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Unsuccessful Hunt from a newbie SH

KingSinglePin

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2022
Messages
60
Location
Northeast Georgia
Completely green to the saddle game and I had my first sit in my Phantom last Saturday, October 8th.

I frequently hunt a ~20 acre tract of family property nearby that connects to other, larger tracts of wooded property. A nice buck is generally harvested each year, or every other year at least, between ours and all the adjacent properties. I had a nice buck move in on camera October 1st, just as I received most of my saddle gear, so I was eager as could be to get into the woods.I practiced my motions, safety protocols, setup, etc many times just off ground level the week leading up so I would be comfortable making the climb. I was able to go early Friday morning for a short period to set my sticks and position my platform before my hunt.

The morning of the hunt came and I got in the woods earlier than normal with the anticipation of taking my time (thank goodness I did). I made the climb without a problem andtoe hooked my Predator platform, rock solid. I adjust my tether, remove my lineman belt and turn to begin raising my bow when I hear a thud in the leaves below me. I click on my headlamp to see my release had fallen from my SYS hauler and is laying at the base of my tree. I go through the motions of climbing back down, gather my release, climb back up, get settled in and hoist my bow. After settling in I realize my platform isn’t as level after setting it for the second time. Albeit, rock solid, still uncomfortably unlevel. Daylight was breaking so I toughed it out. The discomfort caused me to shift my weight around and put pressure awkwardly on my hips and lower back which shortened my sit.

I begin my preparations to descend my sticks and realize my hoist rope had slipped and is in a branch about 5 feet off the ground. So I climb down, gather my paracord, climb back up and begin the process of getting my gear to ground level.

There were many climbs in a short period of time but a lot of lessons learned. The outcome of my hunt from a tag perspective was unsuccessful yet the lessons I learned the hard way will go a long ways for future hunts. I’ll put everything to the test again Friday at another tract of property that hasn’t had hunting pressure since I was there about 7yrs ago. A few changes in the area with the addition of nearby homes, etc will make it somewhat of a scouting hunt but the population is reportedly booming and I am more than excited to get back in there. God Bless everyone.
 
Sounds like what a lot of us go through especially the first hunt of the year. For some reason, all the preseason practice in the world just doesn't guarantee a smooth, snafu free first real sit.
I stared in disbelief at my release probably longer than I should have. It’s just one of those things that wouldn’t have happened any other time.
 
My first year in a saddle too. Mistakes will happen, just keep making sure they aren’t on the safety side and they’ll just be funny stories down the road. Keep up the effort and you’ll be on the success side in no time!
 
Just keep at it and it'll get more familiar. One word of advice- go ahead and re-set the platform next time, the amount of motion and noise to reset it is small compared to the discomfort (and subsequent moving around) if it's set incorrectly. Hope you have a great year
 
I had a similar outing at a similar experience level….I bought a spare release and haven’t dropped anything since. I have nightmares about dropping stuff tho


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