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New to Saddle Hunting - What Starter Kit Should I get?

Andrew920 said:
Saddle hunting is the single most expensive hobby I’ve ever had, or heard of. Buy once cry once isn’t a thing in this community.
In all seriousness, it’s almost impossible. You won’t know if you like your saddle until you go sit in it for 5 hours at a time, you won’t know if you have the right platform until you are hunting off it. Then you have climbing methods, etc.
The best advice I received and promptly ignored was try to find people around you either on here or in real life and see if they’ll let you test their equipment out to see if you like it before you buy it.
The only thing that I am still using from my first season is my bow. And that’s not cause I cheaped out.
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If you never interrupt the "buying and crying" cycle in perpetuity, does it count as "once"?
 
Tim0712 said:
“Buy once cry once” will not happen unless you’re super cheap and/or don’t have the money to play the game and in which case I would not suggest making the leap. the first two years are going to consume so much time and money it will make you sick. Unless of course you’re an extremely stubborn person and have the mindset of sticking with something no matter how much it may suck. I mean no disrespect by this and apologize if it comes off arrogant or disrespectful but I don’t want to lead you in a way you may not enjoy. I wouldn’t buy anything before trying if I had to do it all again. I ended up going through a good 6-7 saddles before I found my top choice(s) and climbing? HA! That’s a rabbit hole all in its own. I did sticks and a platform to start. Then went to one sticking then went to cranford steps. After that I tried srt and 2 tc then I went out and started doing presets with bolts and finally found out that presets were my way with rappelling down and keeping the one stick for my run and guns (which is all of the rut phase). Regardless of either I use a ros and for all day sits I take my slanted scout with me too. Saddles, like I stated I tried MANY and bought almost all of them. Some used some new, finally I found out that 2 panel was for me. I LOVED every thing about my ess until cold weather sits. So I kept my ess and I use it all September and most of October but once the layers start the latitude method comes out to stay until next September. I would highly recommend finding someone local to you to try things out. If you’re local to massachusetts I will gladly empty my hunting closet onto a tree for you and we could spend a day.
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Why do I resemble this remark? Maybe cause this^^^^ guy nailed it! It took a bit of adjusting to get my hawk dialed in, but I’ve sat all day in the cheapest saddle money will buy, very comfortably! I’ve taken more naps than I can count, and the included backband was a big selling point. I also have a Rubbermaid tub FULL of saddle hunting stuff……oh it’s a rabbit hole, bet on it!
 
All good info here, if you read through the comments you’ll find a common thread which is to find some folks near you. Look at the saddle hunter map and find a meet up or some like minded individuals and make some friends. Your issue right now is you don’t know what you don’t know.
My advice is a bit different- call some manufacturers and have a chat. Jerry at CGM is good people and will take the time to walk you through some options. If you’re a bigger guy it seems like we tend towards more coverage in a saddle. Leaner folks seem to like the trimmer saddles. All day sits and/or folks with back problems and sitters favor the double panel with a back band. Tree ninjas, limb hangers and spot and stalk types seem to trend towards mesh panels and packability. Just like in the car world there’s a saddle for every butt.
 
bfriendly said:
Why do I resemble this remark? Maybe cause this^^^^ guy nailed it! It took a bit of adjusting to get my hawk dialed in, but I’ve sat all day in the cheapest saddle money will buy, very comfortably! I’ve taken more naps than I can count, and the included backband was a big selling point. I also have a Rubbermaid tub FULL of saddle hunting stuff……oh it’s a rabbit hole, bet on it!
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Rubbermaid?! I have a closet!!!!! But hey good for you making it work with a hawk! I had one and I hunted out of it for an entire early season it’s really not that bad if you put an adjustable bridge on it
 
bfriendly said:
Why do I resemble this remark? Maybe cause this^^^^ guy nailed it! It took a bit of adjusting to get my hawk dialed in, but I’ve sat all day in the cheapest saddle money will buy, very comfortably! I’ve taken more naps than I can count, and the included backband was a big selling point. I also have a Rubbermaid tub FULL of saddle hunting stuff……oh it’s a rabbit hole, bet on it!
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I may or may not be the guy with a walk-in closet, basement, garage, and about -/+25 82qt sealed tubs of hunting/camping/fishing "stuff". They're "cheap" hobbies, I mean, you could probably spend 1/4 of that money if you drank full time lmao!
 
I'll disagree with many here.

Alright OP, here's the deal, you can definitely b.o.c.o. with some ample research. Don't let anyone here dissuade you from hunting from a saddle because they like the feelz they get when they see the UPS man approaching in his tight shorts. That's a whole other issue. Lotta that on here frankly.

Gonna need more info to make a recco. Not even sure I can make a recco becuase my stuff is a few years old and I don't keep up with the new and shinies. Here are for example some of the questions people should be asking before doing so.

What's your budget?

What gear are you coming to saddle hunting from?

What style of hunting do you use?

What are your expectations, what do you hope to get out of it?

What climbing method are you going to use?

What's your body type?

Any idea if you are a sitter or leaner?
 
