• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Joining the madness of treesaddle hunting.

R

rich

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2020
Messages
87
Well you have convinced me to become a treesaddle hunter. I have been a tree climber stand, stick ladder hang on stand, ladder stand and shooting house/tree house hunter for the most part of about 45 years and this year was my 50th year as a deer hunter. My hunting situation has changed and I mostly will be hunting public land in the mountains of TN. At my age I need to go as light as I can packing in and using something that is as safe as I can make it. BINGO, Treesaddle fits the requirements. I have a PHD in Redneck engineering and it is in my DNA to be able to do anything if I can get the proper tool/equipment and some type of instruction. I have done extensive research on the internet especially YouTube and this site and have put a plan into action.

From a number of safety straps of seatbelt material I have accumulated over the years that came with different stands I have plenty of material to make a modified Anderson style saddle. I also have an assortment of 1" strapping for non weight bearing things and plenty of ballistic nylon fabric to make my dump pouch rope etc. haulers. I built my wife a 12' x 24' sewing room when I extensively remodeled the house we bought 9 years ago and it is FULL of machines and stuff so I am covered there. I have two heavy duty aluminum D-rings that I took off of a military heavy lifting strap. I figured if they will hold a cannon to a helicopter while it flies off with it they will hold my butt up a tree.

I already had two locking carbineers from safety harnesses and I bought another one. I already had a 12' length of 9mm Sterling rope that I was using as a tether for a safety harness and will use it as my tether and I bought from a local outdoor business 9' or Sterling 8mm rope to use as a lineman belt so after the knots it should be 8' or so. I also bought 5' of the Sterling 8mm to use as a bridge. Probably will not need that much but just in case.

I also got some 6mm Sterling to make prusiks with of which I will use on the tether and lineman belt with a string tinder. I also plan on making an adjustable bridge using prusiks on each D-ring.

I got a good deal on 20" Helium sticks with the Birthday discount and free shipping from Midway. I plan on putting a two step aider on the bottom stick which will put me about 6' off the ground with the first stick. Then use a single step aider on the the other sticks which should add about 5' with each stick. It all depends on what tree I choose but hope to get by with 3 sticks but have the 4th just in case I need to go 20+'.

I will take the seat off of an old hang on stand and make a platform and have in my head simmering an idea of how to make a ring of steps. I will be using a crossbow and hope to be able to use during muzzleloading season a muzzleloading pistol (Traditions Vortek 13" barrel 50 cal with red dot) and gun season a scoped T/C Contender 14" 30-30AI or 10" 357 Mag.

Does this sound OK? Any ideas welcome.
 
Last edited:
Sounds great. As a fellow DIYer, i want to see pictures when you’re done. Welcome, good luck, and be safe!
 
rich said:
Well you have convinced me to become a treesaddle hunter. I have been a tree climber stand, stick ladder hang on stand, ladder stand and shooting house/tree house hunter for the most part of about 45 years and this year was my 50th year as a deer hunter. My hunting situation has changed and I mostly will be hunting public land in the mountains of TN. At my age I need to go as light as I can packing in and using something that is as safe as I can make it. BINGO, Treesaddle fits the requirements. I have a PHD in Redneck engineering and it is in my DNA to be able to do anything if I can get the proper tool/equipment and some type of instruction. I have done extensive research on the internet especially YouTube and this site and have put a plan into action. From a number of safety straps of seatbelt material I have accumulated over the years that came with different stands I have plenty of material to make a modified Anderson style saddle. I also have an assortment of 1" strapping for non weight bearing things and plenty of ballistic nylon fabric to make my dump pouch rope etc. haulers. I built my wife a 12' x 24' sewing room when I extensively remodeled the house we bought 9 years ago and it is FULL of machines and stuff so I am covered there. I have two heavy duty aluminum D-rings that I took off of a military heavy lifting strap. I figured if they will hold a cannon to a helicopter while it flies off with it they will hold my butt up a tree. I already had two locking carbineers from safety harnesses and I bought another one. I already had a 12' length of 9mm Sterling rope that I was using as a tether for a safety harness and will use it as my tether and I bought from a local outdoor business 9' or Sterling 8mm rope to use as a lineman belt so after the knots it should be 8' or so. I also bought 5' of the Sterling 8mm to use as a bridge. Probably will not need that much but just in case. I also got some 6mm Sterling to make prusiks with of which I will use on the tether and lineman belt with a string tinder. I also plan on making an adjustable bridge using prusiks on each D-ring. I got a good deal on 20" Helium sticks with the Birthday discount and free shipping from Midway. I plan on putting a two step aider on the bottom stick which will put me about 6 1/2' off the ground with the first stick. Then use a single step aider on the the other sticks which should add about 5' with each stick. It all depends on what tree I choose but hope to get by with 3 sticks but have the 4th just in case I need to go 20+'. I will take the seat off of an old hang on stand and make a platform and have in my head simmering an idea of how to make a ring of steps. I will be using a crossbow and hope to be able to use during muzzleloading season a muzzleloading pistol (Traditions Vortek 13" barrel 50 cal with red dot) and gun season a scoped T/C Contender 14" 30-30AI or 10" 357 Mag. Does this sound OK? Any ideas welcome.
Click to expand...
Your handle is "rich"? Haha...not for long! Welcome to the poor house.
 
