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Wit’s End

I thought these “Predator Platform Broke” threads were dinosaurs. Nice to see you have brought back a TEErex, Mr. Hammond.
Silly comments aside, that sucks. My predator has been unhunted and cammed in an oak tree for two seasons. I should maybe get it down and check it.
 
Are you camming your platform over hard?


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Man, that stinks, but it is peak rut, so my advice is shake it off, and get back after them. Don't let this slow you down. Get any sort of platform or ring of steps you can and get back in the game. Barring that, hunt off the ground.
 
I'm careful with that Amsteel. It doesn't seem to stretch like a strap. I'm not saying that's the issue, I use an amsteel daisy chain but I always set it just on the edge of being loose. I use the machined stand off too not the cast.
 
More and more I'm starting to look at all of these companies as specializing and needing to stay in their lanes. A lot of people love Tethrd's saddles, but they've had a ton of problems with their sticks and platforms, and I say that as someone who has a Predator XL that *knock on wood* has been fine thus far. Latitude is starting to have some negative reviews around their carbon sticks now and they too started off with just saddles. I wonder if these companies are stretching themselves too far or what, but those aren't the only examples.
 
My guess is it ain't Tethrd's fault at all. I've seen this before. Too many Little Debbies is the problem. Lol. Seriously though. I hope they make it right for you. How did they respond the last time?
 
I hate the idea that this could be a problem of caming to hard. That's the whole point of a saddle platform. A platform that cams hard enough and bites well enough to handle side pressure is what it's designed to do! Imo that's something the predator is lacking in design. Sure it works good on most trees especially smaller trees but larger hard bark it sucks. I'd see if you can't get a refund and switch to a fix or something that's designed better.
 
Thanks for all the good thoughts. I’m not phased in the least. I had a couple screw in steps in my pack to get me through the morning sit. This afternoon I’m sitting in a rocky bluff in a blowdown. I’ve actually got a couple brackets I can swap the broken one for. Last year when the platform itself broke they did overnight me a replacement platform, no questions asked. With this one, I’m just gonna make a repair to get through till I can find something else.

As for camming it over, I try and do it the way the manufacturer recommends. But there’s a fine line between two hard and that bracket not making contact. I find that trees that aren’t perfectly cylindrical are trickier to obtain the perfect amount of contact and tension. And really it shouldn’t be that fussy and delicate. We are attaching these things from an elevated position and often in the predawn hours.

The point about amsteel is a good one. I only went that route because the stock strap was nowhere near long enough for my needs.
Both platforms broke under minimal loading. I wasn’t applying brute force. Check out the photo below, there’s barely any material surrounding the mounting bolt.



IMG_5702.png

And hey, last year the day after I broke my platform I shot a buck standing on a branch. So at this point I’m excited for tomorrow.
 
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