Throwbag - How High Can You Accurately Throw?

[SimplyArbor]

12oz weight for almost everything... cradle toss. Can hit 80-90ft consistently, mostly into Conifers. Big shot lives a sad life, pushed to the back of the pole tool box

 

[Burnham]

You're a far more skilled tosser than I, my friend . Hat's off, sir!

 

[treesmith]

75'-80' with enough room to get a good angle. For tight quarters or really high shots, I'll pull out the APTA. 10-oz for most everything.

 

[gf beranek]

60 - 70 feet was on the edge of my comfort zone.

When I met Greg Liu and other ISA competitors they were hand throwing to target limbs a hundred plus feet consistenly. Then came Beddes Strassar, the human Big Shot, hand throwing 130 + feet. Truly amazing.

 

[Burnham]

I was lucky beyond all wishing, to watch sir Beddes throwing and then climbing in the finals of an ITCC climbing comp here in Portland, OR, back a ways now. Some other TH members were there. I recall Willie/sotc, Kevin Bingham, Porkbrick /Jaime...likely some others, but my memory isn't what it used to be .

Absolutely amazing...all the more so when you realize he was no bigger a fellow than I am, which is to say, smallish . Just unbelievable, really. And he was not alone in pushing those limits...all the finalists were staggeringly skilled.

I went away feeling quite humbled. Thought I was a pretty good climber...but I learned differently right smart.

 

[pantheraba]

I went to an ITCC in Knoxville years back...saw some throwball throws and "dances" that still amaze me. The best guys would throw probably 80 feet into a tree and then dance the weight back and forth thru the tree to isolate different crotches. They could work the bag up and down the tree, either side, by penduluming the throw-weight back and forth and up and down. They could move from a low crotch to a higher crotch by manipulating the bag....very high level of skill.

 

[SeanKroll]

I have several lines, and many weights. Jammed a line the other day. Grabbed a second cube, and dealt with the stuck throw-line after the limb was lowered to the deck.

Throwline skills pay the bills, and saves wear and tear on your body.

Climbing a tree to set a pull-rope is very, very rare for me. I can't remember when, truthfully.



The manipulation of the throw-bag/ line/ rope is the other half of the battle.
You don't have to hit the branch collar on a conifer, if you can flick and flip the throw-line/ throw-line and weight/ Throw-line weight and rope/ or just rope into the right spot.


I use an 8' pole or a branch to greatly extend 'reach of my arm' and power for rope manipulation. Flicking the rope up and down (sine wave) is not very effective in tougher situations. Getting a loop to roll up and over the branch, or spiraling-loop to roll, to move the rope to the left and right is key to moving the rope around.


With the right amount of slack (more than you would have for using your hand, at arm's length), I use both hands on the pole. The rope comes out of the tree, clove-hitched to the far end, and standing-end of the rope back to my hands, gripped with the pole.


Way better to futz around with a throw-line on the ground, developing throw-line skills, drinking coffee, snacking on snacks, taking a leak at will, etc, than to climb stuff unnecessarily.

YMMV

 

[Naturarbo]

I cant even throw but we got Big shot unused and APTA, unless target is 25 foot APTA is always workin

 

[biggun]

Lxskllr try a throwpod.

Throwpod

Sawpod Ltd Throwpod Tony Darbyshire Forestry Throwpod Lead Free Aerodynamic Throweight for Tree Surgeons

www.sawpod.co.uk

Made by the guys who made the sawpod. I guess US retailers will stock them.

 

[lxskllr]

That looks interesting, but spendy! Judging by the UK prices, it would be ~$50 here. For comparison, A regular bag is <$20. They say the waste tungsten they use is expensive. Maybe lead would be the better choice? If you keep it contained, lead is as environmental as anything. The problem with throwbags is they can scatter the lead. Encase the lead in a bullet like the throwpod, it won't go anywhere. They could even source reclaimed lead for some added "green" factor, and not participate in virgin lead mining.

 

[Frankie]

Home Depot has a 23ft reach telescoping pole that saved my ass on a recent job ... dead ash spar straight up like a popsicle ... we were able to use the pole to get a line up and over the only limb available approx 25ft up ... came down the backside and tied off ... the tree was so rotted we used axe instead of a chainsaw ! While the pulling force was less at 25ft than higher up(which is preferable due to trigonometric applications) it was adequate to getr done ! Link ...https://mrlongarm.com/ https://mrlongarm.com/

 

[lxskllr]

We have 25' rods at work I could rig something with, and I carry 16' of pole in truck all the time. Thanks for that thought. I'm not sure that's something I'd have considered in the field :^)

 

[gf beranek]

I've told the story before, and I'll tell it again, my friend Wes Burns made his own throw bags and used pennies to weight them. I found the 50 cent bag was good up in the tree. The dollar bag was good to get a line back to the ground from 80 to 100 feet, and the $1.50 bag was for the Big Shot.

 

[lxskllr]

Probably want to use older pennies(≤1980). They have a good bit more weight than the new ones.

 

[Frankie]

We have 25' rods at work I could rig something with, and I carry 16' of pole in truck all the time. Thanks for that thought. I'm not sure that's something I'd have considered in the field :^)

On these dead ash there was really no other option (except to climb it to set a rope - too dangerous imho , rotted away) ... fortunately there was enough of a nub to get some purchase on ... you could almost put your hand straight thru the tree at its most compromised spot !

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Lxskllr try a throwpod.

Throwpod

Sawpod Ltd Throwpod Tony Darbyshire Forestry Throwpod Lead Free Aerodynamic Throweight for Tree Surgeons

www.sawpod.co.uk

Made by the guys who made the sawpod. I guess US retailers will stock them.

I tried this. I mean, it's ok. Hard as a friggen rock. Came back at me one time and I had to block it. Friggen hurt my hand but good. Actually glad I lost it in the woods. Does not fly as well as a bag type weight IMHO. Especially out of the big shot. Bottom started to separate from the top metal insert. Maybe from riccoceting of boles. Yeah, it bounces back like nuts.
Just my experience.

 

[biggun]

Oh, I have one and agree entirely on everything you said.

It doesn’t get used around anything breakable.

 

[Jed]

In answer to the question posed in the title of the thread: Not high.

 

[Ryan]

If I ever hit my target with the first throw, with actual witnesses, I would expect them to hoist me onto their shoulders and parade me around the yard, hootin' and hollerin'.

 

[murphy4trees]

When in practice I could throw 60-65' pretty comfortably. not first shot every time, but usually within the first few throws depending on how tight the crotch is. Then if the occasion came to three or four misses, I'd pull out the big shot. I have made higher shots, but nothing like the ones I witnesses Pat Epps and Big John Grier make many times. Big John would stand in the front yard, throw over the house near 100' into a tulip in the backyard and work it down into a good crotch. Pat was accurate to 85'+. I practiced many hours with a 12 oz throw weight and 1.75 mm zing it until I had the muscle memory down and was always thrilled to make a high tight shot, but have since lost the muscle memory since I haven't needed to throw much these days. I could probably get it back in a few hours of practice.

 

[rbtree]

8oz weight up to 50 ft.
10 oz weight up to 70 ft.
12 oz weight up to 80 ft.

I'm thinking you have the numbers bassackwards.....

 

[flushcut]

60' for me and rarely need to throw higher but that is big shot land.