What Carabiners Are You Using?

[PigHunter]

What carabiners do you use?

When I went to Kentucky a few weeks ago, several of the stands were lock-on with climbing sticks to access. The retired firefighter owner had a safety rope set up with a Prusik loop to clip a safety harness to. I've never used climbing sticks and don't like heights but had my safety harness just in case.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a screw-type carabiner for the connection. But, I had a heavy duty wire-gate version rated at 22kN in my pack. The owner examined it and asked "Do you trust that?". I said "Of course, it's rated for 22kN and these are used by rock climbers". He gave me a blank look and handed it back to me saying, "Well, if you think it's ok..."

As it turned out, I was uncomfortable climbing the sticks and hunted from pop-ups and ladders instead. But it got me thinking about the carabiners I usually carry in my pack. That 22kN rated one came from the climbing gear section of an outdoors store, but it's the only one I've got. I also have some 12kN rated carabiners for general use but wouldn't trust my life to those.

So, after a search on Amazon last week, I ordered three 25kN rated carabiners with twist locks.
25kN = 5620 lbs
22kN = 4946 lbs
12kN = 2698 lbs

Here's a pic of the three different rated carabiners I use. One of the new ones at the top. Amazon link below.



Amazon.com : Favofit UIAA Certified Climbing Carabiners (Certificate No.: USA 20-5611), 3 Pack, 25KN (5620 lbs) Heavy Duty Large Locking Carabiner Clips for Rock/Ice Climbing Rappelling Rescue Swing etc, Black : Sports & Outdoors

[FirstBubba]

Uhhmmm.....don't use carabiners! LOL!

As a kid growing up, I spent many, many hours perched in a tree stand accessed by 60d nails driven into the tree.
Nod off? Just stretch out on the platform and doze a bit.
There were stories every year about hunters dying or permanently crippled because they fell out of a tree stand.
Dad, Grampa and me just kept climbing trees. Never thought twice about it.

After my hip replacement in '05 and my orthopedic surgeon (big time hunter!) told me he worked on several hunters every year, both paraplegic and quadriplegic who didn't use a harness, I kinda rethought my "modus operandi"!
Time for an old fat cripple to get his head out of the clouds! (so to speak!)
Since then, my elevated blinds are never over 34" off the ground! A popup set on sawhorses!
All one need do is get where you can kinda see over the understory.

In all actuality pighunter, my favorite "stand" is a hide you build by dragging up dead limbs, weeds, sticks, logs and whatever else just like you do.
There is a sort of satisfaction, kinda like hunting with reloads, to a successful hunt from a "hide"!

Back to the carabiners. Might be a good idea to have a couple of nice ones in you gear bag. I can see where they could be very useful.

[PigHunter]

In all actuality pighunter, my favorite "stand" is a hide you build by dragging up dead limbs, weeds, sticks, logs and whatever else just like you do.
There is a sort of satisfaction, kinda like hunting with reloads, to a successful hunt from a "hide"!

Back to the carabiners. Might be a good idea to have a couple of nice ones in you gear bag. I can see where they could be very useful.

Yep, I'll be hunting from a hide on Saturday. I've done well using them.

I tired of the cheap carabiners you find at hardware stores. Used them for minor tasks. Too many end up with broken gate springs. That's my reason for using better made ones.

[jhjimbo]

I keep a couple of large, high strength on the ATV,

[crm3006]

I have a couple of the screw-lock kind that you show in your top photo, and several sizes of quick link screw chain links. They seem to serve my needs. I don't use but one treestand, and it is more of a treehouse than a tree stand.

[PigHunter]

Another application for strong carabiners is in configuring a z-drag. When canoeing, I have a dry bag with 100ft of climbing rope, a couple of pulleys, and now a couple of the heavy duty carabiners. I ordered a Prusik loop that should be here by Friday.

How to set up a Z-Drag System | Rope Knots by NetKnots

[FirstBubba]

Another application for strong carabiners is in configuring a z-drag. When canoeing, I have a dry bag with 100ft of climbing rope, a couple of pulleys, and now a couple of the heavy duty carabiners. I ordered a Prusik loop that should be here by Friday.

How to set up a Z-Drag System | Rope Knots by NetKnots

Many years ago, I took the family to the Colorado River near New Braunfels, TX.
We rented tubes to float the ice cold river.
The river was down and a group were trying to canoe a cut around a coffer dam.
The river may have be low, but the current through the narrow cut was enough to wrap an aluminum canoe around a huge rock at the end of the cut. Thankfully, everybody got out of the canoe safely. The canoe was reduced to scrap.

[PigHunter]

Many years ago, I took the family to the Colorado River near New Braunfels, TX.
We rented tubes to float the ice cold river.
The river was down and a group were trying to canoe a cut around a coffer dam.
The river may have be low, but the current through the narrow cut was enough to wrap an aluminum canoe around a huge rock at the end of the cut. Thankfully, everybody got out of the canoe safely. The canoe was reduced to scrap.

It's amazing how fast current can bend an aluminum canoe around a rock. I've seen it happen in a class 2 drop. Several of us jumped in to help the owner manhandle it off the rock. The canoe had to be stomped back into shape to make to finish the trip.

[FirstBubba]

It's amazing how fast current can bend an aluminum canoe around a rock. I've seen it happen in a class 2 drop. Several of us jumped in to help the owner manhandle it off the rock. The canoe had to be stomped back into shape to make to finish the trip.

These guys were more concerned with their missing cooler and beer floating off down the river....of course, there wasn't much beer left. LOL! Took several of us to get it out of the water. I was blown away!
Amazing what a canoe full of water weighs!

There wasn't any stomping this one back into shape.

