Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 295: Ultimate Saddle Hunting Roundtable with John Eberhart, Andy May, Greg Godfrey, and Ernie Power

Transcript

Ep. 295: Ultimate Saddle Hunting Roundtable with John Eberhart, Andy May, Greg Godfrey, and Ernie Power · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for
0:06
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,
0:12
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm
0:23
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. In this episode number two and
0:27
Speaker 1: today's show, we put together possibly the greatest panel of
0:31
Speaker 1: saddle hunters in the history of podcasting to cover everything
0:35
Speaker 1: you need to know to become a saddle hunter. And
0:47
Speaker 1: now let's get to the show. And as I mentioned,
0:50
Speaker 1: we have an incredible roundtable of saddle hunters here today
0:53
Speaker 1: to cover everything from the basics of saddle hunting right
0:56
Speaker 1: up to the expert level tricks and tips and next
0:59
Speaker 1: level stuff, I think, more comprehensively than we've ever done before.
1:03
Speaker 1: In the show, we cover everything you could possibly need
1:06
Speaker 1: to know to get going with a saddle. And you'll
1:09
Speaker 1: hear me say this in the interview here in a
1:10
Speaker 1: few minutes, but I want to reiterate it here at
1:12
Speaker 1: the top. I think you guys have noticed that I'm
1:15
Speaker 1: not big on pushing gear. Hopefully over the years you've
1:19
Speaker 1: noticed that I'm not hammering you guys about needing this
1:21
Speaker 1: product or needing this one, or name dropping this brand
1:24
Speaker 1: or that brand. I really don't like doing that very
1:26
Speaker 1: much because just personally, when I'm consuming or listening or
1:30
Speaker 1: watching other hunting media, I find it really annoying when
1:33
Speaker 1: of the people are doing that, So I try to
1:35
Speaker 1: avoid that as much as possible. But in some cases,
1:38
Speaker 1: when I really am like very very interested, very excited,
1:43
Speaker 1: really jacked about something, I do think it's worth sharing.
1:45
Speaker 1: And this is one of those cases where, like, I truly,
1:48
Speaker 1: honestly am so personally excited about how saddle has changed
1:52
Speaker 1: my own hunting that I just can't help but share
1:55
Speaker 1: it with you guys and try to get some information
1:57
Speaker 1: out there for you guys, because I really do think
1:59
Speaker 1: this is an option that can help a lot of people,
2:03
Speaker 1: and based off the feedback and questions I've been getting
2:05
Speaker 1: over the last year since I first started talking about
2:08
Speaker 1: saddle hunting and using it myself, it seems like there's
2:10
Speaker 1: a lot of interest and intrigue out there from you
2:12
Speaker 1: guys too, so helping us cover off on all things
2:16
Speaker 1: saddle hunting, we have the d i Y deer hunting
2:19
Speaker 1: Guru and my good buddy Andy May. We have the
2:23
Speaker 1: godfather of saddle hunting and legendary Michigan bow hunter John Eberhardt,
2:27
Speaker 1: and we have super long time saddle hunters and now
2:30
Speaker 1: manufacturers of the Tethered brand saddle, Greg Godfrey and Ernie
2:36
Speaker 1: Power to round out the crew. So, without further ado,
2:40
Speaker 1: I welcome you to the Ultimate And just let me
2:44
Speaker 1: take this back. Imagine I didn't say that, and now
2:47
Speaker 1: just imagine this in an announcer's voice, like like a
2:50
Speaker 1: WWF announcer's voice, and I can't do it, So I'm
2:53
Speaker 1: not gonna do a good job here. But just imagine
2:56
Speaker 1: maybe Joe Rogan UFC announcers saying, welcome to the Ultimate
3:00
Speaker 1: Attle Hunting Roundtable. Boom boom boom. I'm so weird. I
3:06
Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed this one. All right, welcome to
3:10
Speaker 1: the Wired Hunt podcast, brought to you by on X.
3:14
Speaker 1: We're doing another one of those mobile podcasts, and it's
3:18
Speaker 1: particularly titled. When I say mobile podcast, I'm actually talking
3:21
Speaker 1: about the fact that we are recording this in a
3:24
Speaker 1: mobile studio. We're in a hotel or more of a suite.
3:27
Speaker 1: I guess he would say. We're a suite in south
3:31
Speaker 1: central Michigan, and I'm joined by an all star cast
3:37
Speaker 1: of mobile hunters saddling. We have from left or right.
3:43
Speaker 1: We got Ernie power from Tethered. How many years of
3:47
Speaker 1: saddle hunting experience do you have, Ernie, I over ten.
3:50
Speaker 1: But I'd have a hard time pinning it down, I
3:53
Speaker 1: really would. I just it's just something that I did
3:55
Speaker 1: and never kept track of until I joined the forum.
3:59
Speaker 1: And you know, I could go back and find like
4:01
Speaker 1: when I started on the form and when I started
4:03
Speaker 1: talking there. But as far as when I started saddle hunting,
4:06
Speaker 1: I was kind of doing it before I knew what
4:08
Speaker 1: saddle hunting was. I was a tree charmer for a
4:10
Speaker 1: bunch of years, and I just saw the advantage of
4:12
Speaker 1: using my work equipment for deer hunting. I didn't know
4:16
Speaker 1: saddle hunting was a thing at the time. I was
4:18
Speaker 1: just like, I spent so much time in a tree anyways,
4:22
Speaker 1: this is an easy way to get in and I
4:23
Speaker 1: don't have to carry a tree stand. And but back then,
4:25
Speaker 1: I mean I was, well, John will hate this, But
4:28
Speaker 1: I was hunting with the same equipment that I trimmed
4:33
Speaker 1: trees in, so it was soaked in gas and oil.
4:35
Speaker 1: It was full of metal banging, you know, metal carabeaners
4:38
Speaker 1: and clips and whatever. But I was primarily rifle hunting,
4:41
Speaker 1: so I could sit on a field edge and and
4:44
Speaker 1: watch the other side of the field and being pretty
4:46
Speaker 1: good shape at that point, UM, my sent control regiment
4:50
Speaker 1: had a lot to be desired. So the short answer
4:52
Speaker 1: to that is a long time saddle hunting. There you go, exactly,
4:58
Speaker 1: Andy May is our next all star. How many years
5:02
Speaker 1: in the saddle do you think you've been running? I
5:03
Speaker 1: started using a saddle probably two thousand three, two thousand
5:09
Speaker 1: fours when I when I first started, um, and then
5:13
Speaker 1: it's kind of been on and off since then, Um,
5:16
Speaker 1: due to just finding one that fit me best. You know, UM,
5:20
Speaker 1: definitely saw the value in just couldn't find the right
5:25
Speaker 1: fit for me until recently. But yeah, two thousand three,
5:29
Speaker 1: two thousand four of when I started. Our third guest
5:34
Speaker 1: has been running a settle longer than I think I
5:37
Speaker 1: might have been alive. John, how long? John Eberhard here,
5:40
Speaker 1: how long have you been using the saddle? For thirty
5:42
Speaker 1: eight years? You've been using a saddle longer than I
5:45
Speaker 1: have been a lot right there, started the first year
5:49
Speaker 1: they came out onto the market. You've been preaching the
5:51
Speaker 1: gospel or since I would never consider hunting out of
5:54
Speaker 1: anything else. What does it feel like to you today
5:57
Speaker 1: when you see this thing that you've been telling people
6:01
Speaker 1: about for years and years and years, saying you gotta
6:04
Speaker 1: try to sell Yeah, I try, Yeta try. No one
6:06
Speaker 1: was listening. No one's listening now. It's really the thing.
6:09
Speaker 1: It's quite buzzy right now. Everyone's trying it. Is it?
6:12
Speaker 1: Is it one or two things for you? Is it
6:14
Speaker 1: number one? Very uh fulfilling ingratiating that you finally finally
6:18
Speaker 1: got it. You feel like you finally did your job.
6:20
Speaker 1: People caught on? Or is it? These mastards are just
6:24
Speaker 1: like jumping on the train now. It's like being a
6:27
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors fan. I've been I've been talking about
6:30
Speaker 1: this forever. No, it's it's the first one. I've been
6:34
Speaker 1: preaching it forever all three of my books. I've got
6:37
Speaker 1: a chapter to go to the saddle Honti each of
6:39
Speaker 1: my books. But as much as I tried to promote it,
6:43
Speaker 1: I wasn't very good at promoting it. And then Greg
6:45
Speaker 1: and Ernie great God for your and Ernie power from
6:49
Speaker 1: Tethered they got into it last year, jump both feet
6:53
Speaker 1: in and they have marketed it correctly. And they're the
6:56
Speaker 1: ones I credit the whole buzz to you know, Trophy Line.
7:00
Speaker 1: When even when Trophy Line came out with errors in
7:02
Speaker 1: the late nineteen nineties, you know, and then through the
7:06
Speaker 1: mid two thousand, you know, at two thousand and eight,
7:08
Speaker 1: I think is when they went out of business somewhere there.
