Suspenders work. In my opinion a lot of how the saddle wears is different for each saddle manufacturer. The type of buckle, the thickness of the safety belt and how far forward it is sewn all play parts in how much your saddle sags while weighted walking in. I carry a back pack in it I carry 75’ of climbing rope, my platform and my cell phone. I keep a dump pouch on each side. My left houses a gear strap, tether and the platform strap. My right houses a thermocell, a head lamp, a grunter, several hero clips, and my range finder. My quiver stays on my bow. I keep a tactical flash light on my left side rear and a water bottle in a mollie carry case on my right rear of the saddle. It’s pretty weighted but I definitely don’t end up plumbers crack in the woods.Ok, so what are some of the ways yins guys are dealing with your saddle falling down while walking in?
I'm 5'7" and 160lbs with a 31" waist. (no junk in my trunk) I run two pouches - 40' of rappel rope and a Delta link in the right pouch. Pull up/down rope, tether & Kong Duck & carabiner, and a figure eight & another carabiner in the left pouch...
I keep my linesman rope and bridge around my shoulders and that keeps the front of my saddle up but the back drops down around my crack.
Im thinking suspenders? Any other ideas?
How do dump pouches on a saddle hinder movement on any platform? I’ve used two pouches on a ring of steps and never had it hinder movement? I do agree that wear and tear is added from wearing the saddle in, as well as smell but a saddle can be hand washed in a bucket of cool water with a very mild soap (soaps made for climbing ropes) and hung inside in front of a fan to dry if you need to get rid of smells. You’re going to get the same smells on your saddle fabric if you walk out with it packed in because you’re still gonna put it on your sweaty butt once you get out to your tree. As far as wear and tear- technically ANY saddle should be retired in 5 years time or less so I don’t think enough extra wear and tear is added from walking in to diminish it in less than 5 hunting seasons. Unless maybe you are constantly walking through briar patches or something crazy. Down here we have vines and palmetto patches that are super thick. I have no visible damage on my saddle from walking in with it through that stuff and I’ve even accidentally wore mine tracking through thick nasty stuff in a rush to recover game a time or two.... of course I think mesh holds up better than cordura or fleece in these situations.
We have the same temp range. I’ve only had one cordura saddle but it was not pleated. I do know cordura does show wear and tear faster. And it will hold sweat but I’m sweating profusely while walking or sitting because it’s hot and humid lol. As far as hunting styles, I enjoy a ring of steps for short hunts. They aren’t comfortable for some. I will even admit I eventually get some foot fatigue using them, so if I’m gonna be in the same tree for more than 3 or 4 hours, I have a couple different platforms. However even when hunting from a platform I take one or two (depending on the tree size) of the slotted squirrel steps from Eastern Woods, and place them on my platform strap. The Ernie maneuver as you called it is something I refuse to do for a couple reasons. My first and biggest reason is safety- by passing the bow under or over the bridge and spinning on the platform, you’ve done 2 huge no no’s for safety- the first is you’ve introduced unnecessary slack into your lanyard system, and secondly you’ve now positioned yourself with the tether where it can pin you to the tree where in a fall could pin you against the tree with the rope against your chest, impairing breathing, or the tether could ride up and wrap your neck which is a bad idea for obvious reasons. On top of the two risks, if you do fall from a platform or strap failure, or any other reason while in that position, even if it doesn’t pin you or wrap your neck, the extra rope will create the pendulum effect and introduce swing which increases the force generated by your fall. From a liability standpoint, I am surprised companies release videos telling people to do that, while also giving instructions to always keep your system taut! Lastly as I believe it’s a lot of extra movement on the front side of the tree. So the deer could pick you off easier. I personally like having the tree breaking up my outline. Again not everyone will agree with what I am saying here just like not everyone will fall. Just remember, statistically 1 in 5 people will suffer some form of fall while hunting from an elevated position. It’s my personal goal to limit that opportunity for myself, while also minimizing other inherent dangers associated with shock loading. So for that reason I invested in the slotted steps for my platform and I spent a lot of time when I first started saddle hunting, practicing odd angle shots. And walking the tree for the weak side shot. And like you said it’s 90 degrees when we hit our archery season here in FL so even if you don’t wear it in, you still sweat like crazy, put the saddle on, get the sweat from your clothes on it and sweat in it even more, so the scent will be the same regardless if we are splitting hairs. I was only curious when dump pouches got in the way because I have never experienced that personally. After watching that video, I can see where a dump pouch could cause issues in that maneuver. Thanks for the video!
I used to be in that ball park. I am 6’3 and I was walking around at 180-190 lbs... Then when I hit about 34 or 35 I started filling in and shot up to around 225. Now I can’t get below 215 when I try. Still only a size 33 waist but I miss my slender days
I’m almost 59 so I think the die has been cast for me!
