I said I would eventually report back on how things are going with my first experience DIY'ing a saddle setup, so here goes:
1) I was fortunate to be gifted 4 Muddy pro sticks, so I made a typical two step aider out of some 1" webbing and old hose. It works great!
2) I went the route of the fleece saddle + rock climbing harness. It is great and easy (very comfortable). I'll make 1 or 2 more fleece saddles as backups ahead of deer season.
3) Ring of steps. This is the big one for me. I know spending money on better gear/materials is typically the smartest route. However, with two young kiddos and operating on a grad student budget, I had to prioritize my funds to the greatest needs - this year it is reliable rubber boots and finally getting into a proper rifle setup (hell yes bushmaster, ouch wallet). I decided not to spend the asking price for a quality platform, and from what I can tell I should just wait until I can afford the Tethrd Predator rather than buy a cheaper model. So my next thought was to DIY a ring of steps because I also can't justify spending the money for commercial models while I have the following idea and all of the material to make it on-hand.
I had a stack of 2"x6" boards, so I cut them into triangles, ~1" from both edges I drilled holes large enough to fit a 1" ratchet strap through, spray painted everything black with the $1 can, and now I have several extremely low-cost, effective steps (see pictures). After making the first set and using them successfully for a couple of months, I decided to make a bunch more so the paint smell dissipates fully in the months ahead of deer season. Plus, I don't want to spend any time I can be hunting this fall repairing/making more gear if I don't have to. If you try this, pay attention the direction of the grain in relation to the direction the ratchet strap compresses. If you get it wrong, it will break almost as soon as you put weight on it. After breaking my first step due to the incorrect grain configuration, I thought this idea may be sketchy at best, but once I corrected for the grain-to-compression issue, it was fine - for reference, I am ~210 lbs and used these in Feb-March temperatures. The only other thing I want to try now is applying a wood hardener and a deck sealer so I can preset spots on public. I figure rain (mainly) will cause these to deteriorate quicker due to swelling. Also, I can't imagine getting too upset if someone takes my $3 worth of stuff. You can add as many steps as you want to each set. So far, 6 has worked well for me - I can spread them equally around the tree (not my preference so far due to camming the sides), spread them in pairs (worked great), or use them in threes and keep those close together (works extremely well and seems to essentially mimic a platform).
All of this considered, I used everything mentioned here over the course of two months while out squirrel hunting. I got some interesting looks for setting up in a tree to hunt squirrels, but the point was to practice with my saddle setup out in the woods far ahead of deer season (I'm still doing this to a certain extent while scouting over the spring/summer). So far, everything has been great with the exception of carrying in my sticks and steps by fixing them to my pack. The issue is that my pack is too small, but slinging them in (see pictures) has been fine. It's easy enough to put them down should I run into potential quarry on my walk in to a spot. Also, since they're made of wood, if they hit each other they shouldn't easily spook anything, but I just ratchet them together and they don't move. Once I can afford it, I'll work out a new pack situation and *maybe* the Predator platform. Thanks for checking this out if you do!
-Geoff