29. Girth hitch knot, Ropeman ascender vs. Prussic knot, plus a Kill story

[@DanaFalls-b4h]

I am looking into using my Lone Wolf Crossover climber with a saddle. My buddy, Scott Risker, used to do deer management with me in suburban areas near Baltimore. He shared some of your videos. Love them and I enjoy your no nonsense attitude. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@michaelconley6245]

One of the best tips for a tether ive ever seen u saved alot of frustration for alot of us hunters.....thank u john for passing along your knowledge

[@PennsylvaniaSasquatch]

Yes, I agree, that video was jam packed with extremely useful information. It will certainly change my tree hunting operations.

[@chrisweber5041]

I’ll try it this weekend. My first time trying a saddle.

[@stevepalmateer]

I switched to ropemans for both my linesman belt and my tree tether. Sick of pulling tendons in my elbow trying to get prusik knots to budge. Sat in a big white ash last year that had me a bit scared as my tether kept slipping. Will definitely be trying this girth hitch this year. Thanks again Mr. Eberhart. Keep these gold nuggets coming!

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

You bet Stephen

[@08CC01]

Just got my tether and ropeman1. Just the video I needed. I’ve hunted out of my saddle previous seasons but this will be an upgrade for me. Need a little practice with the ropeman before going out and climbing the tree.

[@SmokingBarrelGundogs]

Great video. Always referring back to your page for any saddle info. Thank you

[@doncook3584]

John I use a Swabich hitch with a micro pulley. Think I paid $20. Breaks easy. One of the Ropeman had a recall. As to using the tree its hard to imagine a bow hunter wouldn’t have that much common sense but my wife likes to say “there is no pill for stupid”. Love your killing wagon

[@johnathonpatzwald8480]

Really appreciate the demonstration of the Girth Hitch! Felt a bit nervous with my tree how my linemen's belt would slide down when I used it several times as tree tether. I will definitely be using that Girth Hitch knot this Fall! Thanks John!!

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

You bet

[@doncook3584]

@@eberhartoutdoors4219 I just commented and btw that’s great tip. Have a few honey locusts with huntable trunks and the are slick. This will useful

[@nikolairuskin]

Great tips on your videos, thanks so much!!!!

[@kennethrogers1129]

Good hitch, easy way to convert the running eye to a true girth hitch, I like the jrb cinch or saddle hunter’s hitch , it’s very easy and useful, won’t go slack and drop when you take weight off to do whatever, but will try this, oh check out the jrb ascender hitches, useful and silent , adjustable connection to your bridge with one hand

[@stevegermain1222]

Awesome little trick thank you

[@chadreid1068]

Great story but I believe cocky and confident is somewhat different.... love the videos keep it up man.

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

That was an interesting kill because Don was a very effecient hunter, his only issue was he hunted from an archaic tree stand.

[@AA-fg3wj]

Thanks for letting us in on the girth hitch tip! I truly enjoy your videos.

[@johneberhart4062]

Thanks

[@stevenmatthews8981]

I had a doe come in from behind me, and not expecting anything from behind. The doe picked me out from just the slightest movement I made reaching for my bow. I just sat still, and she never could figure out what I was. She just trotted off, but never snorted which was a good thing😬😬😬 I love the little technique with the tether rope you do. I’ve started using that every time I go up in my Phantom saddle. Thanks for that little tip👍🏽👍🏽

[@keiththompson3208]

Your girth hitch recomendation is spot on and it's the exact method I use. However, your selection of the ropeman on your tether is flawed. The ropeman is designed for systems like a ropeman's belt where it has pressure on it at all times. It is NOT designed as a fall arrest connection. The reason that is, is that the teeth on the ropeman can destroy the rope in a sudden fall. The prussic knot on the other hand, will not damage the rope, so a prussic is always a better choice to use for fall arrest. If you search this concept on youtube, you will find some videos explaining all this in detail by professional arborists.

[@redwolfmedia1276]

Another awesome tip and story,thanks!

[@johneberhart4062]

My pleasure

[@EROCK1966]

Im sure with the kill number you have John youve forgot many scenarios .One over bate just another in the freezer.Thanks John when i bought my tethered i also purchased 2 linesman one for each.Makes adjustmemt so easy

[@kennethrogers1129]

Hey wow, why didn’t i think of that, the girth hitch , thanks John no need for a clamp or whatever

[@JohnSims3]

Mr. Eberhart, How do you like the Ropeman 1 for the tether? I have one for my lineman's belt but am a bit hesitant on the tether. The Prussic knot on the tether suck when trying to make fine adjustments...

[@georgeowen3506]

Try a vt hitch with a pulley. It works great for me

[@Picard80]

Thanks for the tip. I like the girth hitch! You might want to try the Kong Duck vs. Ropeman. Works great and no dilemna between version 1 and 2 depending on the diameter of your rope.

[@johneberhart4062]

Agree, I just don't have a Kong. They both work in the same camlock manner.

[@ryanhasse6507]

Good video I was hoping for safety sake u were gunna tell people about rope diameter with the rope man. With all the new saddle hunters and the want to run small diameter rope. Also sewn eye ropes are a pain. The ones with the shrink over the stitching to do the girth hitch. I enjoy ur vidoes. Im about 30 min south of jays.