Oh my gosh bro... WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME!!! Most folks introduce themselves with "so a bought an entire Tethrd kit with everything in it and now I need to ask yall what a prusik is and how to use it."

We absolutely welcome someone familiar with the search function. Sounds like you've got a good plan there Rich. Well done sir.
 
Sounds great. Especially the 14” 30-30 AI. Tell me more-Bullberry? Virgin Valley?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
That vortek 50 sounds like a good time any time. Welcome from Oregon.
 
Welcome to the rabbit hole brother always nice to have a fellow diy guy! Do you reload that Ackley Improved?
 
Rich is just short for Richard I am not rich and that is the reason that I DIY. On my father's side of the family the saying is "If you can't make it somehow we will break down and purchase it."

14" 30-30AI barrel is a stainless Shilen made by Match Grade Machines (MGM).
I have a Weaver 2.5x8x28 pistol scope mounted on it. I have three of these scopes and they have been great. Sure wish Weaver still made this scope.

As to hand loading I have been doing that for over 40 years and you can't shoot an AI unless you hand load.
125 gr Nosler BT pushed by IMR 4198 safely to an average of 2670 fps with less recoil than a 44 mag and just plain SMOKES deer. I have lost count how many deer I have killed with this set up. Will say more than 25 but less than 50.
 
rich said:
Rich is just short for Richard I am not rich and that is the reason that I DIY. On my father's side of the family the saying is "If you can't make it somehow we will break down and purchase it."
Click to expand...
You did realize that I was kidding about you being wealthy (rich), right? :)
 
PapaBear said:
That vortek 50 sounds like a good time any time. Welcome from Oregon.
Click to expand...

I wanted a CVA Optmia pistol but could not find one. Found out that they are made only one or two small runs a year usually in the summer and are only sold through muzzleloader.com. I was in a gun shop about a month ago and saw the Traditions Vortex (camouflaged grip and forend) pistol laying in the case. It was a new pistol. I was told by the shop owner that some fellow came in a little over two years ago and gave a deposit of $100 to order it. He ordered it and when it came in he called the phone number the guy left and it was no longer in service. He never heard from the fellow again. He told me if I wanted it I could have it at his cost since he had already made $100 on it.
As Paul Harvey said, "Now the rest of the story". I think what the shop owner told me was a load of bull just to get rid of a pistol that was out of production and would not be supported by the warranty I found out latter when trying to find a scope mount for it. I called Traditions distributor wanting to get a scope mount for it and was told there are NONE and they will not support the pistol because there are no parts.
I went back to the shop owner who said when I bought it that he thought he had a scope mount for it SOMEPLACE but he would have to search for it and the shop looked like a hurricane had hit it things were in such disarray.
I did go back to that shop after being told what Traditions told me and the fellow acted like he had never seen me before and did not care to see me again. AND HE WILL NOT.

The bright engineers at Traditions decided to use a different hole pattern spacing for the pistol than the rifle. If you lay the rifle weaver style base on the pistol with the hole closest to the breach so it lines up the second hole in the barrel is about 1/8 inch forward of the second hole in the mount and then the third hole in the barrel is half a hole off in the base. I drilled a hole in the base so I could use the first hole closest to the breach and the second hole. I got that hole just a hair off center but there is enough travel in the red dot that it bore sighted OK. I blue lock tight the screws and put a light Sig Romeo 5 red dot sight on. I have not shot the pistol yet. I hope this mount will hold if not I plan to use some JB Weld Steel to fill holes and drill to fit all three holes. With the Covid 19 in my area and having a 93 year old mother in law living with us I have not gone to a local BIG outdoors store that has LOTS of weaver bases to see if there is something that at least 2 of the holes might match up and I would only have to drill one hole PERFECTLY.
As to the pistol it has a 13" barrel with 209 priming and max load is 70 grs of loose Hodgdon 777 with a 250 gr bullet. I plan on trying the crush ribbed black sabot with a Hornady .452 diameter 250 gr XTP bullet. It should do close to 1400 fps. I have killed a bunch of deer with this bullet using it in a 45 Colt Ruger pistol with heavy loads and muzzleloading rifle and is does a fine job.
Where I will be hunting a pistol is perfect if you can steady your aim. Shots are usually under 60 yards. The Pistol has great open sights but with my old eyes I can't see them clearly is the reason for the Red Dot sight.
 
Welcome from SE PA. It sounds like you are working on everything at once. I don't know what to respond to.
 
rich said:
So there are English composition police on this site.
Click to expand...
Naw, paragraphs just make it easier for slow folk like @Jimmy Wallhanger to skim and follow along since he don’t like reading a whole bunch of words.

I prefer brevity myself but that doesn’t mean I don’t ramble on a lot of times too.

Welcome to the site. Post up your DIY creations in the DIY thread once you get underway we would love to see them. Take a screenshot of your photos then upload the screenshot instead and the site will allow it to upload. Standard camera photos are too large to be uploaded so this method is the easiest to share them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top