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I will never use a platform again!!

Deerman406

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2020
Messages
315
I now use either a LWCG .5 or a Chippewa Ghost. They may weigh 2 to 3 more pounds than a platform but I can turn and sit anytime I want. They both pack as well for me too. Love hunting from the saddle but having a bit bigger place to put my feet and being able to turn and sit is huge for this old man!! One new hip and another on the way. Who else does this, it's made me love saddle hunting even more!!
 
That’s what I’ve been using this season is the .5! I love it. Using it as a saddle hybrid I don’t see many if any downfalls.
 
I use the Chippewa wedge loc Falcon and really love the tree connection they use. Might just have to think about one of their stands as I used to have a Ghost.
 
I hunted out of a climber or hang-on for 40 years. Tried various methods with the saddle to include a Hybrid system. In a hybrid system if you set up for a saddle shot you are putting your back to that same shot when u sit. 360 shooting does nothing for my setups. I hunt where defined deer movement is known. Deer are moving from my right to left or vice versa. What I found out was that in the end a hang-on for pre sets and climber for those walk ins worked the best for me. I'm more comfortable, move around less and shoot way more accurately. On the occasion I use a saddle its with 3 sticks no platform in an area I want to go light and really only hunt first or last couple hours.
 
I hunted out of a climber or hang-on for 40 years. Tried various methods with the saddle to include a Hybrid system. In a hybrid system if you set up for a saddle shot you are putting your back to that same shot when u sit. 360 shooting does nothing for my setups. I hunt where defined deer movement is known. Deer are moving from my right to left or vice versa. What I found out was that in the end a hang-on for pre sets and climber for those walk ins worked the best for me. I'm more comfortable, move around less and shoot way more accurately. On the occasion I use a saddle its with 3 sticks no platform in an area I want to go light and really only hunt first or last couple hours.

Do you stand up (from your hang-on) to shoot?
 
Do you stand up (from your hang-on) to shoot?
I would say that 80% of my shots are standing with my compound. All standing with my recurve. I'm usually on my feet at the first sight of deer unless he is coming from my strong side and close. This years deer came from my left at 18 yards. Shot him sitting.
 

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I would say that 80% of my shots are standing.

I'm absolutely on board with the advantage a solid platform gives when executing an archery shot. I just setup differently than you, so maybe that's why a hybrid system is working better for me than it did in your experience.

I've shot most of my bucks standing as well. (had to kneel twice to avoid limb interference).

Given a tree that will accommodate any direction of setup, I don't personally differentiate how I go about it from a hang-on stand to a hybrid setup or to a saddle + platform.

I know I will very likely be standing for my shot and like you, I prefer to be.

So, even in a standard hang-on set, I want to be positioned so that if I have to stand from a sitting position, I have a little cover. This means setting up so the tree is between me and my most likely shot opportunity as much as possible, but offset from 180 degrees to that potential shot enough to have space to manage the shot.

With my hybrid setup it's the same, but the advantage is I mostly sit in the saddle when I'm not on my feet, so I'm facing that direction more of the time and it's an easier and less visible (to the deer) transition to a standing position when a deer comes in as expected. You do have to be a bit conscious of your rope situation though when a deer comes in from certain sectors outside of the defined pattern you set up for.

I manage my saddle platform the same way. I use big platforms that afford standing shots. (Ridge Runner XL, LWCG Fix)

Now, if I wanted to shoot from a seated position to an area of defined movement, then I'd be facing that sector more.

Anyway, that's how I look at it, personally.
 
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I have also been trying out the hybrid set up for the reasons Plebe said above. Are y’all continuing to use a saddle or harness like the dryad kill deer?
 
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