MEA wrote:
...Regarding your other question, I've never used a Big Shot-- can it shoot 250+ feet? I watched some folks using one in Australia and they too were aiming for the lowest branch of a very tall tree. Perhaps that is less an issue of range and more due to some other factor... not sure.

I've only fired one with 10 oz bags and 1.75 or 2mm throwline. With full extension of the sling I think I can hit 120+. I've never tried it with a fishing reel and 3 or 4 oz weight so I have no idea. Be curious if anyone is hitting 200+ feet with that combo, it seems like it should be able to. With trees in my area (New England) there isn't any reason to shoot 200' since you'd be going well over the top of our tallest trees.

I figure with any tree entry there is going to be some disturbance of epiphytes, clearly the less number of times an individual PNW tree is climbed the better. I imagine that you have tag lines in trees you are studying so you can ascend directly to the upper canopy without having to screw around with shooting lines (and the potential branch thrashing that's involved) for every climb.
-moss