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Getting to know you thread

Im of course Rob. ( the buck psych) on social media.
My kids gave me that name years ago.
I got into saddles when i used to chat with Johnny E quite a bit back in 2007 or so.
I still at times use a stand and now use a hybrid setup with a cruzr xc and a .5 during long sits like during the rut.
mostly early season I use very minimalist setup.
the fix platform with 3 beast mini’s or 3 double steps all packed up in an xop striker pack.
My Short bio
Im born and raised in cape may nj
Was a corrections officer for 20 years and am now im retired.
For work I dabble in woodworking, painting,plumbing, and handyman stuff.
My favorite things to do are in order lol bowhunt, woodworking, and play guitar.
I have been bow hunting since around 94.
Im still hooked lol
I still shake with adrenaline when even does come by me
I wish i could hunt 7 days a week like the so called whitetail gods with the big followers lmao.
Man thats the life but real life responsibilities put a wrench in those plans.
i call myself a “blue collar hunter” with very limited time to do anything deer related.
Those entertainers really do have good lives lol.
I also still try to learn something almost every time im in the woods. Im also humbled quite a bit.
I hunt extreme South jersey so 130 incher is something around here. Any bigger is pretty rare in my zone. Booners are just non existent or extremely rare. Mid west and north western Jersey seem to have a better variety of bucks compared to extreme southern areas.
Where i hunt is the land of 100 incher lol
These huge numbered Gun clubs in December put a serious hurting on the bucks in my zone even though it has 3 point on one side rule.
i do have a home in Deleware that I regularly visit our oldest daughter.
i try hunt when I can there and they have some true beautiful bucks in the area. Me snd my bff @Jhand.are always onto a few known big boys year to year.
very tough to hunt-there because our public is just so small and is accessible from most directions.
The norm for most private is field edge box stands or ladders over bait or crops.
they do well doing that but I like to learn and try to pattern specific bucks. Which can be extremely difficult in our areas. Any sort of presdure the bigger bucks just seem to gravitate to the huge private pieces around public.
Before i retired it Seems i hunted more then and now i just dont have enough time in one day to do what needs doing lmao.
If i could give any advice to anyone needing help i would definitely So i would advise to keep the theory of Chasing them down, scout hard, and watch the winds.
dont get caught up in the big hype of big channels or platforms. Nit everyone can hunt or scout 7 days a week.
take a tip here and there and use it how you feel fit.
Try to learn as much as you can on your own and it will be so much more rewarding.
hunt like you want and use what you want.
Good luck everyone this year and please be safe.
Pm me anytime if anyone wants to chat about snything deer or even what life slams upon us.
my ear is alwsys open.
 
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I’m Eric. I was born in West Virginia, raised in Sussex then Atlantic & Cape May New Jersey , went to WVU , returned to NJ and now reside in NH where I moved for work 4 years ago.
I had family and friends that hunted growing up but that consisted of someone telling you to sit over corn or sweet potatoes. I have been steadily relearning hunting every season since 2009, eventually moving to archery and now trying to commit to the recurve for archery season.
I was fortunate to have a job where I was responsible for the Northeast states, after numerous invites to hunt from customers I took it back up and shot a buck in PA.
In the off-season when posted up in hotels from MD- ME I’d go on a hike in public lands and try to figure out why deer do what they do.
That helped me more than any book or video.
I’d point to Eberharts book and THP for moving to saddles, in 19/20 before that I thought the high cost saddle gear was for people that could spend a 100+ days in the woods or had flexible schedules or a screw loose.
I’d probably be a good hunter if I didn’t prioritize living near the ocean & vacation days for surf trips as I’m a decent surfer and find it easier to access from a time; 1 hour at a time during the workweek / time with family / friends standpoint.
I saw a deer in Nicaragua this year , amazing how adaptable they are.

