just fine. Most tree climbing stand accidents are the fault of the guy not reading the directions on how to use his new tree climbing toy.

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Originally posted by TCLouis:
Something I learned about slick bark trees way back before Baker had the hand climber OPTION!

When one climbs a slick bark tree they should practice "shinnying down a tree and place the bow of firearm at a safe distance from the base of a tree also known as the landing zone. One may want to practice screaming like a little gurl before the the hunt. That way all the other hunters in the area will then talk about the gurl out in the woods and your "slide for life" will be your secret. . . .

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Always keep a clear LZ You haven't lived until you've combined "Baker" with "slick-barked" and "too slender"!!

The only tree within arrow distance of THE trail was too skinny AND too slick, but hey . . . I was young, I needed a deer.

It was hot, I was in a t-shirt, with all my camo in a shoulder pack, and my bow on the ground, I made it as high as the platform would grip and got a bungee cord around the hand climber above my head to secure it.

Holding on with my left hand, pack still over the shoulder, I bent down to secure the stand with another bungee when it let go. My feet, still strapped in, dropped out from under me, and the shoulder strap holding the pack slid down over my right shoulder, securing my right arm at my side. Hanging for a long second or two by the three fingers I still had engaged on the climber, my fingers straightened out and my descent began.

I started sliding/falling. I got my right arm up and tried to grab the tree with both arms, which was way too slick to grab with the climber, but plenty rough enough take meat off the inside of my bare arms.

I kept sliding/falling and there was nothing to grab. I finally, suddenly realized all I had to do was rock backwards for a grip. I did.

Holy Shit!! The stand, having descended to a point where the diameter of the tree was OK, and the bark roughened, grabbed the tree like it was nailed on. My heels hit the floor, then my knees buckled and then my ass hit the floor and I almost went off backward.

Damn, that was close, almost fell out of the damn tree. Whew.

Looking over my shoulder, I could now see that I was only about three feet off the ground. Well, at least I wasn't hurt bad and didn't bust my stand. I stepped off the platform and took a break. Man, what a racket that must have made.

Standing on the ground, shaken up some, sweating and a little bloody inside my forearms, I might have called it a day if my climber hadn't been hanging fifteen feet up in the tree. Hell.

I got over it and shinnyed back up to the climber with the stand on my feet. This time the pack stayed down with the bow and I was very careful to tie in quickly. I figured that if I didn't go so high, and was more careful, I'd then haul my gear up and hunt it. I got the stand tied in really good, so it barely shifted when I moved. After that, it only dropped unexpectedly once more, about a half-inch.

After all that noise, and while I usually try not to touch the tree at all, I had a trail of skin and sweat all the way down that sucker, and then had to shinny back up to boot. I guess that since it was getting too late to move to another location, I better just hunt what I've got. I was still getting settled and looked up to see a deer heading my way. I was amazed to get the shot, but the deer seemed unaware of any disturbance.

[ 10-14-2003, 00:03: Message edited by: eshell ]

quote:

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Originally posted by TCLouis:
One may want to practice screaming like a little gurl before the the hunt. That way all the other hunters in the area will then talk about the gurl out in the woods and your "slide for life" will be your secret.
LouisB

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LMAO!!!