New to hunting....Started with a Saddle now I’m here!

[AKMonkey]

I heard one 2 many dogs in the woods my last time out which made me quicken my step a little. Glock in hand of course

Carrying a firearm during archery season is illegal in many jurisdictions. Check your state hunting regs on that, and maybe call your DNR/Fish & Game if you can't find it in the regs. Not worth getting a ticket over.

 

[Blackmamba]

Carrying a firearm during archery season is illegal in many jurisdictions. Check your state hunting regs on that, and maybe call your DNR/Fish & Game if you can't find it in the regs. Not worth getting a ticket over.

Not in South Carolina bub. Totally legal. I have a cwp and that’s the only determining factor. Also where I hunt mostly is bow only. No rifle hunting for deer. SC-31-205

 

[Exhumis]

So I hope this is be one of those long lived threads we all can chime in on and learn. So I am brand new to everything hunting, archery, and the like. It all started out with me finally pulling the trigger on my dream bow. A Hoyt Rx1 Ultra in black. Knocked out my hunters Ed and bow hunters Ed even though bow is not required in SC and it started building from there. A friend at work gave me a climbing stand to get me started and when I picked it up I thought “there is now way one would lug this thing in and out the woods!” So I started looking up videos and ended up happening upon a video with a guy showing how he used climbing sticks and this thing called a saddle and platform. I thought hmmm. So after much research I found this forum which has been helpful and many more videos I saved and got some equipment/gear that would at least get me started. And that old climbing stand we’ll it will have a time and place. Since my only options are public land in upstate South Carolina I decided the whole mobile run and gun deal fit my personality and needs better.
With all that being said the gear I started out with, some stuff was because of lack of availability, some were based on reviews

1. Muddy Pro climbing sticks
- there were/ are others I have my eye on. But for the money and quantity I gave them a shot.
I do like the sticks, they are easy to set up but only on basketball diameter size trees and under. How ever the are heavy and is the only reason I have my eyes open for other options.

2. My platform (for now) Hawk Hangout seat
- very inexpensive to get into and try out. Tried it at ground level first. It def needs an upgrade for the teeth that bite into the tree. I also thought about doing a versa button rope mod on it due to it coming with a ratchet strap and the attachment clip is too cumbersome. However I use 2 straps on it to be safe and I have done 3 sits with so far and have a few hours on it. It does well and haven’t had any shifting or scary moments on it. I’m 260 currently. i do have a predator on the way that I found here in the classifieds.

3. The saddle is a Tethrd Mantis.
I also found it here in the classifieds due to wait times with the actual company. It came with tether and lineman’s rope, biners that are on prusik knots.The prusik is for me and I have ropemans on the way! I couldn’t get the prusik to adjust one handed and I almost found myself in compromising positions. I wanted theFlex because I am a big guy not fat but athletic. However my Mantis is an XL. I’m wearing a 38 in pants but waist is actually a 36 and it is very VERY comfortable. In fact most mornings I’m going after work with little to no sleep, and I have dozed off in the saddle in the dark for a couple hrs not moving and I felt amazing when I woke up. Once with my knees in the tree resting on my bridge and once in the position sitting beside the tree with my feet still on platform leaning on the bridge. The first time it scared me that I had dosed off!!! Got my heart beating pretty good and had to gather myself. The second time I said yep nap time and passed out. Some of the most peaceful sleep I have had in a long time!

4. My Pack. Oh man my pack....Cabela’s Multi day
Now I justified buying this pack because I wanted to get more than I thought I’d need. And hopefully one day I’ll get to chase some Elk and Mule deer on a multi day backpacking trip. The pack I have now is small it just doesn’t pack my sticks and platform well. And as I said hunting WMA I’m searching for off the grid areas and take enough stuff that I don’t need to come back out until I’m done for the day. I’ve not used it yet just picked it up over the weekend. I’m going to try in the morning with it. I may end up getting smaller version if it’s too cumbersome. But hey this is what it’s about. Trying and critiquing and getting stuff dialed in when you’re 100% confident in it. Takes everything else away so you can focus on the task at hand.

5. Camo
I have a montage of Bass Pro Strata (love this pattern) Sentinel, UA barren Forrest, some good ol Wal Mart Real Tree and some ScentLok stuff. Most everything I got was on sale or off eBay. I did see John Eberharts video about laundering scent free and packing it in totes. (Side note it’s on the bucket list to get to his work shop and learn from the best since I have no knowledge)
Now with all that said I’d like to learn from everyone. I’d like to be critiqued and make some new friends here. I feel bad because I should have done this a long time ago. Using no one will teach me how got old and decided to do something about it and I needed another outlet. (Hadn’t been able to fish tournaments consistently in the last 3 years). I’ve both seen and heard deer on my last couple sits so I am figuring things out and getting closer to sealing the deal. I’m totally ok with not making it happen this year. I accepted that before I got started, but I’m going to try like a mother ! Let’s hear it guys.....

It's gonna take you awhile to figure out what worx and what doesn't. Seems like every time I sit I find something I want to tweak a bit.
I ascribe to John's gospel of not wearing hunting clothes anywhere else except hunting. I wear scentlok(that's an entirely different topic) but my stuff gets stored in totes and I change next to my truck donning and doffing before and after the hunt, stuff goes back in the tote. I was washing in scent free but when I started using totes my sightings started going up. I too sleep in my saddle during early morning sits, I just lean into the tree and hook up my linemans so I don't move. More of a doze really.
I started out using muddy and switched to heliums. The heliums are a bit longer which I liked and felt more stable to me than muddy. I don't miss the cleat, heliums with DanO daisy chain works just as good for me.
I don't think deer care about camo color, I have some stuff thats black, some od and some coyote. I too buy on sale. What I look for is wind/water proof. Where I hunt it gets breezy and that is what chills me. No wind I'm find but gusts will have me getting out the tree. If it's not wind and/or water proof I'm not buying. Another reason I wear scentlok is the jackets fit me well. I have orangutan arms and they offer tall in many of their jackets.
I started out using a klemz platform I made with a lone wolf seat, then switched to RoS, and have now settled on a RR. I like the ridge runner cuz it's wider than my platform was but not as deep so I can still get good lateral action around the sides of the tree. Ros wasn't bad but for long sits I couldn't get comfy. Plus even with a ocb I couldn't get them tight enough and they'd slip.
Have you thought about running two packs, one for short trips and one that will haul the kitchen sink?
Sounds like you're on the right track though. I'd say try and get in as many sits as possible before next season, iron out the kinks.

 

[Bully]

Sounds like you and I are on the same journey.
I started hunting in my very late 40's. Self taught. Not very successful but pretty eager to learn.
I was in stands for a while but one day, after I dozed for maybe a minute, I woke up and was more scared than I've been in a long while. Sleeping in a tree stand is not good for the nerves. I've since hunted from the ground. Where I hunt, it works. The deer are very used to people. However I'm trying to get away from that and in looking around discovered tree saddles. I've been buying lightly used stuff as time and money allow (I am a club level competitive shooter and that takes a lot of time and money as well). I'm to the point that I'll start looking for a platform and then a saddle. I have pretty much everything else, ropes/biners/ropeman1's... I even have steps.
Thanks for sharing your journey.

 

[Camacho]

More pics of my set up and spots

What kind of boots are those? Also, just modded a hawk hangout. I might do a thread or add to one of the others.