muzzyman88
Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2021
- Messages
- 44
I'm not usually one to get all giddy or wound up quickly over something but this I wanted to share. I had some time yesterday afternoon to finally get my first sit of the year in out of the saddle. I have a heavily bedded area across the road from the house that I snuck into around 3PM. My gear is as follows. Cruzr XC saddle, EWO one stick with UP, canyon civ rope with madrock.
I snuck into a tree I picked a few weeks ago that was overlooking an active scrape where three old logging roads join. The tree was a "four pronger" and gave me plenty of cover. I only made two moves up the tree and was around 15-16ft but was tucked in nicely. I got situated, pulled the bow up with my repel rope and stuffed rest in the pack.
Thirty minutes later, I had a doe amble through out of range. Then about 10 minutes went by and another appeared in front of me, headed right at me. I thought for sure she was a smaller deer, so I didn't even bother picking up the bow. I simply slide to the side of the tree to keep it between me and her. I realized after a few minutes of watching her, that she was not that small, then another deer appeared, then a third. Two older does and small one. Then I had a button buck sneak in from behind me and walk to them. So... there I was, kind of pinned down and couldn't get to the bow which was on the other side of the tree... lol.
They left and I spent the rest of the afternoon relatively quite until almost dark when several more deer filtered through, out of range.
This saddle thing is really awesome. I really needed that long sit in the tree from the confidence side of things and getting comfortable with my system and setup. I spent a lot of time over the summer months climbing and repelling to gain that confidence and understanding of my gear. My whole hunt, from climb up to repel down went flawlessly. I learned a few things. I definitely need knee pads or a pad for the tree and I need a couple hanging solutions for my quiver and binos I think. I need also figure out where I like to hang my pack better so its out of the way, but easily accessible without a bunch of movement. I had it at 3 o'clock on the tree but felt like if I had to rotate to that side of the tree for a shot, it would be in the way. But other than that, I absolutely loved being in the saddle and felt very confident and comfortable in my setup.
Headed back out again this afternoon to do it again!
I snuck into a tree I picked a few weeks ago that was overlooking an active scrape where three old logging roads join. The tree was a "four pronger" and gave me plenty of cover. I only made two moves up the tree and was around 15-16ft but was tucked in nicely. I got situated, pulled the bow up with my repel rope and stuffed rest in the pack.
Thirty minutes later, I had a doe amble through out of range. Then about 10 minutes went by and another appeared in front of me, headed right at me. I thought for sure she was a smaller deer, so I didn't even bother picking up the bow. I simply slide to the side of the tree to keep it between me and her. I realized after a few minutes of watching her, that she was not that small, then another deer appeared, then a third. Two older does and small one. Then I had a button buck sneak in from behind me and walk to them. So... there I was, kind of pinned down and couldn't get to the bow which was on the other side of the tree... lol.
They left and I spent the rest of the afternoon relatively quite until almost dark when several more deer filtered through, out of range.
This saddle thing is really awesome. I really needed that long sit in the tree from the confidence side of things and getting comfortable with my system and setup. I spent a lot of time over the summer months climbing and repelling to gain that confidence and understanding of my gear. My whole hunt, from climb up to repel down went flawlessly. I learned a few things. I definitely need knee pads or a pad for the tree and I need a couple hanging solutions for my quiver and binos I think. I need also figure out where I like to hang my pack better so its out of the way, but easily accessible without a bunch of movement. I had it at 3 o'clock on the tree but felt like if I had to rotate to that side of the tree for a shot, it would be in the way. But other than that, I absolutely loved being in the saddle and felt very confident and comfortable in my setup.
Headed back out again this afternoon to do it again!
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