• 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

Survey please

Furthest i can remember was maybe 10-12 years old. My dad and his buddies had a camp in Maine. Funny story. The would buy me bushels of apples and i would use my swiss army jack knife to poke a hole in each apple and stick it on the apple trees. Those trees never made their own apples. At night they would play cards and i would have to wear the earphones connected to a huge military microphone mounted on the roof of the cabin. When i would hear the deer entering the field i would let them now, a chinense fire drill would presume a guy would have his rifle another would have a spot light and blam shots would get fired. In the morning we would go down to the field. I never remember any dead deer or any blood. I didnt even know it was illegal until i started hunting with my uncle at age 18. Thats when i shot my first buck a nice 8pt. Thats really when it started for me. Im 53 in July.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
HaHa... I have only hunted for almost 5 years. I am 60 years old. I bet I am the oldest guy who started to hunt soooo late. I started to saddle hunt in Dec 2015. Never had time to hunt. I played hockey, farmed and raised a family instead. Now I have eliminated 2 1/2 out of 3 of those activities - I hunt instead. I only farm part time now... no livestock just cash crop. I wish I had started hunting sooner. But now I have time to hunt so I do. There is a season for everything.
My high school friend Ron got me into hunting.... this forum got me into saddle hunting. Thanks Ron and saddlehunter.com and the hunting beast too and the John Eberhardt books too. I thank the Lord too for allowing me to kill 4 bucks and 1 doe and 4 turkeys and some geese in 4 years. That is encouraging for a new hunter. It lights the hunting fire. A little success encourages more effort.

Saddle hunting is great for the older hunter... light, light, light and safe. Us older guys generally are not open to new ideas. I would encourage the older hunter to try it if you are sitting on the fence. An old dog can learn new things if he is willing.
 
Last edited:
I started hunting when I was 12. I will be 52,this year. So this year will be 40 years of hunting deer, rabbits, watergowl and various upland birds. Except for my stint in the military, even then I hunted just not as often. I always try to get something in every weekend. If not hunting I am fishing. With kids at home some weekends it makes it tough to get in the woods.
 
I fell in luv with bow hunting a few years later. I bought an old Bear Recuve at a yard sale. It’s riser was beginning to slit. Dad dialed and tapped it. I hunted that bow for 5 years till it started to split again. I ended up with a bear whitetail. Wish I had never gotten rid of that bow.
 
I'm 74 and have been a hunter all my life. Killed my first squirrel at 7 years old with a .410 shotgun. Since we didn't have any deer in our area I was 24 years old before I killed my first deer. Since then I've scheduled my life around deer seasons. I've had some great experiences and made some wonderful friendships. I'm blessed to still be able to hunt. I love being able to hunt solo and not dependent on others. I found out a long time ago "when you depend on someone else for something that you really want to do, you're setting yourself for disappointment".
 
Be 55 next month, hunted since 10yrs old. Saddle hunted since 07, will continue until I physically can't. Wish I would have started a lot earlier, could have saved a lot of work and money. I can't even fathom using a loc-on or a climber again. Too much work.
 
Ontariofarmer said:
HaHa... I have only hunted for almost 5 years. I am 60 years old. I bet I am the oldest guy who started to hunt soooo late. I started to saddle hunt in Dec 2015. Never had time to hunt. I played hockey, farmed and raised a family instead. Now I have eliminated 2 1/2 out of 3 of those activities - I hunt instead. I only farm part time now... no livestock just cash crop. I wish I had started hunting sooner. But now I have time to hunt so I do. There is a season for everything.
My high school friend Ron got me into hunting.... this forum got me into saddle hunting. Thanks Ron and saddlehunter.com and the hunting beast too and the John Eberhardt books too. I thank the Lord too for allowing me to kill 4 bucks and 1 doe and 4 turkeys and some geese in 4 years. That is encouraging for a new hunter. It lights the hunting fire. A little success encourages more effort.

Saddle hunting is great for the older hunter... light, light, light and safe. Us older guys generally are not open to new ideas. I would encourage the older hunter to try it if you are sitting on the fence. An old dog can learn new things if he is willing.
Click to expand...
Love your attitude ! Started deer hunting at 14 and now 55. Saddle hunting last fall. Learning alot here and thankful for all of it.
 
Drslyr said:
So WHW are you a saddle hunter? The reason I asked the question is because all my deer hunting friends are telling me its a young mans game to saddle hunt.
Click to expand...
Really not true - it is a mobile hunters game. If you can climb a ladder and walk a mile with 15 pounds of gear you can saddle hunt. Saddle hunting is ideal for mobile old guys. I see you are 62 years old can you walk and climb a ladder - go for it.
 
Drslyr said:
So WHW are you a saddle hunter? The reason I asked the question is because all my deer hunting friends are telling me its a young mans game to saddle hunt.
Click to expand...

Yes, I consider myself a saddle hunter. Last year I pre-ordered a Kestrel. Didn't receive it until mid-season. The knowledge that I had gathered from this site had prepared me in regards of what to expect and the extra gear that I would need. A couple of hours in the back yard at ground level to get the feel of it and I was ready. Before I ordered it I had made a commitment to myself to do what it took to make saddle hunting work for me. Took a couple of hunts to get in "saddle shape" and all the adjustments dialed in. I enjoyed the rest of the season using it for every hunt with the exception of two gun hunts. Unbelievably I actually killed nice bucks on both of those hunts. Was kicking myself for not having been using the saddle.

My choice of climbing is spurs, if I plan to hunt a tree only one time. If it's a chance that I'll hunt it two of more times I'll drill the tree and use grade 8 bolts. I've never used a climbing stand and don't use climbing sticks or ladders.

In my opinion, age is not an option for saddle hunting, conditioning is. If you can climb you can saddle hunt!
 
g2outdoors said:
@DaveT1963 is easily the oldest saddle hunter on the forum. That dude is at least 85! He's always posting pics in his crocs, drinking prune juice, holding his AARP card, and sporting his Life Alert necklace.

Sent from my Galaxy S8.
Click to expand...

Lol easy ranger boy or this AF dude will send a heat seeker your way (they tend to lock in on BS) lol - Despite common mythology, I am a young 55
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top