Good luck to all and thanks for the positive content on here it’s been helpful
 
I'm Justin, the forum name is actually a nickname from college intramural soccer -after finding the net from half field a teammate yelled out "he's got the touch, the dutch touch" and the rest is history. Thanks Tipsy Tim! (I don't think he's on here). I do, however enjoy the MJ reference and don't try too hard to convince people that's not what it means.

37, married for the last 13 years, and still working at it, but man is it work lol. I have two girls that are about to turn 5 and 7 and they are my world. I echo the prior posted that gets a kick out of his kids wanting to touch and eat all the dead animals I bring home-same here and it's great. Still working on the wife and friends (if you eat meat, I think it should be mandatory to help butcher at least one animal in your life, know where your food comes from and all that).

I am originally from Northern NJ (Paterson to be specific), went to college/grad school in Pittsburgh, and lived in Chicago for a bit before moving back to my wife's home base. Now live in Maryland outside DC, I enjoy fishing and crabbing but haven't got out on the bay in my hobie outback as often as I used to before kids and hunting.

I work in professional development for a physician medical group, prior to that worked in transplant and organ donation for a decade, but to be honest the idea of working for another 20+ years is... Not something I want to think about right now!

Found this site a few years back, while trying to learn online and turning away from social media/YouTube. I grew up pretty outdoorsy, hiked and boated and occasionally fished, but never hunted, have taught myself to bowhunt over the last 3 and a half years with some moderate (2 young deer) success and many more lessons learned. I love to DIY and have enjoyed the dressing/processing of the deer almost as much as the hunting and eating. My wife thinks we are a no gun household. I think we currently don't own any. We had a similar disagreement about bows and hunting in general and I was able to prove the usefulness of those tools, look forward to extending the garden spade=fishing pole= bow= gun learning at the appropriate time. I realize I am likely in the minority here with this issue and being a liberal-voting hunter (we do exist, and we aren't trying to take your guns away, this one's trying to get his own!) but if anyone has constructive advice for that ongoing conversation (meaning not along the lines of "get divorced" or "tell that woman she don't control you", I have plenty of those thoughts on my own lol) I would welcome it by PM to not derail the thread further.

I've really enjoyed learning to hunt, I love type 2 fun, a name I recently learned to describe a lot of the things I like to do and hunting definitely fits. Thank you to all of you who have already or will in the future help me learn to be a smarter, safer, more effective hunter. I've got lots of things added to my bucket list now due to this awesome hobby, and many more questions for all of you.
 
I'm Beau. I'm 24 years old born and raised in Northeast Iowa. I have a civil engineering degree from the University of Iowa and now work as a project engineer / manager for an industrial construction company in my area. My dad got me into hunting at an early age. Started with small game (rabbits squirrels, pheasant and transitioned into deer when I was about 8. Shot a few does here and there and was lucky enough to kill a 180" buck as my first buck I ever killed. Safe to say it's going to be tough to top that as I am still trying to do so. Killed my first deer with a comppound when I was 14 and I was hooked. Started mobile hunting and really getting serious about it about 4 years ago and started my saddle hunting journey last year. Still a single man so I have basically all the free time in the world to hunt and that's what I do. My goal for this season is to kill a 150+ which in my area of Iowa is pretty big. I would like to thank all of the helpful/friendly members of this forum. Everyone here has given me many tips on their setups which has helped tremendously in getting the setup that is right for me in order to be a more efficient hunter. Hope everyone does well this year. Happy hunting!
 
