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EWO Order Must Haves?

B

Bratch

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SH Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2022
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41
I’m looking to make my first order from EWO to start putting my kit together for next season. This will be my first season saddle hunting and I’m starting from scratch on gear. Here is my current cart:


1” Slotted squirrel steps 4x
RoS 7’ strap with sewn buckle
Small fleece pouch
Large fleece pouch
Doyle pouch
Gear Strap kit
Phone clamp
Aider (not sure which)

Am I missing any other must haves? I’d prefer to get it all in one big order.

I have Beast sticks and am leaning towards a JX3 but will probably pick up a soft saddle to try at some point too.
 
Wow that’s a lot to take in. So you have beast sticks. So check on the climbing method, ROS is preferred with a JX3 but I’d go soft saddle for my first one ( some will differ). Also would add any fussiness of aiders to a climbing method you’re confident in. You’ll have a lot of new stuff to figure out with the saddle & adjustments, get that down & go from there. Love EWO stuff, but I’d cut that list in half probably just the steps & ocb, save your $ for saddle
 
Jx3 user here, seems like a good list to me… for a one stick / rappeller two fleece pouches is what I use. When I climb with sticks I like a two step aider at the bottom then one or two one step aiders on the ascent. There are times I’m lazy and don’t even set up the ROS but the experience is better when I do. My personal preference is narrow webbing / strap (2) for gear line, I haven’t used a doyle and am satisfied with current setup, those straps store in the fleece. You might consider a cheap tender if you’re using a prussic on the lineman’s, but routing the rope back through the carabiner and tending with that works too. I’m no help on aiders, I have both webbing aiders and amsteel / tubing aiders and I like em both. If anything helpful occurs to me will chime back in.
 
Now is the time to get the JX3, if possible...it does have a bit of a learning curve to adjust & use the best way for YOU. You may save some money in the long run by deciding that you don't need a "traditional" saddle! ;)

My other recommendation-consider how you'll come down the tree after dark. A rappel kit from EWO would be worth looking into-use it as your tether on the way up, so you can "bail out" of the tree at any time, for any reason, & after practicing your rappel technique, I think you'll find it easier to descend, stop, & remove each stick as you go down.
 
Just about to place my own order. Curious as to why you went with the sewn buckle for the ROS strap? I was planning on going with the separate buckle since, if I understand correctly, I won't have to thread the buckle at height?

Also - I was buying some of that camo form to silence the squirrel steps (also going with 1" slotted) but I wasn't sure how many steps one pack of form would cover. So, barring the quantity issue, I'd recommend you plan on silencing those steps somehow.
 
Amsteel daisy chains for your climbing sticks to replace the stock cam buckles. Not necessary but a nice to have.

How are you ascending the tree? Lineman’s belt, rope, rope man or king duck are common. Or a prussic and a tender.

Also, it appears you are missing the SH membership so you can sell 3/4 of that stuff here on the site and buy 6x more stuff than you originally thought necessary as you dial your system in and go from the JX3 and ROS to multiple saddles and platforms. LOL.
 
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I’d figure out a saddle and safety gear before I even think about all the accessories. You’ll want a way to hoist your preferred weapon into the tree and hang it. And you’ll need a good way to carry all of this stuff in and out of the woods.
 
LWCG cable aiders are more rigid, which I prefer. But...

 
Thanks guys. I tried to respond to the questions I saw.

TradBowGuy said:
Now is the time to get the JX3, if possible...it does have a bit of a learning curve to adjust & use the best way for YOU. You may save some money in the long run by deciding that you don't need a "traditional" saddle! ;)

My other recommendation-consider how you'll come down the tree after dark. A rappel kit from EWO would be worth looking into-use it as your tether on the way up, so you can "bail out" of the tree at any time, for any reason, & after practicing your rappel technique, I think you'll find it easier to descend, stop, & remove each stick as you go down.
Click to expand...

I was planning to just climb back down this season but I’ll spend some more time looking into rappelling. I’ve seen it discussed on here a little but haven’t gotten deep into researching it.

GreginPA said:
Just about to place my own order. Curious as to why you went with the sewn buckle for the ROS strap? I was planning on going with the separate buckle since, if I understand correctly, I won't have to thread the buckle at height?

Also - I was buying some of that camo form to silence the squirrel steps (also going with 1" slotted) but I wasn't sure how many steps one pack of form would cover. So, barring the quantity issue, I'd recommend you plan on silencing those steps somehow.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the sewn buckle would be one less thing to fumble with and potentially drop. I’m completely green so this could be incorrect thinking.

