SETXsportsman6
Well-Known Member
For anyone who probably doesn't want to hear a saddle newbie ramble on about how he made it here, this probably isn't the post for you. Or it might be and you could always leave a smart ass reply in the comments that would further entertain me for the rest of this slow night at work.
Anyways, here we go...
I've hunted my entire life. Grew up with an undying love for the outdoors. Whether it was running beagles rabbit hunting, shooting rabbits at night, with a spot light, running coon dogs, hog dogs, deer hunting, duck hunting, fishing, etc. Growing up in East Texas I've had an opportunity to pursue just about any kind of game I was interested in (minus the big game elk, etc.)
Deer hunting was always my biggest passion. From the time I was a little boy deer hunting with Dad was always my favorite thing to do. Started off sitting box stands over feeders in East Texas, west Texas, etc (because that's how we hunted). It was great for me as a kid. Getting to see a good bit of deer, and getting to harvest deer at a young age really IMO sparked the interest in whitetail that I have today.
Fast forward to 12 years old. After having my first compound bow for about 3 years I could finally pull back enough weight to legally bow hunt in Texas (45 lbs at the time). First few years of bow hunting was a train wreck for me. Missed 4 deer, got busted drawing back several times, winded, picked off, you name it, I made that mistake.
6 days shy of my 18th birthday I got my first bow kill. 102 lb doe. Awesome. Football season kept me from hunting a good bit that year and I left my bow in dads deer camp and it was broken into and stolen. Next few years I spent predominantly duck hunting with my brother and cousins. Didn't do much deer hunting at all and if I did it was to get some backstrap as quick as I could so I could go back to duck hunting.
20 years old I pick up a new bow after spending the majority of October hunting with a cross bow, not knocking cross bows but it wasn't for me. Paying your own lease fees as a poor college kid really rekindles your desire to deer hunt. Yeah I could've hunted public land but wanted to get back to hunting with my Dad at the lease.
*Disclaimer* up until this point the only hunting related content that I had consumed up until this point was the outdoor channel. So mobile hunting/saddle hunting wasn't even a thought in my head.
A couple years ago someone posted a link to a podcast (what the heck is a podcast? You just listen to people talk?) about patterning deer movement on a hunting fb page, I believe it was 9fingerchronicles. That hour and a half I spent listening to that podcast was the pivotal moment in the couple year journey I've had leading up to my interest in saddle hunting. I had absolutely no clue there was this whole other world of hunting content/material to consume with new ideas etc that weren't a sponsorship plug coming from Michael Waddell. I had never heard of a Lone Wolf anything much less a tree saddle! What's on-x? Looking at maps? For what? See the rabbit hole I've been going down now? A whole new world of content just opened up to me, with new ideas, new methods, new everything. My dad taught me general woodsmanship, along with learning from my other hunting mentors throughout the years of growing up. But this, this was a big moment for me in hunting. So last year I finally purchased my first "mobile" treestand. XOP Maximus (not the most mobile of mobile set ups)..... Quite frankly it's a b*tch to get in a tree. So I continue to consume content; podcasts YouTube; etc. And I keep hearing/seeing stuff about these tree saddles. First glance, not for me!
5 days prior to 2019 bowseason
Did some last minute scouting, and after looking at On-X I found an area that I thought my target buck for 3 years had been using as a travel path. Set up my fixed 20 ft muddy ladder and lugged my big a** "mobile" tree stand up and got it in the tree.
Up until this point I had never killed a buck with a bow. Day 3 of season I take a buck with a bow (not my target buck) in a spot I hadnt been putting down corn 6 months in advance. *Light bulb goes off* I've got to get more mobile. Good things happen when you get where the deer are naturally traveling rather than depending on bait to get them there. (I know some people don't approve of baiting, and I don't really want to get into a battle over ethics, it's a way of life for private land hunters in Texas) But then the idea of saddle hunting suddenly becomes more appealing. To YouTube I go, consuming everything I can related to saddle hunting. I become obsessed.
Finally decide to pull the trigger at the end of November to get a setup. While my season essentially ended the beginning of November due to work, the obsession hasn't stopped. So, with all that being said, over the next 9 months I will be doing my best to perfect my setup and scout leading up to next season, all the while spending some time shooting hogs for practice hunts.
For 2020 season Im going to refrain from hunting over corn at all. Not because of some pre set moral high road, mostly because I want to strictly hunt mobile, finding fresh sign and setting up on it. *INSERT RANT* My personal opinion, and the thing that drives me the most to this style of hunting is, I believe there is a sure enough difference between what I call "sitters" and hunters. Up until this point I've been a sitter. Sitting and waiting for the big boy to show up, but that is getting less and less appealing to me. I want to hunt, not just sit. Make mistakes along the way, but when the success comes, it comes from hard work, and being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, not just dumb luck of a big boy walking by at the right time right place.
So now that you've all heard my incoherent ramblings of how I got here from being a box stand (shooting house) rifle hunter as a child, I'd like to just say I'm excited about the journey ahead and I appreciate the info that each of you have shared be it on here, on YouTube, podcasts, etc. The past few years have totally changed the way I thought about hunting and led me to hunting from a saddle.
