• 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

one of the newest to the forum and oldest to try saddle hunting?

luckylakes

luckylakes

Active Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2020
Messages
107
Location
Hemlock, NY
I see a couple of guys that just joined are from my neck of the woods in my native state of FL. I grew up in Melbourne, FL before leaving my NASA/CCAFS job to move north to W. NY. Yea, I know I did the opposite off all the snow birds. Well 20 yrs later @ 65 I just retired from the firearms industry in sales. I researched saddles well over 20 yrs ago, but never made the jump. I hunted only public WLMA lands in FL and learned everything from scratch starting with a baker climber w/ a DIY hand climber hunting for deer in 1988. Fast forward, I built a future retirement home against 6884 acres of public land here in Hemlock, NY 10 yrs ago and have been using lone lone sticks for 13 yrs to access my stands. I do hunt private lands as well. As I have gotten older the amount of effort to set up and tear down fixed position stands has just gotten too much. Not enough stands and too many good spots! I have a spare set of muddy sticks for guests to use when they visit to hunt but you all know how it is, just out of range or something mucks up a set only to move it.
I have re-researched saddles and gear for the past couple months. The amount of info is tremendous and ton has changed. The u tube videos have been a great help and I commend all those who took the time and effort to share..
Couple weeks ago a have a younger friend who was in his 1st season w/ a saddle with the whole tethrd phantom rig w/ XL platform etc. He let me try it out for a couple days and I could just kick myself for not making the jump yrs ago. So light, mobile and exactly what I always wanted.... Not to haul all that gear.
I have always made my adjustments using my 20 yr old summit bow climber. While light for the day @ age 40, well @ 65 I'm tired of carrying it in, ,touching everything on the trail and making too much noise spoiling the days hunt.
I have come to a couple conclusions, I see the value in the original Anderson design translated to the Tethrd ESS/ Treehopper recon/Latitude method/and the taticsaddle. Then there is the straight panel designs w/ or w/o out a pleat expansion design to make them more comfortable. I understand the pressure point info pointed out but I only have a phantom to reference from. It seems real nice. I like that 2 panel system too.
So since there are so many experienced saddle hunters here can you tell me if any of the manufactures have a program where I can give them my CC info to get a demo model to test for a few days and ship back @ my expense? Due to covid most demo stuff is off the books where you can travel to see different product..
One other question, since I used the phantom on a 28 degree day with non snow or ice conditions falling, what concerns for rope slippage is there in freezing rain? Precautions I should be aware of.. I have used the same factory summit harness w/the tether/prusik for my climber/fixed stands but this is a whole different game.
Thanks and I hope you had a great season and for those with a season open, gettum!
 
Welcome from Maryland! For the highlights , I think you will appreciate the reduction in bulk of saddle hunting. I’m not aware of any demo style promos, but you can likely buy a couple your interested in & return or resell in classifieds the ones that your not keeping. Check the saddle hunter map & see if someone is local. Even if you have to travel an hour to meet up with someone it would be nice to demo some things from someone familiar with them. Rather than you get them in a box & do all the figuring yourself. I personally try not to climb trees in freezing rain, forget just the prussic there’s a lot else that can go wrong. I can find a good ground hide for an ambush if it comes to that..... sounds like your on your way welcome aboard!
 
Welcome to your new addiction! The rabbit hole is deep but you'll have plenty of company down here. Since you're already using sticks your transition to a saddle should be relatively painless.

As far as trying out a saddle, check the saddle hunter map: https://maphub.net/Saddlehunter/sh-member-map for members that may be close to you. You should be able to connect with one of them to try out their gear. That should help give you perspective on different saddles and help you make an informed decision on which direction you would like to take.

As far as freezing weather is concerned: transitioning to and from climbing and the precautions/concerns relative should be no different than a stick+hang on setup. If you don't feel comfortable climbing in the freezing rain with your harness then it'll most likely be the same in a saddle. There are some advanced techniques that may require special considerations (i.e. rappelling/single sticking/no sticking) but that stuff should be much further along in your journey down the rabbit hole.

One thing to keep in mind is that we steal/borrow a lot of techniques and best practices from other disciplines (namely the arborist industry and rock climbers). So as long as you are within those safety constraints you should be okay.
 
Welcome from another "experienced" guy from northern Michigan! I made the swap from the Summit for exactly the same reasons (mostly the noise carrying though). For me its been a real enlightening experience. It has rejuvenated my hunting experience. I hope it does the same for you.
 
Welcome! And just a warning, there are rabbit holes everywhere, watch your step.
 
heretic said:
Welcome to your new addiction! The rabbit hole is deep but you'll have plenty of company down here. Since you're already using sticks your transition to a saddle should be relatively painless.
There are some advanced techniques that may require special considerations (i.e. rappelling/single sticking/no sticking) but that stuff should be much further along in your journey down the rabbit hole.

Heretic,
When I jump it's all in.. I gonna go1 stick w/ a platform and repel down. Seems the only way to go for my style and weight wants. I have the sticks and will just buy a new piece of 6061 as I have some other mods laying around. I have a cool DIY platform already in work on my bench. I don't have access to a welder for aluminum any more but I have friends & this will work till I buy a nice casted platform.. I loved the XL predator. I researched the items needed to repel but will definitely get a couple tree cutter friends to advise me on safety.
When I was 3 and mom was delivering my bro, granny came down to watch me while dad was @ the hospital. I shinnied up the 1.5-2' TV antenna pole and was running the edge of the roof laughing as granny was saying come down stevie come downnnn... I still have the pic somewhere of the barbed wire enclosure my dad made at the roof line when he got home.. yea its gonna be a ton of fun, can't wait to practice shooting bow and my TC encore pistol. I'm getting pumped, my headlamp is on bright as my hands are sliding down the hole!
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top