Ideas for getting rockets out of trees?

Got Big Daddy stuck about 60 ft up in a tree. Any ideas how to get it down?

thank you!

Who's gonna be the first person to post a picture of a chainsaw

If you can make one, a 60ft pole is a good bet - that, or a light rope tied around a rock. If you used the stock rubber shock cord, they tend to degrade very quickly when exposed to the sun, so If all else fails chances are it will come down on it's own in a few weeks time.

blackbrandt said:

Who's gonna be the first person to post a picture of a chainsaw

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Go big or go home.

Fishing rod with weights at the end of the line. Castinto the branches and give them a good shake.

60' is probably not happening - easily. There are several ways. If you can get a hold of a line-mans pole like this:

https://www.hubbellpowersystems.com...escoping/images/insulated-tele-tele-dis-2.jpg

You may be able to reach it but the longest I've ever seen those is 35' so it's probably too short.

Depending on where in the tree it is, if it is out near the edge of the branches I've managed to get rockets out by getting a long rope or string with a weight on it and toss it up there. The objective being that you toss the string and weight over the top of the rocket and then drag it back over the shock cord with the hopes you'll dislodge it. Takes A LOT of patience and A LOT of tossing.

Then there's always the chainsaw option...

Send a panda!

Extension ladder up to where the branches get small enough to climb. Climb up with a knife. Cut the shock cord or the shroud lines.

Me, I had to pay a tree guy $300 to get my $300 rocket out of a tree. I spent three hours trying to get it down, but with 50' of shock cord and a six-foot main chute, it wasn't going anywhere.

blackbrandt said:

Who's gonna be the first person to post a picture of a chainsaw

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OK, I'm second, but mine's better:

My 10 year old will get it for 5 bucks! He's fearless when climbing trees, scares the life out of me sometimes but then I remember doing the exact same stuff.

60 feet up ? +1 for weighted string/good pitching arm or fishing rod.

LARGE slingshot, the ones tree trimmers use to send ropes into trees.

Attach fishing reel to slingshot. Use heavy lead sinker and fire fishing line up and over the branch. Drop the fishing line down to the ground and attach sturdy line. Pull that line back up over the branch and then you can either shake it vigorously or if you are lucky entangle the rocket and pull it down. Sounds easier than it actually is. I currently have three rockets hanging in trees. Two Big Daddy's and one Blobbo.

How about and pneumatic antenna launcher?

https://www.antennalaunchers.com/antlaunching.html
Probably costs more than the rocket but this can launch a line pretty high.

Fishing reel and sling shot as previously suggested should work. Just think about where the lead shot will go if you break the fishing line.

W7AMI said:

How about and pneumatic antenna launcher?

https://www.antennalaunchers.com/antlaunching.html
Probably costs more than the rocket but this can launch a line pretty high.

Fishing reel and sling shot as previously suggested should work. Just think about where the lead shot will go if you break the fishing line.

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How about sending another cheap rocket with a fishing line attaches through the tree? Would that be against the safety code?

W7AMI said:

How about and pneumatic antenna launcher?

https://www.antennalaunchers.com/antlaunching.html
Probably costs more than the rocket but this can launch a line pretty high.

Fishing reel and sling shot as previously suggested should work. Just think about where the lead shot will go if you break the fishing line.

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Looks like a high-tech spud gun!

You could scare a cat up the tree. Then call the fire department to rescue the cat and ask, "Hey, as long as you're already up there..."

ThirstyBarbarian said:

You could scare a cat up the tree. Then call the fire department to rescue the cat and ask, "Hey, as long as you're already up there..."

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Please run for office!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Looks like a high-tech spud gun!

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Yup. That's exactly what it is.

Sorry for you loss. Some days the Rocket Gods are against us and you just need to say WTF...

Do the easy thing, build a new rocket. It's more fun, less hazardous and less expensive, than trying to retrieving that Big Daddy.

Someday the adhesives will desolve and it will fall to the ground. The question will then be, if a rocket crashes to the ground in a forest and
there's nobody there to hear it, "will it make a sound?"

While the chainsaw is tempting... I think my idea is probably more realistic



Wait for it...



Wait for it...



