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How did you get started with saddle hunting?

After still hunting and tracking last year, I could find where the deer were but just couldn’t enough time at the spots. Experimented with xop stand but just couldn’t get it into the right spots and would be sore, sweating and irritated by the time I would get to the spots. Heard about the tree saddle on a pod cast and did some research. Bought a tethrd mantis, predator and muddy pros. Would love to have been in it already but responsibilities trumped getting out in it. However, have 2 weeks of rifle hunting in Maine coming up and I fully expect to be using it daily!


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I was looking into sticks and lock-one to get away from my Summit Viper. It’s a very comfortable stand but I was too limited on tree choices plus it’s heavy and bulky. In the process stumbled across saddle hunting and it got my attention right away.
 
My best friends dad bought 3 trophylines on clearance at the gander mountain he happened to be at. One for him and each of his boys. He had fallen from a ladder stand and wanted safety. They set up trees in the woods as presets, I thought they were nuts, my LEM LocOn was a light, mobile, and set up fast. I used that trophyline after "Dad" talked me into it, for one sit. I didn't give it much chance and they weren't mine. This was all 15 years ago or so.

I ended up with a LW sit and climb and ran that for about 10 years and loved the mobiliy, but hated it for tree selection and had actually gone back to a hang on. I had actually started look for a trophyline of my own as the thought of that giant camo diaper was still intriguing. Then I found you guys, and all your terrible ideas. Thanks for nothing guys
 
Met a local guy on the old QDMA forum. He lived just a few miles from me. He had an old Trophyline he showed me and I was intrigued. I got a TL and didn't like it. I switched to a Kestrel and was hooked. I then tried my buddy's modified Anderson. My beloved Kestrel may be for sale soon...that's how much I like a sling compared to a saddle.
 
I had just moved 2 hours away from my hometown. Didn't know anyone and only had public ground to hunt. This started my "mobile" movement. While learning about sticks and hang ons on AT, several referred me to check out this forum. It was all downhill from there lol.
 
Read John Eberhart’s book about 7 years ago and really wanted to try it but didn’t really understand how to use it. Two years ago I saw G2 videos and he showed how to use everything and broke it down and that’s when I bought one and got into it.

I give Gregg credit for his format. He showed the process clearly and simply and made it seem very doable. I suspect a lot of other folks jumped on board after watching his YouTube
 
This is my first year trying it.

I live in a town and don’t really have much access to private land so I hunt public all the time. Leaving a stand is taking a chance. It’s legal but could get stolen. Carrying a stand in and out for each hunt is both a PITA and noisy.

I was looking for light weight alternatives and stumbled on various videos etc. Then I noticed a lot of videos referenced to saddlehunter.com

And here I am!


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Tired of Getting my stands stolen on public land, I moved to a hang and hunt style last year with a hawk helium stick and helium stand. One day researching the sticks I seen link to a saddle discussion on sticks. This year I have hunted exclusively out of a diy saddle....my trophyline arrives today
 
I got interested in saddle from the post from way back in the day on Archery Talk that Bobby started. Would love to be able to read thru that thread again.
 
I fell 20' from a tree a few years ago, I was lucky and only lost one season of hunting. I didn't break anything but walked with a limp for a while and my shoulders still bother me.
I was on Youtube checking out linemans belts and this guy was talking about the Ropeman 1. I thought it was the cats azz! I started searching for more information about it and stumbled onto @g2outdoors! I thought this guy is awesome and started watching all his videos, he was always talking about this site and finally I visited it and knew this was it! This is my favorite site, of course it goes without saying if you love the site you gotta love the saddle!
 
20 years of hunting tree branches and fallen over trees led me to finding a linesman harness and Spurs for climbing poles! "Game changer!". Never had a stand. Didn't want to put any more holes in my Maple syrup trees than had to! Started looking for a more comfortable linesman harness and came across a Aero Evo ad from wesspur. From there a review on this site! Being from a farm family we don't have money to spare for a pizza from town let alone a $300 saddle but been fixing my own clothes and tarps for years. 3 home made saddles later, one being made from a trampoline tarp, I've got 2 kids into it and counting! Thank all of you for sharing your experiences.
 
It was by pure accident for me. I was looking at videos on how to use a climbing stand a guy at work gave me and can across a stray to finish set up video and thought what tha.....3 hrs later still looking saddle videos I decided that’s what I needed. It has gone WILD from there. Next season it shouldn’t be quite as expensive Hahahaha
 
Got tired of hunting the same old place all the time wanted to branch out. Scouted 3 new areas, two of those areas I would have spent more time looking for a tree for my climber than I would have hunting. I absolutely hate hanging tree stands, can't stress enough how much I dislike it. Stumbled across @g2outdoors youtube channel which lead me to the forum. Now the rest is history, I think hunting out of a saddle is the best thing since sliced bread, can't imagine that changing. Over the last 2 years I have been talking to anyone who will listen about how awesome it is. I have converted 5 of my friends, 6 if you count my 72 year old dad who hung some this year. Honestly I can't thank @g2outdoors enough..........your youtube channel truly changed my life.
 
It's a group effort. Without this forum, saddle hunting wouldn't be where it is today.

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25ish+ yrs ago, Got tired/frustrated of hunting for trees.

Purchased RC harness after reading/learning about harness hang syndrome cases. Figured out that I could use an Old Loc-On platform (7ish lbs) that seat had busted out of and RC harness and hunt easily enough. Tried TreeSaddle for a few years when they first hit the market. Comfortable but still too heavy and cumbersome compared to RC harness.

Too Lazy to improve on what worked and Wasn't ever ingenious enough to try and market anything. Everyone around me, that would ask about or see it, would think that I was absolutely crazy. Never dreamed it would become a "popular" way to hunt.

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I live in a tiny house.. enough said!

No room to store ladders and stands in the off season.

I can now fit my steps, saddle and pack in a milk crate.
 
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