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Kind Of A Lopsided Comparison "Saddle vs Stand a real world mobile comparison"

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Nutterbuster said:
Slightly off topic, but last year I cooked up an idea. A terrible, awful idea...

Who's in for a no-gear challenge? No gear allowed that doesn't fit in your pants or jacket pockets with the exception of your weapon. No saddle, no climber, no $250 chair. No presets! For extra points you could do it with nothing but a 2 wheel drive car for access and "civvy clothes". Could compete for the biggest buck and the highest head count.

How much of an edge IS all this stuff anyway?
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Sounds like a good way to learn or reinforce some old lessons on myself. I'm in for the "ground pound challenge".
 
I actually have an old Chippewa ghost and with the plywood seat replaced with 3/8ths aluminium it only weighs 7 pounds with my homemade attachment bracket. I used it Saddle Hunting several times this year and gave me the best of both worlds. I am older but pretty good in a tree and i could make that shot from my saddle. I really think guys just need to practice more from a saddle so those awkward shots become second nature. Shawn
 
I sat in a tamarack tree full of limbs and background cover about 15ft off the ground. I climbed the branches up and hooked my tether around the tree and sat on a branch. It’s easy to trash saddle hunting when you got an overweight guy that’s scared of heights to face off against. Is there limitations to saddles? Yes. Is there limitations to hang ons? Absolutely, probably more. I can’t fit a hang on stand in my back pack and climb 20 ft up. That alone is a deal breaker for tree stands. Plus I’m not going to spend 700 dollars on a stand and sticks, F that.
 
I'm a little behind in this thread but let me preface this by saying I'll never be the hunter Dan is. The guy is a hardcore, deer killing machine hunting some of the nastiest stuff I don't even want to head into.

That said, I think any of us with a couple years of saddle experience could have setup and made the shot in the first tree just exactly as Dan had. Sitting knees to the tree we would have exactly the same profile to the deer at its exit as Dan straddling the tree. Yes, we would have had to move our bow over the tether but Dan even admitted he would have had to move his bow to the other side of the tree to make a shot had the deer gone that way. No difference in my mind. With my platform and a leaning away tree the offside shot would be done exactly as Dan did it. I would have stood full weight on the platform and leaned against the tree.

Second tree. Did I say Dan is the man? I wouldn't consider setting up in that tree for a 3+ hour sit, tree stand or saddle. Severe leaner and a need to stand for the whole time. After all, it doesn't matter if you're sitting in a stand or saddle on a small tree on the edge like that. You're gonna look like a transformer on a telephone pole. That said, if I absolutely had to I think I could set up on a lean in that tree with the tree between me and bedding and be almost as small in profile from behind the tree. . . . again, not that I personally would even consider it. I spent enough time in uncomfortable positions in trees before I ever even owned a treestand.

Third tree . . . If Dan has to cut a spot in that tree for his stand, why couldn't I cut exactly the same spot and hang in there. The shot is the classic 6 o'clock drop shot and easy to do from the saddle. I don't need any more room to make that shot from the saddle than I would from a stand.

For the record, I'm NOT a believer that the saddle offers me ANY tree. I also don't believe that a stand offers me ANY tree. I do believe however that, at least for me, the saddle gives me more opportunities than a stand. Better still, I can pack all my "metal" stuff inside of my pack for the walk in so that I don't experience any extraneous clanks or pings from brush on my gear walking in. Frankly, that is the biggest single reason to hunt from a saddle that I have found.
 
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I just think that a lot of people have been asking Dan his opinion of the saddle and I truly think he is just stating what works best for HIM. Just remember everyone is different. Some shoot compounds, other trad bows, yet others crossbows. Just have fun!
 
With my Mission platform I would have no problem hunting that tree. I could stand and shoot just like he did. I been hunting out of saddles for a very longtime and I feel it gives me an advantage over my hangon stand. I like facing the tree while I'm hunting and deer don't pick me off. You can use whatever you want but I'll stick with my saddle and if it works for you then keep hanging.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
I'm a little behind in this thread but let me preface this by saying I'll never be the hunter Dan is. The guy is a hardcore, deer killing machine hunting some of the nastiest stuff I don't even want to head into.

That said, I think any of us with a couple years of saddle experience could have setup and made the shot in the first tree just exactly as Dan had. Sitting knees to the tree we would have exactly the same profile to the deer at its exit as Dan straddling the tree. Yes, we would have had to move our bow over the tether but Dan even admitted he would have had to move his bow to the other side of the tree to make a shot had the deer gone that way. No difference in my mind. With my platform and a leaning away tree the offside shot would be done exactly as Dan did it. I would have stood full weight on the platform and leaned against the tree.

