Tree Saddle

Eberhart started all that. Nobody knew who Eberhart was until he got on tv. We followed John way back, by his book, before tv.

If you are open minded, willing to learn, and can leave the " buddy or gang hunting " behind, you'll do well.

I never went to the saddle, but John and his late son did well.

Saddles are trending right now. Things typically trend . One year its the helper rope hanging off Lone wolf stiks. Next year its something different.

Would advise to get, read, and follow John's book
Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails.

I do not follow trends, and i finally tried the lone wolf stiks with the rope mods, years after the trend was old news. I was pretty much wrong and late to the party. Great option.

So, i would hook up with somebody that has one, spend some time doing a climb and set with it, and decide then.

Then, picture yourself setting up at 4:30-5 am. Can u do it without making any noise ? John had many trees prepared with screw in steps. If you are on LA public, you cannot. You must use stiks. More gear, more work. And cannot leave many in place. Even on leases, theft is often real bad. Especially if yall are all out-of-towners.

Just things to think about

Been in one for about 5 seasons now. I’ve tried a Good many of them. I’m a bigger guy, 6ft and 250lbs.

Pros:
Light weight
360 shooting
Minimum movement
More packable
More tree selection

Cons:
If you don’t practice and tweak with it, it can be uncomfortable after a couple of hrs

I used my brother's quite a bit. My main con is that it takes quite a bit more movement to switch shot directions than it would on a platform. one thing I liked is that you could set up in a thicker tree and have a lot more cover around you.

A Bear
really like your post.

thats what i figured. Glad i went with instinct.

I do love my LW stiks. Did the 8mm rope mod. Love it,
and i'm 57 y.o.

Pros:
Lighter and more versatility
More shot angles
Almost limitless customization
Safety

Cons:
Some people find that they fidget too much

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Eberhart started all that. Nobody knew who Eberhart was until he got on tv. We followed John way back, by his book, before tv.

If you are open minded, willing to learn, and can leave the " buddy or gang hunting " behind, you'll do well.

I never went to the saddle, but John and his late son did well.

Saddles are trending right now. Things typically trend . One year its the helper rope hanging off Lone wolf stiks. Next year its something different.

Would advise to get, read, and follow John's book
Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails.

I do not follow trends, and i finally tried the lone wolf stiks with the rope mods, years after the trend was old news. I was pretty much wrong and late to the party. Great option.

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Were you just high or tripping on acid when you wrote this?

Hunt public land here in Missouri when I can’t get home to hunt North La. It’s a game changer for me needing to be mobile and not leave stands in the woods. . Started out with a Guido and loved it. I bought the JX3 this year Guy bought out Guido and made some real improvements . You can check it out on line. It’s carried like a backpack and I have the hawk helium steps. It’s not cheap but I’ve never sat in a more comfortable stand. Safe and not hard to get used to, but you will need to spend some time in it to get acquainted on set up and how to move around the tree, etc. It’s not as light as some of the traditional saddles but I’m 60 and like the comfort. I’m 6’1” and 205 and I find it very comfortable . My brothers and nephews still use the Guido still , which you can’t get new any longer obviously. I love that I can move around and hunt hot sign and food sources. Cons would be , at least for me it take a little longer than getting up the tree in my old lone wolf climber BUT once there I'm set. Plus I don't have to find the perfect climbable tree to get in perfect position. JX3 has had a significant price increase since I purchased mine it appears.

I hunt strictly public, must stay mobile. Used climbers for years but got real tired of finding the perfect spot but no tree available to climb and when I did find a tree it wasn't in the spot, especially bowhunting. I started using a mix of climbers and sticks/hang on stands in 2014. They all have a place.

I swore I wouldn't buy into the saddle hype, but every hunt I thought about the possiblities with a saddle. The safety harness I was wearing weighed as much as my saddle. Less bulk, less hassle packing in/out. I'm already putting up and climbing sticks, the only thing that changed was packing and hanging a small platform versus a stand.

But I've found an unexpected benefit. You ever stand up and draw your bow on your stand and it feels like your swaying? Like you almost may lose your balance? Just your feet in contact with anything around you?

I only started saddle hunting last year, but after spending hours shooting my bow out of the saddle I feel so secure and with my feet on the platform and one knee into the tree there isn't any worry about falling or instability. Can hang there indefinitely and be rock solid. I have an Overwatch Transformer fwiw.

Pros:
Less bulk and weight
Won't get stolen when it's on you
Can be strategic and get it in most trees
Surprisingly comfortable
Safe, silent

Cons:
Cost - Treestand prices for some fabric
Intimidating - Seems like a lot to do and ballsy at
for the inexperienced
You do move more, but you are behind the tree from
where you are facing
The old heads back at the camp look at you like you
done bumped your head because you are hanging in
a diaper

This year I'm going to take it up a notch. Going to buy some higher end sticks. But mostly I want to repel down. Very little effort required to repel and I can grab my sticks on the way down. Good luck! Depending on where you are I can let you try it out.

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Tell me why I should invest in one.

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Its another tool in the toolbox.

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Pros

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Very versatile. Very safe IF done properly. You're always tied to the tree, and there is no stand to fall away and leave you hanging.

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Cons

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Expensive, and takes a few tries to figure out what you like exactly. I'm using a teaherd phantom, and DRT climbing, still trying to figure out if this is my permanent setup or not.

Unless you nail the setup you like on the first pass, you'll be buying iterations of different shite. Most people I know who saddle hunt went through sets of climbing sticks, platforms, etc till they ended up with what they liked.

I went as cheap as possible (saddle, climbing ropes, homemade platform) and I probably still spent $800. Some of those fancy climbing sticks are very expensive.