Hunting season is around the corner. Do any of y’all saddle hunt? Im debating trying this year, but I’d probably end up hunting from the same 3 trees anyway. Probably easier to just throw up 3 lock-on stands and stick ladders.
The anti-Ai thread. Deer hunting
- Thread starter jethreauxdawg
- Start date
No sir, I'll be 60 soon, shooting houses only for me.
I swapped to a saddle 4 years ago and wish I would have swapped sooner. It makes almost any tree a possibility to get in. I’m headed to Ohio to our lease the 25th of this month for bow opener and it’s looking like highs in the low 70’s and lows in the mid 50’s. Will be like a slice of heaven compared to the last couple months in Mississippi.
I’ll stick to the combination of shooting houses, deer stands, or just laying on a ditch bank.
I have friends that love saddle hunting. I’d be fidgeting too much and would look like a little kid in a swing up there.
Climbing is scientific. The more top heavy you get, the less likely you are to do it. Where you at in this equation?
I bought one last year and used it a handful of times. Not my cup of tea. I like climbing stands. I can see the benefit in it, but it’s just not for me.
This will be my first year with mine. I think the selling point for me was the ability to travel and hunt anywhere. I want to eventually get into Kansas or Iowa public land.
Hang on, does saddle hunting not mean hunting on horseback anymore?
I’ll be slathered in mud in a wallow hole with a machete between my teeth waiting to spring up and decapitate a 12 point
The older I get the more I prefer ground blinds. I have no qualms climbing in a tree stand, but I’m out on saddle hunting. Headed to Utah for mule deer in October and the idea of a tree stand is pretty foreign out there.
So the ole 2 outta 3 ain't bad. So you nap in at least 2 of these places***
my kids and I killed a lot of deer the last couple years with this method and a rifle. I’m trying to get back into bow hunting more seriously this season. I struggled to draw unnoticed from ground level last year.
I only bow hunt these days. I tried a saddle last year and just couldn't make myself comfortable. I use a Summit climber most of the time. I also really like lock-on stands with climbing sticks and of course ladder stands.
I forget to mention ground blinds. Even bow hunting. If your setup is right it's really nice to hunt from a blind.
I’ve considered it. Most people I know that use a saddle really like it. I’m just not sure I’m a mobile enough hunter to really justify it. I got lock ons and ladder stands scattered around my place for bow hunting. I’m typically in a shooting house during gun season.
I think the few times a year I decide I want to hunt a place without a stand there, I’ll just keep using my climber. If I were a new hunter that didn’t already have the deer stand infrastructure in place, I’d 100% get a saddle.
I've been hesitant to try one. I have ladder stands, shooting houses, lock ons and climbing stands. I feel like I'd want to just sit down after a while if I was using a saddle. Maybe the saddle supports your weight? You also are hanging away from the tree and are silhouetted. I know people kill deer with them but I'd be worried about getting busted in fairly open woods. I killed a doe with my longbow last year from a lock on about 10 feet up. She was 18 yards (my longbow limit). I had just passed up a 7 point at 20 yards. The 7 point could have benefited from a saddle because I had a hard time with him directly behind me, so I do see how saddles are useful.
That's awesome! Glad he stepped on that stick!Just messin! So you do sleep in the shooting houses and deer stands!
You’d think that wouldn’t you, and it’d be perfectly reasonable to do so.
Great deer. Is that a genetic trait y’all have seen before? He’s like an 8 point with every point doubled
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No we have never seen anything like that before around here. It was a place we had just started farming that year and we can deer hunt on it. My dad saw him one day walking along the edge of the woods following a doe. “You need to go kill that deer.”
I caught him being stupid during the rut coming out in the open in the afternoon in the same place in a corner of a field. The closest I could get to that spot was to lay on a spoil bank about 175 yards away.
I'm sending my AI robot out to shoot them for me.***
I usually go bareback the night before, but never from a saddle.
I’m going with a buddy of mine. His family owns a pretty big piece of land out there and I was lucky enough to get drawn. Still waiting to get drawn for elk. These guys have been sending me a bunch of pictures of massive mule deer and elk.
Too old now for saddles and climbers, etc. just thankful to be able to still use ladder stands and shooting houses. Got a western hunt booked for 27 and 28. No more on horse back. These may be my last hunts in the Rockies. I don’t know, but I have just about gotten too old to go chasing around up in the mountains. We will see as time goes on I guess. That heart bypass a few months ago kicked my butt. Working hard to get back in shape but I don’t know if I will ever get back to where I was. Send me pictures of what you and your kids get this year and I will do the same. Best of luck as always.
Utah is great. Wyoming is my favorite but there is some really good hunting in parts of Utah, especially the NE area near the Wyoming border. We were only about 25 miles NE of Salt Lake City and the country was awesome with lots of mulies and elk. Saw several moose as well.
I think pronghorn is my next North American species. Gonna try to knock that one off the bucket list before we go to South Africa for plains game in 2028. I think I want to go to Wyoming for speed goats. You have an outfitter recommendation?
It’s an easy hunt if you can shoot 300 yards plus. We went with Rockin 7 Ranch about 4 years ago and all 3 Of us got a nice speed goat. They have two different areas within their ranch. One area will draw with only 1 or 2 points. The other area needs about 5 points to draw. plenty of goats everywhere, just a little better size in the more limited draw area. They have lots of mule deer hunt too. One area is easy to draw but the other area requires more than 10 points. We tried to go twice and eventually got tired of chasing points and booked with triple three outfitters for 2028. Rockin 7 had good staff and guides, a great lodge and good food. You would not be disappointed. PM me if I can help or answer questions.
i don't like the comfort of the small saddles but i like this one bc it's basically a hammock and the guy that owns the company is easy to work with. you can synch it down into a small saddle or pull it up over your head and take a nap. https://dryadsaddles.com/shop/saddl...5UrOoCoVxLDjPPr2MKAdt-fMDyStu7mpOTL9WJN1F611Z
i would recommend learning how to one stick if you saddle hunt. that way you don't have to carry 3-4 sticks with you which is easily the heaviest part of the gear. i have a buddy that uses a small platform instead of a stick/steps.
you'll need:
eider (2-3 step)
couple caribiners
30-40' rope
a good tether for climbing
a small rope for pulling up your gear and pulling down your rope
a descending mechanism
an strap to wrap around the tree to hook your gear to
the beauty of it outside of being able to climb just about anywhere is that you can also easily choose your height. i can get 12-15' up in two moves or 21-26' in three or four moves. i can get down in 5-10 seconds, pack up and walk away from the tree in 3-5 minutes.
you'll get the idea here. i move my tether up so high that i have to hang upside down to reach down and grab my step to move it. then it takes less moves to get to my final height.
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