re: Saddle hunting

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How has saddle hunting treated you?

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I’ve hunted on the ground much more this year because it beats toting the climbing sticks, platform and saddle in and out of the woods. I’ve found no real advantage over a climber. I bought a really nice backpack designed for packing sticks in and out and it’s still bulky, heavy, and doesn’t fit tight enough to the back to feel secure. I bought 4 20” hawk helium’s, 3 30” helium’s, and 8 wild edge steps and I don’t really like carrying any combination and out of the woods. The 4 20” steps can get me to about 15-16’ vs a climber that can get you as high as you want in less time. My climber is more comfortable and I sweat less setting it up and taking it down. I said at the beginning of the season I would hunt out of it all year, but I’m about to start using my climber again because I need to kill deer. Save y’all money. Trust me on this one... it’s cool hanging from the tree for about 30 minutes and then it’s not that much fun anymore. You also tend to move around a lot more in the saddle vs sitting in a stand with a comfortable seat.

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I’ve hunted on the ground much more this year because it beats toting the climbing sticks, platform and saddle in and out of the woods. I’ve found no real advantage over a climber.

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I’m doing my first saddle hunt tomorrow, and I have the Phantom also. I tried it out in my backyard and it seems comfortable enough. I only do public hunting (and some on a military base) so I move around a lot. My walk in tomorrow will be 3/4 of a mile to a mile, as is some of my other hunts. I got tired of carrying my stand in that far so I figured the saddle will help.

I’m not getting rid of my lock-on stand though. There are some areas I’m comfortable leaving it (especially on base), and I’ll make sure to keep it setup somewhere throughout the season. But mobility is the advantage I’m looking for with the saddle.

My pack is a horn hunter full curl lite if you want to look it up. It’s designed for carrying sticks or quartered deer.
Also, I don’t use aiders. So that’s why you can get up higher with less sticks. No doubt they’ll get you higher, but they just aren’t for me.
The saddle does give you the ability to hide behind the tree better. I guess there are a few advantages, but packing in and setting up is worse for me than it is with my climber.
I did have a pretty awesome set up in Missouri with my saddle this year though. I found an old stand in the fork of a tree that was just a small wooden platform, I used my sticks to get in it, I tethered up with my feet on the platform and I hung my climber on the other trunk of the fork and my buddy sat in the climber and was going to video for me. Unfortunately we never saw anything to shoot though.