Say good-bye to conduit, bamboo, wood, etc.
In the summer of 2001 we needed mist net poles, A LOT of mist net poles. Sure we knew of the terrific lightweight poles already commercially available, but the high price for these featherweight poles caused us to look at other avenues (did I mention we needed A LOT of poles?).

Dutifully we set out starting with aluminum shafts featuring wooden pegs for stacking. Easy to build at a campsite (which a lot of them were), had seamless connectors, and worked great except for when the wooden pegs would swell slightly when wet, causing many afternoons to be (literally) whittled away. Later we tried using some electrical conduit with all its wonderful connectors to avoid our wooden problems, but it turns out that conduit should really just be used for conduit. You can't slide the net loops over the pole connectors, and conduit is HEAVY. Other material like bamboo can't be stacked into a doube high, and since bamboo doesn't come apart, good luck reaching the top mainline on a single high net. So it turns out there is a reason why 36'' stackable poles have proved most worthy...everything else is less versitile or just plain sucks.

So midway through that summer we broke down, started over, and made our own all metal poles with CNC machined ends. We decided up front we would use for less expensive material instead of trying to make them featherweight, since rarely would we net several days' hike from a road and sometimes they are used to whack brush down. After beating on these poles for a few years, we felt they have stood up to enough of our abuse and can now be available to fellow bat and bird netters.

Please note that we sell poles individually instead of packs, as people prefer to build their own configurations. A set of 6 poles will only cost $120.00 before shipping. Keep the following facts in mind:

How many mist net poles do I need?
If you want to set one (1) free-standing single high mist net (any length by 2.6 meters high) you will need 2 Bottoms and 4 Tops. Six poles will weigh approximately 5.5 lbs.

If you want to set one (1) free-standing double high mist net you will need 2 Bottoms and 8 Tops.

If you want to set triple high mist nets AKA the type of net required for Indiana bat clearance surveys, these poles are too thin for that kind of span. See our clever Forest Filter mist net system that delivers a 3H wall of net in 15 minutes.

"FYI, Eric just ran over my BCM mist net poles with his F150, along their entire length, not crosswise. No damage. If they were xxxxxx-brand poles, they would have been crushed." - Janet Tyburec, BCI Bat Workshop Instructor

• Poles need guy ropes to keep tension and prevent mist nets from falling over (duh!). Plan on at least 3- 12' ropes per single high net.
• You need 3 poles per side to make a single high net stand up.
• To get the net to the top of the pole, slide the two top shelves onto the top pole, remove the top pole, continue sliding the top shelves into place, then replace the top pole.
• For best results the net should never be saggy and bag overlap should be about 3-4''.
• Got tall grass at your site? Add an extra pole to your single high making an "extra high single high".