Tethrd Skeletor Climbing Sticks Review: Lightweight & Durable

Bow hunting can be a challenging and rewarding sport, but the gear you use can make all the difference in your hunting experience. When it comes to climbing sticks, it’s important to find a balance between lightweight, durability, and affordability. That’s why the Tethrd Skeletor Climbing Sticks caught my attention. In this review, I’ll dive into why this climbing stick may just be what you’re looking for to elevate your mobile hunting game.

This past archery season, I was looking for a climbing stick that fit my saddle-hunting and hang-and-hunt mobile hunting setups. It had to be lightweight, durable, packable and most of all; it had to be affordable. I debated over mini climbing sticks and longer 30-32 inch long sticks but ultimately chose to test and run the Tethrd Skeletor sticks because they seemed to sit in the middle between mini and longer sticks and offered a price point that wasn’t as extreme as Tethrd’s “One” Climbing Stick.

*Please note, this is not a Sponsored Review. I purchased and tested these sticks without any financial incentive.

Features & Specifications

The Skeletor sticks are built with fold-away steps that fold away from the tree. The standoff from the tree along with the fold-away step feature provides more overall foot room and clearance from the tree than you would get if the steps were aligned straight.

The attachment system is a DynaLite rope and tab where the rope is looped around the tab for a secure attachment to the tree. There are no Versa buttons or clamps required. The climbing sticks attach to each other with Tethrd’s StickLoc pin system. You align the pins with the requisite holes on the sticks and slide them together.

Here are the specifications of the Skeletor Climbing Sticks:

• TOTAL LENGTH (PACKED): 24″
• TOTAL LENGTH (DEPLOYED): 20″
• TOTAL LENGTH (4-PACK): 27″
• STEP-TO-STEP HEIGHT: 18″
• TOTAL WEIGHT (SINGLE)*: 2 lb
• TOTAL WEIGHT (4 PACK)*: 8 lb
• DYNALIGHT ROPE (Amsteel): 8.5 foot
• WEIGHT LIMIT: 300 lb
• PRICE: $224.99 (for a 4-Pack)

*Watch the video review below or scroll down to continue reading.

The Test

This past archery season I used the Skeletors, the entire 4-pack, on multiple hunts. I hunted the early season, mid-season, and late season in various weather conditions from 80-degree weather down to around 25 degrees. I also hunted in the rain multiple times and found myself climbing a lot of different types and sizes of trees over the various spots I hunted. I also tested Tethrd’s Phantom Saddle and the Tethrd Predator Platform. The pack I used to carry the sticks and platform was the Trophyline C.A.Y.S. 2.0 backpack.

Weight & Portability

I found the sticks to be very lightweight. I weighed the entire 4-pack and it was around 8.2 pounds, so the 2 pounds per stick weight specification is pretty accurate. I carried the sticks stacked in sets of two and attached them to my Trophyline pack. This worked very well.

While I really like this setup, it also says something about the way Trophyline designed its pack. I did carry the sticks with the Tethrd Predator Pack, their transport system for the Predator Platform, for a few hunts with all four sticks attached to each other, but wasn’t happy with that configuration.

The StickLoc pin system the Skeletors attach to each other takes some practice, but I found that after a few hunts, I was putting them together quickly and easily, even in the dark. The fluorescent orange color of the pins helps a lot. I was worried that I would end up breaking the attachment pins, but they held up through the season without any issues.

Climbing: Setup & Use

The Skeletors are extremely easy to attach to almost any tree and are very climbable. In fact, I can’t remember having any issues regardless of the tree I climbed. I hunted a few small trees and even one that was almost too large to get my arms around to attach the sticks, but I did not have any issues with any of them.

The Dynalite rope (most likely Amsteel), was around 8 feet long and was easy to whip around the tree and quickly wrap around the attachment tab. Since there are no buckles or straps you don’t have to worry about strap alignment or making noise with attachment buckles. The rope is light, quiet, and easy to use. The only drawback is the length. At 8 feet long, sometimes the rope can get caught up in branches, but this was not a major issue for me while using the sticks.

Getting the sticks up the tree was easy and they stick to the tree so well, sometimes after detaching the rope from the attachment tab, the sticks would stay attached to the tree. This made it really easy when climbing out of the tree after a long hunt. I also liked the way the steps fold out. When trying to stabilize myself while hanging my saddle platform, I would hook my legs behind the steps, against the tree. This allowed me to really feel secure when climbing or descending the trees I hunted.

Step Height and Tree Height

The advertised step height on the Skeletor Climbing Sticks is 18 inches while the stick height itself is 20 inches. With an estimated 20 inches in between each stick when climbing, I routinely found myself between 14 and 15 feet high in the tree. I pushed my step height to get as high as possible, but sometimes the tree has a vote.

I added a 2-step aider to my first stick on the tree. When I added this, I found I was able to get up 17-18 feet high in the trees I was hunting from. The aider I used from Custom Gear Modifications attached to the stick very well and was very stable and secure when climbing and descending. I was really happy with the height I was getting with this setup.

Durability & Reliability

The sticks are well made. I had no issues with anything breaking or bending through the season. Luckily, this never became an issue or factor in my hunts. I had heard of issues with the Skeletors and One Sticks but never experienced anything negative in this regard. They held up well and I found the sticks to be very reliable.

Pricing

I really shopped around before testing these climbing sticks. I found the price to be very competitive for a high-quality, lightweight stick. While these are the lightest sticks on the market, they are in the higher-end range of quality from what I experienced. The sticks are priced at $225, which comes out to $56.25 per stick, which is not bad. Comparatively, these are priced pretty well for the features they have.

Modifications

The only modifications I found I needed to make to the sticks was to add some stealth strips (tape) to the sticks to keep them quiet if I banged them together. I did not find sound to be an issue as the sticks are pretty quiet, but the stealth strips definitely helped. Other than that, I did not change anything other than adding the 2-step aider I had talked about before.

Overall Review

I am currently reviewing a lot of different bow-hunting gear and don’t have high expectations for everything I test, so I was really surprised at how much I liked these sticks. In fact, I tested some other sticks a few times this season when I used my hang-and-hunt setup and did not like those sticks nearly as much. I will be keeping these Skeletor Climbing Sticks and will continue to use them next season until I can find another set that performs better.

The Skeletors were light, packed well, and were quiet, and great to climb with. They got me to the height I wanted in the tree and I always felt secure and safe when using them. The rope attachment system is super quick and quiet as well and this is one of my favorite features. Tearing down and packing out of the wood on my hunts was always quick and easy. I highly recommend the Skeletor Climbing Sticks for mobile hunters and saddle hunters alike. Great sticks!