That rock trick has a real problem when the branch is thin, because a fist sized rock swinging on the end of your line acts like a wrecking ball in wind. I watched a guy near Young Lakes do the rock counterweight thing and around 2am his line sawed right through a lodgepole branch about 3 inches thick, dropped his whole bag, and a marten had it open before he even got out of the tent. You also just doubled the weight you are trying to hoist, and a rock resting against the trunk gives a marten a perfect ladder right down your rope to the food. Honestly if there is nothing solid to hang from, a hard sided canister stashed 100 feet from camp behind a log beats any rope setup.

That’s such a scam, glad you caught it before dropping four grand. Always pays to ask questions with those big companies, they rely on folks just saying yes.

Always check Internet Archive first. It beats Google every time.