Randen- 40 - married w 2 kids (11 and 7). Born and raised in West Virginia! Grew up hunting with my Pap, he taught me everything he knew about the woods. Mostly squirrel hunting with him and occasionally whitetail. Picked up my first bow in College an old Bear Whitetail I found in the garage. Bought a Hoyt Redline off ebay and killed my first deer with it that same year. Fast forward a little, I got an adult job in a Federal Prison as an officer and bought a Bear "Truth". Had my son at 29 and put the bow in the case till 2 years ago. Now my son and I share the love of the woods and hunting. Got into saddle hunting last winter and have been out 5 sits this year all saddle.
I do a lot of things other than hunting - coach baseball for my sons teams, volleyball for my daughter, slowpitch softball mens competitive tourneys, powerlift, love football (Played college ball for 2 years at Fairmont State), cook, remodeling my home one room at a time, and really anything that catches my eye! lol

I plan to hunt elk next year OTC and hit up some bow only counties in WV this year!

133 7/8 is my best buck to date! Killed 2 years ago in an Urban hunt.
 
I'm Travis and 38. Born in Vietnam and came to Los Angeles at 6 years old. Stay there for 20 years until I joined the Army. Served for almost 10 years, but I met my wife in Maryland and she told me that we are setting root. So I got out and got an office job. Got 5 kids, a 8 year old son and 4 daughters (5, 4, 2 ,1).

My father in law has been hunting most of his life. I wouldn't say that he got me into hunting, but he opened the door and gave me the actual push to follow down this singular path. When I say singular, I mean it. I literally have no other hobbies beside whitetail hunting as of this moment. This was a decision that I made when I realized my bachelor days were over and I can't do 24 hours marathon when a new game release. There are multiple times a day when I would be carrying a kid in each arm and another on my back! Once the kids are more self sufficient, maybe I'll revisit fishing or other things, but right now I'm at peace with myself on my clear simplified priority list; family, work, whitetail hunting.

I started hunting in 2018, father in law took me to his lease in WV. We drove his ATV to a stand he built with 2X4, plywood, tarps, and the roof of a golf cart. It was fully enclosed except for a window to see a feeder setup about 40 yards away. He hand me a level action Marlin, told me to stay quiet, wait until 7, the feeder will go off and 15 minutes later to shoot at a deer. Well that was what exactly happened and I kill a doe. I'm going to get a lot of flak for this but I felt no enjoyment or sense of achievement from the whole experience. But it did turn a switch on in me somewhere. I am now driven to hunt with only a bow on public land. The joy and excitement that I get from every encounter with a deer on public is so much more then harvesting something from a feeder. I said it many time, my family is blessed enough that we don't need the meat from my successful hunting. And I'm basically a weekend hunting with some weekdays that I can sneak into the wood with the support of a great wife who manage the house so I can do it. Everyone is different, but this is how I find enjoyment.

This forum is my sanctuary from the stress in life, beside my family, this is where I go to relax. I can honestly say that everyone one on this forum have been nothing but helpful, courteous, and genuinely nice. I am not saying we all agree on everything, heck we might not even get along in real life, but we have a bond here, an understanding that we have more in common then differences.

Oh another thing we have in common is that we all have watch the gif of Red Bread shaking his ass more than one time.
 
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My name is Chad Curran from east Ky, Menifee County.
I was born and raised within 5 miles of where I live now, started going to church at 15 years old, got called to the altar the first night I went. From there I repented and was baptized with the Holy Ghost no many days later. That is where I met my wife, I have now been married 26 years to my very best friend and have one son 17 years old. I was called to preach around 14 years ago and became the pastor of the Newcut Free Pentecostal Holiness Church where I started, I am now 42 years old.
I grew up hunting just about anything I could and caught any kind of fish that would bite. From Salt water fishing in Fl to gigging suckers in the local creek, to sneaking in every farm pond that I could walk too, lol. My Grandfather started me bird hunting, squirrel hunting and fishing. No one in my family hunted deer or turkey so at 13 I got my first bow, killed my first buck “a one horned spike” at age 14. I deer hunted till I was about 19 killing deer every year, I also trained coon hounds, squirrel dogs and beagles so the deer hunting took a back seat for nearly 15 years or so. When my son turned 7 I bought him a 243 for Christmas and he was deer crazy, killing his first buck the following year. He then wanted a bow, which in turned got me wanting a bow so we have been hunting together ever since. He has now killed 2 bucks and a doe with his bow and numerous with a gun.
I have been a horse blacksmith for 27 years, was a horse trainer for 18 years, currently run a self owned construction business as well and have had several other jobs in between. I am the guy who will work any job to make ends meet and to supply the needs and wants of my family.
This is my first year saddle hunting and just came across this forum a few months ago, I have enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to taking my first deer in the saddle. I have tried multiple climbing methods, have done lots of climbing in construction so very familiar with lots of knots, so far though my favorite is drt and one sticking. God Bless to all and I am thankful for the op starting this post, i enjoy reading about everyone!
 
