So as the owner of a saddle hunting website I'm going to stir the pot just a little and come to some of my brethren's defense.
I completely get that saddles aren't for everyone. I've known that for a long time. Everyone should hunt in what they like and makes them happy. We do this for fun so you should make it enjoyable.
I've pretty much been following this thread along quietly from the beginning and I disagree with many of the statements made about saddles.
A couple of the common ones. I guarantee you my entire hunting setup is lighter than anyone's treestand setup, and I'm not even the biggest weight weenie. The way I look at it is my ROS weights about 1 pound. What's the lightest stand? 6 pounds? Use your stand as a pack and maybe you can add my 2 pound pack in and I'm still 3 pounds lighter. I need a climbing system to get up either way, so I'd call it equal on my 7 wild edge stepps. A saddle and a safety harness cancel each other out within a pound.
I haven't hunted out of a treestand in close to 10 years. I've been primarily saddle hunting for close to 15. I can not even imagine carrying a treestand into the woods again. Like I said, I'm not the biggest weight weenie, but where my system really shines is how sleek it is. With a saddle on my waist, stepps in the shelf of my MR popup, it's very easy to slip through the woods and go under and over branches as needed and to do it quietly.
I feel like I can hunt any tree out of my saddle that I could out of a treestand. Sure some trees might set up better for a treestand, but others might set up better for a saddle.... I understand that not everyone is allowed to do it, but some trees may just needed to be prepped. I have hunted in fir trees before. Every situation is just different and the saddle is pretty adaptable.
I'll let you guys go back to discussing your mobile stands now. I just want to point out that since this is a saddle hunting site, I felt the need to re-state some of the advantages of hunting out of a saddle. There are more but I'll leave it there for now. Oh yea, and I only hunt on a ring of steps! I can't even think about hauling one of those saddle platforms all over the place.