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First season in the saddle

cb750

cb750

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Joined
Nov 18, 2017
Messages
1,040
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SWO
So. I recently bought a saddle from the classifieds here. Thanks to both @WhatchaDouin and @Ontariofarmer. I have been up and down a couple trees in my yard now and getting some practice in. I built a diy ring of climb paws.... Not thinking I got the geometry right so they will NOT be making it up a tree with me. So while I figure another solution I secretly wish the Mrs was not able to see what I put on the credit card LOL.
Anyway I figure I might try to post a noob (sp?) Log to track my experiences with year one of saddle hunting. First up a couple pics. From one stick looking over to my targets. (Figured I needed to show my shoes at least once seems to be an obligation here LOL)20180901_101736.jpg20180901_101736.jpg
 

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If you want some climbing paws I will give you some.


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Ontariofarmer said:
If you want some climbing paws I will give you some.


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Click to expand...
Thank you. I was looking to use them as a ring of steps. But of we ever do end up finally meeting up I may take you up on that.

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An update as deer season approaches. I have built myself a wooden platform. Its not super packable but sturdy enough to hold me and under 5 lbs. The entire thing cost me just the price of the washer im using for the versa button everything else I had on hand. I guess the point is you don't have to break the bank on all your gear! LOL. Plus I like a little DIY every now and then.

Shooting from the platform took a bit to get used to but I'm quite confident with my shots now.

I've sorted out my pack and improved my prusik. I have an accessory hanger and feel all set. Even got a new property to hunt.

So I anticipate the first hunt will quickly show me what I have forgotten to prepare for. :tearsofjoy:.
 
Saddle hunt #1 goes down for me tomorrow evening. It's been a long off season build to this moment! Pretty excited!

I've spent way too much money (even while dodging some big ticket toys out there), and waaaaay too much time on this forum (my wife seriously wonders what's going on!).

After practicing several tools & methods I've settled on the following for tomorrow night:

Saddle = AH Kite - It's a thing of beauty! I had to sell one of my favorite treestands to get the money to buy it... but it is so worth it. Only saddle I've ever sat in, but it is just awesome!

Platform = Ring of Ameristeps. I had no interest in these when I first watched Boswell's videos that got me into this mess. Somehow I finagled a trade for some and after spending most of the summer planning to use a Primal plywood platform I'm going with the Ameristeps on a flat hook strap with OCB. They're just so simple, and light, and stable, and they provide so many feet/sit/lean/hide options...I can't pass them up.

Climb = 4 WE steps with Knaider/Swaider. Sold my LW sticks to get funds for these and I've gotten pretty good at tying them on. Hats off to @Peterk1234 for his ideas and videos with the Kn/Sw. Genius stuff. After a decent amount of practice I've gotten pretty good at the Kn/Sw even though it still kinda scares the crud outta me! Thought I would be a LWHC guy (I own one) but the clumsiness of that system lost out to the utility of the ring of steps.

If I spent even half as much time scouting as I did on thinking about and working on gear, tomorrow night would probably go a lot better! I'm headed out of state and my primary spot that I actually did scout out doesn't play well with tomorrow's wind. I just finished checking out a new piece of public land that works better. I'll have to scout on the fly I guess. Excited to try a new spot! Lots of ag fields near a swamp with a small patch of hardwoods with several inside corners.

Wish me luck...I need it! And thanks to everyone that helped make tomorrow happen for me. Best I can remember the list goes:
@bowhunter15
Boswell
@g2outdoors
@swampsnyper
@BassBoysLLP
@bongo
@donnieballgame
@Jefferson10940
@Peterk1234
@Carcher87
@fbwguy
@Jgetch
And dozens of other folks here who taught me much, made me laugh (huck & nutter especially), and made me feel a part of something.
Most of all @redsquirrel. None of the joy I have experienced through all this would have happened if it weren't for you.
Thank you. Really.



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Monday morning ill be looking for this guy.
 

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Oh yeah almost forgot. I also found one of those hurricane power steps on for 8.75 CAD. So about a buck USD lol. At that price I figured I could pick one up and mess around with it. I have a plan in my head... Bringing it to fruition....who knows.
 
And we're live from NY!
Lovin' it!
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So I had another sit tonight. Went to the old family homestead to a corner I know is usually good. It wasnt, so I moved to another spot. This cool little piece of land that has been hard to hunt. I look at a tree that's about 25 yards between the corn to the North and the south. It started as 4 or 5 trunks and looks as though it may have been struck by lightning. There is nothing straight about this tree till you get about 12ft up. It looks promising though so after a bit of planning I climb it. There is no way you would ever get a climber into this thing and you would be hard pressed with a lock on because of the limbs. Man I love this saddle. I got in there hung and had great shot angles. I think I bumped the deer out though so I saw nothing. However I noted something else as well. Crooked arse trees are another good argument for cutting down your sticks. I have full length Lone Wolfs. Trying to get them attached to this tree in a useful manner was a bit tricky. Shorter sticks would have made that way easier and aided was useless until I got to stick three which I realized I didn't need anyway. All that to say I love this hunting style and I am that much closer to another mod.
 
1st year in review:
So with this season almost wrapped up I figured now would be the time to recap my first season. In one sentence: saddle hunting is my all time favourite way to hunt.

Lessons learned in year one of saddle hunting:
1.Practice practice practice. Everything from your climbing method to your 360 shooting.
2. Cut down lone wolfs are pretty sweet.
3. Redundancy in safety and in gear. Lost my bow hanger once but enough little things on hand to DIY one.
4. Always tug your line mans belt to confirm it's on right. Last night I was descending and using my tether to go around a branch on the way down. It was quite dark and even though it felt right and looked right best I could tell. It was on my pocket not the loop. Tugged it, knew it wasn't right, fixed it. No fall no broken bones.
5. Aiders are also pretty sweet
6. Tether can be used as 2nd linesman belt to go around branches.
7. Leaning and messed up trees are still options. And good ones. My buck was out of a leaner and had to work past 4 branches to get to my spot.
8. The SH community is generous innovative and friendly a tremendous resource and inspiration.
9. When you think you set your alarm early enough....set it earlier..
10. Don't quit early. I got my buck with 1 minute of legal light.

I realize a couple of those are not siddle specific but they were learned and or reinforced at some point this year.
 
To be clear not my first hunting season..my first saddle hunting season.
 
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