7:11
Speaker 1: They just didn't market it very well. It just didn't
7:13
Speaker 1: catch on. Now, these guys, with social media the way
7:15
Speaker 1: it is today and Greg being a master at social
7:18
Speaker 1: media and Ernie being a master at engineering and getting
7:21
Speaker 1: things right, they're the ones that have brought it to
7:24
Speaker 1: where it's at. There is no way on God's green Earth,
7:27
Speaker 1: saddle hunting and the cult following it almost has right
7:31
Speaker 1: now would not be there without these two guys. So
7:34
Speaker 1: I credited them, and that brings us to our last
7:36
Speaker 1: man at the table, Greg Godfrey from Tethered. How long
7:39
Speaker 1: have you been rocking saddle? I have been rocking a
7:42
Speaker 1: saddle since two thousand nine, so right at this will
7:46
Speaker 1: probably be my tenth year. Tenth season. Yeah, this season,
7:51
Speaker 1: I've been doing it for one year. So so what
7:55
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do here is mostly just shut up and listen,
7:58
Speaker 1: because I've learned a lot in my one year. But
8:01
Speaker 1: I have realized there's lots and lots and lots more
8:04
Speaker 1: out there, and there's so many questions right now around
8:07
Speaker 1: saddle hunting because it's now becoming a thing that people
8:09
Speaker 1: have heard about. Now they are intrigued by it. More
8:13
Speaker 1: and more people are jumping on board and saying, hey,
8:15
Speaker 1: it actually works, it's actually pretty awesome. And so now
8:18
Speaker 1: there's all these all these additional questions, Well, tell me
8:21
Speaker 1: about this, tell me about that, What about this situation?
8:24
Speaker 1: What about that scenario? Is it gonna work for me?
8:26
Speaker 1: It couldn't work for this. Today, I'm hoping with this
8:30
Speaker 1: collection of people, we can drill into all those commonly
8:33
Speaker 1: asked questions. We can get in this next level pro
8:36
Speaker 1: tips from some of the most experienced people out there.
8:39
Speaker 1: Um And I don't think we have to do this
8:42
Speaker 1: given where we are today in the last couple of years,
8:44
Speaker 1: how far it's come along. But I still think we
8:46
Speaker 1: need to make a little bit of sales pitched as
8:48
Speaker 1: far as why should I consider a saddle So for
8:52
Speaker 1: each one of you, I'm curious one reason, like your
8:55
Speaker 1: top reason you can think of for why it's worth
8:58
Speaker 1: using a tree sale John Go, mobility, Andy Uh, decrease
9:05
Speaker 1: in bulk ernie. Um, I'm gonna say tree selection explain
9:14
Speaker 1: just a tiny bit um. I'm able to set up
9:18
Speaker 1: with a saddle and trees that I would walk away
9:20
Speaker 1: from in a normal tree stand, um, you know, and
9:24
Speaker 1: in a climbing if you're carrying a climbing tree stand,
9:27
Speaker 1: you're looking for the tree that works for your climbing
9:29
Speaker 1: tree stand. If you're carrying, you know, any kind of
9:32
Speaker 1: a lock on, you're looking for something that works for that.
9:34
Speaker 1: And with the saddle, I think it just opens up
9:37
Speaker 1: my doors a lot more. Um. One of my favorite
9:40
Speaker 1: types of trees would be a big gnarly oh that
9:43
Speaker 1: that starts out, you know, three or four ft across
9:46
Speaker 1: at the base, goes up seven ft, goes into a
9:48
Speaker 1: branch and a whole bunch of branches, and you can't
9:51
Speaker 1: get a climber in that tree. It's just not happening.
9:53
Speaker 1: You can get a lock on in there, but by
9:55
Speaker 1: the time you climb up to your lock on height
9:57
Speaker 1: and try and pull that lock on up through the
10:00
Speaker 1: branches and try and get it up there, you're making
10:01
Speaker 1: a just a nightmare of noise and uh. For me,
10:05
Speaker 1: it was just having that diversity of tree um. Well
10:09
Speaker 1: then and I just think it's more fun. It's the
10:11
Speaker 1: other thing, but um yeah, the the ability to hunt
10:15
Speaker 1: any tree instead of hunting for the tree that works
10:17
Speaker 1: with your equipment. Man, it's hard to pick one, but
10:23
Speaker 1: I would have to piggyback off what Andy said with
10:25
Speaker 1: the low bulk also the low weight. I mean they
10:27
Speaker 1: kind of go hand in hand. So if I had
10:29
Speaker 1: to pick another one, I'd probably say safety. But but
10:31
Speaker 1: for me, it was always the pursuit of the most
10:34
Speaker 1: ultra light efficient system I could possibly find. So if
10:39
Speaker 1: I had to pick one, I'd say weighty. Have experienced
10:42
Speaker 1: all those things since finally trying one, And I'll add
10:45
Speaker 1: one more thing, which is the fact that it can
10:48
Speaker 1: be a huge cost savings. Because I just went through
10:50
Speaker 1: my first off season with a saddle, and so usually
10:53
Speaker 1: most offseasons I'd be like, all right, I need like
10:55
Speaker 1: four more tree stands, gotta get another couple more sets,
10:57
Speaker 1: and I gotta upgrade my my portable stand or whatever.
11:01
Speaker 1: This year, I was like, oh, I'm prepping like fifteen
11:03
Speaker 1: new trees and I don't need a single tree Stand's
11:06
Speaker 1: gonna climb up my saddle, climb on down. I'm good
11:08
Speaker 1: to go. Nobody can steal it either. No, that's a
11:11
Speaker 1: that's something that at least I didn't think about as
11:13
Speaker 1: much on the front end, but this year was like,
11:16
Speaker 1: all right, I'm on board with that. I think, well,
11:18
Speaker 1: it's kind of like at the front end with costs,
11:22
Speaker 1: it can be a little daunting because if you were
11:24
Speaker 1: to go and look at everything you can buy, and
11:27
Speaker 1: if you're looking at it from a mobile perspective, and
11:29
Speaker 1: you're factoring in sticks and just saddle and then then
11:32
Speaker 1: all this other stuff can go with it, it can
11:34
Speaker 1: get up there pretty quick. But like you said, you
11:37
Speaker 1: buy once and cry once and then you're done when
11:40
Speaker 1: you're dumb. I'm hunting out of the same saddle for
11:43
Speaker 1: the last thirty eight years, so I'm gonna switch this
11:47
Speaker 1: this season. But I pointed out of the same exact
11:49
Speaker 1: one for thirty eight seasons, and probably six to seven
11:54
Speaker 1: different trees would prop during that time, I would say,
11:56
Speaker 1: And so your only additional cost every year is just
11:59
Speaker 1: like two two thousand tree pegs. That's that's actually a
12:06
Speaker 1: new hammer. But there's a lot more advantages. If I
12:10
Speaker 1: don't know, if you want to get into more advantages,
12:12
Speaker 1: we'll certainly get into a more Yeah, what else do
12:14
Speaker 1: you have, John, let's keep talking. Let's keep talking. Well,
12:16
Speaker 1: to go a little bit on what Ernie said. You know,
12:18
Speaker 1: it's when you're hunting a destination location. Typically with a
12:22
Speaker 1: tree stand, a lot of times you have to set
12:24
Speaker 1: up off the side of a destination location and sit
12:27
Speaker 1: on one or two runways that feed a destination spot,
12:29
Speaker 1: like a primary scrape area or white oak or apple
12:32
Speaker 1: tree or something. Whereas with a saddle, there's rarely a
12:35
Speaker 1: situation where there's not a tree at a destination spot
12:38
Speaker 1: that you can hunt. So that's one thing you can
12:40
Speaker 1: hide behind the tree us the tree as a buffer,
12:43
Speaker 1: especially at a destination area where you're gonna have multiple
12:46
Speaker 1: dolls and some fawns, maybe some subordinate bucks hanging out
12:48
Speaker 1: at an apple tree or at a white oak tree
12:50
Speaker 1: or some sort of a food location. Uh. You know,
12:53
Speaker 1: with a tree stand, you're kicked off to the side
12:55
Speaker 1: of the tree somewhat so you have a shot to
12:57
Speaker 1: that destination spot, whereas in the saddle, you is the
13:00
Speaker 1: tree as a buffer between you and the destination spot,
13:03
Speaker 1: so they can't see it. The drunks between you and
13:05
Speaker 1: the animal, and you just peek around to the corner
13:07
Speaker 1: and then when you get an opportunity to take the
13:09
Speaker 1: shot you want, you just slightly lean to your side
13:13
Speaker 1: and you take that shot and nobody. You know, public
13:16
Speaker 1: land hunting, nobody can hunt your spot when you're not there.
13:19
Speaker 1: You know, theft is one thing that nobody can hunt.
13:21
Speaker 1: Your tree stand when you're not there either, because it's
13:23
Speaker 1: with you. Um, there's just and safety. It's definitely safer
13:28
Speaker 1: than any tree stand out there because you are tethered
13:30
Speaker 1: to the tree from the moment you leave the ground
13:32
Speaker 1: til you put your feet back on the ground. I
13:34
Speaker 1: feel like that's one of those things. Though from the
13:35
Speaker 1: outside there's a lot of questions. I get so many questions,
13:38
Speaker 1: like you actually feel safe in that thing that looks sketchy,
13:41
Speaker 1: just like it's so so small, it's strang your waist.
13:44
Speaker 1: It seems less I mean, I think from an outsider
13:46
Speaker 1: of you, having not tried it, it just seems less
13:50
Speaker 1: comfortable to what we're used to versus just standing on
13:53
Speaker 1: a metal platform with a seat and you're wearing a
13:56
Speaker 1: full harness. Just so different. But once you actually try it,
13:59
Speaker 1: you realize, I don't know, I don't know how I
14:01
Speaker 1: could fly. I couldn't jump out of my saddle if
14:03
Speaker 1: I wanted to know. And another thing that I always
14:05
Speaker 1: like to point out is the difference in intent from
14:09
Speaker 1: the way you use them. So in a tree stand,
14:11
Speaker 1: your safety harness, first of all, if you wear one,
14:15
Speaker 1: your safety harness is designed to catch your fall. You've fallen,
14:18
Speaker 1: and then hopefully that thing catches you well. With the saddle,
14:22
Speaker 1: the difference and intent is that it's designed to prevent
14:25
Speaker 1: your fault. The difference in in catching and preventing is
14:29
Speaker 1: maybe subtle, but big at the same time, because if
14:32
Speaker 1: you fall from a tree stand, you know, if you
14:34
Speaker 1: have a tree stand harness, now it's hopefully saved you,
14:37
Speaker 1: and now you're dealing with self rescue. And there are
14:40
Speaker 1: lots and lots and lots of cases where people have
14:43
Speaker 1: gotten injured. And I believe John you probably know this
14:46
Speaker 1: more better than anyone, but I think there's even some
14:48
Speaker 1: cases where people have died from suspension trauma due to
14:52
Speaker 1: safe uh tree stand safety harness is Now obviously that's
14:56
Speaker 1: like the worst of the worst case scenarios, so it
14:59
Speaker 1: wouldn't be fair to focus on that, But it's also
15:03
Speaker 1: dishonest if you don't recognize that that threat is there.
