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Private land saddle use??

I

indianaboy

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2019
Messages
4
Is anyone running saddle that only hunts private. I get it’s a lightweight option for public but if had a choice to be able to set stands and leave them or a saddle which one is preferred.
 
indianaboy said:
Is anyone running saddle that only hunts private. I get it’s a lightweight option for public but if had a choice to be able to set stands and leave them or a saddle which one is preferred.
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I would say both. Stands might not always be good for wind, location, etc. I have both on the land I'm hunting

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I actually sold my saddle because I will only be hunting private land for the foreseeable future. Just so much easier to pre-hang sets on private land. IMHO having private land available discounts a lot of the advantages of a saddle for a large part unless it’s a huge tract of land


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I initially bought mine for private land use because buying stands was getting too expensive and I wanted to have several sets hung. I quickly found myself hanging next to many of my presets because the saddle was easier on my back. By my second season I had taken down all of my stands and by my third season I had even quit presetting treeson my property. I now just pick a tree and climb even in my own property. I also now find myself hunting about 50/50 private/public versus about 90 percent private before the saddle.
 
Smokingbarrel270 said:
I agree with @GCTerpfan. I noticed on my hunt club that every time I set a stand one of the other member would set 50 yardage away so I quit hanging stands and never hunt the same tree. I even have to keep my friends guessing... not just the deer haha.
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Absolutely right! On the last lease I was on I treated it just like public land, always moving, rarely hunting the same spot twice. In that case it wasn't usually because other hunters would swoop in on my spots, although they sometimes would if a nice deer was taken somewhere. It was more about staying on unpressured ground. We had a lot of club stands that got hunted all the time and deer were traveling the property skirting around those stands staying just out of sight. Often I would set-up a short distance from the club stands and intercept deer that would've slipped by unseen from the permanent stands.
 
brydan said:
Absolutely right! On the last lease I was on I treated it just like public land, always moving, rarely hunting the same spot twice. In that case it wasn't usually because other hunters would swoop in on my spots, although they sometimes would if a nice deer was taken somewhere. It was more about staying on unpressured ground. We had a lot of club stands that got hunted all the time and deer were traveling the property skirting around those stands staying just out of sight. Often I would set-up a short distance from the club stands and intercept deer that would've slipped by unseen from the permanent stands.
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Wow, I guess I really had it good. 20 of leased 2,200 acres. We rarely if ever saw the other members. Usually on the way in and out. The PA game commission bought it off the timber company this year hence my move to the saddle. I'm actually pretty excited about the opportunity to get back onto some of my old stomping grounds after 6 yrs. That the nice thing about Western PA, theres no shortage of public and most of the farmers will let you hunt if you ask permission.

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I'm blessed enough to be able to hunt private only. Nothing huge just 5 acres here and there and 35 acres of hard timber a half hour drive away. I hate to answer your question like this but simply put no matter what any of us say, it may not be your answer. What you use is going to 100% come down to what is most comfortable to you. Take me vs Mr terpfan for example. He loves his saddle because it's easier on his back. I'm sitting here thinking there is no way he is more comfortable in his saddle then I am in my summit climber. Why am I thinking that? Because I don't have his back pain. Just like he doesn't have my right leg pain. All of our bodies are different. Every single one of us has to think about comfort, weight, ease of use, public land or private, how far we walk etc. Every single one of us values all that differently. Everyone's opinon's are great but at the end of day you are going to have to see what you like the most.
 
100% private in 3 states.
I prefer pre sets, meaning bolts and diy mini stands.
Occasionally, I will still hang a conventional lok on style stand, but I still use a saddle.
 
I hunt just one 80 acre private property. I don't have an ATV or UTV and you can only access the place from one side. Literally dragging in a couple ladder stands before the season is too much work, so the saddle works better for me.

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I would still use the saddle if I hunted only private, the only thing I would do different is either pre-drill trees for bolt use or use climbing spurs. Besides the usual reasons (less weight/gear etc), for me the saddle wins because it provides an easy 360 degree shooting radius, mental relaxation (due to the impossibility of losing my balance and falling off as compared to a tree stand) and all day comfort (I'm a member of the bad back club).
 
PaTrout1 said:
Wow, I guess I really had it good. 20 of leased 2,200 acres. We rarely if ever saw the other members. Usually on the way in and out
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Thats a big lease for around here. We had 8 paying members for 600 acres but one guy always hunted with his wife so really had 9 plus a lot of guests so it was fairly heavily pressured. Fortunately is was very thick 5+ years after being logged so it felt bigger than it was and allowed myself and another guy that was also a mobile hunter to exploit the little hard to get to nooks and crannies around the property.
 
I'm currently about 90% private. I still run a saddle because I like to be mobil, have more range of shots around the tree than a regular tree stand, and all the other pluses that go with the saddle. I hunt private land just like I do public - I move around a lot and keep the deer guessing... Some of my hunts are short walks in but yesterdays hunt was about a half mile walk back in the woods, walking through thick stuff to get there, in a fairly fast running creek part of the way, and the small pack with platform on my back made all that very easy....
 
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90% private here too and won't use anything else now besides my saddle. Tonight I hunted 10-15' above one of my old ladder stands. It was nice to keep the tree between me and the deer in the field. I find saddles way more comfortable than ladder stands or hang ons. And rappelling down after dark is just a bonus that you can do easily while wearing a saddle.
 
indianaboy said:
Is anyone running saddle that only hunts private. I get it’s a lightweight option for public but if had a choice to be able to set stands and leave them or a saddle which one is preferred.
Click to expand...
I just got into a saddle this year and hunt like 90% private 10% public...just depends on what tags i draw any given year, i may hunt more public. That was my main reason for getting into a saddle because i have set stands on private. That said, I am done ever buying another TS. This morning was the first time this season I hunted a TS and it felt weird and less comfortable to me...I was annoyed w/ my safety harness also. I always liked to bounce around with my climber on private anyway because stuff just changes as the season goes along. The saddle is way better than my LW climber hands down! Next season I will be presetting more trees w/ bolts but right now the practice with the sticks is a good thing for my out of state trips.
 
50/50 for me private and public. The advantage of presets on private are hard to see and my spot is kept to me unless they walk right to the tree and look up. I like the stealth of my setup even with only screw in steps on the tree. I use a Web after the temperature cools under 60 and love it.....soooooo comfortable for private or public. JX3 would be great also. I don't think I would go back to the old way unless I could not hunt otherwise.!
 
Overall, I think whether on private or public, a saddle is more comfortable, you have the ability to shoot 360°, use the tree as cover, and it’s safer.

If your primary advantage to using preset stands is that it is convenient, buy a handful of predator platforms or something else to use for platforms and preset them, climb up with your saddle, and hunt.
 
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