Just one guy’s opinion, every time I hunt White Tails, they amaze me with there sense of smell and there hearing.
Before I got into saddle hunting, and since most of my hunts were a good distance from home, I would take two weeks in November to hunt. I would take 5 Lone Wolf Alpha tree stands and try and set up at least 4 for different wind directions. I used four Lone Wolf full length climbing sticks and four rope on Deer Me Tree Steps. When the stand was set, I left the stand and the climbing sticks on the tree and just removed the steps. When I wanted to hunt that location, I just had to carry four tree steps and I could enter the stand with a minimal of noise. Problem was with all this gear and my safety harness I was carrying over 25 Lbs.
Now that I am into saddle hunting, I am stetting up, hunting and relocating. I have been using three or four mini sticks with double Swaiders. When you set any climbing stick it is going to make a scraping sound. The colder it is the louder the sound. I tried to convince myself that this sounds like a buck rubbing his horns on a tree. When you do this 3 or 4 times in 10 minutes, it sounds more like a guy in a climbing tree stand. I hunt public land in Kentucky and any buck that has made it through 3 deer hunting seasons, know what that sound is.
So, I am going to use Treehopper tree steps with double Swaiders, I can get just as high as I can with one mini stick and aiders. This is a much quieter system using the Amsteel rope mod, truckers hitch and buckle. In addition, two of these steps weight less than 13 OZ. My cut down Lone Wolf sticks using the standard single step weighs 26 OZ. I am only taking 15" steps and I can get to 15 feet with 6 steps, total weigh of 6 steps is 2.4 Lbs. + 7 OZ for the aiders.
In an effort to be as quiet as possible I have to ditch my pack with zippers. I looked everywhere and the only day pack I could find that was made out of quiet material and did not have zippers was the Sitka Fanatic. That’s on order.
Last season I did not see a lot of deer early, that tells me I was making to much noise, its time for a change.
Before I got into saddle hunting, and since most of my hunts were a good distance from home, I would take two weeks in November to hunt. I would take 5 Lone Wolf Alpha tree stands and try and set up at least 4 for different wind directions. I used four Lone Wolf full length climbing sticks and four rope on Deer Me Tree Steps. When the stand was set, I left the stand and the climbing sticks on the tree and just removed the steps. When I wanted to hunt that location, I just had to carry four tree steps and I could enter the stand with a minimal of noise. Problem was with all this gear and my safety harness I was carrying over 25 Lbs.
Now that I am into saddle hunting, I am stetting up, hunting and relocating. I have been using three or four mini sticks with double Swaiders. When you set any climbing stick it is going to make a scraping sound. The colder it is the louder the sound. I tried to convince myself that this sounds like a buck rubbing his horns on a tree. When you do this 3 or 4 times in 10 minutes, it sounds more like a guy in a climbing tree stand. I hunt public land in Kentucky and any buck that has made it through 3 deer hunting seasons, know what that sound is.
So, I am going to use Treehopper tree steps with double Swaiders, I can get just as high as I can with one mini stick and aiders. This is a much quieter system using the Amsteel rope mod, truckers hitch and buckle. In addition, two of these steps weight less than 13 OZ. My cut down Lone Wolf sticks using the standard single step weighs 26 OZ. I am only taking 15" steps and I can get to 15 feet with 6 steps, total weigh of 6 steps is 2.4 Lbs. + 7 OZ for the aiders.
In an effort to be as quiet as possible I have to ditch my pack with zippers. I looked everywhere and the only day pack I could find that was made out of quiet material and did not have zippers was the Sitka Fanatic. That’s on order.
Last season I did not see a lot of deer early, that tells me I was making to much noise, its time for a change.