Saddle hunting

[ghost]

Anyone out there with real world experience with a saddle system. Seems nice and mobile just never met anyone that has used it. Any suggestions would be great

[rogerb]

yes used them for years. nice to have the platform too. saves putting in a ring of steps. lots of good options now for steps, saddles and platforms. tons of info on saddlehunter forum plus no end of youtube videos on the subject.

[valleywalker]

I’m really interested in saddle hunting, so will be following along. Have watched a ton of vids on YouTube and started checking out some saddle setups recently, but all are a bit rich for my blood at this point and time

[ghost]

It does seem expensive to get initial set up. It all depends how much you use it. I was wondering about staying warm,that’s the hard part I find with tree stands.

[ekul246]

It does seem expensive to get initial set up. It all depends how much you use it. I was wondering about staying warm,that’s the hard part I find with tree stands.

I will be trying out using my safe harness as my saddle this year. I already have safety line and everything else, as well as the tree steps for a tree stand. Saddle isn’t too much different except for some comfort designs and no shoulder straps. A friend of mine who runs a saddle, told me I should give it a try with just my safety harness. If you already have a safety harness, give that a try first before diving in on the expensive saddle. I bought a little hawk platform off of camofire last fall as well.
It seems logical that the first saddles were safety harnesses

[ghost]

Good point on the safety harness I do have lots of those. And also have strap on steps.

[Woodchuck Dan]

I'm trying to make this decision as well currently -

It's complicated by the fact that the price is obscured by the endless accessories which are needed. Looks like the cost is around $400 - 600, but factoring everything in seems closer to $800 - $1200. Also many of the companies sell in USD.

Hard to justify spending that kind of money on something I don't know how to use, if it is comfortable, or if I can stay warm. I do find the concept very appealing - I was also a climber for a number of years so I have some familiarity with ropes and harnesses and don't feel like the learning curve would be too steep.

Really undecided over here, I have heard positive things from people.