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Hi hope i have the right place to post this....well question .. I was wondering does anyone know of hunters getting hurt using a Tree Saddle

With as many people that are on social media I imagine it would come up....... if it’s a hunting death there’s usually a write up of some kind on the rough details of the event. As much information gets retransmitted here & other saddle related content I think it would be shared. I could be totally wrong & there’s plenty of information on mishaps , & falls. It’s never a bad thing to discuss the implications of what we do......... my bad if it didn’t come as such.

I imagine a hunting death that makes the news would be light on details and at best might say “fell out of tree stand”.

I’m just saying I feel it’s very unlikely we would know about a fatality in the community unless a fellow saddle hunter knew first hand and shared it.

Let’s hope this NEVER happens!!!!


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I think more people die in horse saddles than hunting saddles....u don't hear about those deaths

In the town next to us a couple years back an 18 year old girl got a new horse and was excited to ride it and didn’t stop to put on her helmet. It threw her and she died of a brain injury. Very sad and definitely made the news.

Telling you this story I am reminded of the fact all the arborists and recreational tree climbers wear helmets but us saddle hunters don’t seem to.

Last year I painted a bike helmet hunter orange with the intent of wearing it when hunting with a bike. I have since then looked at orange climbing helmets with the intent of getting one for saddle hunting.


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I think we can all agree our wallets have sustained some injured along the way due to this Saddle hunting equipment, but if we sit back and analyze it and the info we’ve been given the injuries people acquire along the way are due to people making half as*** diy stuff or not verifying ropes/knots/buckles etc. It’s easy to get in a hurry,but we have to remind ourselves to take the time to be accurate. We don’t have a metal tree stand to grab anymore on the way down. Your “stand is strapped to ur backside.

-Buy a saddle from a reputable company
Years and years ago yes options were limited and marketing was scarce. Not the case anymore.
Legitimate saddles are readily available. Some require a wait, but it’s ur life on the line ....be patient.

-Don’t go modifying your setup in your infancy of this sport. Hunt from it for awhile and learn it before u decide to follow the trends on here. Shave weight later after u actually know what ur doing.

- And when u do tie into a tree make damn sure that ur equipment is secure. Don’t rush over that buck. At least once in ur lives I guarantee all of us have heard “money makes a man act funny”, but I can tell u that nothing makes a man act more funny, thoughtless, careless, and sometimes outright dumb, than a set of antlers. Yes they’re very cool and we’re all attracted, but they’re just antlers.......
Relax.....
Tie on properly and come home alive



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Don’t go modifying your setup in your infancy of this sport. Hunt from it for awhile and learn it before u decide to follow the trends on here. Shave weight later after u actually know what ur doing ... And when u do tie into a tree make damn sure that ur equipment is secure. Don’t rush

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Sage advice. When I started rock climbing, one of the safety practices that we learned was to always have a partner double-check our rope setup and our tie-in before commencing the climb.

Saddle hunters are almost always solo, often sleep deprived, and usually climbing up/down before/after dark. All these conditions make it imperative to go slow and to double check your own setup before leaving the ground. Double checking the security of each climbing stick, step, and aider placement as you go is equally imperative.

Most importantly, NEVER compromise your own safety by permitting yourself not to be attached to the tree by a taut lineman’s belt or tether - even for a second - when you’re up the tree. Don’t make yourself vulnerable through negligence or unsafe practices.

As my woman likes to say, “They don’t call accidents “purposes” ... nobody ever expects one or has one on purpose.”


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-Buy a saddle from a reputable company
Years and years ago yes options were limited and marketing was scarce. Not the case anymore.
Legitimate saddles are readily available. Some require a wait, but it’s ur life on the line ....be patient.

-Don’t go modifying your setup in your infancy of this sport. Hunt from it for awhile and learn it before u decide to follow the trends on here. Shave weight later after u actually know what ur doing.

- And when u do tie into a tree make damn sure that ur equipment is secure. Don’t rush over that buck. At least once in ur lives I guarantee all of us have heard “money makes a man act funny”, but I can tell u that nothing makes a man act more funny, thoughtless, careless, and sometimes outright dumb, than a set of antlers. Yes they’re very cool and we’re all attracted, but they’re just antlers.......
Relax.....
Tie on properly and come home alive



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Can't echo these three pieces of advice loudly enough! Would also add that creating a consistent routine (just like you should for drawing and shooting your bow) will dramatically reduce the odds of a screw-up.
 
Something else to keep in mind is integrity of the tree...anyone ever setup in the dark and looks up and said "damn, is that branch dead?"
I had a preset up 3 years ago and huneed out of it several times. It was a healthy solid maple on the edge of a rocky ridge. I sent back one weekend after a good windicator storm and it was on it side halfway down the side of the ledge. A giant boulder ws gripped in its roots like a ball in an Eagles claw. Guess the tree was plenty strong, but the roots didnt have much purchase.

My point is control what you can, yourself and your gear. We are all in control of our own risk management and can never mitigate it all, but that time you get lazy, your being negligent with your own safety.
 
I was hunting in a severe leaner not a good choice but it was where I needed to be,standing on a platform I lost my balance and gravity swung me around the tree and I knocked my bow off the hook and down it went the saddle kept me from falling no injuries except for a bruised ego now I stay out of hard leaners
You should have been on the downside of a leaner. It is the stable side.
 
You should have been on the downside of a leaner. It is the stable side.
Mistakes were made. the chestnut I was in had a lot of branches making shots difficult the platform was positioned just above a limb so if needed I could step on the limb to help with a shot all those limbs with leaves still on provided good cover I was only 9 or 10 feet up about one hour later I did get a big doe from the same position as she came to feast on chestnuts. not trying to justify poor judgement you're right!
 
Mistakes were made. the chestnut I was in had a lot of branches making shots difficult the platform was positioned just above a limb so if needed I could step on the limb to help with a shot all those limbs with leaves still on provided good cover I was only 9 or 10 feet up about one hour later I did get a big doe from the same position as she came to feast on chestnuts. not trying to justify poor judgement you're right!
I am not scolding you. There are many details about tree hunting I'm sure I still have to learn. I did try to climb SRT up the high side of a leaner once and kept swing around to the low side. Never did that again. Now I look for the low side.
 
I am not scolding you. There are many details about tree hunting I'm sure I still have to learn. I did try to climb SRT up the high side of a leaner once and kept swing around to the low side. Never did that again. Now I look for the low side.
On another note most of the time the perfect tree doesn't exist anywhere close to the deer activity where it counts so I oftentimes find myself in less than perfect tree I thought that sharing the experience may help outhers avoid potential disaster
 
The only thing that's been hurt after discovering saddle hunting has been my wallet.

I jest I jest...

But in all seriousness the closest I came to any sort of catastrophic failure was when I was testing out a knaider/swaider and I had a kickout and was left in a rather compromising position. Luckily I was basically at ground level and was able to right myself without any issue.
 
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