Anyone tried this?

[NMSbowhunter]

This was my first season hunting out of a saddle. I love the lightweight aspect of mobile hunting but I also found myself wanting to have some preset rings of steps at certain spots, especially in spots where DRT might work and I could leave a paracord loop. These presets would have to be public land legal and would also ideally be cost effective. I was messing around out in the shop today and had an idea. This may have been done before and I may have reinvented the wheel, lol. Here is what I came up with. I used 2x4 lumber and cut some blocks with a 45 degree bevel on the bottom and drilled a 1" hole about where I guessed it would work. I quickly made up 5 and took an old weak ratchet strap and slapped them on a tree out back. They seem pretty darn solid. Once I got the strap tight, I set them by standing on them pretty hard and setting them. With a better ratchet strap I am sure it would be even better. After that they were good. Remember, these are not for mobile run and gun. These are for presets. I also thought about making them out of some of that decking "wood" they sell at Lowes and Home Depot that is really a hard, recycled plastic made to look like wood.

Tell me what you think...am I crazy?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Quick update. I just put a good ratchet strap on it and cranked it down and they don't even settle now under my 150 pounds.

 

[Noonespecial]

There is a thread where someone else did practically the same thing. Good idea for sure, never tried it though. Public land I use the Cranford Saddle Scaffold.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

There is a thread where someone else did practically the same thing. Good idea for sure, never tried it though. Public land I use the Cranford Saddle Scaffold.

It's so simple I was sure someone had tried it before. I like that Saddle Scaffold but I might want to have 8 or 10 presets and that would get expensive, fast. The Cranford scaffold would be a much better quality, for sure.

 

[Shed84]

I like the idea for prest locations. I'd find a different product then wood. Wood that small can crack and split along the grain line. It may hold initially but can split at anytime. I wouldn't use it.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I like the idea for prest locations. I'd find a different product then wood. Wood that small can crack and split along the grain line. It may hold initially but can split at anytime. I wouldn't use it.

This was just a proof of concept. I was thinking about that decking material made of hard plastic used for decks. Worst case I could glue up several layers of marine plywood. It wouldn't split and would be fairly weatherproof.

 

[Exhumis]

Yup

HangN30 Contour Edge Step review

Edit: Added a link to the test kit. So some questions have been asked about these steps with not much know about them. I decided to take the plunge and bought some as I recently have decided to try out a RoS style platform. The steps are made of Kydex and are 4.5” tall with the step top...

saddlehunter.com

 

[Shed84]

This was just a proof of concept. I was thinking about that decking material made of hard plastic used for decks. Worst case I could glue up several layers of marine plywood. It wouldn't split and would be fairly weatherproof.

I got ya. I was really liking the tubing idea in another post for presets. Getting that stuff or something like it on the cheap is what I'm going to work on in the off-season.

 

[Fuse Dude]

I like the idea for prest locations. I'd find a different product then wood. Wood that small can crack and split along the grain line. It may hold initially but can split at anytime. I wouldn't use it.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[St.CroixArcher]

I’m thinking @gcr0003 might have messing around with something like this last year. If it wasn’t him I’m guessing he’ll know who it was.

 

[gcr0003]

I’m thinking @gcr0003 might have messing around with something like this last year. If it wasn’t him I’m guessing he’ll know who it was.

Yep, works well. I would use treated lumber or coat in epoxy resin. I used 2x6 and didn’t cut off the ends of the triangle though. Made for a really large ROS foot room. It was better than any of the ROS I’ve tried soo far. I have recently bought squirrel Steps to try.

I have a bone to pick with some of you...

How come none of you ROS guys have told me just how incredibly amazing, stable and comfortable a ROS is for saddle hunting? I’m just kidding, but I seriously never gave the concept a try until now. I thought it would just have more problems than solutions. Now I only have like 6 hours on a ROS...

saddlehunter.com

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Yup

HangN30 Contour Edge Step review

Edit: Added a link to the test kit. So some questions have been asked about these steps with not much know about them. I decided to take the plunge and bought some as I recently have decided to try out a RoS style platform. The steps are made of Kydex and are 4.5” tall with the step top...

saddlehunter.com

Yes, I saw this post and I really like the concept. For what I was thinking about, though, I would need about 8 to 10 sets at any given time of 6 to 8 steps per location and that would be price prohibitive given any of the nicer commercial options.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I got ya. I was really liking the tubing idea in another post for presets. Getting that stuff or something like it on the cheap is what I'm going to work on in the off-season.

I've been watching that post too to see where it goes. Very interesting concept.