I have a couple rolls of Stealth tape I’m planning to wrap the steps with.

Maverick1 said:
Amsteel daisy chains for your climbing sticks to replace the stock cam buckles. Not necessary but a nice to have.

How are you ascending the tree? Lineman’s belt, rope, rope man or king duck are common. Or a prussic and a tender.

Also, it appears you are missing the SH membership so you can sell 3/4 of that stuff here on the site and buy 6x more stuff than you originally thought necessary as you dial your system in and go from the JX3 and ROS to multiple saddles and platforms. LOL.
Click to expand...

Currently just planning on the linesman’s belt that comes with the JX3. Again open to ideas
 
You can get Amsteel Daisy chains from EWO as suggested earlier, but if you go that route you may want to consider what method you prefer for the attachment before you buy (standard daisy loop, trucker's hitch, etc.). The size of the loops makes a difference.

The truckers hitch is very popular, but there's some upside to the Trucker Elite imo:


Real Deal Amsteel sells Amsteel daisy chains set for this, as well as a kit to take another brands Daisy daisy chains and do the Elite mod.
 
You may also want to consider doubling up 3/4" squirrel steps for your main L/R footings instead of 1" steps. It's probably not that critical with the JX3 but if you move on to a soft saddle you may appreciate the extra width. Folks just tape them together.
 
If you do get into rappelling, and when you order from EWO, just buy a few more lengths of hitch cord than you think you need or plan to use. Because, let me tell you, you should plan to use it. You will forever after be tying new friction hitches or wanting additional hitches for various reasons as your method evolves and kicking yourself that you now have to pay $5-10 shipping again to get as many or fewer dollars worth of cord when you coulda just bought a little extra last time. And then you start trying to justify adding more stuff to the order to make it worthwhile…
 
Bratch said:
was thinking the sewn buckle would be one less thing to fumble with and potentially drop. I’m completely green so this could be incorrect thinking.
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure either. But I believe with the separate buckle you pre-thread the separate buckle but then use a hook to secure at height. As opposed to the sewn one you would have to thread the buckle each time. See this video, skip to 2:28. Tagging @Nutterbuster since it is his video, maybe he can clear this up for us?

 
Bratch said:
My order has grown from $250 to $550.:laughing:
Click to expand...
I’d say you’re getting the hang of it then! Go ahead and get a good 10’ of shock cord(you’ll find uses for it), rope end caps(little rubber cap things) for when you cut your ropes. Rappelling gear…ropes, device etc.
 
Bratch said:
Am I missing any other must haves? I’d prefer to get it all in one big order.
Click to expand...
I can't tell you how many times I have fallen for the ol' "I'm going to order all of my hunting stuff in one go and be done" trap. Trust me, you will always find another thing that is "necessary" and you "forgot" to include in your first order. Please, learn from my mistakes and just buy as you go. You might be surprised how much crap you don't need!

It's fun to buy new gear, but I would recommend starting with the bare minimum. You might get some of those pouches, for example, and never use them. Some might say that stuff is necessary, but I wouldn't. As long as you have sticks, a saddle, a way to get your gear up the tree, a way to secure your gear on the tree, and a way to carry all your gear to your spot, you have the bare necessities to hunt from a saddle. At least practice setting up with that stuff and sitting in a tree in your yard a few times to see what you might actually need/want to add to your set up. Better to start cheap and add piece by piece than the opposite, in my opinion.

Don't forget that saddle hunting is rooted in a DIY history. It doesn't need to get expensive, and you can easily save a lot of money by making some stuff yourself. For example, I made a gear strap out of an extra ratchet strap, 550 cord, a couple of carabiners and a camjam––I had all of that (minus camjam) laying around. Just think, how many deer would you have to kill to "pay for" your hunting gear? Not that meat is the only thing to get out of hunting, but that has helped me cool it on the spending.

Sorry for the long post, and especially not what you were asking for. It's just that all of these lessons are still fresh in my mind from a year ago, when I first started, and I hate to see people get sucked into the not important part of hunting, i.e. buying over-priced gear. Good luck this coming season!!
 
Couple hitch tenders, biners, vet wrap, extra friction hitch cord, ball compass, grapple hook, ezv sight, a hammock,.....hehehe
 
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