15:06
Speaker 1: Whereas from a saddle. The worst thing that can happen
15:09
Speaker 1: is you could really flip upside down, maybe if you
15:11
Speaker 1: were doing some seriously acrobatic stuff, and then you know,
15:14
Speaker 1: you just have to pull yourself back up right. But
15:17
Speaker 1: the difference between preventing a fall and catching a fall
15:20
Speaker 1: is big. I imagine some serious bruises and pokes and
15:24
Speaker 1: scratches would be evidence of that too. I've I've yet
15:27
Speaker 1: to have to test the safety harness, but I always wondered,
15:29
Speaker 1: like that can't be a comfortable thing to fall, even
15:33
Speaker 1: even though you just follow two feet or something, swinging
15:36
Speaker 1: and bang against the true and maybe you hit your
15:39
Speaker 1: maybe you hit your ladder, maybe hit your climbing spikes,
15:41
Speaker 1: maybe you hit something. I believe you pinch some stuff
15:43
Speaker 1: that would be good. No, this is some fun. So
15:50
Speaker 1: so all that's to say, you're bringing us back to launch,
15:54
Speaker 1: bring us back to the lunch. I really just always
15:56
Speaker 1: started the conversation earlier. Today. You guys can just imagine
16:00
Speaker 1: how our conversations start here at lunch. Um. But all
16:04
Speaker 1: this is to say is that this is something This,
16:08
Speaker 1: this conversation we're about to have is something worth listening to.
16:11
Speaker 1: I've been kind of hammering for the last year. John's
16:13
Speaker 1: wand hammering it for decades. UM. This thing is legit.
16:17
Speaker 1: The whole saddle hunting idea really has been a light
16:20
Speaker 1: bulb moment for me personally. And there's I avoid talking
16:25
Speaker 1: about gear as much as possible because there's so many
16:28
Speaker 1: people out there in the hunting world who are talking
16:30
Speaker 1: about gear and pimping this product or pimping that product,
16:33
Speaker 1: and it just it's overwhelming. It's too much, it's annoying.
16:36
Speaker 1: Almost all of us just paid for And so because
16:39
Speaker 1: of that, even like companies that work with I don't
16:42
Speaker 1: do like hard talks about them a whole lot. I'll
16:45
Speaker 1: use it, I'll share my experiences, but I don't do
16:47
Speaker 1: hard sells at all. UM. This has been one of
16:50
Speaker 1: those products that ever since I started using saddle last year,
16:52
Speaker 1: that I actively have been excited to be like, hey, guys,
16:54
Speaker 1: I'm doing you a favor by telling you this is
16:56
Speaker 1: something worth looking at like it really is, UM. And
17:00
Speaker 1: so that's why I'm excited that we're all here together
17:02
Speaker 1: to get some really next level perspectives. I think we
17:05
Speaker 1: should cover some of the entry level questions. Still, we've
17:07
Speaker 1: talked about them before. I've done videos. John's done of
17:09
Speaker 1: a jillion interviews about them. We've all talked about the
17:11
Speaker 1: beginner stuff, but it's worth covering still and then we'll
17:14
Speaker 1: kind of work our way into that next level stuff.
17:17
Speaker 1: So at a high level, maybe maybe Greg, maybe maybe
17:20
Speaker 1: anyone wants to jump in here can kick us off
17:22
Speaker 1: with what are like the starter must have items, because
17:26
Speaker 1: I get a lot of questions right now, which pieces
17:28
Speaker 1: do I actually need, Like in the case of what
17:30
Speaker 1: you guys have a tether, there's a whole bunch of
17:32
Speaker 1: different accessories options, you can get the kit, you can
17:35
Speaker 1: do al kart, Um, what do I need to be
17:38
Speaker 1: dangerous and actually get out there? So at the at
17:41
Speaker 1: the outset, you've got to have a saddle, obviously, and
17:44
Speaker 1: there's a there's a handful of companies really only two
17:47
Speaker 1: or three right now that are making a commercially available product. Um,
17:52
Speaker 1: you don't have to buy my saddle. Uh, it's a
17:54
Speaker 1: good one, but you don't have to buy it. There's
17:55
Speaker 1: other ones out there. But you need a saddle, you
17:58
Speaker 1: need something to do to put your feet on, and
18:02
Speaker 1: you need a couple of ropes. Like John mentioned at
18:05
Speaker 1: the beginning, you're tethered to the tree from the ground
18:08
Speaker 1: to the two hunting height, but that takes a couple
18:11
Speaker 1: of different ropes. We use two rope systems. One we
18:14
Speaker 1: call a Lineman belt, which is a climbing assist rope.
18:18
Speaker 1: And then once you get to the top of your
18:19
Speaker 1: climbing method, you know, whatever you choose to use, whether
18:22
Speaker 1: it's screwing steps or freaking railroad crazy nails like John uses,
18:28
Speaker 1: or if you're using lone wolf sticks or helium six
18:30
Speaker 1: or whatever it is you choose to use to climb
18:32
Speaker 1: the tree. Once you get to the top and you've
18:34
Speaker 1: used your Lineman belt to climb, now you've got to
18:36
Speaker 1: tie yourself into the tree. We call that rope a tether.
18:39
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, you're gonna need
18:41
Speaker 1: a saddle, you're gonna need a Lineman belt, you're gonna
18:43
Speaker 1: need a tether, and then you're gonna need something to
18:47
Speaker 1: rest your feet on. And you can do a million
18:50
Speaker 1: different You can do that a million different ways. I mean,
18:52
Speaker 1: just sitting around this room, we've probably tried fifty different
18:55
Speaker 1: ways to use for a platform. John loves his steps.
19:00
Speaker 1: I love a platform, um Mark. I know you've used
19:04
Speaker 1: a platform and probably some steps to same for you, Andy,
19:06
Speaker 1: and Ernie's used them all. I mean, I've stood on branches,
19:09
Speaker 1: I've stood on two hops of climbing sticks, so there's
19:12
Speaker 1: no shortage of things to do with your feet. But
19:15
Speaker 1: those are the four things that I think you absolutely
19:18
Speaker 1: must have. A saddle, a platform of some sort, and
19:22
Speaker 1: in a couple of ropes. Beyond that, it's just what
19:24
Speaker 1: works for your setup. Do you want pouches? Do you
19:27
Speaker 1: not want pouches? Do you want a way to hang
19:29
Speaker 1: your stuff in your in the tree? You can go that,
19:32
Speaker 1: you can go down the rabbit hole as far as
19:34
Speaker 1: you want with that. But just from a base perspective,
19:37
Speaker 1: I think you need about four things. So then what
19:39
Speaker 1: are the next level? A little accessories or things that
19:42
Speaker 1: you guys used. Because I've always kept pretty simple, I
19:44
Speaker 1: stick to just that. I don't like anything else up
19:46
Speaker 1: there with me. But I know a lot of people
19:48
Speaker 1: add things or take things and modify their saddle setups
19:51
Speaker 1: or different things like that. When you're going up there
19:54
Speaker 1: in the tree. What else? What if anyone, if there's
19:56
Speaker 1: anything else from does hop in with? Yeah? For me, uh,
19:59
Speaker 1: one of the the best things. I have a pretty
20:02
Speaker 1: bad lower back. I had a herniated disk and I
20:04
Speaker 1: got some pretty significant disc of generation. So, UM, sitting
20:09
Speaker 1: in a traditional tree stand is pretty uncomfortable for me
20:11
Speaker 1: no matter what it is, even like the summit climbers. Um.
20:15
Speaker 1: But with the saddle, um, you know, tethered makes uh
20:19
Speaker 1: this item called a backband, and it's just this really
20:22
Speaker 1: kind of small strap doesn't weigh anything, fits fits right
20:25
Speaker 1: in the little pouch on the side of the saddle.
20:27
Speaker 1: But UM, what that does is it gives me something
20:30
Speaker 1: to lean into and uh it it relieved. It puts
20:34
Speaker 1: my my lower back into a little bit of extension,
20:37
Speaker 1: which relieves the pressure on my disk. So it actually
20:41
Speaker 1: made a system that's much more comfortable for me to
20:44
Speaker 1: sit in for long periods all day, even if I
20:47
Speaker 1: need to UM. So that that for me, in particular,
20:51
Speaker 1: it was huge, Um, you know, just just keeping me
20:55
Speaker 1: out there longer, and and and you know, I'd sit
20:58
Speaker 1: all day in a tree stand, but I'd start to
21:00
Speaker 1: to fiddle, and I'd stand and sit and stand and
21:02
Speaker 1: sit because I just couldn't stay comfortable. So for me,
21:05
Speaker 1: that's a big one. Anything else guys grew in steps
21:08
Speaker 1: for me, I just use those cheap little one dollar
21:12
Speaker 1: screwing or bow holders. I'm talking about, not stuff bowling
21:15
Speaker 1: gun holders. They've been fined at the front register of
21:18
Speaker 1: any sporting good star. I usually use a Cranford one
21:21
Speaker 1: to get the whole started because a lot of times
21:22
Speaker 1: those real cheesy tense ones break. So I always started
21:26
Speaker 1: with a Cranford screwing gun and bowl holder because they're
21:30
Speaker 1: made out of really hard steal. And then I put
21:32
Speaker 1: the cheap ones in there and I leave those, but
21:34
Speaker 1: I'll put one of them to my left. You know,
21:37
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys are using these screwing bow
21:39
Speaker 1: holders where they fold and stuff and put. You know,
21:42
Speaker 1: that's nice if you're in a tree stand, because you
21:44
Speaker 1: need it to have it reach out in front of you.
