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Saddle Presets

khnc

khnc

Active Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2020
Messages
128
I'm using these more and more on my farm in SC nowadays. I have 10 hang on stands, along with a few ladders on my 70 acres. Just set 3 additional presets this past weekend. These were after two 3 years of hunting my new property , and post season observation. I know have 7 saddle presets. Killed a nice 8 from a preset this past October. I love to just walk in with my saddle around my waist and platform hooked to molle , climb up and hunt. Really quick and quiet. I use screw in steps for all the pre-sets. Anyone trespassing on my place probably wont even notice them. So far, ive only had one trespasser. A guy named Jeffery Norris. He was hanging in a saddle in a poplar that had my No Trespassing sign stapled on it, during 2022 season. I told him to leave and didnt prosecute. He was lucky, as i was exhausted after a day of planting my plots. Went and climbed in a preset and killed a doe that evening. Haven't caught any others at least. lol
 
I love mine. I use bolts. 2 or 3 bow hooks, ring of bolts, pull ropes. Some of the trees with lots of branches, I leave a safety line in. It's my favorite way. I have several hang on stands that I did not even hang last year. @khnc, back your screw ins out 1 turn when seasons over.
 
NATHAN said:
I love mine. I use bolts. 2 or 3 bow hooks, ring of bolts, pull ropes. Some of the trees with lots of branches, I leave a safety line in. It's my favorite way. I have several hang on stands that I did not even hang last year. @khnc, back your screw ins out 1 turn when seasons over.
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Thats a good idea. I left the 3 sets from this past wkd a little out as well. Ill have to go and back out the other 4 next trip.
 
I've said this many times. Nothing beats a good preset. There is nothing like walking up to a tree with your saddle and just climbing right up. I hunt mobile most of the time now but I still have a bunch of presets that I rotate in. Most of my new presets are trees that are hard to set up on the fly but if I had areas that I hunted more than once or twice I would definitely have more presets.
 
I have enjoyed using DRT on my presets. Because it works for me. I know it takes a little longer than an SRT or bolts. But I like feeling tied in the whole time. Up and down the tree. Don't mess with a rappelling device. Slow and steady up, slow and steady down. I personally feel I have an advantage with Leary deer who check stands they know are there. I may be wrong. But if they don't see you moving they never glance up the tree following a steps or a ladder.
 
khnc said:
I'm using these more and more on my farm in SC nowadays. I have 10 hang on stands, along with a few ladders on my 70 acres. Just set 3 additional presets this past weekend. These were after two 3 years of hunting my new property , and post season observation. I know have 7 saddle presets. Killed a nice 8 from a preset this past October. I love to just walk in with my saddle around my waist and platform hooked to molle , climb up and hunt. Really quick and quiet. I use screw in steps for all the pre-sets. Anyone trespassing on my place probably wont even notice them. So far, ive only had one trespasser. A guy named Jeffery Norris. He was hanging in a saddle in a poplar that had my No Trespassing sign stapled on it, during 2022 season. I told him to leave and didnt prosecute. He was lucky, as i was exhausted after a day of planting my plots. Went and climbed in a preset and killed a doe that evening. Haven't caught any others at least. lol
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You describe almost my same exact hunting style. I have 28 presets on several properties. 1 ladder, several pre-hung stands and then a bunch pre set saddle trees that are spiked w/ bolts or rebar. When it's time to hunt, I check the wind,, decide if it's an AM or PM location and pick a tree accordingly. I move spots frequently and try to keep my spots fresh. If I find a new spot that has to be hunted, I just grab my bag of screw-ins and saddle gear and hunt. Very mobile.
 
bfriendly said:
Leaving screw ins would be sweet, but on public land it’s a no no. I am leaving paracord presets for SRT. Still a pretty sweet way to get up a tree with very little hassle.
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What state? It's totally legal here.
 
True that in the mitten. Nothing can break the bark of a tree on public land.....steps, screw-in bow holder, etc. The only caveat in the MI regs are the type of stands that employ a T-bolt as the primary mounting point. I saw a fellow Michigander post that and had to look it up....but it was factual as well.

Pre-sets......I love them. Before I decided to try a saddle last fall, my mobile hunting was typically with a Millennkum M7 or M60 stand that uses their mounting block. I preset a couple sets of sticks on our small property in late spring for that purpose and used them with the saddle instead. It kind of felt like cheating, as walking in with the EDP platform on the molle clip with no pack or sticks was too cool. Just climb, set the platform, tether in, haul up the bow and off you go. On a different private property, I put up my OG 32" LW sticks as a preset and bought a set of Muddy Pro-sticks late this past season on sale to do the same to another local property. The Latitude SS carbon and Beast Gear sticks get used on the local municipal county property that is run with state land regulations.....plus nothing left in the woods overnight....not a popup blind, sticks, stand or even a climber just pre-hung at the base of a tree. Apparently that had a "mine" issue of guys staking claim and getting territorial in the past....so they kiboshed the whole gig.

Over the weekend, I purchased a used Predator platform with the purpose of having a complete pre-set on local private ground. Saddle hunting to this point has been a mid-day or afternoon approach, as I didn't want to noise or the fiddle factor in the morning dark. This will address that concdern.....at least at a specific location where sign looks the most promising.
 
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