Thanks for allowing me in first off. I tried about a year ago and since my last name is the same as the author Charles BLANK that wrote A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations the system hiccuped and my last name was apparently flagged as a banned word. My last name was in my username and email. I’m a bow hunter and a CPA from middle TN.
When I first tried to get into saddle hunting the iron was HOT and everything was back ordered and everything for sale privately was sniped before I could even click on it. LOL! Not being known for my patience I ordered from a well known company and prepared to wait. Shortly after ordering I happened to be in Sportsman’s Warehouse and they had the complete Hawk shebang. Didn’t know Hawk was in the game at the time so I looked on my phone for reviews and other vendors showed up with STEEP markdowns. So I showed those to Sportsman’s Warehouse and they price matched. I’d also been given a $100 gift card and couldn’t find anything to buy and had some points built up to boot. So, I had a whole setup to bridge the gap until my other arrived. When the other arrived it was a quick sell and I made a mistake doing that but that’s another story.
So here is my take on a year of hunting out of the Hawk setup. First off it’s pretty well known and I concur that the ropes and ascender that come with are throw away. I tried that ascender a foot off the ground in the back lawn once and it gave me the willys and I have absolutely no fear of heights. I already had a quality lineman’s rope, Ropeman 1 and a good tether from hanging sticks with a LW Alpha and a good climber stand. So basically this will be a review of the saddle itself and the platform.
First off the platform - I’m just under 6’ and weigh in at 230# - the platform hasn’t given me any trouble. It says not to use on trees less than 9” and I haven’t. Where I hunt that hasn’t even been an issue to be honest not many small trees anyway. I haven’t had any kick outs of any kind after properly camming it over. None of my welds even look suspect and I haven’t had any slippage with with wet rubber soled boots. The little plastic backing plate that I see so many have split, break or come off just has a little indention in the shape of the nut head but really no factor there. So I’d have to say the platform has served its purpose for me without issue. When it’s not deadline time I might do three all day sits a week on it. I see on YT a LOT of people like their platform angled downward slightly to ease their ankles. I do not, I like mine straight out to ever so slightly up a smidge and I wonder if my way puts less stress on the plastic backing plate and more pressure on the teeth in the tree. That’s just my layman’s hypothesis so I could be wrong.
Now to the saddle - I have a love hate relationship with the saddle. Has it failed in any way or give me the creeps, no. The ergonomics and comfort factor screams of a marketing guy at Hawk telling the Board, “These saddles are HOT right now we gotta throw something together and get a share of that market.” I may be 230# but I’m a gym rat and only have a 32” waist and it doesn’t give me a problem with hip pinch but somehow the shape doesn’t “cup” well on the rear end. It doesn’t matter how tight or loose the waist belt is or whether you put it above or below your belt line, that saddle is settling in one spot on your rear end and it’s not an optimal spot for me.
The bridge is my biggest gripe. I know I could DIY or buy aftermarket adjustable bridge but I’m not putting any more money in this saddle to just be honest. I haven’t measure exactly what the bridge measures out to but it’s not the right length for me. Everyone is built different and from borrowing a buddy’s saddle I have come to find that I really enjoy the tether at about belly height, my prussik all the way snug to the tether with a fairly short bridge length and just lean back. Every now and then let me knees dip to the tree for a bit. First off that’s comfortable to me and second I really like my bridge at that flat angle. It may be in my head but it really gives me the warm and fuzzies that my bridge is no where near my draw path. It may be a non issue but in my head it bothers me with that long unadjustable bridge angled upwards into my draw path. There are work arounds but it’s just too much movement at go time to fidget with deer in sight - for me.
The cold weather comfort pad looks like a good idea on paper but not executed well. It will not stay snapped for me and five minutes into the hunt it’s wadded up and causes an uncomfortable lump in a non ideal area. I only tried it once or twice it doesn’t get cold here until February and our season is over the first Sunday of January. I don’t even own any cold weather gear to speak of. I’m not really cold or hot natured to begin with. No matter the temps I rarely get hot or cold anyway. If I’m cold I know I have a fever and sick. LOL!
In the end I can’t say whether I would recommend this saddle or not. I would DEFINITELY not pay MSRP for it regardless. If you set a platform up like I do on trees bigger than 9” I don’t think it’s a bad platform. I realize I’m not the norm on how I’m comfortable and there has to be validity to so many failing. Since I only paid $60 for it I’m not gonna have heartburn even if I threw it in the trash, but I could’ve just got lucky. On the saddle if you pretty much knew you were going to give a serious try with saddle hunting and make it work and never owned one before, I’d say pass on the saddle. It could give you an unfair impression of saddle hunting as a first impression. I kept an open mind and very little money invested and lived to tell about it so itll probably go into the “don’t use anymore” tote in the basement.
The Cruzr factory is about 30 miles East of me. Locals have told me they are awesome about letting people in and try things and get properly setup. I’m gonna make a trip after calling them and if they are that cool about it probably move to a Cruzr XC and their platform.