21:46
Speaker 1: But when you're facing the tree, all you need is
21:48
Speaker 1: a little, tiny, little screwing bow holder right to your side.
21:51
Speaker 1: And then I always screw one in on the back
21:53
Speaker 1: side of the tree as well, so if I want
21:55
Speaker 1: to move around to the back side for a shot
21:56
Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the tree, I move my
21:58
Speaker 1: bow over to that and then I can move around
22:00
Speaker 1: my steps to the backside. And then I also use
22:03
Speaker 1: one inverted to upside down that I hang my backpack
22:06
Speaker 1: because I carry all my accessories in my backpack. And
22:08
Speaker 1: as far as it's just sending the tree, uh as
22:11
Speaker 1: you know what Greg was talking about a minute ago.
22:14
Speaker 1: You know you need you need a saddle, you need
22:15
Speaker 1: a lineman bell, you need a tree tether. Those are
22:17
Speaker 1: have to have and a platform or steps for your ring.
22:20
Speaker 1: But as far as the sending the tree, you use
22:22
Speaker 1: the same exact things you'd use to ascend on a
22:24
Speaker 1: hang on, so that would be no different As far
22:27
Speaker 1: as getting up to that. You talked about your backpack.
22:29
Speaker 1: What kind of different setups do you guys all bring
22:32
Speaker 1: to carry in over your gear. I've seen a lot
22:34
Speaker 1: of different people do this different ways and in a
22:37
Speaker 1: number of folks asking you know, how much gear do
22:39
Speaker 1: I have taken? How big of a setup do I need?
22:41
Speaker 1: What do you run? Earnie? Uh So, I hunt a
22:44
Speaker 1: lot of different weathers, um So I have different backpack
22:49
Speaker 1: setups based primarily on how much clothing I have to carry.
22:53
Speaker 1: Um in September, I don't need much the smallest backpack
22:57
Speaker 1: I can get away with and still carrying my stuff.
22:59
Speaker 1: But I'm a gadget guy. I still have too much
23:01
Speaker 1: stuff in the tree by most people's uh rules. But
23:07
Speaker 1: this year I'm I'm gonna be actually doing something new.
23:09
Speaker 1: We've got a new backpack that's primarily made for our
23:13
Speaker 1: predator platform. Um. And then the other thing I'm gonna
23:17
Speaker 1: be using a lot is in the past, I would
23:19
Speaker 1: always put a screw and holder to hang my backpack
23:22
Speaker 1: on the side of the tree. Um. We've got a
23:24
Speaker 1: new accessory gay or holder that are that our predator
23:28
Speaker 1: pack marries up too nicely. And the nice thing about
23:31
Speaker 1: that is I can pack for an early season hunt
23:33
Speaker 1: with my platform, with my climbing method and uh a
23:36
Speaker 1: kill kit, and the whole thing slips on my back.
23:39
Speaker 1: And then when I get to my tree, I hang
23:41
Speaker 1: that accessory hanger and then hang the predator pack. Well,
23:44
Speaker 1: at that point, the predator is no longer in it.
23:47
Speaker 1: So I've got a big dump pouch right in front
23:48
Speaker 1: of me. I love my pouches on my hips for
23:50
Speaker 1: my phone or whatever, but all my stuff that I
23:52
Speaker 1: need access to is gonna be right there in front
23:54
Speaker 1: of me. Uh. In that deal. As the weather gets
23:58
Speaker 1: worse and worse, my backpack gets big here. And primarily
24:01
Speaker 1: it's because I don't like to put my clothes on
24:05
Speaker 1: until I'm actually already been in the tree for an
24:07
Speaker 1: hour or so. Um, I get up there, I'm cold,
24:11
Speaker 1: all right, at least I'm hot. And then I wait
24:13
Speaker 1: till I start to get cold before I put those
24:16
Speaker 1: layers on. And so I need a way to carry
24:18
Speaker 1: all that clothing with me, have it in the tree,
24:21
Speaker 1: and then when it comes time, you know, slowly start
24:23
Speaker 1: piecing those on. So yeah, I mean, I don't like
24:27
Speaker 1: to carry more than I have to, but I have
24:29
Speaker 1: to carry a lot as it gets colder. So what
24:31
Speaker 1: about when you're going into hunt and how you're carrying
24:36
Speaker 1: all of your all of your stuff. And so the
24:37
Speaker 1: way I run it and I'm not very efficient. There's
24:40
Speaker 1: some guys who've got a really efficient system. I wish
24:42
Speaker 1: I was more like that. I do not have an
24:44
Speaker 1: engineering or gear mind, so I always am like a
24:47
Speaker 1: fumbling idiot, even when I try to like fine tune
24:50
Speaker 1: I'm doing it. You gotta be quieter, gotta be smarter,
24:52
Speaker 1: gotta be like slow as fast and fastest or was
24:55
Speaker 1: as fast as slow or slow as smooth. And that's
24:58
Speaker 1: what I'm going for. There you go, that's the thing
25:00
Speaker 1: I'm looking for. Um, I see, I flow it up
25:03
Speaker 1: even from the outset that said. I go in there
25:07
Speaker 1: and I usually throw my ropes in like two cargo
25:11
Speaker 1: pockets in this side of my pant, and then I
25:13
Speaker 1: got the platform on just inside my backpack, and I
25:17
Speaker 1: get my sticks on the outside of the backpack, and
25:19
Speaker 1: I'm wearing the saddle sneaking in the tree. I put
25:22
Speaker 1: the first stick up, and then I take a step up,
25:24
Speaker 1: throw the second stick up, and then I tie on
25:27
Speaker 1: my Before I do that, I would I would tie
25:29
Speaker 1: my pull rope to my platform at the bottom of
25:31
Speaker 1: the tree and my bow, and then I climb up
25:34
Speaker 1: with my lambman's belt, finish everything off, gets up, then
25:36
Speaker 1: pull up the platform, then pull up the bow and
25:38
Speaker 1: on some all set blah blah blah um. But I
25:40
Speaker 1: probably take too many trips up or too many trips down,
25:43
Speaker 1: or too many things going here and there. I've talked
25:45
Speaker 1: to some people who have got that nailed how they
25:47
Speaker 1: do it in a really quick efficient way. Who here
25:50
Speaker 1: has got the best efficient method for going in with
25:53
Speaker 1: a full setup like that. I think we probably all
25:56
Speaker 1: are pretty efficient. But man, I'm I I would oh
26:00
Speaker 1: myself if I had to take multiple trips up and
26:02
Speaker 1: down the tree. Hunt in southeast Georgia where it is
26:06
Speaker 1: degrees in November. So I have to be efficient and
26:09
Speaker 1: I have to be lightweight. And when I'm climbing with sticks,
26:14
Speaker 1: I'll climb a bunch of different ways. But on public land,
26:16
Speaker 1: I'll climb with sticks and I take one trip up
26:20
Speaker 1: the tree. So first stick goes on obviously on the ground. Uh,
26:24
Speaker 1: second one and third one get connected to my hips
26:27
Speaker 1: on left and right. And how are you connecting torps?
26:30
Speaker 1: I use little rubber gear ties like those night Eyes
26:33
Speaker 1: night Eyes rubber gear ties. Yeah, a lot of guys
26:35
Speaker 1: will make little loops of para cord that just fit
26:39
Speaker 1: over you know, the cleat of your climbing stick. You
26:42
Speaker 1: loop it in there. You can do it that way.
26:43
Speaker 1: There's there's several ways to do it. I used something
26:46
Speaker 1: on your settle. Then them onto one of the little
26:49
Speaker 1: molly hoops. The molly loops right there on the saddle.
26:52
Speaker 1: It's that's what they're there for. Um, go up. Second
26:55
Speaker 1: stick goes on off the left hip, Third stick goes
26:58
Speaker 1: on off the right hip. So now my hips are clear.
27:01
Speaker 1: Pull up my or hang my platform just like you do.
27:04
Speaker 1: UM and then climb on tether pull bow up, hang
27:08
Speaker 1: it done. I can go from the ground to completely
27:12
Speaker 1: set up. If I didn't bring camera gear, it takes
27:14
Speaker 1: me an extra few minutes to set up all my
27:16
Speaker 1: camera gear. But if I didn't bring camera gear, I
27:19
Speaker 1: could be set up in most trees. Unless it's really
27:23
Speaker 1: gnarly like Ernie was talking about, there's not many branches,
27:26
Speaker 1: not many splits, five or seven minutes from start to finish,
27:32
Speaker 1: from wound to tomb, from tip to tail. And best
27:35
Speaker 1: ascension method in your opinion for mobile like going in
27:40
Speaker 1: there with nothing like a pair of sticks both of
27:43
Speaker 1: the time, or what's your favorite? My favorite method isn't
27:48
Speaker 1: necessarily looked at nicely on certain properties. Um, hands down.
27:54
Speaker 1: If I have a choice, I'm using my spurs. Oh yeah,
27:57
Speaker 1: if I have the availability to use for there's no
28:01
Speaker 1: way to beat it. Um, Because then I don't care.
