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Using a Saddle behind a Treestand

hauscaliber

hauscaliber

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2018
Messages
300
Looking for ways to hunt this year with my 10 year old during rifle season. I've got him climbing with a muddy harness about 10 feet up. Thinking of getting a treestand for him with me hanging behind him in my saddle. Any ideas on a good treestand for this? I'm thinking of getting a climber so he feels secure with an arm rest in front of him.
 
Jwiggins762 said:
How are you climbing up the tree? You both could use the same way up depending on how you climb, and then put up a lock on for him. Then you both could be on the same tree.
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He's been using my WE stepps spaced close together and a lifeline for safety. Any lock on stands out there with a rifle rest?
 
Weldabeast said:
I never felt safe in my climber..... When my kids are ready to hunt with me I'm taking a 15-18 foot stick ladder, a cheap lock on stand, and a lifeline.
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I'd rather use a lock on stand but he needs a rifle rest to steady his aim. If I can find a lock on with a shooting rest that would be ideal.
 
hauscaliber said:
Looking for ways to hunt this year with my 10 year old during rifle season. I've got him climbing with a muddy harness about 10 feet up. Thinking of getting a treestand for him with me hanging behind him in my saddle. Any ideas on a good treestand for this? I'm thinking of getting a climber so he feels secure with an arm rest in front of him.
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Public or private?
 
Mostly public. He's got a good quota youth hunt coming up in October. We will hunt some private land too but there I have a ladder stand he can use.
 
hauscaliber said:
We will hunt some private land too but there I have a ladder stand he can use.
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This is how I plan to hunt with my oldest daughter this year. It's going to be a blast being able to coach her from the same tree instead of making hand signals from another ladder stand 10yds away!
 
My son hunts out of my millennium hang on. I have a rest called a hipstick that he uses. Then I will hang out behind him in the saddle. Usually use the top o a stick and the back edge of the tree stand as my platform. I wouldn’t put him in a climber unless he can climb with it. It’s a royal pain to climb a tree and try to hang a heavy climber.
 
EricS said:
My son hunts out of my millennium hang on. I have a rest called a hipstick that he uses. Then I will hang out behind him in the saddle. Usually use the top o a stick and the back edge of the tree stand as my platform. I wouldn’t put him in a climber unless he can climb with it. It’s a royal pain to climb a tree and try to hang a heavy climber.
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Thanks I'm now looking at some lock on stands that have shooting rests. But the hipstick is something I never knew about. Looks pretty stable from the seated position.
 
hauscaliber said:
Mostly public. He's got a good quota youth hunt coming up in October. We will hunt some private land too but there I have a ladder stand he can use.
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Check out the mentor program from fwc. You and your son should be able to go to any wma and he can hunt quota free under that mentor program. I took my son riding in the truck on a wma near my house and the officer at the check in station asked if we were hunting and i said we didn't have quotas to hunt that weekend and he explained it to me. I don't remember 100% what he told me but i do remember him saying my son could hunt (he was 6 at the time and not ready for the woods yet) as long as i was just mentoring and all the licenses were up to date like they should be. I took him down to the gut pile and showed him were the big alligators come up and feed on the carcasses. The big ones leave big wide drag marks in the sand
 
Maybe buy a regular hang on stand but get the Primos shooting stick and have him practice? When I hunted out of stands I would cut a tennis ball and put it on the bottom of the stick so it wouldn’t fall through the holes in the stand
 
hauscaliber said:
Looking for ways to hunt this year with my 10 year old during rifle season. I've got him climbing with a muddy harness about 10 feet up. Thinking of getting a treestand for him with me hanging behind him in my saddle. Any ideas on a good treestand for this? I'm thinking of getting a climber so he feels secure with an arm rest in front of him.
Click to expand...

I took my 12 year old son muzzle hunting last year using this method. He climbed the tree with the summit climber and then I climbed up the back of the tree with my we steps and hung in my saddle. He shot a big buck, but we were not able to recover him. It was his first hunt on public land.
 
hauscaliber said:
Mostly public. He's got a good quota youth hunt coming up in October. We will hunt some private land too but there I have a ladder stand he can use.
Click to expand...
Yeah that’s what I figured, so definitely contemplating a kid friendly run & gun set & a 10 yr old means your the mule.......I did that a few years back w 1 climbing methods & 2 stands ( on top of a mountain, terrible idea btw) I am super happy to now have saddle gear. Since then I’ve hung behind a ladder w/ the kids a few times. My daughter is not at all comfortable with heights. What we’re working on this year is I set sticks & climb up (in my kite) she gets LB going & climbs up w/JX3 (not quite a stand but a great stable shooting position for a kid.........) still tweaking that setup b/c best way to do it is I nice small double tree set I hop to the other one when she is tethered. ( she feels much more secure, not shooting rails but similar security & stability) I know this isn’t exactly what you asked for but maybe an option you hadn’t considered ( plus green lights you for another saddle for the arsenal.........)
 
Hunting out the same tree with your kids is awesome. I think you're better off getting them in a saddle early - @T.Clarke has this down to a science. The use of a lifeline makes it so they don't even have to use a lineman belt or even a tether if setup right. Even better if you can find a multi-trunk tree and each hang a different direction.

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My wife and daughter have recently gotten into it I bring my saddle and predator I hang sticks go up mount my predator I drop my pullup rope they hook up the stand I hang stand in front of me the i drop down a 30ft muddy lifeline and they tie it to base of tree. During youth season daughter uses a primos shooting stick stuck down inside of her rubber boot. Works pretty good and stays pretty light weight setup.
 
DanO said:
Hunting out the same tree with your kids is awesome. I think you're better off getting them in a saddle early - @T.Clarke has this down to a science. The use of a lifeline makes it so they don't even have to use a lineman belt or even a tether if setup right. Even better if you can find a multi-trunk tree and each hang a different direction.

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He loves using my saddle. He's been practicing with it in the backyard. I think in the next year or two he'll be ready for saddlehunting.
 
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