Eastern Woods Outdoors and Hang Free sell kits. However, I don't think many people are happy with "kits". Yes, youll get everything you "need" in one purchase, and a lot of it will be things you don't want. Get a comprehensive list of required items, then go find them from the guys who are making the best version or the ones you like best. You'll be far happier.
 
elk yinzer said:
I'll disagree with many here.

Alright OP, here's the deal, you can definitely b.o.c.o. with some ample research. Don't let anyone here dissuade you from hunting from a saddle because they like the feelz they get when they see the UPS man approaching in his tight shorts. That's a whole other issue. Lotta that on here frankly.

Gonna need more info to make a recco. Not even sure I can make a recco becuase my stuff is a few years old and I don't keep up with the new and shinies. Here are for example some of the questions people should be asking before doing so.

What's your budget?

What gear are you coming to saddle hunting from?

What style of hunting do you use?

What are your expectations, what do you hope to get out of it?

What climbing method are you going to use?

What's your body type?

Any idea if you are a sitter or leaner?
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And the most important consideration...

What camo pattern is your fave? :tearsofjoy:
 
You can tell us all your needs and wants and still a number of saddles might be suited for you. There may not even be a ONE, and if there is it might not be the one we recommend, and you'll only know if you try them all.

That's generally not feasable.

I have three saddles (a single panel mesh saddle, a pleated cordura saddle, and a padded two panel saddle), and have tried more.

But, were I to buy a saddle kit today, I'd be buying the Wood Hunting Saddle Deluxe kit.
 
Can’t recommend a kit I’ve tried it and didn’t like everything that was in the kit. My recommendation is shop around find what fits you or what you like trust me you will buy and sell a lot till you find your perfect setup. But I will recommend a saddle to look at is a tx5 lonestar 2.0 amazing in my opinion
 
Plebe said:
You can tell us all your needs and wants and still a number of saddles might be suited for you. There may not even be a ONE, and if there is it might not be the one we recommend, and you'll only know if you try them all.

That's generally not feasable.

I have three saddles (a single panel mesh saddle, a pleated cordura saddle, and a padded two panel saddle), and have tried more.

But, were I to buy a saddle kit today, I'd be buying the Wood Hunting Saddle Deluxe kit.
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I would have to agree with the Wood saddle kit. He’ll spend enough time with you making sure you get what you need and answer any question. Even give other options. But the biggest thing about being on this site would be to tell us where you are so we can reach out and give you some real time options before you spend the cash.
 
Here is my advice:
Get a rappelling kit from EWO. Learn to use it. Maybe there's a climbing gym or club near you where you can get acclaimated to ascent and descent under supervision, if so definitely do that.

Get a 4-5 6' chunks of suitable hitch cords which will work with your rope. No 2 should be the same. You will decide there is 1 you don't like, 1 you do, and 2-3 you aren't crazy about but are perfectly acceptable. Practice tying a bunch of different friction hitches until you settle on 2-3 you can tie right, every time. You can buy more hitch cord later; this is basically a consumable item so don't run out and climb on clapped-out hitch cord.

Get 3-4 carabiners from EWO or REI or another reputable vendor. I use classic screw-gates but the auto-locking options are a premium upgrade aligned with your BOCO plan.

Get a dynaglide haul line kit from EWO. you can get throwline from elsewhere or use paracord, but the EWO kit is a worthwhile BOCO item.

Get a secondhand saddle from the classifieds. It doesn't really matter which one it is, as long as it fits, because by the end if the season you'll have decided there are twelve things you wish were different about it. You won't know what those twelve things are until you've spent a season hunting out of it, so just buy whatever item your budget and classifieds inventory intersect on. Buy the saddle you actually want next year, after you figure out which one it is. This will probably be a custom item from one of the members here who sell them.

Pouches, bags, (quality) sticks, and other accessories are highly personal and basically interchangeable unless you have highly specific and particular requirements, or insist on matching camo on everything.

If you 2TC you can bypass the whole stick climbing/1-sticking thing, which is a rabbit hole you can spend ages on. Stick a pin in that until next year and just figure out 2TC. You can DIY some fleece dump pouches or support DanO at EWO for spme very jice items. The perfect saddle backpack is on the shelf between the Holy Grail and Ark of the Covenant, so use whatever pack you have and put your attention on figuring out how to safely tie and use friction hitches, and ascend and descend on them.

Watch the JRB videos on the Garda Hitch Foot Loop, and assemble a footloop as per his advice. The ability to hang a paracord pre-set and SRT up a tree, bypassing your main climbing method, is a fast, convenient, and quiet way to hunt a tree a second time. You could, I guess, use a mechanical foot ascender, but I don't really see the point for what we're doing.

Presumably you have your actual bowhunting gear figured out and are just working on the saddle piece.
 
Bsinele said:
I am going to give saddle hunting a try this season and looking at all of the different starter kit options has been a little overwhelming. I am in the buy-once-cry-once camp, so would like to go a route that I will be happy with for a long time. I've been looking at the Method 2 from Latitude, Phantom from Tethrd, or the Venatic from Trophyline.

If you were going to buy a full starter kit right now, which direction would you go and why? Anything I am missing?
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What’s your hunting background? Are you already hunting from elevated positions? If
 
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