First, I'm disappointed in myself that I'm so addicted to this forum that I was tempted to try to type an answer from the tree during a prime time rut sit (shaking my head at myself). Luckily my will power was good and I postponed the inevitable until now.
Let me also lead with the fact that I am a certifiable curmudgeon. I've earned it, I'm getting old and crotchety. Don't believe me ask my wife.
I for one love my rubber boots. They may be warm and make my feet sweat but they slip on and off. I don't need to struggle to reach my feet and lace up and tie my boots. For you young guys you may laugh now but as you age you'll reach a point where your feet get farther and farther away from your shoulders. I'm beginning to feel like a T-Rex trying to put on a pair of socks.
While we're on the subject of boots, why is it you can't hardly find a pair of hiking boots without the speed lace hooks . . . . I hate them. I've taken so many falls hooking the lace hook from one boot into the lace of the other. Give me some simple d-rings or even plain old eyelets.
Now that I'm started, the thing that continues to bug me about a lot of archery hunters is the overestimation of effective archery range. I'm not picking on solely on crossbow hunters here, this goes for everyone, but if the boot fits . . . . I don't care if you can hit a quarter 4 out of 5 times from 50 yds or if your bow shoots 400ft/sec. If your arrow can't get to your target in less than a 1/3 of a second after the speed of sound carries the sound of the shot there it's too far. The difference is that game as a target can/will move at the sound of the shot and the amount of movement in even 1/3 of second is pretty severe. I shoot a 70# wheelie bow spitting my hunting arrows at 275ft/sec. I can pretty effectively hit a grapefruit at 40 yds 4 out of 5 times. There's a reason I set up 15yds downwind of the heavily traveled trail I was sitting on tonight. It gives me a better chance of a clean kill and recovery.
As far as hunting from a saddle, the above is one of the 2 primary reasons I chose a saddle as my hunting tool. Spoiler alert, neither of those reasons involve weight. I maybe lost 10-15lbs of weight in my systems going from a climber to a saddle but the weight doesn't pack as well as it did in the climber so that is a wash for me. The first reason is that I can access my hunting area in a more stealthy manner than I could with my climbing treestand. That thing seemed to reach out and grab twigs to clang off as I tried to sneak into a spot in the morning. At least with the saddle its only me tripping making noise as I walk in. Secondly, the saddle gives me many more options of trees "in position" to hunt out of. In the climber I looked for straight limbless pairs of trees to be climbable and provide some cover. With the saddle I have many more options available so I can focus my efforts closer to the area of interest and limit the time it takes an arrow to get there.