Wait for it...





Honestly though, I'm sorry about the treeing... I've been there before (read the signature below).

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but how about using a drone with a light line/heavy fishing line attached to it via magnet and a hook on the end of the line dangling? Send it up there as close as you can get, once the hook is on/under the line, pull the drone away, magnet releases, pull line down with the rocket. May only work in some treeings and you may risk the drone by flying it near a tree, but nowadays there's lots of cheap ones and often you may find a friend who's skilled with one and wouldn't mind trying. My :2:

"Drone rocket fishing"...we can make it a sport! :wink:

There are clearly some delusional folks with opinions.

That being said, sometimes you just need to cut your loses and move on. I left $500.00 of equipment in a tree once. To do otherwise it would have taken another night in a hotel, two days of leave (one for the wife and another for me), and the $200-$300 cost of hiring someone to get the parts.

Look at it this way....you get a new rocket!

KenECoyote said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but how about using a drone with a light line/heavy fishing line attached to it via magnet and a hook on the end of the line dangling? Send it up there as close as you can get, once the hook is on/under the line, pull the drone away, magnet releases, pull line down with the rocket. May only work in some treeings and you may risk the drone by flying it near a tree, but nowadays there's lots of cheap ones and often you may find a friend who's skilled with one and wouldn't mind trying. My :2:

"Drone rocket fishing"...we can make it a sport! :wink:

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Knowing my luck, I'd end up with a drone in a tree too.

K'Tesh said:

Knowing my luck, I'd end up with a drone in a tree too.

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Tie a second rope to the drone!

Other brainstorms (search for the appropriate golden nugget solutions):
-Hire a trained monkey to fetch it. Bring a banana for exchange.
-Go through launch site garbage and McGyver a 60' pole out of spent motor casings and masking tape
-Buy one of those tennis ball on a rope garage parking stop indicators (I found one at Harbor Freight for a few bucks with coupon)...tie nylon line to the loop on the ball and throw.
-If it was maybe 40-50' high, use a ladder and borrow two (or more) snow roof rakes...add a hook to the end of one in place of the blade and while a buddy helps, insert additional sections up from under (don't lean over too much otherwise pole can bend and break). I helped a friend retrieve a rocket up about 50' in a tree at a local park in this manner and it cost nothing but some time and borrowing an additional snow rake from a friend. I don't know if this will work for 60'...you may find it too hard to control. I made sure to rest mine on branches as I sent it up towards the rocket.
-Giant kite with human harness
-Two words...jet pack

Best luck and determine for yourself if it really is worth the trouble and risk. Losing rockets is an accepted part of this sport.

Public Safety Note: Never climb trees to retrieve rockets...risking your life isn't worth a rocket. Rockets are replaceable.

Someone needs to design an RC controlled device to allow rocket to release from its recovery harness in the event that it gets stuck high up in a tree. You would still lose the chute and recovery harness but hopefully everything else would fall out of the tree.

But, if you have an RC device to release from the recovery harness...then the rocket falls at the speed of gravity and could suffer damage...

Someone posted a video a while back of going back out with a shotgun and shooting the limb! Brilliant! To get some things out, I've shot a fishing arrow over the limb with the bow, then worked the line back down to the object. probably not that helpful though.

We built a tree removal device for our school rocket club.

I had a bunch of 1" thin-wall PVC, so I hooked together two twenty foot pieces to make a forty foot piece. I did that again and then duct-taped the two together. This was still too floppy, so I taped a third twenty foot piece to the bottom, so it transitioned from three pieces to two pieces. I added 10' of 1'2 PVC to the end and attached a coat-hanger grappling hook to the tip.

It is unwieldy as heck, but I have pulled a lot of rockets down with it. Also, I don't have any of the joints glued, so it can be made to be thirty or fifty feet long.

I will admit to the chainsaw method... a LONG time ago when I was a teen. My LOC graduator went into a tree about 40 feet up. Went over at night, hammered cut 2x4's into the trunk to make a ladder. Then about 20 feet up cut off a 6" branch or so... rocket was fine. Branch got dragged off into the grove to decompose and the park folks likely wondered why there were 2x4s in a tree.