I know I’m long winded but I’m a details guy and tried to be as honest as possible, I see people asking about this setup quite often due to its price and availability.
When I first tried to get into saddle hunting the iron was HOT and everything was back ordered and everything for sale privately was sniped before I could even click on it. LOL! Not being known for my patience I ordered from a well known company and prepared to wait. Shortly after ordering I happened to be in Sportsman’s Warehouse and they had the complete Hawk shebang. Didn’t know Hawk was in the game at the time so I looked on my phone for reviews and other vendors showed up with STEEP markdowns. So I showed those to Sportsman’s Warehouse and they price matched. I’d also been given a $100 gift card and couldn’t find anything to buy and had some points built up to boot. So, I had a whole setup to bridge the gap until my other arrived. When the other arrived it was a quick sell and I made a mistake doing that but that’s another story.
So here is my take on a year of hunting out of the Hawk setup. First off it’s pretty well known and I concur that the ropes and ascender that come with are throw away. I tried that ascender a foot off the ground in the back lawn once and it gave me the willys and I have absolutely no fear of heights. I already had a quality lineman’s rope, Ropeman 1 and a good tether from hanging sticks with a LW Alpha and a good climber stand. So basically this will be a review of the saddle itself and the platform.
First off the platform - I’m just under 6’ and weigh in at 230# - the platform hasn’t given me any trouble. It says not to use on trees less than 9” and I haven’t. Where I hunt that hasn’t even been an issue to be honest not many small trees anyway. I haven’t had any kick outs of any kind after properly camming it over. None of my welds even look suspect and I haven’t had any slippage with with wet rubber soled boots. The little plastic backing plate that I see so many have split, break or come off just has a little indention in the shape of the nut head but really no factor there. So I’d have to say the platform has served its purpose for me without issue. When it’s not deadline time I might do three all day sits a week on it. I see on YT a LOT of people like their platform angled downward slightly to ease their ankles. I do not, I like mine straight out to ever so slightly up a smidge and I wonder if my way puts less stress on the plastic backing plate and more pressure on the teeth in the tree. That’s just my layman’s hypothesis so I could be wrong.
Now to the saddle - I have a love hate relationship with the saddle. Has it failed in any way or give me the creeps, no. The ergonomics and comfort factor screams of a marketing guy at Hawk telling the Board, “These saddles are HOT right now we gotta throw something together and get a share of that market.” I may be 230# but I’m a gym rat and only have a 32” waist and it doesn’t give me a problem with hip pinch but somehow the shape doesn’t “cup” well on the rear end. It doesn’t matter how tight or loose the waist belt is or whether you put it above or below your belt line, that saddle is settling in one spot on your rear end and it’s not an optimal spot for me.
The bridge is my biggest gripe. I know I could DIY or buy aftermarket adjustable bridge but I’m not putting any more money in this saddle to just be honest. I haven’t measure exactly what the bridge measures out to but it’s not the right length for me. Everyone is built different and from borrowing a buddy’s saddle I have come to find that I really enjoy the tether at about belly height, my prussik all the way snug to the tether with a fairly short bridge length and just lean back. Every now and then let me knees dip to the tree for a bit. First off that’s comfortable to me and second I really like my bridge at that flat angle. It may be in my head but it really gives me the warm and fuzzies that my bridge is no where near my draw path. It may be a non issue but in my head it bothers me with that long unadjustable bridge angled upwards into my draw path. There are work arounds but it’s just too much movement at go time to fidget with deer in sight - for me.
The cold weather comfort pad looks like a good idea on paper but not executed well. It will not stay snapped for me and five minutes into the hunt it’s wadded up and causes an uncomfortable lump in a non ideal area. I only tried it once or twice it doesn’t get cold here until February and our season is over the first Sunday of January. I don’t even own any cold weather gear to speak of. I’m not really cold or hot natured to begin with. No matter the temps I rarely get hot or cold anyway. If I’m cold I know I have a fever and sick. LOL!
In the end I can’t say whether I would recommend this saddle or not. I would DEFINITELY not pay MSRP for it regardless. If you set a platform up like I do on trees bigger than 9” I don’t think it’s a bad platform. I realize I’m not the norm on how I’m comfortable and there has to be validity to so many failing. Since I only paid $60 for it I’m not gonna have heartburn even if I threw it in the trash, but I could’ve just got lucky. On the saddle if you pretty much knew you were going to give a serious try with saddle hunting and make it work and never owned one before, I’d say pass on the saddle. It could give you an unfair impression of saddle hunting as a first impression. I kept an open mind and very little money invested and lived to tell about it so itll probably go into the “don’t use anymore” tote in the basement.
The Cruzr factory is about 30 miles East of me. Locals have told me they are awesome about letting people in and try things and get properly setup. I’m gonna make a trip after calling them and if they are that cool about it probably move to a Cruzr XC and their platform.
I know I’m long winded but I’m a details guy and tried to be as honest as possible, I see people asking about this setup quite often due to its price and availability.
