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How high

M

muzzymomentless

New Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2020
Messages
7
I'm new to the saddle hunting game by just getting my first saddle two or three months ago. The full length stick thread got me thinking. For right now, I'm using lone wolf sticks that I already have. I have the quiver for them also allowing me to pack them together. I can get between 20 and 24 foot with this set up. My question is from what I see, alot of people carry three sticks, and they don't look to be but about 24" long or so. How high do most people hunt using these shorter sticks?
 
Sometimes I’m 3 feet off the ground, sometimes I’m 15 feet up. Rarely higher than that because the higher I get the more obstacles to shoot around. Got to be able to get the arrow to the deer.

Getting up real high has some disadvantages. Worse shot angles is the big one. Number two, I feel like you’re actually more likely to get busted when you’re up higher because you are most likely skylit. Third, like I said, more branches to shoot around. Lastly, if you’re close to bedded deer, you’re more easily spotted the higher you go.

I never climb a tree for the sake of climbing a tree. When I get into a spot I’m going to hunt, I look for the best hiding/ambush spot. Sometimes that’s in a tree, sometimes it’s on the ground.
 
Depends on what are you using to hunt. For rifles, l have been as high as 30 feet. Now with a recurve or longbow, I'm about 12-14. I am still pretty new too but l believe in the advantages of height if the shot angle is right. Shooting a deer with a rifle at over 100 yards? You don't need to worry about angle or brushes. 20 feet high is still pretty good if you're shooting a deer with a compound bow at 30-40 yards.

But the overall picture is find the right tree, not the tree with the right height you want to be at.

Some guys are 3ft off the ground too. Find what works for you
 
The cover dictates height for me but I rarely go past 12 feet with a recurve. I used to go higher and after one lunging my second deer at 25 feet, I stopped going high. I know a lot of compound hunters that go 25 feet or higher. I know my limitations and deeply respect my game which inspires me make as humane a kill as possible.
 
I set a preset in a walnut tree yesterday that has nice branching, but even better on one side of the tree is a cluster of beech trees that offer perfect cover from deer that would approach behind me but two trails converge about 18 yards on my strong side. All of this cover is about 12’ high. I am usually anywhere between 15 and 20 feet but if the best cover is at 12’ that’s even better.
 
I can get a comfortable 18-20' with 3 - 20" sticks and double aiders, a little higher if I stretch it and a lot higher with some one stick moves. A potential hot spot may require 6' or maybe 25' ...... having the capability to do either and everything in between is one of the things that makes saddle hunting so versatile. My limit is 30-31' for my ring of steps because if I go any higher I run out of rappel rope.
 
Maybe I'm just lazy but usually if I find an area that I want to hunt I try to find a spot to hide where I can tether in and hunt off the ground first. If that's not working I try to find a spot I can get away with making 1 climbing move, getting my feet 6 of 8 feet off the ground. If that's not working I'm looking for cover that's 2 climbing moves, roughly 10-14 feet up. 3 moves gets me roughly 18- 20 feet up and I run out of rappel rope. I hunt public land and a single dad so scouting majority of the time isn't much of an option for me so I'm going in blind and scouting while I'm hunting. Im expecting to walk 10+ miles when I leave the vehicle in the morning. Weight and packability outweigh elevation in a tree. Versatility is paramount. Full length climbing sticks have a purpose in the hunting world but imo they don't belong strapped to the back of a mobile saddle hunter.....there are so many options to get up a tree it probably is rather intimidating for a "newbie" to choose and everybody hunts differently, in vastly different terrain so ppl answers may or may not apply to you. We don't know you and you physical abilities so it's hard to make suggestions...climbing steps, sladder, 2tc, 1 stick, etc...but whichever you choose you are gonna have to practice to be proficient. Practice on trees that aren't straight and perfect. Take you climbing method with ya in the off season. Climb skinny trees and big fat trees, crooked trees, and leaners.... cause in my experience the areas with the freshest deer sign have the worst selection of climbing trees hahahaha
 
Just like others have said, for me the hunt height varies according to the terrain and features. That’s one reason I switched to single sticking with a 20” stick, I don’t have to carry the extra sticks cuz I might not need them. One parcel I hunt the foliage is so dense I can’t really get more than 15 feet up or I can’t see anything. Another parcel I hunt 20+ is easily accomplished because the coverage isn’t as dense and I need to be higher up so I can see farther. When I ran three shorter sticks I had a two step aider on two of the sticks, that gave me a bit more flexibility and portability.
 