Second tree. Did I say Dan is the man? I wouldn't consider setting up in that tree for a 3+ hour sit, tree stand or saddle. Severe leaner and a need to stand for the whole time. After all, it doesn't matter if you're sitting in a stand or saddle on a small tree on the edge like that. You're gonna look like a transformer on a telephone pole. That said, if I absolutely had to I think I could set up on a lean in that tree with the tree between me and bedding and be almost as small in profile from behind the tree. . . . again, not that I personally would even consider it. I spent enough time in uncomfortable positions in trees before I ever even owned a treestand.

Third tree . . . If Dan has to cut a spot in that tree for his stand, why couldn't I cut exactly the same spot and hang in there. The shot is the classic 6 o'clock drop shot and easy to do from the saddle. I don't need any more room to make that shot from the saddle than I would from a stand.

For the record, I'm NOT a believer that the saddle offers me ANY tree. I also don't believe that a stand offers me ANY tree. I do believe however that, at least for me, the saddle gives me more opportunities than a stand. Better still, I can pack all my "metal" stuff inside of my pack for the walk in so that I don't experience any extraneous clanks or pings from brush on my gear walking in. Frankly, that is the biggest single reason to hunt from a saddle that I have found.
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Well said. 1st tree. No problem. 2nd tree? Who would want to hunt that thing? There was an ideal tree right next to it. It had more cover and you can get higher. 3rd tree. hang in the front. although I admit I probably would've hunted from the ground. That tree would've shook at the slightest movement. There are trees that are better saddle trees and there are trees that are better stand trees. The isn't solution that allows a hunter to hunt every tree. I could show Dan some trees that he could never get his stand or his sticks into. Plus you have to factor in that the guy is trying to sell treestands. IMO That's his real motive for making the video.
 
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Haha. Opened YouTube this morning and right off the bat I see two recommended videos in the last 10 hours “tree stand vs saddle”. The rebuttals are starting :).
 
jjroberts1977 said:
Haha. Opened YouTube this morning and right off the bat I see two recommended videos in the last 10 hours “tree stand vs saddle”. The rebuttals are starting :).
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This isn't a new topic. Right off the top:

DIY Sportsman, June 2018
Sean's Outdoors, Sep 2019
THP, Jan 2021

Are these videos really rebuttals, or is Dan's more of a rebuttal? Not that he's got a first take either:

Traditional Bowhunting and Wilderness Podcast, May 2020: "Why I don't hunt out of a tree saddle and why you might want to"

Probably you are just getting similar content funneled to you because of your viewer history. Unless there is new content.
 
Plebe said:
This isn't a new topic. Right off the top:

DIY Sportsman, June 2018
Sean's Outdoors, Sep 2019
THP, Jan 2021

Are these videos really rebuttals, or is Dan's more of a rebuttal? Not that he's got a first take either:

Traditional Bowhunting and Wilderness Podcast, May 2020: "Why I don't hunt out of a tree saddle and why you might want to"

Probably you are just getting similar content funneled to you because of your viewer history. Unless there is new content.
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The two videos that popped up were uploaded in the last 10 hours. They may not be rebuttals. I haven’t watched them yet. The timing seemed like that’s what it would be.
 
@Plebe I just watched the beginning of one of them and the guy says “he just watched a video from an influential hunter comparing saddles and hang ons and was disappointed and felt obligated to make a video”.
 
jjroberts1977 said:
The two videos that popped up were uploaded in the last 10 hours. They may not be rebuttals. I haven’t watched them yet. The timing seemed like that’s what it would be.
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I see the one by Do It Then Outdoors....that looks like its directed at beast.

The other by Kaitlyn Maus was already posted.
 
jjroberts1977 said:
@Plebe I just watched the beginning of one of them and the guy says “he just watched a video from an influential hunter comparing saddles and hang ons and was disappointed and felt obligated to make a video”.
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Cool, I'm sure his video will make all the difference.
 
i could post pics all day of trees you will never get a stand in.whole wilderness full.there are tree as big around as trucks here.had to tether of of branches the size of those trees .you cant hang your stand over your head from a branch.means nothing .all these tools have their.place.just using any kind of climbing gear is rare for me.majority of my sits are in fir trees where i climb the branches and the gap between them is to narrow for any stand.and many time miles from the car.i would like to see anyone cary that picknicktable from luckimute creek to the top of sykes mountain where i harvest my first deer.there are many reasons oregonians dont use stands.its a small comunity here.less in saddles but for this terain people havent learned the opertunity it opens up
 
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I'm sure Dan enjoyed stirring the pot.

I don't ever remember stand hunters getting so worked up about pro-saddle videos. At least not to the level of contention of this has produced. Those with doubts mostly just write it off.
 
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