Oddly, that's when I learned about going over a dam on an inner tube!
The cut was too rough, so we decided to go over the dam.
I was first. Thank God the river was low! About the third roll, I was able to gain my feet in the turbulent, waist deep water and crawl out from under the waterfall!
Again, you wouldn't think falling water would be THAT heavy!
I stay away from dams and undercuts. Nasty "bidness"!

[rock rat]

I don't climb trees. Not for hunting anyway, when younger I was a tree trimmer and a "rope and saddle" guy. Also 20 years rock climbing most areas in N America.

That top one is an auto lock, and about the best you can get. It won't unscrew by being rubbed by clothing or a rope etc. The regular biners can twist one against the other and unclip.

Something to keep in mind is that carabiners are meant to take body weight on a regular basis, and to be dynamically loaded also. Gate open strength is much much lower than gate closed. Also loading a biner over an edge is a no no. Dynamic loads put a lot more shock to a biner than static loads, there's that ft lb thing going on. If you were falling out of a tree stand onto some sort of nylon webbing that didn't stretch much the forces generated can add up quickly. A 5 foot fall would be quite a bit. I'm assuming people don't tie into tree stands with climbing rope which stretches and absorbs a lot of the shock of the fall. It might well be the safety harnesses have some sort of shock absorber built in.

What I'm getting at is that I'd look with suspect at any biner after stressing it by using it to pull out a stuck vehicle or even maybe a stuck canoe if enough force were used. Commercial climbing gyms always use steel locking carabiners at the top of their top rope set ups or self belay machines. If in doubt double up a regular carabiner, the chances of catastrophic failure of one biner is fairly low (stress cracks etc) doubled it would approach near impossibility.

Alternatively you lazy muggs could get down out of those trees and hunt. ;-)

[PigHunter]

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~ Henry David Thoreau.

Bump for SPAM

[jhjimbo]

I don't climb trees. Not for hunting anyway, when younger I was a tree trimmer and a "rope and saddle" guy. Also 20 years rock climbing most areas in N America.

That top one is an auto lock, and about the best you can get. It won't unscrew by being rubbed by clothing or a rope etc. The regular biners can twist one against the other and unclip.

Something to keep in mind is that carabiners are meant to take body weight on a regular basis, and to be dynamically loaded also. Gate open strength is much much lower than gate closed. Also loading a biner over an edge is a no no. Dynamic loads put a lot more shock to a biner than static loads, there's that ft lb thing going on. If you were falling out of a tree stand onto some sort of nylon webbing that didn't stretch much the forces generated can add up quickly. A 5 foot fall would be quite a bit. I'm assuming people don't tie into tree stands with climbing rope which stretches and absorbs a lot of the shock of the fall. It might well be the safety harnesses have some sort of shock absorber built in.

What I'm getting at is that I'd look with suspect at any biner after stressing it by using it to pull out a stuck vehicle or even maybe a stuck canoe if enough force were used. Commercial climbing gyms always use steel locking carabiners at the top of their top rope set ups or self belay machines. If in doubt double up a regular carabiner, the chances of catastrophic failure of one biner is fairly low (stress cracks etc) doubled it would approach near impossibility.

Alternatively you lazy muggs could get down out of those trees and hunt. ;-)

For tree stands I have a 'Down Safe', it lets you to the ground at a safe speed but without injury.

[jhjimbo]

What carabiners do you use?

When I went to Kentucky a few weeks ago, several of the stands were lock-on with climbing sticks to access. The retired firefighter owner had a safety rope set up with a Prusik loop to clip a safety harness to. I've never used climbing sticks and don't like heights but had my safety harness just in case.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a screw-type carabiner for the connection. But, I had a heavy duty wire-gate version rated at 22kN in my pack. The owner examined it and asked "Do you trust that?". I said "Of course, it's rated for 22kN and these are used by rock climbers". He gave me a blank look and handed it back to me saying, "Well, if you think it's ok..."

As it turned out, I was uncomfortable climbing the sticks and hunted from pop-ups and ladders instead. But it got me thinking about the carabiners I usually carry in my pack. That 22kN rated one came from the climbing gear section of an outdoors store, but it's the only one I've got. I also have some 12kN rated carabiners for general use but wouldn't trust my life to those.

So, after a search on Amazon last week, I ordered three 25kN rated carabiners with twist locks.
25kN = 5620 lbs
22kN = 4946 lbs
12kN = 2698 lbs

Here's a pic of the three different rated carabiners I use. One of the new ones at the top. Amazon link below.



Amazon.com : Favofit UIAA Certified Climbing Carabiners (Certificate No.: USA 20-5611), 3 Pack, 25KN (5620 lbs) Heavy Duty Large Locking Carabiner Clips for Rock/Ice Climbing Rappelling Rescue Swing etc, Black : Sports & Outdoors

What do you use these for when hunting ?

P.S. Today 12-12 you have a post that will not allow opening. Are you aware of that ?

[PigHunter]

What do you use these for when hunting ?

P.S. Today 12-12 you have a post that will not allow opening. Are you aware of that ?

Jim, most often, I simply use carabiners to hook items to my backpack, such as my padded seat and three-legged stool. I started using better quality ones because of the gate failures experienced with the cheap ones.

The secondary use is to attach items to a treestand pull rope for lifting and lowering.

The third use would be in setting up a z-drag... if necessary.

The fourth use would be to use with a prussic loop attached to a safety rope on the accent and decent from a fixed stand such as ladders and lock-ons.

Like you, I have a harness / rope system for safely lowering in the case of an event. My safety harness tether has stitching that breaks away to lessen the fall impact. This is standard now on industrial fall restraint harnesses.

Didn't know about the inaccessible post.