This is the first question I asked when I joined the site several years ago. As I began to explore beyond wearing a saddle to the plethora of options to ascend, I wondered if folks actually hunted 30 or more feet to need the alternate methods beyond climbing sticks. Basically the same replies were given...some prefer to hunt low...other as high as needed to have adequte cover...yet a few like to hunt really high for their personal reasons. Before taking up a saddle, I bowhunted for decades from a variety of fixed stand setups and found that most were about 14-16'. I hunted many years with a recurve and then shifted to a compound (shoulder issues) and didn't change a thing in regards to hunting height.

Those who contend sticks limit your height are factual to a point...but several posts have already mentioned adding aiders. That is a personal choice and greatly dependent upon how comfortable you are going up and/or down in the dark on a basically wiggly section of rope, cable or nylon webbing. The first season I saddle hunted, I started with the sticks I owned for fixed stand hunting and then mid-season purchased a lighter set of 4 carbon sticks to lighten the weight. They worked fine and were a wash in regards to hunting height...a couple inches higher with four than three longer sticks. What I found worked well for me on local private land spots was full length sticks as presets, so I simply had to carry in my platform and quickly get it in place...the climbing aspects were already in place.

But most saddle hunters catch the 'test that' bug...and so did I. Two friends who started staddle hunting about a year before me had found the JRB climbing channel and were using his SRT/Garda loop/Maverick pole methods. I checked them out, purchased a barely used mainline with a couple 'doo-dads', learned to rappel and shifted over to a DIY 20" one-stick. Since then, I've invested more time on the JRB/Garda loop and begun to also use a throw ball with paracord presets. Some really like the 2TC method and that is one I have yet to investigate. There are also saddle hunters using a typical climber base as their means of ascent and hunting platrom, which has developed into a alternate option by a few companies building them as saddle-specific. Oh, and not to forget a segment that like strap on steps in place of sticks. Plenty of alternatives...but the core issue of hunting height is primarily determined by the user and not by the method.
 
Alaska at Heart said:
This is the first question I asked when I joined the site several years ago. As I began to explore beyond wearing a saddle to the plethora of options to ascend, I wondered if folks actually hunted 30 or more feet to need the alternate methods beyond climbing sticks. Basically the same replies were given...some prefer to hunt low...other as high as needed to have adequte cover...yet a few like to hunt really high for their personal reasons. Before taking up a saddle, I bowhunted for decades from a variety of fixed stand setups and found that most were about 14-16'. I hunted many years with a recurve and then shifted to a compound (shoulder issues) and didn't change a thing in regards to hunting height.

Those who contend sticks limit your height are factual to a point...but several posts have already mentioned adding aiders. That is a personal choice and greatly dependent upon how comfortable you are going up and/or down in the dark on a basically wiggly section of rope, cable or nylon webbing. The first season I saddle hunted, I started with the sticks I owned for fixed stand hunting and then mid-season purchased a lighter set of 4 carbon sticks to lighten the weight. They worked fine and were a wash in regards to hunting height...a couple inches higher with four than three longer sticks. What I found worked well for me on local private land spots was full length sticks as presets, so I simply had to carry in my platform and quickly get it in place...the climbing aspects were already in place.

But most saddle hunters catch the 'test that' bug...and so did I. Two friends who started staddle hunting about a year before me had found the JRB climbing channel and were using his SRT/Garda loop/Maverick pole methods. I checked them out, purchased a barely used mainline with a couple 'doo-dads', learned to rappel and shifted over to a DIY 20" one-stick. Since then, I've invested more time on the JRB/Garda loop and begun to also use a throw ball with paracord presets. Some really like the 2TC method and that is one I have yet to investigate. There are also saddle hunters using a typical climber base as their means of ascent and hunting platrom, which has developed into a alternate option by a few companies building them as saddle-specific. Oh, and not to forget a segment that like strap on steps in place of sticks. Plenty of alternatives...but the core issue of hunting height is primarily determined by the user and not by the method.
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I respectfully disagree with part of your last sentence as I think the method is a big part of how high you climb. For me personally, the weapon I'm hunting with dictates how high I like to go, thus what tool I use to get that high. I generally like to be as high as logical for the weapon, but I will admit that its a personal choice as I love the view. If using a rifle, I would gladly be up 30-35 feet and taking a shot at a deer over 100 yards away. At that distance I'm not worried about shot angle. But now that I'm 99% longbow/recurve, I'm only going up 14 feet max due to limiting my shoot to 15-20 yards. So this dictated what climbing method I use. 1 stick and rappel made the most sense if I wanted to go higher then 14 feet, but anything under that, I have switched to 2 sticks with 3 steps aider each with no rappelling setup.

That's one of the best thing about saddle hunting, it offer a customization of you, based on what you want and what you feel like doing. For me, the view is a big part of it, I hate sitting on the ground because the view is one of the main reason I enjoy being out in the wood.
 
