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My complete molle saddle hunting set up for 2022

jonkytron

jonkytron

Active Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2022
Messages
129
Location
Rhode Island
So after 4 seasons saddle hunting, ive refined my pack and gear to the best I’ve ever had it. It’s not the lightest set up, but I believe it gets me to and up my tree as fast, as comfortable, and as quiet as possible with everything I need easily accessible.

My setup:
Kifaru day pack with a battle belt attached.
Outside: Molle water bottle holder with nalgene inside, small molle pouch with cannon vixia camcorder, rappel rope bag, one stick, camera arm, dump pouch on hip with linesman rope and extra tether.
inside: predator platform, kill kit, jacket, gear strap that is attached to top of bag, pulled outside and attached to battle belt.
chest rig:
Outside: range finder, gloves
inside: phone, protein bar, deer call, bino, range finder, extra flashlight.

How it works:
I hike in 2 hours before daylight to my tree with headlamp (2-7 miles usually). Without removing my bag, I reach back and pull off my one-stick from my pack. I also pull out my rappel rope with madrock attached to my bag. From my chest rig I take out my bow rope and attach to my bow. I climb to desired height, reach to my belt and take my gear strap from my belt, already attached to my bag, and attach it to tree. Then I take off my bag. While it’s hanging, I remove my platform from the bag and set it on the tree. Step on platform, pull up my bow, hang it on the bow hook. set up my camera arm and camera. Then I pull out my dryad drey, and snooze till day light. I am ready to hunt/sleep in about 10 min from the moment I get to the tree. I am packed and ready to leave in about 10 min from the moment I finish hunting.
 

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Bigterp said:
All about having a system! For real you hike in 7 miles 1 way…………? Keep crushing it.
Click to expand...
Not always, but I have some public areas that are landlocked behind private that in order to get to I have to go far.. or sometimes I’m scouting other states and ending up pretty deep once I find a place midday I want to hunt the evening. :)
 
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Daylight is at say 6:30, 2 hours before that is 4:30. It takes approximately 30 to walk a mile so at least 1 hour. That means getting to the deer woods at 3:30. Depending on how close you are that means leaving the house at when 3:00? Then however long it takes to get out the house. That’s just too dang early for me!

Sounds like you got your system figured out. I can’t leave well enough alone to be consistent. I need to pick one pack, one saddle, and one platform, one climbing method and just be done with it. The only thing that I’m consistent with is being inconsistent.
 
gcr0003 said:
Daylight is at say 6:30, 2 hours before that is 4:30. It takes approximately 30 to walk a mile so at least 1 hour. That means getting to the deer woods at 3:30. Depending on how close you are that means leaving the house at when 3:00? Then however long it takes to get out the house. That’s just too dang early for me!

Sounds like you got your system figured out. I can’t leave well enough alone to be consistent. I need to pick one pack, one saddle, and one platform, one climbing method and just be done with it. The only thing that I’m consistent with is being inconsistent.
Click to expand...
I have 2 spots that are close to my home and not that far from where I park.. they are almost a guaranteed kill. I hunt them 1-2 times a year. the rest of the season, I’m usually driving out of state the night before and sleeping in my car. I usually get 1-2 hour nap before daylight in the tree, and another midday.

sometimes that inconsistency you talk about is just experimenting and eventually you’ll end up with a bunch of gear you don’t use (like I did) and figure out what you like.
it took me a while to get my system.. the only thing that changes is sometimes I take in 4 smaller sticks for trees I know that don’t work well with a one stick. But what I found was having my pack setup for the hunt I want, and not hunting around the pack I have, really made all the difference. That’s why i went the molle route. You can find so much cheap molle attachments on Amazon. For example, I started using a chest rig ($20 on Amazon) for thing I needed easy access to, because I was making a lot of noise fishing thru my bag. I pre-attached my gear strap to my bag so I didn’t have take that extra step once I was up on the tree.Next year I’ll probably improve it even more.
 
7 miles, ever drag one out from back that far? That would about kill me. Hats off to you.

Question, the saddle (not the dryad drey retrofit kit), what make and model is it? Or is it a DIY saddle?
 
sojourner said:
7 miles, ever drag one out from back that far? That would about kill me. Hats off to you.

Question, the saddle (not the dryad drey retrofit kit), what make and model is it? Or is it a DIY saddle?
Click to expand...
It’s a CGM sidewinder. John from CGM made it and it’s awesome! Highly recommended !
 
jonkytron said:
It’s a CGM sidewinder. John from CGM made it and it’s awesome! Highly recommended !
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. John makes great gear and is a heck of a nice guy!


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