waiting on my big shot......

[budroe69moni]

lite, steady rain here today. have been running the
roads all morning, passing out bids! getting more and
more leads as season approaches! landed a job beachside
this morning for some giant seagrape prunning and cleaning
out some saw palmettos big house on the beach (4 mill +)
got another call to prune up 6 washies and 2 queens!! i'm on
a roll today!!! just got home, waiting on my big shot and other goodies from sherrill to arrive! any advice or tips on the big shot that i should know about????
later,
budroe

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

High 20's low 30's past 2 days, great working weather. Been running rope for BK to get some big oaks brushed out for Dave Ryan. Before that we were getting DW on a bunch of oaks.

Fun time for all.

 

[treeclimber165]

Hey Spencer!
That BigShot will save a LOT of time setting ropes. In my experience, I've found that the Zing-It line and a 10oz bag work really good with the BigShot. I bought one of those line bags for $16 to hold my throwline, but you can use a small bucket just as well. A small car wash bucket or maybe a 3 gal drywall mud bucket would work fine for your throwline.

Be careful not to overshoot your target too much. It took me 2 weeks before I could hit a crotch without overshooting by 20'-30'.

 

[TREETX]

I don't have one but used it once. It was hard not to over shoot. Practice I suppose. Trees are not near as tall as they are wide here. 40ft tall is 80+wide.

Good luck

every one have a good weekend!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Having several bags does help. Tall smooth bark trees an 8 oz bag will fly up there.

10-12 oz bag for most everything.

Then have a 16 oz bag for the real messy trees where you need a lot of weight for it to come back down.

I'm planning of filling one of my ruptured bags with around 2# of sand for isolating lines.

Whenever using a ball, you let the line run. Dont stop it suddeny or the ball will wrap around a twig and get stuck. Same goes for when isolating the line, if you pull it pover a branch, let it rund down to stop.

I've found that if I'm going to re throw, it is better to remove the ball. getting it stuck takes a lot more time.

I use a slip anchor hitch on the ball, works real fast.

 

[palmer4670]

Just one word - - PRACTICE!!!

It doesn't take long to figure out what to do and what not to do, but in the end you will wonder why it took so long to get one. It is easy to blow a line all the way to another tree if you are not careful though.

Always pull the bag off of a bad shot instead of pulling back through the tree or you are in for a headache about 85% of the time.

As far as a throw line bag, we use a big duffle bag, actually a hand me down bag from a set of luggage. We have about 3 lines inside all tied together, every other one is a different color. When we go to set lines, just set the bag out infront of you about 10' pull out some line and shoot. Untie that line, tie a bag onto the next one and make your next shot. When you get all of you lines set and are finished with the throw lines, just tie them back to gether as you stack back in the duffle bag. Works great for us, and is easier than the little nylon bags or buckets. But it is just a matter of what you get used to. I don't guess there is no right way or a wrong way as long as you get the job done.

I noticed in on of Tim Gardner's posts that he uses a cube, that is definatly the best if you can find them, I have just seen them once.

As they say, My $0.02 worth.

Palmer

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Oh, lonnnnnggggg lengths of throw line. 150-200ft

 

[murphy4trees]

You can "sight it in" by using some adhesive tape at differernt places down the pole and feel your way to the proper draw as your hand slides past the tape.
I like to shoot with 14 or 16oz. at all times. It's just what I Am used to and can pretty much hit 75-85' accurately. That does the trick for 90% of our trees. And the thing comes down.
I Also have bought a cube and Zing-it, and a quick release, and I haven't got around to playing with them yet.
We had an arbo get together at the local saw/gear shop last Saturday.. Mark C. came and the local Stihl rep brought his trailer full o' goodies. They had a hoola hoop set on a bucket truck at 75'. On my first try I used a 14z bag with Zing-it... never shot the thin stuff before.... might have been a little nervous with all the spectators... So I overshot by a good 15-20'... Second shot was using regular slickline.... dead center through the hoop and of couse no one was watching.
Also orderred a power broom head which fits a stihl weed wacker I've had sitting around for 2 years.. Billy Neff, who owns the shop, told me I Am the first tree guy around here to buy one. That and the echo 650 backpack blower should make a powerful pair of clean-up utensils..
God Bless All,
Daniel

 

[coydog]

i use simply a figure eight hitch to attach my line to the throwbag, another trick, if the bag won't come down, pull the line taut and pluck it while letting go, that makes the bag jump a little then run down a few feet if friction is a problem.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Try putting a slip in your eight, see how much faster it is to change the ball out. Especialy if you loaded the knot.

Why i like the slip anchor so much. It is real easy to tie and untie no mater what.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Using a release trigger will increase your accuracy too. Sherrill sells a snap shackle. I'vve heard of using a string release for bows too. They're cheaper. I shoot mine like a shotgun, from the shoulder.