Hello, my name is Shane from western PA and I am addicted to hunting and fishing… it all started when I was a kid. I can remember snow days off school and grabbing the BB gun and a white sheet, digging a hole in the snow to lay in and cover myself with the white sheet and picking off every song bird that entered the berry patches… the addiction started early for me. My dad got me one of those kids bows when I was about 7 which I wore out by the time I was 10 and got an old recurve and a couple mix match old arrows. I shot it religiously until I was allowed to hunt at 12, however, my first few deer were shot with rifles and I didn’t get my first archery deer until about 14 or 15. I upgraded myself and bought a used compound around age 15 and hunted with that old bow until I was in my early 30s…. I worked as a bow tech and gun salesman at various shops from 16-21 along with working on farms to put myself thru school. Got a job that had me traveling across the country and from early 20s thru early 30s I lived a lot of places. I averaged a move twice a year between PA/VA/ME/FL/WI/MN/MI/DC/NY/MA/TN. In my mid 20s I got my first bird dog as my travel partner and although I hunted with the bow at times, I traveled to much for work and the dog traveled with me so from my mid 20s into my 30s I focused on bird hunting with “Jagger” my GWP who saw more birds in a year than most dogs saw in a lifetime. I ended up guiding bird hunts with him for a few years even. He was and will likely be the best bird dog I will ever have the opportunity to hunt over. When he started to slow down I started to get back into archery hunting a little more. My best friend growing up and I also got into trapping which I did full time for a little bit between jobs until I realized I like making enough money to live. I finally settled down in Pa where I grew up, met a girl from northern PA and got married about 6 years ago. We had our first son this past spring, named him Drake Wilds. My wife, who is amazing, is a classical ballet teacher and wildlife artist (Rod and Needle), board member for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, she does hunt some but her passion is fishing.

I got back into traditional archery a little over a year ago and I am back to my addiction shooting every day I can. I hope to fill a deer tag or two and maybe even a bear tag this year and get myself ready to Elk hunt with it in a year or two once I can convince someone to head back out west with me.
 
I am a bowhunter. I have a job, go to the gym and eat mostly healthy because I am a bowhunter and intend to be a bowhunter until I catch a dirt nap. I am a born and raised Arkansan so I also have a deep rooted love for shooting ducks. In case you dont know, if it doesnt have a green head it isnt a duck. If you are considering a reply to the contrary, I respect your right to be wrong and you are. I am 29 because that is when I stopped counting and believe strongly in your right to be as old as you want to be. I am a Christian, not always what society would call a good one but my faith is strong. Need a lot more work on loving my neighbors because some neighbors really just need a good throat punch. I try to never sweat the small stuff but sometimes do, that bothers me. I try hard to always live by and remember that joy is a choice, always. Unless I am stuck behind some jackwagon driving 10 under in the left lane, daily bag limit should be at least 3 per day.
 
My name is Gabriel. Ive been told I like to hunt and complain about things. I love hunting but I hate waiting.

I started archery and deer hunting 6 years ago. I started with my dads old PSE wheel bow from the 1990s and his steel old man climber. I carried way too much gear but it made no difference to me. That old man climber is a cadillac. It climbed well and was very stable, as well as extremely comfortable. I spent many all days sleeping in that thing. There is really no telling the number of deer that walked past me while I was asleep in that thing.