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HuumanCreed said:
I respectfully disagree with part of your last sentence as I think the method is a big part of how high you climb. For me personally, the weapon I'm hunting with dictates how high I like to go, thus what tool I use to get that high. I generally like to be as high as logical for the weapon, but I will admit that its a personal choice as I love the view. If using a rifle, I would gladly be up 30-35 feet and taking a shot at a deer over 100 yards away. At that distance I'm not worried about shot angle. But now that I'm 99% longbow/recurve, I'm only going up 14 feet max due to limiting my shoot to 15-20 yards. So this dictated what climbing method I use. 1 stick and rappel made the most sense if I wanted to go higher then 14 feet, but anything under that, I have switched to 2 sticks with 3 steps aider each with no rappelling setup.

That's one of the best thing about saddle hunting, it offer a customization of you, based on what you want and what you feel like doing. For me, the view is a big part of it, I hate sitting on the ground because the view is one of the main reason I enjoy being out in the wood.
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Your interpretation of height and methods seems to be based on adding firearms to the mix...mine was not. I am 98% a bowhunter and if/when I dig out the 350 Legend, it is used from a ladderstand or the ground. I also did not find a bit of difference in approach between hunting with traditional gear and a modern compound in regargds to height. Shot angle is shot angle...the type of bow makes very little difference. Now I guess I should gualify that I hunted with 55-60# DW recurves, so someone with a stickbow in the 40's may have different concerns?
 
True enough! I'm using mid-low 40s recurve/longbow so I have limitations that I don't have with my compound bow. I would take 35-40 yards shoot on deer from height of 25 feet up, would never do that combo of distance/height with a traditional bow. Apologies, I didn't think the conversation limit the tool to only bows. I just wanted to point that angle is less of a concern based on weapon and how high, that I wouldn't worry about shot angle using a rifle at 100+ yards unless you're like climbing a sequoia.
 
Let the cover dictate how high you climb. Carry the longest stick comfortable and as many sticks as comfortable. Better to have too much than not enough. Just because you carry them in doesn’t mean you must use them.

Personally, I carry 4 Tethrd Skeletors and with an aider of the same length, I can get to 20’. I wouldn’t want to hunt much higher, personally. Shot angle gets aggressive, tree tops and brush block your view and all of this is exaggerated if hunting hilly country.

Plenty of people shoot deer less than 12’ foot off the ground…and even on the ground. A shorter stick is easier to maneuver through brush on your pack. May sacrifice height or carry an extra stick to make up.
 
HuumanCreed said:
True enough! I'm using mid-low 40s recurve/longbow so I have limitations that I don't have with my compound bow. I would take 35-40 yards shoot on deer from height of 25 feet up, would never do that combo of distance/height with a traditional bow. Apologies, I didn't think the conversation limit the tool to only bows. I just wanted to point that angle is less of a concern based on weapon and how high, that I wouldn't worry about shot angle using a rifle at 100+ yards unless you're like climbing a sequoia.
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For years after I shifted to compound bows, my longest archery kill remained a Black Widow recurve shot at 34 yards. I didn't intend to kill that buck at that distance, but he came in as I was sitting an observation spot on the ground in the thick edge around an alfalfa field glassing a new spot. Suddenly he and another buck were right in front of me...one diagonally away and the other moving in front of me. I waited until he got far enough so I could get to my knees and draw my bow...then just focused on his chest. Most of my trad practice was stump shooting with a judo point, so distance was genuinely instinctive. The Zwickey tipped wood arrow impacted exactly where I wanted, but appeared to bounce off. I sat there stunned as he ran away and abrubtly folded up like a wing shot pheasant in mid-bound about 175 yards away across the hay. When I paced off the distance, I figured he was maybe 25ish yards, but there was my wood arrow lying bloody on top of the green alfalfa almost 10 yards farther. My BH had impacted the off-shoulder and his first reaction sheered off the shaft...which appeared like it had not penetrated at all.
 
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I think you can, and hunters have, done a lot of damage up around 15-16'. Used to be a standard stick ladder put you up around 16' (4x4' sticks). So I've shot many a deer at that height. I've been lower - but the cover REALLY made that possible....like having a big, fat evergreen tree smack dab in front of the one I was climbing (self climber). But the same principle applies to saddles - use those trees as good background. That said, I'll strive to get higher and look to leverage cover more when the leaves drop (more so for self climbers). It's not as critical in a saddle IMO, especially if you do have the deer pegged on the direction they're coming from. The tree you're in is the cover at that point.

But, overall, I'm hovering up around 17-21' and taking whatever the situation gives me.
 
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