28:05
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna run out of sticks. I'm never gonna
28:08
Speaker 1: have to take more than one trip. I put my
28:10
Speaker 1: spurs on, I walk up to where I want to be,
28:12
Speaker 1: set my platform, stand on the platform, take my spurs off.
28:15
Speaker 1: Now I've seen this guy climb a tree and spurs
28:18
Speaker 1: multiple times. Now he can be up a tree thirty
28:23
Speaker 1: ft high. You pick the height in thirty seconds and
28:28
Speaker 1: you won't hear him make a sound. He did it
28:30
Speaker 1: for a living. Yeah, I mean he's that efficient with it.
28:34
Speaker 1: I'm not that efficient with it, but I'm pretty efficient
28:36
Speaker 1: taking my time, going slow, trying to be super safe
28:39
Speaker 1: with my set of spurs. I can you know ninety seconds,
28:44
Speaker 1: I can be up at hunting height and I promise
28:47
Speaker 1: you from ten feet away, you wouldn't have heard me
28:49
Speaker 1: make a sound. So it is hard to be But
28:52
Speaker 1: like Ernie said, it's not always legal. So when it's
28:55
Speaker 1: not legal, I I prefer to use sticks, and this
28:58
Speaker 1: year I'm running Hawke Helium st X, but I cut
29:00
Speaker 1: them down substantially. They come with a set of three.
29:04
Speaker 1: I cut them down to twenty two inches to where
29:06
Speaker 1: it's just a set of two. Uh, it's just two
29:08
Speaker 1: sticks for bulk. Like like Andy said, I don't like
29:13
Speaker 1: I'm small. I'm only five ft seven, so I don't
29:15
Speaker 1: like having the sticks on my back extend way up
29:19
Speaker 1: above my head or down below my butt. So I
29:22
Speaker 1: cut them down for um, basically for bulk. But then
29:26
Speaker 1: I also use climbing aids because again I'm I'm only
29:29
Speaker 1: five seven, so I don't have long legs like you. Unfortunately,
29:33
Speaker 1: my little smurf legs can only go so high, so
29:37
Speaker 1: I gotta use climbing aids to give me that little
29:40
Speaker 1: bit of extra umph so I can get to you know,
29:43
Speaker 1: twenty to twenty two ft depending on the tree, with
29:45
Speaker 1: only three climbing sticks. You can explain what you mean
29:48
Speaker 1: by aids and how you do that. So the aids
29:50
Speaker 1: they come from. The rock climbing world is nothing that
29:53
Speaker 1: we invented. It's not a new thing. I've been around
29:55
Speaker 1: for decades. But it's essentially a webbing ladder um and
29:59
Speaker 1: how how many rungs on the ladder can really depend
30:03
Speaker 1: Like some guys I know, like uh, they only use one,
30:07
Speaker 1: so they'll just have one eighter coming down off. And
30:10
Speaker 1: it's essentially a step and an extender made out of
30:13
Speaker 1: climbing rated webbing. I use a set of three, so
30:17
Speaker 1: I have three wrungs on my eighter and it hangs
30:19
Speaker 1: off my stick, so one to three and you CONNECTI
30:23
Speaker 1: I connect it ump around looped around the top of
30:26
Speaker 1: the stick, so I can take it up with me
30:28
Speaker 1: as I climb. So for me a short guy, when
30:32
Speaker 1: I tie my stick onto the tree, I'm at right
30:35
Speaker 1: about seven foot, so I get about seven ft per stick.
30:39
Speaker 1: That's pretty huge way sayings when you figure most guys,
30:42
Speaker 1: if you're using a standard lone wolf stick that you
30:45
Speaker 1: went to Cabella's and bought, you know, it's a thirty
30:47
Speaker 1: two inch stick, and you know, depending on how tall
30:50
Speaker 1: you are, you can only space that thing, you know,
30:52
Speaker 1: eighteen inches to two ft apart. So you're not getting
30:55
Speaker 1: more than about fifteen feet max with that scenario. So
30:59
Speaker 1: now if you're if you're willing to to learn and
31:03
Speaker 1: try new things, you know you can add these little
31:05
Speaker 1: things onto your your products and make a much more
31:08
Speaker 1: efficient So when I first started, I was climbing with
31:10
Speaker 1: five muddy pro sticks and it sucked and and I
31:14
Speaker 1: hated it. So I had to figure out a better way.
31:17
Speaker 1: And I mean I didn't figure out climbing eighters, but
31:19
Speaker 1: I discovered it and I love them. Now I won't
31:22
Speaker 1: use climbing sticks without them. Mine's even a little different. Um.
31:27
Speaker 1: In your modification video where you made your hockey liium
31:30
Speaker 1: cut downs, you moved the bottom steps. I just caught
31:33
Speaker 1: it off right there. Oh wow, that's really short. Well,
31:36
Speaker 1: I got the in Siam of a beagle. So it's like,
31:40
Speaker 1: I really can't take a high step, and so I
31:44
Speaker 1: use a five step eight or and a really small stick, um,
31:49
Speaker 1: because that's the only way I can pull it off.
31:50
Speaker 1: And I when I cut that stick down right at
31:54
Speaker 1: the bottom of that second step, it's barely wider than
31:58
Speaker 1: my hips walking in. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, So
32:01
Speaker 1: you're getting all your height from the aider. Yeah. Yeah,
32:04
Speaker 1: I mean if I could find a way to attach
32:05
Speaker 1: the aid without the stick, that made sense. I do that, right,
32:10
Speaker 1: hasn't when tried, like the wild Edge steps or any
32:13
Speaker 1: other things along those lines of just different styles, any
32:16
Speaker 1: pros and cons or thoughts on those. I've tried about
32:18
Speaker 1: every step, everybody's I've been sent just about everything ever
32:22
Speaker 1: made on steps and the wild Edge are just too
32:24
Speaker 1: bulky for me, you know, you to give I'm a
32:27
Speaker 1: I'm typically thirty feet up to my feet, So wild Edge,
32:31
Speaker 1: did you get to that height? You gotta you know,
32:33
Speaker 1: you gotta have a dozen of them at least. And
32:34
Speaker 1: that's a lot of bulk to me. Everything is about
32:37
Speaker 1: bulk when you're not in public land and you're bucking
32:39
Speaker 1: brush to get back to places, sticks and all that stuff.
32:42
Speaker 1: To me, don't get it. So everything for me is
32:46
Speaker 1: in a backpack, and if if I'm d I y
32:49
Speaker 1: in it. I'll have a Fannie pack, a three pocket
32:51
Speaker 1: fanny that's worn. My My saddle is actually in my backpack,
32:55
Speaker 1: rolled up about size of a softball. And then I
32:58
Speaker 1: wear a back or a fan any pack below my backpack,
33:01
Speaker 1: and it's got steps in it were either rope or
33:04
Speaker 1: strap ons or screwings demanding on public or private, and
33:07
Speaker 1: I'll just spin it around. I'll hook up my lineman
33:10
Speaker 1: belt for my saddle, put saddle on, put the lineman
33:12
Speaker 1: belt on, and hooked up the lineman belt. And as
33:14
Speaker 1: I go up the tree, just put the steps in
33:16
Speaker 1: as I'm going up. And one thing I wanted to
33:18
Speaker 1: touch on on what Ernie said that's really important about
33:20
Speaker 1: saddle hunting is dressing in the tree. You know, you
33:25
Speaker 1: mentioned you deal with weather. I'm in Michigan, so I
33:28
Speaker 1: deal with weather a lot too. And on an all
33:30
Speaker 1: day hunt, it's not uncommon for me to change out
33:32
Speaker 1: my upper layer of clothing for possibly five times a day.
33:36
Speaker 1: You know, early in the morning, I with my entry,
33:38
Speaker 1: I want to go in light, So I'm going in
33:40
Speaker 1: light as soon as my body cools off, which is
33:42
Speaker 1: still gonna be before daylight. Because I get this so early.
33:45
Speaker 1: My body cools off. Then I put on some layers.
33:49
Speaker 1: Maybe ten o'clock the sun comes up. I started overheating
33:51
Speaker 1: a little bit. I take off a layer. Well, with
33:53
Speaker 1: a tree stand with a safety harness hook to the
33:55
Speaker 1: back of your jacket, you gotta take all that stuff off.
33:58
Speaker 1: To change any layers. With the attle, you just simply
34:02
Speaker 1: slide it down your waist a little bit and now
34:05
Speaker 1: your whole upper body is totally free and it's really
34:07
Speaker 1: simple to change your clothing count. Yeah, that's a big deal,
34:11
Speaker 1: and that's a very good point. Now the lower body,
34:16
Speaker 1: same challenge, I guess, as you would have with a
34:18
Speaker 1: tree stand safety harness. Yeah, but typically it's your upper
34:21
Speaker 1: body that always has issues. You can moderate mostly with that.
34:24
Speaker 1: So yeah, what what about what other things? So we
34:28
Speaker 1: talked about the basic gear we need to be dangerous.
34:30
Speaker 1: We talked about the basic ways to get up and down.
34:33
Speaker 1: And I guess, Andy, do you have any different thing
34:35
Speaker 1: as far as how you're getting up and down? You
34:37
Speaker 1: use sticks most of the time, right, Um? Yeah, if
34:39
Speaker 1: I'm on public land, I run a set up like Greg,
34:42
Speaker 1: I have some modified Hawk heliums that I really like.
34:45
Speaker 1: With just a single loop movable eight or that I go,
34:49
Speaker 1: you know, as I climb, I move it with me
34:51
Speaker 1: um and then if I'm on like a permission piece
34:54
Speaker 1: or something, I usually use the Cranford screw in stuffs
34:57
Speaker 1: just in a little pouch and seemed to go in
34:59
Speaker 1: real easy. And I've been using those. I think I
35:02
Speaker 1: got the idea from you, John, like I don't know,
35:04
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, and I've been running those ever since.