If you've made it this far, you've got to be bored but I appreciate you listening.
Good luck fellas and I hope to run in to some of y'all in the woods in my future endeavors.
Anyways, here we go...
I've hunted my entire life. Grew up with an undying love for the outdoors. Whether it was running beagles rabbit hunting, shooting rabbits at night, with a spot light, running coon dogs, hog dogs, deer hunting, duck hunting, fishing, etc. Growing up in East Texas I've had an opportunity to pursue just about any kind of game I was interested in (minus the big game elk, etc.)
Deer hunting was always my biggest passion. From the time I was a little boy deer hunting with Dad was always my favorite thing to do. Started off sitting box stands over feeders in East Texas, west Texas, etc (because that's how we hunted). It was great for me as a kid. Getting to see a good bit of deer, and getting to harvest deer at a young age really IMO sparked the interest in whitetail that I have today.
Fast forward to 12 years old. After having my first compound bow for about 3 years I could finally pull back enough weight to legally bow hunt in Texas (45 lbs at the time). First few years of bow hunting was a train wreck for me. Missed 4 deer, got busted drawing back several times, winded, picked off, you name it, I made that mistake.
6 days shy of my 18th birthday I got my first bow kill. 102 lb doe. Awesome. Football season kept me from hunting a good bit that year and I left my bow in dads deer camp and it was broken into and stolen. Next few years I spent predominantly duck hunting with my brother and cousins. Didn't do much deer hunting at all and if I did it was to get some backstrap as quick as I could so I could go back to duck hunting.
20 years old I pick up a new bow after spending the majority of October hunting with a cross bow, not knocking cross bows but it wasn't for me. Paying your own lease fees as a poor college kid really rekindles your desire to deer hunt. Yeah I could've hunted public land but wanted to get back to hunting with my Dad at the lease.
*Disclaimer* up until this point the only hunting related content that I had consumed up until this point was the outdoor channel. So mobile hunting/saddle hunting wasn't even a thought in my head.
A couple years ago someone posted a link to a podcast (what the heck is a podcast? You just listen to people talk?) about patterning deer movement on a hunting fb page, I believe it was 9fingerchronicles. That hour and a half I spent listening to that podcast was the pivotal moment in the couple year journey I've had leading up to my interest in saddle hunting. I had absolutely no clue there was this whole other world of hunting content/material to consume with new ideas etc that weren't a sponsorship plug coming from Michael Waddell. I had never heard of a Lone Wolf anything much less a tree saddle! What's on-x? Looking at maps? For what? See the rabbit hole I've been going down now? A whole new world of content just opened up to me, with new ideas, new methods, new everything. My dad taught me general woodsmanship, along with learning from my other hunting mentors throughout the years of growing up. But this, this was a big moment for me in hunting. So last year I finally purchased my first "mobile" treestand. XOP Maximus (not the most mobile of mobile set ups)..... Quite frankly it's a b*tch to get in a tree. So I continue to consume content; podcasts YouTube; etc. And I keep hearing/seeing stuff about these tree saddles. First glance, not for me!
5 days prior to 2019 bowseason
Did some last minute scouting, and after looking at On-X I found an area that I thought my target buck for 3 years had been using as a travel path. Set up my fixed 20 ft muddy ladder and lugged my big a** "mobile" tree stand up and got it in the tree.
Up until this point I had never killed a buck with a bow. Day 3 of season I take a buck with a bow (not my target buck) in a spot I hadnt been putting down corn 6 months in advance. *Light bulb goes off* I've got to get more mobile. Good things happen when you get where the deer are naturally traveling rather than depending on bait to get them there. (I know some people don't approve of baiting, and I don't really want to get into a battle over ethics, it's a way of life for private land hunters in Texas) But then the idea of saddle hunting suddenly becomes more appealing. To YouTube I go, consuming everything I can related to saddle hunting. I become obsessed.
Finally decide to pull the trigger at the end of November to get a setup. While my season essentially ended the beginning of November due to work, the obsession hasn't stopped. So, with all that being said, over the next 9 months I will be doing my best to perfect my setup and scout leading up to next season, all the while spending some time shooting hogs for practice hunts.
For 2020 season Im going to refrain from hunting over corn at all. Not because of some pre set moral high road, mostly because I want to strictly hunt mobile, finding fresh sign and setting up on it. *INSERT RANT* My personal opinion, and the thing that drives me the most to this style of hunting is, I believe there is a sure enough difference between what I call "sitters" and hunters. Up until this point I've been a sitter. Sitting and waiting for the big boy to show up, but that is getting less and less appealing to me. I want to hunt, not just sit. Make mistakes along the way, but when the success comes, it comes from hard work, and being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, not just dumb luck of a big boy walking by at the right time right place.
So now that you've all heard my incoherent ramblings of how I got here from being a box stand (shooting house) rifle hunter as a child, I'd like to just say I'm excited about the journey ahead and I appreciate the info that each of you have shared be it on here, on YouTube, podcasts, etc. The past few years have totally changed the way I thought about hunting and led me to hunting from a saddle.
If you've made it this far, you've got to be bored but I appreciate you listening.
Good luck fellas and I hope to run in to some of y'all in the woods in my future endeavors.