Tom

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

You got a shoulder stock for it yet?

 

[Tree Machine]

I like to use a regular 6" pole. I pull the big shot back just far enough to lift the pole up and set the base of the pole in that crook between my right side hip and thigh, just a little to the right of my personal protected equipment, don't ya know... Then I begin the real draw back and this takes lots of practice to neither overshoot, nor undershoot. Accuracy, however is quite impressive. I always shoot using no glove on that hand.

I own and have tried the auto-release device, and have had little luck with improving my percentages. It is a fascinating little bugger in how it works.

I used the regular slickline for three years and now I'm using the lighter flyline. Advantages to both. I've come to really like the flyline.

I attach a Black Diamond Hotwire biner, not the regular one they sell with the rock climbing gear, but the ones they would sell near the cash register for use as a keyring, or something. They're miniature versions of the hotwire and I've seen two of these sizes; I use the smallest one for my shotbag. The hotwire mini biner gets tied onto the line. You can instantly and with one hand unclip the bag and clip on your rope (assuming a spliced eye). The wire gate is REALLY strong on this and it is so light and small that it doesn't interfere with the shot. Just streamlines the many shots I do in a day.

Lastly, and I have read this applied to throwing the bag, but it goes for shooting it, too. Your accuracy will increase if you WILL it over. This is beyond concentration. Become one with the bag, don't step on your own line, and shoot with confidence. WILL it up there. Swear it works.

 

[Greg]

I have had a BS for about a month now, and so far have lost 2 bags, actually lost those in the first 2 weeks of use. I'm overshooting so much, I then try to bring it back to isolate a limb and get stuck. You are right about taking the bag off, it will save a lot of headaches. I use one of the pointed type bags for hand throws, or I did until I lost my favorite bag in a tree!
Do most people use the quick release? The snap shackle is pricey, does the arrow release device work just as well?
Greg

 

[Tree Machine]

Beeg Shot

I used the shackle over and over. I''ve attempted to try it different ways, but there's really only one way to use it. The use of the shackle should, theoretically, allow you to take aim, like using shotgun, as it holds the bigshot in the fully pulled-back ready-to-launch mode. You pull a little 'trigger' string, and it releases. This fancy little device, however, is simply replacing your two fingers. It didn't help my accuracy, which is why I bought it. The only time I use the release shackle anymore is when I'm entertaining Kids. I attach 10 feet of flyline to the trigger string, pull it back and set it, insert a small apple or a walnut, and THEY pull the trigger. Quite amusing.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I have the stock 2, 4ft sections for mine, it is a little short though. On tall shots, i will borrow a 6 ft section if whomever I'm working for has one. Might get a five footer at the convention. I think 9.5 feet would be perfect.

I have not tried a quick release yet.

Had mine long enough that I need to get a replacement hose for it, for the past few months.

 

[Greg]

Give me some tips on how not to over shoot the limb by 20-30 ft. I am still trying to master my Big Shot, that I find very frustrating at times.
--Do you consider a quick release vital for accuracy? Tom, shoots his like a gun on his shoulder, can't do that without the QR.

--Do you try to shoot more verticle than at an angle? I can blast it over the branch when angled, but I also grab 5 others behnd it.
I know all the little isolation games with the bag, but it would be so much nicer to see the bag just lob over the limb and come back down to me.
Greg

 

[murphy4trees]

Since you asked...
Go to the park and practice..
You've got to develop your guesstimating skills to determine the height of the target crotch.. to do that you can mark your throwline every 10'..... so when you do make the shot you can accurately measure the height... then practice shooting at a crotch of known height and get a feel for how far you're drawing the sling... you can as I posted earlier wrap the pole with adhesive tape at different draw distances.. so as you draw down the pole you can feel your hand sliding past first band.. then second band etc.. With some practice you shouold be able to eyeball the crotch's height and know just how far down the pole you need to draw for that height...
And yes shooting more verticle works well with the big shot.... and sometimes an overshot bag will come right back to you.. over what would have otherwise been obstacle branches as the pendulum swings back to you when the bag pulls back out of the twigs.
Hope that helps..
God Bless,
Daniel

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It realy depends on the shot and where you want it to go. If your windoe is real tight and you want to shoot under a smll branch over your crotch, you may want to step back and depress your fire. Flatter trajectories require a little more energy to get up there, so it is all part of the learning curve.

It all becomes rather intuitive, you get to know how far to pull back with a given hight and shot ange, then the different bag weights and line qualites will come into play also.

Take it to a park and play, er, practice with it.

 

[Tim Gardner]

What type (shape) of throwbag is best with the BS?