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

@@ryanhasse6507 I thought about it but I've used the Ropeman on an 8mm rope and had no issues with it as the cam still had plenty of teeth one the rope.

[@jhuntley575]

I have a long climbing background. I have the CT roll n lock the duck and multiple ropemens. Even though the ropemen 1 is out of speck for anything under 10mm it's cam is actually more engaged than the other two. I still don't recommend using anything out of spec. If the device fails and you get hurt it's on you Even if the cam malfunctioned. The ropemens on some small ropes really smash them up. For anyone willing to learn knots I would recommend the mechoacan hitch. It's just a marvelous hitch for climbing and tethers. It's as easy as a ropemen and considered bomber safe. With a hitch like that no need for extra metal in the system. For those that want to use mechanicals than at least consider having a tight eye or loop tied knot in the bottom of tether to pass under your bridge then clip in to the beanier for redundancy. Plus it gets the long tag end from swinging around serving two purposes. Redundancy should be considered important when life is on the line. Lots of ways to achieve this with little effort. Keep an eye on your ropes for dead spots and other abnormalities. Great girth hitch tip John. Love the simplicity and not over complicating everything. I enjoy your channel and learn good hunting tactics.

[@johneberhart4062]

@@jhuntley575 Great info

[@jessbrown7742]

I am struggling with my ropeman making a ton of noise from the device when I descend

[@zanetracks6592]

Plenty of friction hitches allowing for silent one hand adjustment

[@gordonneverdies]

I have a doe like that on my property. She will catch me every time if I'm not high enough or behind a tree. The other day I hunted off the ground in a guilly suit and she walked 5 yards from me and didn't see me! Other than 25ft+ in a saddle that's the first time I've had her that close. Already used my doe tag unfortunately haha.

[@corey8134]

Look into a prusik tender. No more fidget or effort then a ropeman and a fraction of the price. Also reduces the metal in your system.

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

Yes, a prusik tender works as quickly as a Ropeman.

[@kevinsheridan7412]

Your right on John . That’s how the Indians Taught the settlers to defeat the redcoats , hide behind the tree not sitting out like a swinging Dick thanks for sharing John I love your videos!

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

Yep, and I can't understand why hunters will take shots from the same side of the tree as the deer is on. In pressured areas you will get picked by mature deer at least 50% of the time.

[@HockeyTownHooligan5]

Are you guys going to do any fishing videos?

[@johneberhart4062]

Yes because we fish a ton. But right now with Tethrd going into retail stores in MIchigan and Ohio (as a test for retail) this week, I feel like I need to put out a lot of proper instructional saddle videos for the consumers that purchase them. Have a ton of other hunting videos to do first as I feel I am best known for bowhunting and need to get as much info out there as possible.

[@MichiganGreatOutdoors]

Does the rope lose any structural strength when girth hitching?

[@Bubakarrr]

I would imagine not

[@88mmFlaK]

it will lose some of its tensile strength, maybe -20% max, but if you are using line rated for life support - 25kN or around 5500lbs - you still have a significant safety margin for around 20:1...IOW its not gonna matter until you start putting literal tons of force on the anchor

[@johneberhart4062]

It would be very minimal and likely about 5% or less loss. These ropes can pull a small car out of a ditch, so for any hunter, there will never be an issue with the ropes holding your weight. When I was a buyer in the 1970's I used to test different fishing knots to see if the line would break at the knot or up the line and the only knot I ever used where the line broke before the knot was a polimar knot which is tied in a similar fashion to a girth hitch. There is no way any knot used on a tether and lineman rope from Tethrd will ever cause the rope to break under a humans weight.

[@underdogoutdoors]

Lots of guys hunting low in small tree's from the saddle on KZbin, it's ok somewhere on an unpressured Iowa farm.

[@eberhartoutdoors4219]

Amen to that, or on TV fantasy land properties.

[@frez777]

I love how he always mentions that his home state of Michigan is not an easy state to take a large deer in.

[@perryrusso3764]

Very hard to find a mature buck in Michigan...if you do - you better have the wind in your favor

[@lindelloutdoorsinc]

YES - because it is the truth

[@secondcomma6709]

Clearly you’ve never hunted in Michigan.

[@gordonc615]

The all day thing is just someone who doesn't trust his gear... don't have a platform but it would just be easy to use ur tether and reset ur platform... must me a newbie or something

[@johneberhart4062]

I'm not going to give his name but most of his comparison video of saddles vs. stands was pretty descent. There is no comparison however as stands are antiquated if your a hunter that knows how to use a saddle.

[@gordonc615]

@@johneberhart4062 the more and more I try put different gear the more I get back to what I started with. Granted I have stuck with the ESs but sold my pred to go back to ros. I think its easy to get wrapped up in new gear excitement but the tried and true just proves itself

[@johneberhart4062]

@@gordonc615 Amen Chris, I almost always go back to old school techniques and try not to get all caught up in the many KZbin saddle videos crap because most of them don't have a clue what they are doing. Some do though and you have to weed out the crap.

[@loneranger5349]

Why do they all talk so much

[@ericbenefiel6075]

Why not just move the platform takes 2 minutes