Winter scouting

I was out walking the dog today. We had 4" of snow the other day, so the trail was quiet and the weeds were beaten down by the white stuff. It was nice because I had a better line of sight than usual. The area I was in has a ton of Japanese Knotweed everywhere a tree isn't. So I'm going along and I see this big sycamore with a new eye. I climb in this grove often, and I've spotted this tree before. But as I was checking it out today, I can't for the life of me figure out why I haven't climbed it before. It's about 115' tall, about a 70' apread with a sound trunk and no easily discernable dieback on any of the branches. Good twig complexity.

So I guess my point is that now may be a good time to revisit some of your usual haunts and take another look. If it's too cold for you to venture up, It's perfect for a good stroll in the woods. No tics, no PI, no snakes,...and probably a better line of sight. It's all about taking a different perspective of what may have been right there in front of your face all along.


Happy hunting.

Ron

Great point Ron, winter is THE time to scout for new trees to climb.
-AJ

I agree, winter is the best to look for trees to climb. I have spent several days this winter setting pull lines in trees (I use cheap braided mason's line) that I will come back and climb in the spring. The lack of leaves and general die-back of other warm weather barriers listed above helps. It also seems that you experience less hang-ups and snags when using the throw bag and throw line.