I loved archery and was shooting everyday. I wasted a lot of time my first two years hunting where I thought the deer would be based on maps instead of finding out where the deer would be. Even with poor hunting skills I managed to have 3 opportunities at small bucks and 1 doe, all of which I botched. I banged my climber, used the wrong pin, didn’t line up my peep, you name it, I did it. I was very accurate at the range with my old bow but realized there’s a lot more going on in woods when you’re trying to kill a deer. I had a bad time ranging deer, and while that doesn’t matter as much with the modern bow trajectories, 1 pin off on my old PSE meant I was 8 inches off my target.

In 2018 I got a new compound and killed my first deer (small 4 pt) on Dec 17th on short hunt before my night shift, with 1.5 hrs of daylight, 30 yards from the road, after climbing and dropping my quiver, and climbing a separate tree. I grunted and did a small rattle and he came in grunting. I drew, waited, checked that everything was aligned, rechecked, and then finally shot him at like 8 yards. He ran 40 yards and piled up! The next day I killed a doe.

At this time I was starting to look at more mobile options, as I had been watching DIY sportsman for a few years. I bought some API sticks, but they were clumsy, heavy, I didn’t practice with them, and ended up hating them. I was hunting with a light but sketchy XOP hand climber mostly. At several points I had a lock on but hated it as well. That season I switched up everything many many times. This another reoccurring theme that screws me up. I remember checking out this website periodically and seeing y’all knuckleheads trying to climb with carbon fiber bolts. I was awesome to read all the DIY threads. Everyone trying to innovate and everyone was having a blast doing it.

2018-2019

Trophyline Saddle ?

Found a gentlemen selling this locally and wanted to see what folks on here know about this saddle. I guess identifying what model would be a start. Thanks Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
saddlehunter.com
I guess I got on this site officially after finally finding a trophyline greens tree saddle on a local hunting forum in a trade. It was a XL but I got it despite. It was heavy and bulky and a PITA to carry but it was pretty comfortable. I had 3 lone wolf sticks and a homemade platform that I used the whole season.

7 min platform

I bought a saddle on whim and was in a pinch for a platform to be able to hunt this past weekend so I threw this dreadful contraption together. I tested it out before hitting the woods. It worked surprisingly well. I will be making a safer model soon, just looking for ideas. I don’t weld and I’m...
saddlehunter.com
I went through probably 10 saddles that year and got ate up with them. Despite my desire to saddle hunt, I really did struggle to be comfortable hunting out of one. I killed my first saddle deer out of Trophyline ambush lite paired up with a fleece hammock.

First Saddle Deer

A buddy and I were hunting a special opportunity area put on by the state of Alabama. We were covered up in deer this morning. I was waiting on a buck but I said if this deer is dumb enough to give me a shot two times in a row I’ll take a doe. Well she came into range, left and came back. She...
saddlehunter.com

The next year was probably about 10 more saddles and I built a one stick with the scout when it first came out. It was about the same profile as my DIY platform so it transitioned nicely. I started experimenting with the rope climbing and everything else, but it just could not translate to the woods for me. I spent my late summers trying new things.

2020-2021 42089F3E-9AB6-474D-AC6E-9BFE177888A5.jpegI killed a buck and a doe, and I thought I was done changing stuff up once I got to the new Aerohunter Flex. Despite everyone dogging it, it was probably the most comfortable saddle I had tried. At the end of that season I was able to try one of the first batch transformers. I loved it, and sold it the very next day. I was determined to make a clone. I refurbished an old sewing machine and made my very own transformer clone. AA11F8F6-92D4-4791-AE5E-B503B2561F68.jpeg

