I have been spending the last 2 months ordering and practicing with all of my gear while I was waiting on my Kestrel Flex to come in.
Last week I received my Flex and this weekend I was able to deploy my new weapon!
Here are some things I learned after a weekend of saddle hunting including 4 sits with a total time of about 15 hours in the saddle.
1. 1-sticking is not as easy as some of the guys make it look in the videos - I am 44 years old and in reasonable shape for my age (I don't work out but I'm not terribly overweight) and it was a little tougher than I expected. Once I figured a few things out it became easier with practice. One thing I did was use my lineman's belt once on the stick. It made moving the tether up a little easier and hands free.
2. Normal saddle hunting is not Ultralight. You can cut lots of weight and make it pretty light but if you bring all the gadgets, ropes, and comfort items it all adds up. It is still much lighter than a climber or hang on but not quite as light as I thought it would be. I will add that the weigh difference is noticeable with how compact everything packs down. My pack probably weighs 20+ lbs but it's all in there and very comfortable to carry unlike my other stands with a pack strapped to them.
3. Rappelling is fun! Carrying an additional 30' of rope, belay device, 2 carabiners, and an autoblock adds a little weight (see #2 above) but it's so easy to get down without having to 1-stick all the day down. I had to tweak my autoblock to add an extra wrap because at one point I was going down very slowly without touching anything... haha.
4. Saddle hunting takes practice and you need to have a system in place. I was able to get my system dialed in pretty good this weekend with some trial and error. I'm sure I will continue to make small changes as I find things that work better and things that don't.
5. While you "can" get into any tree with saddle, there are certainly limitations. Really large trees are hard to get your ropes around and configure everything. Vine covered trees are not the best for girth hitching a rope on because you lose barky surface area and replace it with vertical vines that can slip a bit.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts. Overall I am really excited with the new saddle and I was very comfortable on my first outing. I don't think I will use my other stands much any more. I like how compact everything is within my pack.
Last week I received my Flex and this weekend I was able to deploy my new weapon!
Here are some things I learned after a weekend of saddle hunting including 4 sits with a total time of about 15 hours in the saddle.
1. 1-sticking is not as easy as some of the guys make it look in the videos - I am 44 years old and in reasonable shape for my age (I don't work out but I'm not terribly overweight) and it was a little tougher than I expected. Once I figured a few things out it became easier with practice. One thing I did was use my lineman's belt once on the stick. It made moving the tether up a little easier and hands free.
2. Normal saddle hunting is not Ultralight. You can cut lots of weight and make it pretty light but if you bring all the gadgets, ropes, and comfort items it all adds up. It is still much lighter than a climber or hang on but not quite as light as I thought it would be. I will add that the weigh difference is noticeable with how compact everything packs down. My pack probably weighs 20+ lbs but it's all in there and very comfortable to carry unlike my other stands with a pack strapped to them.
3. Rappelling is fun! Carrying an additional 30' of rope, belay device, 2 carabiners, and an autoblock adds a little weight (see #2 above) but it's so easy to get down without having to 1-stick all the day down. I had to tweak my autoblock to add an extra wrap because at one point I was going down very slowly without touching anything... haha.
4. Saddle hunting takes practice and you need to have a system in place. I was able to get my system dialed in pretty good this weekend with some trial and error. I'm sure I will continue to make small changes as I find things that work better and things that don't.
5. While you "can" get into any tree with saddle, there are certainly limitations. Really large trees are hard to get your ropes around and configure everything. Vine covered trees are not the best for girth hitching a rope on because you lose barky surface area and replace it with vertical vines that can slip a bit.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts. Overall I am really excited with the new saddle and I was very comfortable on my first outing. I don't think I will use my other stands much any more. I like how compact everything is within my pack.