35:07
Speaker 1: Hard to argue with that. It's hard to beat him, Yeah,
35:10
Speaker 1: it's hard to beat him. So, yeah, if you've got
35:14
Speaker 1: time to to use the hand drill and go with bolts,
35:18
Speaker 1: that's probably the least bulk method that I know of.
35:21
Speaker 1: It takes a little bit of time to run the drill.
35:23
Speaker 1: But man actually practiced with that last night. Um, with
35:27
Speaker 1: the tree hopper drill and bolts. And yeah, so I
35:30
Speaker 1: sent you one. What do you think? Yeah, I do
35:33
Speaker 1: love the bulk of it, the lack of um. You know,
35:37
Speaker 1: you could fit that in just a little tiny pouch.
35:40
Speaker 1: It was a little more time consuming, not even a
35:44
Speaker 1: little it was. It was quite a bit more time
35:46
Speaker 1: consuming than say Cranford screwing. Um, but you make up
35:50
Speaker 1: like going up the tree, it is, but you make
35:52
Speaker 1: up a little bit coming down. You just pull those
35:54
Speaker 1: babies out. You don't really have to unscrew anything. So
35:57
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna try it this year and see
35:59
Speaker 1: how I like it. Um It definitely I can see
36:02
Speaker 1: some benefit there. Whether I'm going to prefer it over
36:04
Speaker 1: the Cranford's, I don't. That's to be determined. I guess
36:08
Speaker 1: one nice thing about that too, though, is if you're
36:12
Speaker 1: gonna use the bolts system, you can go in in
36:15
Speaker 1: August with a cordless drill and pre drill all your holes.
36:19
Speaker 1: Then when you come back, it's just a matter of
36:22
Speaker 1: dropping the bolts in on the way up, pulling them
36:23
Speaker 1: out on the way down. And you can pre set
36:26
Speaker 1: fifty trees and have one set of bolts. So now
36:29
Speaker 1: your time for setup is nothing because you did it
36:33
Speaker 1: all preseason. And when we say bolts, what we're talking
36:36
Speaker 1: about For those that don't know, or these are grade
36:39
Speaker 1: eight bolts that are six inches long, right, and these
36:43
Speaker 1: are what what do you think it is? The breaking
36:45
Speaker 1: strength on those early yearnit I wouldn't know. It's a
36:48
Speaker 1: stupid strong like thousands of pounds. Right, It's basically like
36:52
Speaker 1: a six inch long grade eight bolt eight inch diameter,
36:57
Speaker 1: so you basically just drill out the little hole drop
36:59
Speaker 1: in your bolt, climb up that way. Go For what
37:03
Speaker 1: percentage of the time are you guys hunting pre prepped
37:06
Speaker 1: trees with your saddles versus showing up for the first
37:10
Speaker 1: time there? I know, well, I think most of the
37:13
Speaker 1: time with you, John, you have a lot of pre
37:14
Speaker 1: prep trees, right. I go into each season with probably
37:17
Speaker 1: forty pre prep trees. So for the rest of you guys,
37:21
Speaker 1: when you look at the fact that now, like your
37:23
Speaker 1: saddle hunters, now, I think lots of times when people
37:25
Speaker 1: think of tree stand hunters, you've got your pre prep
37:27
Speaker 1: locations and then you know, maybe you'll have a running
37:30
Speaker 1: gun set that you'll go to hop around every once
37:32
Speaker 1: in a while. But if you go into the season
37:34
Speaker 1: saying I'm a saddle hunter now and I'm not gonna
37:36
Speaker 1: do any of that, do you still like to go
37:38
Speaker 1: and have a lot of trees already ready, or do
37:40
Speaker 1: you say I'm gonna stave all that time I used
37:41
Speaker 1: to spend the summer and instead I'm going to scout
37:44
Speaker 1: or practices with my bow or do whatever else because
37:46
Speaker 1: I know I can just head and hunt. What are
37:49
Speaker 1: you guys doing well? If I could, I would always
37:52
Speaker 1: hunt a prepared tree. It's just easier. I don't sweat
37:56
Speaker 1: it's it's just easier. Um. But the way I hunt,
38:02
Speaker 1: I would say that I'm shooting or hunting from a
38:05
Speaker 1: prepared tree probably a sixty of the time. Um, probably sixty,
38:12
Speaker 1: I would guess is when I'm going in blind or
38:14
Speaker 1: to somewhere maybe I have scouted before, that I don't
38:19
Speaker 1: have a tree prepared and I'm you know, taking in
38:21
Speaker 1: my sticks or my spurs or bolts or whatever it
38:24
Speaker 1: is that I'm taking in. I'd probably say that's four
38:26
Speaker 1: out of ten hunts, and then six out of ten
38:28
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to a tree that's prepared. But if
38:31
Speaker 1: I'm honting out of state, I'm I mean, every tree
38:35
Speaker 1: is is a is a running gun, whatever you wanna
38:38
Speaker 1: call it, a mobile a mobile hunt. So I mean,
38:42
Speaker 1: it really is scenario dependent for me. And when I
38:46
Speaker 1: come to like I mentioned earlier, I'm in the military,
38:49
Speaker 1: so I move a lot, and uh, you know, for
38:52
Speaker 1: the first couple of seasons, it's like mostly running gun
38:56
Speaker 1: and then as I've found little spots here and there,
38:59
Speaker 1: now I've probably got I've been in Georgia for three
39:01
Speaker 1: hunting seasons now, and I've probably got I don't know,
39:06
Speaker 1: maybe maybe a dozen trees prepped at any time that
39:10
Speaker 1: I could go in and hunt. So my preferred method
39:12
Speaker 1: is John style of prepping a tree in advance, but
39:15
Speaker 1: just doesn't always work out that way for me. That's
39:18
Speaker 1: funny because I like the adventure of a new tree.
39:21
Speaker 1: Um My pre prepped trees our last year's adventure trees.
39:26
Speaker 1: So I don't necessarily go prep a tree ahead of
39:30
Speaker 1: time unless it's something where I was like, yeah, I
39:32
Speaker 1: I really like this area that I sat one time
39:35
Speaker 1: last year, and then I might go in and do
39:36
Speaker 1: something like that. But most of the time I'm I
39:39
Speaker 1: do a lot of run and gun and just going
39:41
Speaker 1: and yeah. My anything that I would call pre prepped
39:44
Speaker 1: is a tree that I run and gunn hunted the
39:46
Speaker 1: year before. Where are you at, Andy, Yeah, Um, I
39:53
Speaker 1: run and gun often. Um, that's at least half the
39:58
Speaker 1: time you know I'm doing that. Um, there's some spots
40:01
Speaker 1: that you know, maybe some permission spots that I've had
40:04
Speaker 1: you know, for you know, several years that kind of
40:08
Speaker 1: historically have been like some good rut spots that yeah,
40:11
Speaker 1: you know you could sit in that tree or in
40:12
Speaker 1: the rut and you know it's it's a quality spot.
40:14
Speaker 1: So I'd say that those are prepped or ready to go,
40:17
Speaker 1: and I'll you know, I'll go and trim those. But
40:19
Speaker 1: I just don't have a ton of those. But um,
40:24
Speaker 1: you know, everything outside of the rut um, you know,
40:28
Speaker 1: for me, it's I'm it's usually kind of on the
40:32
Speaker 1: fly because I'm if I'm moving in on something, it's
40:35
Speaker 1: because I just found out about it, or i just
40:37
Speaker 1: observed it, or it's it's kind of fresh intel. So
40:41
Speaker 1: for me, you know, outside of the road, it's usually
40:44
Speaker 1: a running gun and a brand new spot that you know,
40:47
Speaker 1: I didn't have time to prep or it would have
40:48
Speaker 1: been too risky of a move. She would screwed the
40:51
Speaker 1: deer up I was going after. When it comes to
40:55
Speaker 1: picking trees or prepping trees, at least from my experience,
40:59
Speaker 1: when I'm going into hunt, whether it's in the summer
41:02
Speaker 1: and I'm prepping it for the season or it's in season,
41:05
Speaker 1: I'm approaching that process pretty similar to what I was
41:09
Speaker 1: doing in the past when I was going up there
41:10
Speaker 1: with a lone wolf and sticks or whatever. I mean,
41:12
Speaker 1: I'm looking for generally the same qualities in this tree.
41:15
Speaker 1: I'm looking generally in the same locations. The only things
41:18
Speaker 1: that jump out to me is being different out the
41:21
Speaker 1: gate would be number one. I'm setting up in the
41:25
Speaker 1: tree located a little bit different. In the past, I
41:28
Speaker 1: might have been trying to position myself towards where the
41:31
Speaker 1: deer we're gonna be, or using cover in some way,
41:33
Speaker 1: thinking much more about which direction the tree stands facing
41:36
Speaker 1: because you're stuck there. While in the tree saddle, I'm
41:40
Speaker 1: primarily I'm hanging behind the tree, and then I'm positioning
41:43
Speaker 1: myself to have good shots to my left and then
41:45
Speaker 1: are on either side. Um, but I'm curious. One of
41:48
Speaker 1: the things that a lot of people have asked, and
41:50
Speaker 1: I thought about this too. One of the benefits of
41:53
Speaker 1: hunting from the saddle is the fact that you can
41:54
Speaker 1: do what I just said. You can use the tree
41:56
Speaker 1: more easily to to hide yourself from from approaching deer,
42:00
Speaker 1: and you can adjust where you are on the tree
42:02
Speaker 1: so you keep the tree trunk in between you and
42:04
Speaker 1: the deer. Because of that, do you allow yourself or
42:08
Speaker 1: do you look at your tree selection differently? Because you're
42:13
Speaker 1: not as dependent on a bunch of other cover to
42:16
Speaker 1: protect you open the tree visually, So because I can
42:19
Speaker 1: move with the tree trunk, I can hide myself more.
