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Right spot...Right time..
- Thread starter MAHunter
- Start date
I've had it happen a couple of times, not recently. That is the reason I always feel the most vulnerable to being busted by a deer in the woods when I am at the tree but not set up yet.
I swear that back when I used a climber, particularly a Summit, that the noise of the bark crunching would somehow call curious deer in. It was usually spikes but every once in a while, a doe would come in.
I swear that back when I used a climber, particularly a Summit, that the noise of the bark crunching would somehow call curious deer in. It was usually spikes but every once in a while, a doe would come in.
I’ve missed a bunch for the coffee stop! Haha not many the other way around…
I got to my latter stand just at first light in late December last year. I was drenched in sweat so at the base of my tree took off my clothes, wiped off the sweat, clothes back on and climbed up. Didn't even have a second to get situated and shot a doe at 80 yards, right where I had just walked through.
The reason I asked this question is for two reasons.
While very convenient, theres no arguing saddle hunting takes longer, is louder, and more movement when going up the tree. When compared to just going up a ladder and into a stand.
I got the best buck of my life this season out of a stand i setup in a tree i have saddle hunted out of a dozen times. I climbed up the latter and didnt even have the bow pulled up before this monster 8pt was walking towards me.
I cant help but think, if i was trying to saddle hunt that tree, i would have been about halfway up when that buck walked by, if the noise and sound didnt spook him before i even knew he was there.
So the second question is, i wonder home many deer we have spooked/missed getting up into the tree with a saddle vs a stand.
While very convenient, theres no arguing saddle hunting takes longer, is louder, and more movement when going up the tree. When compared to just going up a ladder and into a stand.
I got the best buck of my life this season out of a stand i setup in a tree i have saddle hunted out of a dozen times. I climbed up the latter and didnt even have the bow pulled up before this monster 8pt was walking towards me.
I cant help but think, if i was trying to saddle hunt that tree, i would have been about halfway up when that buck walked by, if the noise and sound didnt spook him before i even knew he was there.
So the second question is, i wonder home many deer we have spooked/missed getting up into the tree with a saddle vs a stand.
Why couldn’t you have just left climbing sticks on the tree? Then climb up and clip into your saddle and you’re hunting.
Not saying it’s better that latter stand hunting. Just that a preset is a preset. Regardless of the type.
Also, I love monster 8 points. Show us!
I would say leaving your sticks in place is akin to hunting from a stand. Most saddle hunters (that i know) carry their sticks in and out every hunt. I will say, that i likely would have missed this buck even if I had my sticks already in place. Just the time it would have taken to tether up and get my saddle adjusted would have been more time than I had. I mean, i literally had one foot on my stand when i heard it walking over, didnt have time to even attach my safety line or pull my bow up before he was within 30yrds.
For me it’s always been getting down too early on morning sits. Had one of the biggest buck I’ve seen in person come in while I was packing up the summit years ago. Same thing I swear he heard it and thought it was another buck making a rub. It was somewhere around the first week of November.
Can’t think of a time in the afternoon I set up and was done in 5-10 min
Can’t think of a time in the afternoon I set up and was done in 5-10 min
My deer encounters went way up when I started sitting until at least 11 AM and more often noon.
I give the guys who get out an hour before sunrise and sit for 8hrs props. I dont know how u do it.
Im good for 3-4, typically because of work. But even if i had the time to sit for 8hrs, i dont think i could.
Its the same reason i dont troll for fish, to boring. I gotta be jigging, casting, something. Just sitting there is killer..
The bad part is when you have been sitting there until 11:30 and you start thinking "I haven't seen anything this morning, so they are sure to move midday", so you sit it out until 1. Then you start thinking if I move now, they will bust me, so then you sit until 2. By 2 you get to thinking it is only a few hours until dark, and I haven't scouted anywhere else today so I might as well sit it out. Plus, I have been here so long and the woods are undisturbed, something will surely come in. Then it is dark. Then you start thinking "I will be back here before daylight so....." LOL.
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Iv'e had that happen multiple times over the years. Maybe 7 or 8 times. Gotta love it 
Never had it happen with a big buck though
Never had it happen with a big buck though
Not exactly but 3 years ago as I was climbing I just got my 3 stick hung with 1 more to go when I heard footsteps behind me and a big 8 pt looking right up at me. He blew and ran the other way but didn't wind me. He came back 2 hrs later nose to ground and killed him
8 hours is a short sit. It's long days in early October.
I'll disagree. Saddles are the only way I can get in the woods and up a tree quietly. That's why I've stuck with them. You aren't dragging ladder stands all over creation to get into the "good" spots. I climb up and down with deer around me all of the time. Most ladders, and I say most..... have some noise associated with them.
Ill know the full dress weight later today. But the butcher i took it to said it was the largest 8pt he had seen this season.
