I shot my throw bag and line over the very limbs I wanted and the bag came down. The line was out a bit further on the limbs I wanted and over some others as well, but I figured the rope sleeve and a bag manipulation trick would take care of everything.

But, not to take any chances, I already had a 10 oz throw bag on 'my' end of the line and attached a second throw line to that throw bag. That would allow me maximum flexibility manipulating the throw bag in to the position I wanted.

I pulled up that throw bag to drop it over the crotch and had to pull it back and forth a couple of times to clear some twigs. All of a sudden it wouldn't budge. I pulled hard on both lines - nothing - it was hung and good!

So I throw another bag and line over a much lower limb, set my rope and climb up. Two more pitches got me in position to see what had happened. The metal ring on the throw bag had landed perfectly over a small nub on top of the limb and it wasn't going anywhere.

So I stand up on a limb (tied in twice), lift the throw bag off the nub, untied both lines and everything was free. But here's the good part.

I've been playing with a special rappelling device I made and so far I love it. It's small, simple, easy to use and doesn't twist the rope any more than a Grigri or hyper bar rack and it's much lighter and simpler than either.

One thing I've learned about it is it's amazing wide range of braking/control. Keep in mind, I'm on 9mm PMI EzBend and most rappelling devices are 'touchy' with that small of a rope. Not this thing - it flies - it stops.

Wellllllll my wife was lying out in the yard on a blanket watching me and I was about to give her a scare, errr, I mean show....that's it - show. I got the SRT set up, installed the rappeller, eased down enough to clear the last limb. I was at about 40' at that point.

I pushed out from the tree, and loosened my brake hand (gloved) and let the rope fly. I dropped 40' without ever coming in contact with the tree again. As I neared the ground, I simply clamped down with my brake hand (glove) and felt the instant and hard braking. I soft touched the ground with my feet and it was over.

Although it's just a rappeller, I sure do like it. It's a prototype right now - I need to add a few things and I'll post some pics and a vid of a high speed rappel.

And that's how I rescued my throw bag and two lines.

Hmmm, got kind of carried away there didn't I?

I'd say about one in four climbs for me involves rescuing a stuck throwbag. Backpulling an overshot bag is just asking for trouble in some trees.

Amen to that!

Somewhere around 3 years ago I had enough instances of the metal ring on the throwbag getting snagged on branch stubs that I was thinking A LOT about throwbags with smaller rings - like less than a centimeter inside diameter. Except for the (for me) rare circumstance of wanting to put a 'biner through the ring, there's no reason for those rings to be the size they are. For some reason, that hasn't happened for a while, and I've stopped worrying about it.

Amen on backpulling overshot bags. I'm a slow learner; it took me most of a year to get out of the habit of trying to do that.

It makes you wonder how a ring can find so many small stubs!

There's one company that makes a throwbag with a significantly smaller ring, in fact, it's a D shape. I can't remember the name now, but it's a red and blue bag with the initials HR on it. I'm pretty sure the R stands for Rocket. I think Bob may know the company that makes them.

I chuckled when I read the part about 'getting out of the habit' - it's just so tempting to pull that bag back to where you want it - like you and Bob have indicated - bad idea!

Yep, it's the Harrison Rocket

Sherrill sold an exact copy (with different colors) for awhile, then I think went back to the larger ring but kept the same bag design.

I like the big ring, for example when I'm pulling a rope up on a fairly open setting I'll just tie the rope right to the ring on the bag with an F8 with a longish tail and haul the rope up that way. Can't do that on the rocket style small ring (depending on your rope diameter).
-AJ

I'm really looking forward to seeing that rappelling device, Ron!
It would be nice to add another rappelling device to my saddle now that I'm finally climbing frog.
Right now, I'm using a Cinch with Hunabku's hula hoop configuration, and it works perfectly, but if I happen to drop that Cinch, my only backup is an ATC...which works well for me on 11.7 mm rope and two carabiners, but I'd rather avoid using it if I can!! (Especially considering that my next rope purchase will likely be 9 or 10 mm PMI EZbend!)
So like I said, I'll be really interested to see what you've come up with.

It works well with my 9mm EzBend; my 9mm MaxWear is a bit fast through it. I need to make a couple of mods - your input would sure be helpful - wish you were here.

Hey, it's about time for you and David to come up for a visit anyway! We'll get that rappeller zeroed in!