42:21
Speaker 1: Could I get away with a slightly more open tree
42:26
Speaker 1: than I would want in a tree stand? Do any
42:28
Speaker 1: of you guys ever look at I look at everything
42:30
Speaker 1: when I'm picking out a tree. Yeah, that definitely comes
42:32
Speaker 1: into play. If you look at a tree and it's
42:34
Speaker 1: it's at least sixteen inches a diameter, you know you
42:36
Speaker 1: can hide behind at least I can because I'm small
42:39
Speaker 1: and you can too, Greg. But I did want to
42:41
Speaker 1: get back from me touch on one other thing. So
42:44
Speaker 1: we were talking about running gun. Uh. I killed my
42:46
Speaker 1: biggest buckover on a running gun in Iowa because I
42:50
Speaker 1: was like what you were talking. I was reacting to
42:52
Speaker 1: a visual at a distance. So I did a d
42:55
Speaker 1: I y freelance um in in. When I'm hunting in Michigan,
43:00
Speaker 1: get I hunt totally different than I do in any
43:03
Speaker 1: other state I've ever hunted. Our deer are so heavily pressured,
43:07
Speaker 1: and it's hard to do a freelance hunt without spooking
43:12
Speaker 1: something that's going to affect your hunt because there's so
43:14
Speaker 1: few mature bucks and if you're running gunning and you've
43:18
Speaker 1: got to be back in cover where there's you're gonna
43:20
Speaker 1: have any possible chance at a mature buck because because
43:24
Speaker 1: everything he does is a security cover oriented running and
43:27
Speaker 1: gunning is very difficult here Kansas, Iowa. You know, southern Illinois,
43:32
Speaker 1: running and gunning is pretty pretty simple because you can
43:34
Speaker 1: spook deer and it doesn't seem to affect it nearly
43:37
Speaker 1: as much. Um. But as as far as the trees,
43:41
Speaker 1: going back to the trees, and also I did want
43:43
Speaker 1: to say this, I may have forty trees prepped during
43:45
Speaker 1: the season at the beginning of the season, Um, I pry.
43:49
Speaker 1: It's a rare year that I would hunt ten of
43:51
Speaker 1: those trees because they change from year to year. You
43:54
Speaker 1: know what, a white oak may have acorns this year,
43:56
Speaker 1: or an apple tree may have apples, or a primary
43:58
Speaker 1: scrape area may be active this year and it's not
44:00
Speaker 1: going to be for the next two years, depending on
44:02
Speaker 1: crop rotations, so everything changes entry and exit routes. You know,
44:07
Speaker 1: one year, depending on the crop field, my location is
44:10
Speaker 1: next to my entry route might not allow me to
44:12
Speaker 1: hunt that tree effectively on a morning or an evening
44:15
Speaker 1: on whatever that tree is best suited for. But as
44:18
Speaker 1: far as picking out the tree for the location, uh,
44:21
Speaker 1: there's no question being able. In my opinion, hiding behind
44:24
Speaker 1: the tree makes a big difference. I actually look for
44:27
Speaker 1: trees that slightly lean. I liked on a slightly leaning
44:30
Speaker 1: tree because it's like standing on a ladder. You know,
44:34
Speaker 1: it's just more comfortable your your your back is more
44:38
Speaker 1: upright if not leaning forward, and the trees leaning away
44:43
Speaker 1: from you, away from you like on a ladder, and
44:46
Speaker 1: a slight lean on a slight lean tree because you
44:49
Speaker 1: I mean, I've hunted trees probably with a twenty degree
44:53
Speaker 1: tilt to them. And when you hunt a tree with
44:55
Speaker 1: that much of a lean, you can't really swing around
44:58
Speaker 1: to the backside because gravity takes are swinging and swinging
45:01
Speaker 1: you around. But you can hunt a tree with five
45:03
Speaker 1: degree lane and not have any problem moving around the
45:06
Speaker 1: tree in any direction. So I like a slightly leaning tree,
45:09
Speaker 1: and I and I gravitate like Earning was talking. I
45:12
Speaker 1: gravitate the big diameter trees where you can really hide.
45:17
Speaker 1: You know, I've shot deer out of a sling saddle
45:21
Speaker 1: as low as small as four inches in diameter, but
45:24
Speaker 1: pretty hard to hide buying a four inch tree. Yes,
45:26
Speaker 1: so what about branches in the tree? So you know,
45:30
Speaker 1: we're we're trying to look for cover, but at the
45:32
Speaker 1: same time, you want to be able to maneuver around
45:34
Speaker 1: and the saddle it's much more mobile and you're kind
45:36
Speaker 1: of maneuvering three inert degrees around it. If you've got
45:39
Speaker 1: a lot of branches in the tree coming out river
45:41
Speaker 1: which way from a tree stand, most people look at
45:44
Speaker 1: that as beneficial. Hides you in there and you're not
45:46
Speaker 1: gonna be moving around anyways in a saddle. One of
45:48
Speaker 1: the big perks of the fact that you can spin
45:50
Speaker 1: around and shoot to the other side. But if there's
45:52
Speaker 1: branches in the way, that becomes more difficult. Do you
45:54
Speaker 1: avoid trees like that, um and look for those more
45:59
Speaker 1: easy to move in a bigger trees so you're hidden stone,
46:01
Speaker 1: what do you how do you think about that? So
46:04
Speaker 1: you you can spin around the whole tree or you
46:06
Speaker 1: don't have to. I mean just because uh, you're boxed
46:11
Speaker 1: into a certain you know your zone of the tree
46:15
Speaker 1: based on branches. Well, if that works for where you
46:19
Speaker 1: anticipate the deer coming from. There's no reason you can't
46:21
Speaker 1: hunt that with the saddle anyways. I mean, just like
46:24
Speaker 1: if the if the branches created a zone on a
46:28
Speaker 1: tree that was great for a tree stand, but it
46:31
Speaker 1: was facing the wrong way, you wouldn't sit in that
46:34
Speaker 1: tree with a tree stand either, you know. So it's
46:36
Speaker 1: kind of like, just because I can't spin around the
46:39
Speaker 1: whole tree with my saddle doesn't mean the tree won't work.
46:42
Speaker 1: I mean, if if it's facing the right way, it's
46:44
Speaker 1: facing that down wind trail, uh, just below the main
46:48
Speaker 1: trail that you expect that buck to be running, well,
46:51
Speaker 1: end's perfect, you know, and you can still do that.
46:53
Speaker 1: But yeah, like John said, in a perfect world, you
46:56
Speaker 1: do have a tree that gives you three D sixty
46:59
Speaker 1: degree mobil around the tree you meant the help wind
47:01
Speaker 1: trailin trail. Yeah, I'm sorry, but you don't have to,
47:06
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's it's not like it's
47:08
Speaker 1: a deal breaker if you have some branches in the way.
47:11
Speaker 1: Sure it'll it'll limit your your shot or your ability
47:15
Speaker 1: to move around the tree, but you can you can
47:17
Speaker 1: certainly still make those shots, just like you couldn't a
47:19
Speaker 1: tree stand yeah, And I mean if you're in a
47:20
Speaker 1: tree stand and you've got a tree with a bunch
47:23
Speaker 1: of branches, you're naturally limiting your number of shots anyway.
47:27
Speaker 1: So at all things being equal, you're note worse off, right, Yeah,
47:33
Speaker 1: I guess that's what I was trying to say in
47:34
Speaker 1: a roundabout way. It's you're not really at a disadvantage
47:38
Speaker 1: compared to a tree stand, it's just maybe you don't
47:41
Speaker 1: get to use all of the advantages of a saddle
47:43
Speaker 1: set up. I've actually found that that type of tree
47:46
Speaker 1: in situation better for a saddle because, um, a lot
47:50
Speaker 1: of times when you have multiple branches or trunks coming up, Um,
47:54
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard to fit a big tree storm
47:56
Speaker 1: tree stand platform in there and something you know you
47:59
Speaker 1: might have to you might be able to get it
48:01
Speaker 1: in there, but you might have to put it out
48:03
Speaker 1: facing like an awkward direction. We have to stand up
48:05
Speaker 1: and turn to shoot. But with the saddle, I can
48:08
Speaker 1: usually find a hole where I can because my my
48:11
Speaker 1: my footprints so much smaller. Whether I'm using a ring
48:14
Speaker 1: of steps or the small predator platform or something that's
48:17
Speaker 1: I can usually find a smaller hole that I can
48:19
Speaker 1: fit in there. And yeah, you may not be able
48:21
Speaker 1: to shoot three sixty degrees, but I feel like you know,
48:25
Speaker 1: from my experience, I've been able to get into some
48:27
Speaker 1: of those trees, even more so than trying to fit
48:30
Speaker 1: you know, twenty four inch wide, you know platform up there.
48:34
Speaker 1: So I think this is what I think I should
48:36
Speaker 1: have rephrased my question, because we covered all really good stuff.
