- Joined
- Apr 1, 2014
- Messages
- 700
John,
I don’t know if you remember, I know you talk to a lot of hunters, but I spoke to you this summer about saddle hunting, then purchased a Mantis saddle from Tethrd upon your recommendation. I then called you 3 weeks ago and you helped me setup my saddle over the phone. Well, it all came together.
I started hunting out of it on October 12th and haven’t looked back since! I’m now 7 saddle sits in and it has changed my hunting game forever..... Since I started hunting out of the Mantis I’ve seen and been in the game with 9 different bucks, 3 of which were shooters, which resulted in one dead buck mature buck. They were all on pressured public land in Michigan as I have no private property to hunt.
From reading your books, listening to your podcasts, and watching your YouTube videos from deer and deer hunting, my hunting has been taken to a new level. Thanks to the impact of you.
My cousin, who is new to bow hunting just purchased his first used bow this past summer and wanted to come up and hunt. With him living in Kentucky I knew his time was limited. He arrived on October 18th and had 4 days to get a deer with his bow. I had a public land spot that I cut a big buck track on last year but never hunted. I decided to go in blind, hang and hunt this spot. I had a few spots marked on ONX Hunting app from a previous scout session. I grabbed my saddle, grabbed my Lone Wolf setup for him to sit in and we went in. I hung his stand and then went 300 yards away from him and saddled up. This is where it all began.
We hunted that night with no results and went right back in the next morning and saw 3 different bucks. So I made the move, tore his stand down mid-day, hung it up right by where I sat and left it alone until Saturday morning. Saturday morning we headed in and my plan was to film him as I knew it would be a good morning with a low pressure system moving in. He sat in the stand and I hung in my saddle on the back side of the tree with the camera arm setup.
Half hour after daylight, we noticed 2 bucks coming in our direction. Both were 8 points. The first 8, smaller of the 2, stepped out at 35 yards and my cousin released his arrow. We knew he hit, wasn’t sure where. I started reviewing the footage and a coyote started coming in our direction. I had brought my bow as well and when the coyote worked within 25 yards and was facing us, now straight behind us, I was able to spin around my Mantis and drill him at 25 yards! Exciting to say the least and I never would have been able to make that shot from my Lone Wolf stand!
We let the buck lay for 9 hours due to the shot being a bit back and successfully found him 200 yards away!
It was my cousins first bow deer. He was beyond excited! His words “by far the best day he has ever had in the woods” were gratifying to me. It was one for the books, that’s for sure.
Thank you for the help with the saddle, giving me your time at expos, podcasts and over the phone. You have impacted my hunting more than you know! Hunting strictly public land, your intel is spot on for killing mature bucks.
My cousin’s deer was aged at 3.5 years old. That’s my biggest accomplishment yet, even though I didn’t kill him. I put him on that deer, all on public land. Let alone the other buck was at least 3.5, if not older. Cool part is that it was all on film! I have the entire hunt filmed, all on public land in Northern Michigan. Now it’s time for me to get on one.
Thanks again John. I had to share this story with you!
David Derusha
I don’t know if you remember, I know you talk to a lot of hunters, but I spoke to you this summer about saddle hunting, then purchased a Mantis saddle from Tethrd upon your recommendation. I then called you 3 weeks ago and you helped me setup my saddle over the phone. Well, it all came together.
I started hunting out of it on October 12th and haven’t looked back since! I’m now 7 saddle sits in and it has changed my hunting game forever..... Since I started hunting out of the Mantis I’ve seen and been in the game with 9 different bucks, 3 of which were shooters, which resulted in one dead buck mature buck. They were all on pressured public land in Michigan as I have no private property to hunt.
From reading your books, listening to your podcasts, and watching your YouTube videos from deer and deer hunting, my hunting has been taken to a new level. Thanks to the impact of you.
My cousin, who is new to bow hunting just purchased his first used bow this past summer and wanted to come up and hunt. With him living in Kentucky I knew his time was limited. He arrived on October 18th and had 4 days to get a deer with his bow. I had a public land spot that I cut a big buck track on last year but never hunted. I decided to go in blind, hang and hunt this spot. I had a few spots marked on ONX Hunting app from a previous scout session. I grabbed my saddle, grabbed my Lone Wolf setup for him to sit in and we went in. I hung his stand and then went 300 yards away from him and saddled up. This is where it all began.
We hunted that night with no results and went right back in the next morning and saw 3 different bucks. So I made the move, tore his stand down mid-day, hung it up right by where I sat and left it alone until Saturday morning. Saturday morning we headed in and my plan was to film him as I knew it would be a good morning with a low pressure system moving in. He sat in the stand and I hung in my saddle on the back side of the tree with the camera arm setup.
Half hour after daylight, we noticed 2 bucks coming in our direction. Both were 8 points. The first 8, smaller of the 2, stepped out at 35 yards and my cousin released his arrow. We knew he hit, wasn’t sure where. I started reviewing the footage and a coyote started coming in our direction. I had brought my bow as well and when the coyote worked within 25 yards and was facing us, now straight behind us, I was able to spin around my Mantis and drill him at 25 yards! Exciting to say the least and I never would have been able to make that shot from my Lone Wolf stand!
We let the buck lay for 9 hours due to the shot being a bit back and successfully found him 200 yards away!
It was my cousins first bow deer. He was beyond excited! His words “by far the best day he has ever had in the woods” were gratifying to me. It was one for the books, that’s for sure.Thank you for the help with the saddle, giving me your time at expos, podcasts and over the phone. You have impacted my hunting more than you know! Hunting strictly public land, your intel is spot on for killing mature bucks.
My cousin’s deer was aged at 3.5 years old. That’s my biggest accomplishment yet, even though I didn’t kill him. I put him on that deer, all on public land. Let alone the other buck was at least 3.5, if not older. Cool part is that it was all on film! I have the entire hunt filmed, all on public land in Northern Michigan. Now it’s time for me to get on one.
Thanks again John. I had to share this story with you!
David Derusha
