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Stick kick out

Iglow

Iglow

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If I understand it right it's the stick bottom rotating to either side? It seems to be the most talked about problem and danger of using climbing sticks. Is the answer after setting the stick to have a line that goes about the tree at the bottom of the stick? I was thinking of using a paracord line to snug the bottom of the stick in place on the 2 top sticks, not tight or holding any weight, just after the stick is set and to keep it from rotating. Is there something I'm missing or a reason that it's a bad idea?
 
When you step straight down on the steps like a ladder they won't move on you. It's generally when you start to torque them laterally or pull out and away from the tree that you start to run into kickout.
This has been my experience with XOP and Lone Wolf sticks.
 
Ive got 3 - 3step sticks and the bottom 2 have single aders. I can get my feet about 14 feet up so my main movement( chest/arms) is 17 feet up. I went ahead and put paracord lines on the top 2 that i can trucker hitch after i set them, Ill let yall know how it goes. Gonna use them in the morning.
 
When setting your spacing, the bottom of the top stick's step should be approximately even with your knee that is flexed on the top step of the stick below. Any higher you are starting to take risks.

I get about 16 feet with 4 Lone Wolf/Novix sticks. I'll carry a 5th stick if it needs to be higher.
 
UTGrad said:
When setting your spacing, the bottom of the top stick's step should be approximately even with your knee that is flexed on the top step of the stick below. Any higher you are starting to take risks.

I get about 16 feet with 4 Lone Wolf/Novix sticks. I'll carry a 5th stick if it needs to be higher.
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That's what I've found as well.

I like the sticks and hang on in areas with enough cover that I don't need to be high. For situations where i need to be high to be hidden I use a climber.
 
If you tighten your strap/rope/daisy chain as close to horizontal as possible- and before climbing up on the stick, grab it by the bottom steps and pull out away from the tree and down hard. The stick should slide down the tree an inch or two. It wont kick out. I'll hunt off my sticks occasionally and put all kinds of side pressure on them and never had an issue once i started focusing on those two things.

Kick outs only ever happened to me when i let my strap get too vertical on the tree
 
its gonna be hard to completely avoid movement at the bottom of the stick without an attachment method at the bottom as well. with that said, the kick out i've seen is minimal and very infrequent. i agree with what some others have said regarding spacing. i use three api huntin sticks and each has a single step amsteel aider, so it's like having 4 sticks. i'm 6'3" so i can reasonably get 18'-20' without having to stretch my reach between sticks farther than necessary. i use the cam buckle that came with the sticks (cut a bicycle tire tube and wrapped that around cam buckle in case it hits metal during attachment). the way i attach them is to wrap the strap around the tree, perpendicular to the direction of the stick, snug it down well, then pull down to set it firmly in place. then i simply step up. key point here is i'm always using my linemans belt in case something unexpected happens.
if i feel like i need to get higher than 20' i'll grad another api stick from my shed
 
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Iglow said:
Well, the saddle thing could be seen as a gimmick or fad. Whatever. Im sold. Its safe comfortable and practiclly any tree will work. My climbers are gonna be gathering dust.
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Not a gimmick at all. They are expensive. But they are a great tool in the tool box. I haven't hunted out of my climber since I got one either.
 
The stick itself matters a lot. I have had a couple that I threw in the trash. Wouldn't even sell em because I didn't want that on my conscience. My current sticks (Skeletors from Tethrd) lock on like concrete though. Hawk Heliums are death traps. Hate those things

Also, I've seen kicckout for buddies that was simply negligence. Fellas not seating the stick properly after tying it up because they were in a hurry or still asleep. Paying attention matters. It's your life.

After my last kick out on Hawks I swapped to saddle hunting. Makes me feel a bit better when moving. Granted I used a harness and lineman's belt before but the saddle gives me extra warm fuzzies. Not to mention I shaved a lot of weight in my pack in by carrying a platform instead of a stand.
 

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