Brick and Mortar Saddle Hunting Stores

[kalcoone]

I don't know any shops that carry saddle gear, but let me warn you; spending 20-25 minutes in a saddle won't give you a clue as to how comfortable (or uncomfortable) it will be in a 4+ hour sit.

I have to disagree at least to a point, I upgraded from a XOP Renegade to a Cruzr XC which was comfortable in a 15 minute sit (I could not tell much of a difference between it and a Method 2 or a TX5 for that matter) and in a few actual sits the Cruzr is definitely comfortable.

 

[The_Fit_Ness_Monster]

Here in N.La we have Spotted dog outdoors and they have a whole section for saddles and testing them. But I haven’t seen the setup they have anywhere else.

 

[JBDCPA]

My local shop The Archery Den in Franklin, TN carries Trophyline. There's a shop in AR (forget name) that carries Trophline and the saddle that's like a hanging chair (forget that name also). I think Clifton Denney's YT channel highlights that shop a lot.

I'm kinda lucky, my shop carries TL, Cruzr headquarters is down the road in the other direction and Tethrd passes thru a lot. The owner of our local shop is also the president of our local 3D club and I'm the Treasurer and we have had TL, Cruzr and Tethrd come out and do weekend long demo days.

I agree with someone above, you can't really judge comfort from a demo. I will say I have benefitted from the "experts/makers" giving me tips on tether height, etc from the way I prefer to sit, stand or lean. I can make anything comfortable for 10-15 minutes.

My TL setup is my FOURTH full saddle setup in 3 1/2 years. I started with a full Hawk setup, no go on the saddle or especially the platform. Kept the Hawk sticks and moved to a Tethrd. Just never felt right. Took the Hawk sticks to a Cruzr and much better but felt tight and although I loved the Seeker platform I could never get it to bite properly.

When I ditched the Hawk sticks and got the TL double minis it took away a major HATE and that was hanging and climbing sticks and carrying them. The TL EDP platform bites like your first girlfriend. The main thing for me was saddle sizing. If I'd got the right size saddle in a Cruzr I'd have been happy with it. All of them say they are sized to compensate for winter bulky clothing - get one size bigger. This makes it sit like a true hammock chair. I can sit all day PLUS I have confidence in being all over that platform with side pressure or whatever and it not moving. All your belts will be a bit long but you can take a solder gun and burn off length, cut/burn, or I just rolled it up and put tape on it.

 

[kalcoone]

I thought that there would be lots of stores geared towards saddle hunting other than really just online. By the limited responses, I guess we are very blessed to have Eastern Woods Outdoors here.

 

[Iron_llama]

I thought that there would be lots of stores geared towards saddle hunting other than really just online. By the limited responses, I guess we are very blessed to have Eastern Woods Outdoors here.

You really are. EWO started as an e-commerce business that grew enough to go physical. That's awesome, but I don't know if the market is big enough for hundreds of competitors to do the same across North America. Scheels carries a few brands, and I've seen some XOP and Hawk products at Cabelas. Nothing for the "varsity level" saddle hunter (rappelling gear, 1-sticks, 2TC, throwballs, etc.)

One thing I'd like to see is (short) practice trees at some retail locations. Probably a bunch of liability involved but just getting your feet up 5-6' or so is a lot more informative than staying on the ground.

 

[kalcoone]

You really are. EWO started as an e-commerce business that grew enough to go physical. That's awesome, but I don't know if the market is big enough for hundreds of competitors to do the same across North America. Scheels carries a few brands, and I've seen some XOP and Hawk products at Cabelas. Nothing for the "varsity level" saddle hunter (rappelling gear, 1-sticks, 2TC, throwballs, etc.)

One thing I'd like to see is (short) practice trees at some retail locations. Probably a bunch of liability involved but just getting your feet up 5-6' or so is a lot more informative than staying on the ground.

They could throw the "trees" in a foam pit. That would be awesome.

 

[Horn]

They could throw the "trees" in a foam pit. That would be awesome.

It would be awesome!

 

[Center Punch]

I don't know any shops that carry saddle gear, but let me warn you; spending 20-25 minutes in a saddle won't give you a clue as to how comfortable (or uncomfortable) it will be in a 4+ hour sit.

I also disagree.
Set up a practice tree and demo's of each stocked saddle, sticks, platforms, ROS, 2TC, etc. along with enthusiastic employees who've either used the products or watched enough YouTube videos to be able to point out a handful of advantages/disadvantages/etc.
I'd also set up demonstration videos on a loop.

Any of you resident manufacturers of Saddle and relevant Gear know about this coming week's Archery Trade Association's trade show here in the St. Louis area?
ATA 2024 Trade Show

If I were you, I'd be either setting up a booth or attending this show and concentrating on networking to get your products into brick-and-mortar stores all over the country.

You don't even need to target the big-name hunting & fishing box stores. Concentrate on the farm and feed chains. They cater to the hunting community quite a bit. I'm talking about places like Tractor Supply, Rural King, etc.

I have relationships with quite a few of these farm and feed chains.

If any resident manufacturers want to talk about this further, I'd be happy to help.

 

[Iron_llama]

I also disagree.
Set up a practice tree and demo's of each stocked saddle, sticks, platforms, ROS, 2TC, etc. along with enthusiastic employees who've either used the products or watched enough YouTube videos to be able to point out a handful of advantages/disadvantages/etc.
I'd also set up demonstration videos on a loop.

Any of you resident manufacturers of Saddle and relevant Gear know about this coming week's Archery Trade Association's trade show here in the St. Louis area?
ATA 2024 Trade Show

If I were you, I'd be either setting up a booth or attending this show and concentrating on networking to get your products into brick-and-mortar stores all over the country.

You don't even need to target the big-name hunting & fishing box stores. Concentrate on the farm and feed chains. They cater to the hunting community quite a bit. I'm talking about places like Tractor Supply, Rural King, etc.

I have relationships with quite a few of these farm and feed chains.

If any resident manufacturers want to talk about this further, I'd be happy to help.

That's a really good point. Imagine how much money someone could make off of something as basic as a tether/LB setup on Kwik Trip shelves between September and Christmas...

 

[Center Punch]

I don't think the Kwik Trip angle works for such high-priced items.

 

[kalcoone]

There is Hick’s Outdoors in Michigan on the W side of the I75 and Clio exit across from Walmart. More of a general hunting store like Franks and Jays but they carry fishing, archery (Hoyt, Matthews, Bowtech, Bear, Mission, Ten Point and Ravin) and guns. They also carry some saddle gear, Trophyline, Muddy, Primal, Tethrd and Latitude.

 

[Alaska at Heart]

And talking to ewo a couple weeks ago, they plan on doing a hunters flea market this summer at ewo. Setup tables and buy and sell to each other. Most likely during the Lapeer town wide garage sales. Pretty neat idea.


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I live in west MI, NW of Allendale, but not too far away. I didn't know Grand Valley sold saddle gear, as I have my own basement man cave/workshop and mostly buy online. I really don't need much at this point, but communicated with Horn last fall about the SH mitten meet-up. I discovered Genesis 3D is pretty close to home and they have a summer outdoor jamboree event that focuses on saddle hunting. I wasn't quite there last summer, but got started last fall and will be planning to make time in '24. Please post updates on the EWO event, as that also sounds interesting.....especially the flea market.