In my opinion, it is common, but only among smarter more productive cutters. You see a lot of guys only running one tape.
Now, dont get me wrong. If were dumping trees and dont have to buck anything but oversize, say over 24", and there are only half a dozen of em per day, then I will only have one tape on my belt. If we have to buck every tree, and take multiple logs off , then I will have two for sure, and maybe three on my belt. This and a spare or two with my gas.
My dad is a good cutter who was taught by good cutters, and I have the great fortune of being able to draw on those years of knowledge. All of our tools and many of our daily actions are based on speed of production.
My father has often said when speaking of good tools and the like..."Im no genius and I didnt think of it, so dont give me the credit, someone showed me once too."
Its the greatest benefit of this site, once in a while you see someones setup or how they do something, and have one of those ah haw moments, you know, when you say holy shit, why didnt I think of that!!
Props to Reg Coates. Hes given me more of these moments than anyone. But there have been many others. I guess I will take this time to thank everyone for posting. I stop in and read quite often, but dont post much. I have learned a great deal about climbing from this bunch.