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Hbs and saddle

kenn1320

kenn1320

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2015
Messages
2,753
Hunted today and the wind cut right through me. I was dressed in my fall camo, which want up to the task. I sat till 10am thinking about running back to the cabin and getting the heater body suit. I made the trip back, had a quick snack and back to the tree. Using the xop platform made putting the Hbs on easy. Originally I had the saddle on the inside, but given the cold wind in my face and the bridge in the way of the zipper, I took off the saddle and put it on the outside. Worked fine, but I had to keep zipping it up due to the ropes running to my RC harness. I did find I would step on the Hbs with opposite foot and cause some movement issues. I am going to have the feet cut off and some type of strap added to synch the legs tight to my boots, to eliminate drafts. I have good boots, so its a no brainier. I will also have 2 slits put in for the bridge and run my ropes in them to connect to the rc harness. Should work very well.
 
I am still trying to figure out how to put my Hbs on in the tree over my web. Cutting the slits for the webbing for the bridge shouldn't be to difficult.

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kenn1320 said:
Hunted today and the wind cut right through me. I was dressed in my fall camo, which want up to the task. I sat till 10am thinking about running back to the cabin and getting the heater body suit. I made the trip back, had a quick snack and back to the tree. Using the xop platform made putting the Hbs on easy. Originally I had the saddle on the inside, but given the cold wind in my face and the bridge in the way of the zipper, I took off the saddle and put it on the outside. Worked fine, but I had to keep zipping it up due to the ropes running to my RC harness. I did find I would step on the Hbs with opposite foot and cause some movement issues. I am going to have the feet cut off and some type of strap added to synch the legs tight to my boots, to eliminate drafts. I have good boots, so its a no brainier. I will also have 2 slits put in for the bridge and run my ropes in them to connect to the rc harness. Should work very well.
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Couldn't you just get a cheap set of coveralls for someone double your size. Hack the sleaves off and replace them with like a magnetic closure? Just curios what's the difference. Is there a heating element in the suit?
 
DIYSaddler said:
Couldn't you just get a cheap set of coveralls for someone double your size. Hack the sleaves off and replace them with like a magnetic closure? Just curios what's the difference. Is there a heating element in the suit?
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Coveralls are warmer than standard top/bottom clothing for sure. There are down sides to them however. Ive never felt any carhart brand that wasnt noisy and well deer brown isnt a great choice. The hbs has some type of layering that makes it wind resistant. Having that large space between you and the hbs is another reason it works so well. I found sitting on the ground in really cold temps, I could feel the cold where the hbs was tight, like the knees. The other benefit of it is you come out of it to shoot, so no string clearance issues. I wear my normal fall gear into the woods, then put this on after I cool down and its very comfy. When you get out of it at the end of the hunt, you get pretty cold very quickly. Kinda like those hand warmers where you almost become dependent on them. It might be 80 deg in your pocket, but after having your hands in your muff holding one of those warmers at say 110 deg, your pocket now feels cold. Hard to explain. Also even though your a big blob, I think the physical size and shape your appearance takes in the hbs, seems to trick deer from thinking your a human. You can also move around in it, check your phone and such and deer dont see the movement. I hunted for years with out a hbs and had no problem, but the older I get, the more I cant figure out how I ever lived without a hbs. lol
 
I've been looking at those things more and more. Might be my next addition to the cold weather gear. Would be cheaper than another Sitka suit! haha
 
kenn1320 said:
Coveralls are warmer than standard top/bottom clothing for sure. There are down sides to them however. Ive never felt any carhart brand that wasnt noisy and well deer brown isnt a great choice. The hbs has some type of layering that makes it wind resistant. Having that large space between you and the hbs is another reason it works so well. I found sitting on the ground in really cold temps, I could feel the cold where the hbs was tight, like the knees. The other benefit of it is you come out of it to shoot, so no string clearance issues. I wear my normal fall gear into the woods, then put this on after I cool down and its very comfy. When you get out of it at the end of the hunt, you get pretty cold very quickly. Kinda like those hand warmers where you almost become dependent on them. It might be 80 deg in your pocket, but after having your hands in your muff holding one of those warmers at say 110 deg, your pocket now feels cold. Hard to explain. Also even though your a big blob, I think the physical size and shape your appearance takes in the hbs, seems to trick deer from thinking your a human. You can also move around in it, check your phone and such and deer dont see the movement. I hunted for years with out a hbs and had no problem, but the older I get, the more I cant figure out how I ever lived without a hbs. lol
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Just had an idea... Have you thought about just sewing a few cinch straps to the top of the booty portions to gather the fabrick in... Or even lace loops.
 
DIYSaddler said:
Just had an idea... Have you thought about just sewing a few cinch straps to the top of the booty portions to gather the fabrick in... Or even lace loops.
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No I hadnt, but honestly Id just feel better having boot soles for traction, especially if I ever wanted to use a screw in step. I do use 1 jim stepp and could see that wearing the bottom out anyway, so might as well just mod it how I want. I have a amsteel bridge that's spliced on both ends, so Ill either have to make another saddle or just carry a removable bridge during hbs sits.
 
I have a modified heater body suit that I use for my saddle. it works great there us a thread on here somewhere with pics of it.
 
Bowhunter41002 said:
I have a modified heater body suit that I use for my saddle. it works great there us a thread on here somewhere with pics of it.
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I found this one, pretty much what I want to do. Did you have pics of where the bridge comes out?
index.php
 
So what are you guy's doing or thinking about in regards to putting it on? Put it on at the base of the tree and climb with it on? Or climb the tree and put it on at hunting height?

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Haven't felt the need for a HBS yet, but when it gets really cold I still hunt (late season traditional muzzleloader season in PA runs at the same time as late season archery).
So on a saddle forum my comment isn't really applicable


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mejer said:
So what are you guy's doing or thinking about in regards to putting it on? Put it on at the base of the tree and climb with it on? Or climb the tree and put it on at hunting height?

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Click to expand...

With a xop platform, putting it on at height is easy(did it last week).
 
Prill87 said:
Haven't felt the need for a HBS yet, but when it gets really cold I still hunt (late season traditional muzzleloader season in PA runs at the same time as late season archery).
So on a saddle forum my comment isn't really applicable


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You must have good cold weather gear, and or young and tough still. Lol I bust out the HBS on a windy day in the 40's, cause I can.:D
 
What is this HBS that you saddle extraordinaires speak of?
 
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