 

[Yazoo Hntr]

I've seen something similar, but is was single steps to climb a tree. They took 4x4x4 blocks with a hole through the middle and used rope to tie them to the tree to climb. This was on public and last time is was there they were still on the tree. Minus a couple where the rope had rotted. Obviously notbeing used any more.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Yep, works well. I would use treated lumber or coat in epoxy resin. I used 2x6 and didn’t cut off the ends of the triangle though. Made for a really large ROS foot room. It was better than any of the ROS I’ve tried soo far. I have recently bought squirrel Steps to try.

I have a bone to pick with some of you...

How come none of you ROS guys have told me just how incredibly amazing, stable and comfortable a ROS is for saddle hunting? I’m just kidding, but I seriously never gave the concept a try until now. I thought it would just have more problems than solutions. Now I only have like 6 hours on a ROS...

saddlehunter.com

I was thinking of using that outdoor decking lumber they sell at Lowes or Home Depot that is made out of some sort of polymer or recycled plastics. They say it cuts and drills like wood but would be much more rot resistant and might not split. Another thought is to glue up some marine grade plywood, rip it down to 2x4 dimensions and cut the steps from that. That would solve the grain split issue and be pretty weather resistant. I could even paint it in Thompson's water seal.

I'm just looking for a viable ring of steps option to put out pre-season in remote spots, probably rut areas, that I can leave out all season if I need too. I've also considered the squirrel chewing the ratchet strap, but I don't think I have seen that around here, and I used to put a bunch of ratchet straps out for myself and friends during my treestand days. Usually, they rot and break after 3 or 4 years.

I have a set of 7 Pioneer steps by Bullman Outdoors. I believe they are very similar to the Squirrel steps. I use an OCB buckle from Eastern Woods Outdoors and they work great. I bet you are going to be happy with those Squirrel Steps.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I've seen something similar, but is was single steps to climb a tree. They took 4x4x4 blocks with a hole through the middle and used rope to tie them to the tree to climb. This was on public and last time is was there they were still on the tree. Minus a couple where the rope had rotted. Obviously notbeing used any more.

I have seen that discussed too. Apparently, that has been around a good while. I've never seen them used in real life, but I guess they worked.

 

[gcr0003]

I was thinking of using that outdoor decking lumber they sell at Lowes or Home Depot that is made out of some sort of polymer or recycled plastics. They say it cuts and drills like wood but would be much more rot resistant and might not split. Another thought is to glue up some marine grade plywood, rip it down to 2x4 dimensions and cut the steps from that. That would solve the grain split issue and be pretty weather resistant. I could even paint it in Thompson's water seal.

I'm just looking for a viable ring of steps option to put out pre-season in remote spots, probably rut areas, that I can leave out all season if I need too. I've also considered the squirrel chewing the ratchet strap, but I don't think I have seen that around here, and I used to put a bunch of ratchet straps out for myself and friends during my treestand days. Usually, they rot and break after 3 or 4 years.

I have a set of 7 Pioneer steps by Bullman Outdoors. I believe they are very similar to the Squirrel steps. I use an OCB buckle from Eastern Woods Outdoors and they work great. I bet you are going to be happy with those Squirrel Steps.

If you’re leaving the ROS out in the elements I’d be more worried about the strap integrity than the steps.

 

[gcr0003]

Yes, I saw this post and I really like the concept. For what I was thinking about, though, I would need about 8 to 10 sets at any given time of 6 to 8 steps per location and that would be price prohibitive given any of the nicer commercial options.

And this is public land presets?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

If you’re leaving the ROS out in the elements I’d be more worried about the strap integrity than the steps.

I used ratchet straps for years on our chain and ladder sets when I was in that lease, By the end I had 18 twenty-foot ladder sticks with Millennium chain brackets at the top. These allowed me to use one Millennium M7 Microlite for all my locations. A friend of mine in the same club had that many ladders if not more. One of our main summer activities was going around to all of these ladders and checking the ratchets and either loosening the chain brackets post season and tightening the brackets pre season. Out of those we would have to replace 4 or 5 ratchet straps a season every season so the rot, weathering, and chewed strap rate was very low. We were sticklers for safety after a mutual friend of our's fell out a tree some years before.

Yes, I envision these for use on public land in remote spots as preset rings of steps in good rut spots. I would probably use DRT if possible so all that would be at the spot prior to my arrival to hunt would be a paracord loop and a preset ring of steps.

 

[Mike Curtis]

I tried something similar as climbing steps 30 or 40 years ago. I didn't know enough about ropes and knots to make it practical.