You're whole statement, unfortunately, has a ton of truth in it. I too believe we're going to hear about more accidents before we hear about them being far and few between. I pray I'm wrong.
This is my first year saddle hunting and I also opted to one stick instead of multiple sticks and such. But, I went through a massive amount of research and am fortunate enough to know Greg Staggs of Staggs in the Wild well. I talked to him in length many times and he helped get me setup properly, as well as talk to me through various nuances to the method. He is one of the very few on Youtube, or other forms of social media that I trust. He's a smart guy, knows the risks, etc., and he's willing to also put his son in a tree using this method.
I opted to use both my tether and linemans when going up the tree. I did not like the tether slack situation or the lack of being hands free to manipulate the tether, etc. I just feel better knowing i'm tied twice and feel that the linemans, as long as I do it properly, is going to put me into the tree and the tether will stop me, avoiding tether slack shock or hitting the ground.
There are far too many things I see on social media that scare the living hell out of me.
I think the bottom line with all of this is this. Know your gear inside and out. Understand what its capable of and use only climbing rated gear in the applications they were intended for. Back up as much of your system in a reasonable and again, safe way. Know your physical limitations. Don't kid yourself. If you're in doubt of something, seek expert advice. Plan for things going sideways or wrong and come up with systems to get you out of the tree safely. Think.. its not if it happens, its when it happens. Finally, and I feel perhaps as important as anything... inspect gear constantly. Get in the habit of looking at every life preserving piece of your kit. Knots, loops, carabiners, belay devices, ropes. All of it.
Be safe everyone.