Somewhere in here I decided to pick up Turkey hunting. The guys on this site were awesome and helped get me started. I was lucky enough to get a Turkey the first year. I burnt some boot leather out walking the woods in the spring. It revitalized my perspective on hunting and springtime, as the green up brings so much life to woods. It encouraged me to spend more time walking then sitting in a tree, something that I constantly battle with if I’m being lazy.53024832-C63A-42BE-AF78-75FF59868FDC.jpeg

The 2021 season used that saddle and the one stick without changing anything up (though I did add in double stationary rope climbing). It was a big stress relief to have everything the same way each time. I didn’t have hip pinch and I was able to thoroughly enjoy my times in the woods. This was the season I got a cell camera and started trying to pattern specific bucks. This was the year I was going to try to kill a decent buck. I had some nice ones on camera and had a few close opportunities throughout the season but never had a good shot. During the thick of the rut I decided to bring a rifle (never rifle hunted before) and ended up shooting and not finding a sweet 8 point that was after a hot doe. F06A1A6A-3121-4DB0-83BB-A8491C881D65.png
During thanksgiving weekend I was able to take my dad on a hunt (he had never killed a deer). I had a nice 8pt at 15 yards at full draw, but I passed so my dad could shoot him. My dad shot that 8pt and then 30 mins later shot another 8pt. It was a amazing experience and the highlight of my season last year. 0CDE73CA-146D-4920-93C2-E0AF95BAC0DD.jpegBEB7EAAA-E7C7-4779-8D53-965017DB0262.jpeg

I started shooting a traditional bow two years ago and really fell in love with it. Last year was the first year I brought it in the woods a few times but I wasn’t confident enough to stick with it. This year I made a decision to hunt with my Grandfathers passed down 1950s Kodak k-6 but I unfortunately busted after a few months of shooting with it. I decided I’m going to stick with the trad bow this year and hopefully get my first kill with it. 02AF9587-F987-45A9-813C-94B9D17890BF.jpeg03F4FA39-EB25-4A75-8A95-97DF3441AD9C.jpeg

I’m married to beautiful woman than has bleeding heart for all creatures, that loves me enough to spend time with me occasionally on a few hunts.B5704E60-E5EA-4491-B842-46A2A9466229.jpeg I also have a border collie mix named Collie that goes on occasional camera set ups, scouting, squirrel hunting etc. she’s a fine animalE982AB5A-DDC5-4543-9C62-1210DA8B6A5B.jpeg

I spend way too much time on this forum but enjoy the interactions, learning, teaching, and general camaraderie we share around hunting in general. I love sharing my experience, as well as reading all of yours. I have plenty of room to grow hunting, so you won’t find me giving advice on that. I have used so much gear that I’m confident that I can help others with saddles, climbing methods, platforms, general safety, comfort etc. it was a hassle to me starting out, and so many of you helped me get my start, gave me free gear, and encouraged me, that I’m glad I can help some new guys and gals figure it out too.

Ive made a lot of great friends from this website both around town and afar. I can’t put a price tag on that fellowship. Thank you all, you know who you are!

Outside of hunting I am sinner trying to live a holy life for Christ in serving Him, my wife, my family, my church, my neighbors, and my community.
 
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im jake. i enjoy long walks across the beach at sunset and candle lit dinners…

Ive been hunting for over two decades, but I’m gradually hunting less and less due to other priorities. My daughter had a traumatic brain injury last year, then six months later I was hospitalized and discovered Im now a type 1 diabetic. After this ****e show of events, i dont have the time to hunt as religiously as I used to. My family enjoys camping and skiing together, and so thats where I want to be.

I joined this forum then to pass on my knowledge and experience as well as sell or give away a lot of gear as I wont be needing it anymore. I still hunt, but more social stuff like bird hunting. I‘ve always wanted to do an elk hunt out west and still plan to, just have new conditioning efforts.

Something I love to do is scout. Its a puzzle to me and so fun to solve it. If anyone wants help scouting digitally (or in person if your round virginia) im happy to help. Again love that part of hunting oddly.
 
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