Fantastic Luck With the Big Shot...Good/Bad

Altissimus

Altissimus

TreeHouser
Joined
Jul 1, 2008
Messages
7,987
Location
southern Vermont
Boy life sure sucked until I got my Big Shot...Because what counts as a good shot sure goes up as well...lately I've been shooting pretty good 1-3 shots with some weight work to get off overshot branches , and I have it... lately I'm in the habit of trying to pre-set a tag line before the day of the job...this will keep me from looking foolish and getting really pissed off when the following scenario ensues....many shots with near misses and crazy ricochets , I stick with it eventually having Two stuck weights and throw lines , almost two whole unbillable hours , and I still have to set line old school ,go up advance ect. ascend retrieve weights/lines...this fantastickly Bad luck doesn't happen to often but it sure is irritating when it does...
 
After about 70 feet I'm a terrible thrower and if I don't get the limb by the third attempt I'll break out the Big Shot. It's a great device for us handicap throwers. Still some limbs are plain tough to get a line over from the ground, and so sometimes I take the runner up just to get things going and me up in the tree.
 
Seventy feet is a mighty impressive toss in my book. 8) I'll use the big shot for anything over 30 feet. :/:
 
After about 70 feet I'm a terrible thrower
Click to expand...
:O
Jeez, I can't hit a dang thing after about 35 ft. Above 45 and I might as well go home. 70 ft is pretty good in my book. I don't know what I'd do without my bigshot. Make a lot less money, I guess.
 
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  • #5
Oh Yeah ... the runner up will do,and as your book taught me a quick re-crotch once your'e up there gives you the tie in you couldn't git from the ground ...The feeling is like a bombing commedian who turns to the hecklers and says "No , really I'm Funny..."
 
My BS broke a couple-few years back; it was the replacement for the first one I had that broke.

Depending on the angle, my accuracy peters out around 90', but luckly there's not many trees where I need to get that high.

If I'm just setting a line to pull the tree over I run out of steam around 115-120', but then again it's rare as hell that that is needed as real tree guys use wedges.
 
When it comes to hand throwing my friends pale me in comparison. Greg Liu and Jesse Bawcum's upper limits are around 100 feet with fair accuracy. In 2005 I took some Germans and Dains to the redwoods (on separate occasions) and they were routinely hand throwing 120 feet. I was really impressed.

Beddes Strausser did a record shot of 135'. So he told me anyway. And I have no reason to doubt him because he was throwing just 10 feet shy of that at the Redwood Rivers Resort in 2005. In either case I couldn't believe the line didn't cut their hands before the release.
 
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G.F.B. , those guys must be GOOD!...I remember you writing about working with a guy who was unbeatable with the the throwbag ,. it was many years before the Big Shot hit the scene...I think it was in "A Tree Story" you said he was a ballplayer...
 
I usually forget about my bigshot behind the seat, and just hand toss. I get it eventually, it's nice when the customers watching and you nail it the first time, I think they gain confidence that you know what your doing.

Thanks for the reminder!
 
Dave, That was Andy Augustinovich. He was a pitcher in the local minor leagues and the best with a throwline, well until I met those other guys years later. Of course the weights and line all changed for the better too.
 
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  • #12
G.F.B . , Thanks for answering...another question ... , What throw style are those guys using to get those heights?
 
I generally throw by hand at anything at least a few times. I figure I hit 80% at 75' and below... but some days... OY! I break out the big shot whenever I get pissed or when I need a flat trajectory.

I used to never try hand throws over 40' until I watched some TCC events. Scott Profit tossed a line into a really narrow crotch about 5' away from me on the first try while I was setting up in the footlock tree... I was at least 75' up. Since then, I been working on throwing by hand.
 
Im lucky if I can hit the ground with a throw ball if I aim straight down. Im terrible at it.
 
Luck plays a little part, it mostly is skill. Hand throwing for me is "Some days I got it and some days I don't."

Most the high throwers I know just use the plain old underhand lob shot. Cradle shots I only see used for exhibition.
 
hammer throw?
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BS is good for extra punch thru distance and/or brush.

Sometimes it isn't just the throw, but how you can play out of a 'bad throw' and make it a good one without full retrieval. sometimes if branches are laid out right, you can walk throw line up steps higher and higher, alternating steps to left and right. Other times you can get it swinging on branch it's on, and get it to throw across to the correct branch, then just leave like that for rigging. With an open mind you can up your average without throwing/shooting any better!
 
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