48:39
Speaker 1: But I want to get at the either or if
48:42
Speaker 1: you had to choose, If you've got two trees sitting
48:44
Speaker 1: in that perfect location, one of them has got lots
48:48
Speaker 1: of ship all over the place, it's gonna hide you
48:50
Speaker 1: very well, but it's gonna limit the ability to maneuver
48:53
Speaker 1: and get a bunch of different shottings. And let's say
48:56
Speaker 1: even let's take wind out of that. Maybe maybe somehow
49:00
Speaker 1: you've got sent control and you don't care, and there's
49:02
Speaker 1: trails every direction around you, there's deer could come from
49:04
Speaker 1: any directions. You want to have the best possible shot. Um,
49:10
Speaker 1: are you going to pick the tree that makes it
49:11
Speaker 1: so you are hidden? One, no question about it. But
49:15
Speaker 1: you're stuck with like one or two shots. You're not
49:17
Speaker 1: gonna be able to take advantage of the really cool
49:19
Speaker 1: flexibility of the saddle. Or you've got this tree that's
49:22
Speaker 1: just a couple of yards away and it just has
49:24
Speaker 1: a couple of branches coming out, So typically you look
49:27
Speaker 1: at it like, oh, man, I'm gonna be hung out
49:28
Speaker 1: to dry. But man, there's lots of different shot angles
49:32
Speaker 1: from that. I could shoot a deer no matter what,
49:34
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna depend on my huting behind the trunk.
49:37
Speaker 1: I'll pick that tree every time. I'll pick that, I'll
49:39
Speaker 1: pick the second. You just get up a little bit
49:42
Speaker 1: higher so you're out of their purpor. I'll pick the
49:45
Speaker 1: second tree every time. And and even if you're not
49:48
Speaker 1: necessarily able to use the tree as cover, your profile
49:53
Speaker 1: on the tree looks more natural instead of a big
49:56
Speaker 1: blob on the side of the tree like you might
49:58
Speaker 1: be in a hang on tree. Stay in because you're
50:01
Speaker 1: exiting the tree at an angle. Your feet are toward
50:04
Speaker 1: the tree and whatever else. It's a much more natural
50:07
Speaker 1: angle for animals to see. It doesn't strike it as
50:12
Speaker 1: odd as quickly. Um you're less likely to get picked off.
50:16
Speaker 1: I believe in that situation because you know, minus a movement,
50:21
Speaker 1: you could pass for a big branch if you had
50:23
Speaker 1: to write. And I can say for certain that I
50:25
Speaker 1: get picked off less like on the profile view. I've
50:28
Speaker 1: had tons of deer look right up at me in
50:31
Speaker 1: a tree stand. But even when they come in from
50:34
Speaker 1: the side like catch me off guard or something, and
50:36
Speaker 1: and and they're seeing my side profile, I haven't had
50:39
Speaker 1: a dear look up at me in a saddle and
50:42
Speaker 1: you know pin me like that. That. Yeah, I think
50:45
Speaker 1: it's You're exactly right, and you come off looking much
50:48
Speaker 1: more natural part of the canopy. So do you re
50:52
Speaker 1: find yourself spreading your arms out to look even more
50:55
Speaker 1: like a branch liked Charles did when he was Carable
51:00
Speaker 1: hunting exactly interpret on top of the tree. I'm a branch,
51:08
Speaker 1: um were you know? I feel like you were about
51:10
Speaker 1: to say something John before I forgot already hold I
51:14
Speaker 1: was going to comment on what Andy said. Um, okay,
51:16
Speaker 1: that's really interesting that you guys all agree on that.
51:18
Speaker 1: And that's one of those things like even as I've
51:20
Speaker 1: been this summer prepping trees, this is the first summer
51:22
Speaker 1: they've really been prepping with a saddlin mind, And I've
51:25
Speaker 1: been asking myself that question over and over again. And
51:27
Speaker 1: I'm picking trees, and I've been leaning towards doing just that.
51:31
Speaker 1: I'd rather have slightly less cover but in the right
51:34
Speaker 1: spot and have the shots because I can make up
51:36
Speaker 1: for that with my positioning. It seems like every time
51:39
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more, I did want to. I remember
51:41
Speaker 1: what it was now with a saddle, I don't think
51:43
Speaker 1: there's any question. After you've used a saddle while and
51:46
Speaker 1: you get comfortable with it, you have no issues going higher.
51:50
Speaker 1: So in a saddle, uh, you know, it's not a
51:54
Speaker 1: big deal if you're in a tree that's kind of
51:56
Speaker 1: small around in diameter and you want to get up
51:58
Speaker 1: an extra five or six ft higher and you wouldn't
52:00
Speaker 1: hang on. You know, when you're in a hangout and
52:02
Speaker 1: you're ut, you're looking at the abyss in front of
52:06
Speaker 1: you with the saddle your face and the tree hooked
52:10
Speaker 1: with a seven thousand pound rope, you know you're not
52:13
Speaker 1: gonna fall, and you've got the tree gives you a
52:15
Speaker 1: false sense of security in front of you. Also also,
52:18
Speaker 1: so I don't know about you, guys, I definitely higher
52:22
Speaker 1: since I've been using a saddle than I did in
52:25
Speaker 1: the seventies when I hunted with a tree stand. I
52:27
Speaker 1: was twenty to twenty five ft with tree stand and
52:29
Speaker 1: now I'm typically to thirty man. I I can attest
52:33
Speaker 1: to that because you came out and helped my buddy
52:36
Speaker 1: Dustin and I set up a tree to kind of
52:37
Speaker 1: demonstrate how you set up first saddle hunting everything. And
52:41
Speaker 1: I think you're under stilling how high you get. I
52:43
Speaker 1: think that's true. You got up there. I think Dustin
52:46
Speaker 1: messed me. He ranged found it, like from he got
52:48
Speaker 1: out there and ranged down to the ground. He said
52:49
Speaker 1: it was like close to thirty five yards or something
52:52
Speaker 1: like it was way up there, feet up there. I mean,
53:00
Speaker 1: in in in my own little way, I'm afraid of heights.
53:04
Speaker 1: I mean literally, I get that like clinched feeling on
53:08
Speaker 1: video games if I get too close to the edge
53:09
Speaker 1: of buildings like I just do. And uh, I definitely
53:14
Speaker 1: feel more secure in a saddle at height than I
53:17
Speaker 1: do anything else. Um, because I can feel the tension
53:21
Speaker 1: of the rope. There's no slack in the system. You
53:24
Speaker 1: can feel that support. Um. You know, with any kind
53:27
Speaker 1: of a normal safety harness, there's some slack built into
53:29
Speaker 1: the system. And you are set up so that you
53:33
Speaker 1: know you have those gotcha moments where you're you kinda
53:36
Speaker 1: lean a little bit and then you kind of stutter
53:38
Speaker 1: step and you're like, oh, you know, not often a
53:41
Speaker 1: tree stand you're gonna have those little pucker moments over
53:44
Speaker 1: the course of a hunt, and you don't have that
53:47
Speaker 1: in a tree saddle because you feel embraced and you
53:49
Speaker 1: feel connected the whole time. So safety check that off
53:54
Speaker 1: the list. Like, we all feel pretty good there. But
53:56
Speaker 1: now in the next issue that a lot of people
53:59
Speaker 1: get to is what come for so many questions that
54:01
Speaker 1: can't be comfortable? That looks crazy? Can you take naps?
54:06
Speaker 1: I get that one a lot too. How's the napping
54:08
Speaker 1: going to sleep all the time? Go ahead, Andy, you're
54:11
Speaker 1: going to say, I sleep. I get my tree two
54:13
Speaker 1: hours hour and after two hours for daylight, I sleep
54:15
Speaker 1: until daylight. It's funny, John, One of my favorite things
54:18
Speaker 1: I ever learned from you and and and this was
54:20
Speaker 1: years and years and years ago. And I've told you
54:22
Speaker 1: before how instrumental your books were early on in my
54:25
Speaker 1: like next step of becoming a deer hunter, and the
54:29
Speaker 1: idea of getting into your tree stands like two hours
54:31
Speaker 1: beforehand in the mornings changed my life because I had
54:34
Speaker 1: this whole new Rachel. I get in there an hour
54:36
Speaker 1: and a half or two hours before daylight. And then
54:38
Speaker 1: it was every morning the tree stand nap and it
54:41
Speaker 1: was such a great thing, like my favorite part of
54:43
Speaker 1: the hunt. And a couple of hour nap, I get
54:45
Speaker 1: out and I have to thank you for that. Well,
54:49
Speaker 1: the bridge, the bridge gives you a nice little surface.
54:53
Speaker 1: I put hand up and I got like this and
54:55
Speaker 1: I'm out. You know, it's much uh much easy year
55:00
Speaker 1: to to fall asleep if that's what you want to do.
55:02
Speaker 1: I know how to tree stand, you know, even with
55:04
Speaker 1: my my safety harness. Um. You know, sometimes you know,
55:08
Speaker 1: you've been hunting all day and it's mid day and
55:09
Speaker 1: you're kind of just like it's one of those slow
55:11
Speaker 1: days or something. You're kind of nodding off, and it's
55:13
Speaker 1: like every time you start going for yourself, you're like,
55:18
Speaker 1: you know that that's the pucker moment. I was just
55:20
Speaker 1: talking about. But as um as far as comfort though
55:23
Speaker 1: real quick. Um. You know I mentioned early on that
55:27
Speaker 1: you know, I got into saddle hunting in two thousand
55:30
Speaker 1: three or four, but I didn't stick with it because
55:32
Speaker 1: I couldn't find comfort in it. Um. I had I
55:35
Speaker 1: used an old saddle as called a trophy line. Um.
55:38
Speaker 1: You know, pretty heavy pretty bulky, but it just, um,
55:41
Speaker 1: I couldn't find comfort in it because I just tend
55:44
Speaker 1: to be real sensitive around my my low back and
55:47
Speaker 1: my hips. I get pretty bad sciatica nerve pains sometimes. Um.
55:53
Speaker 1: So my journey has been trying different saddles, making my own.
55:59
Speaker 1: Um you know, I actually made one out of fleece
56:01
Speaker 1: that kind of met my needs, but UM never felt
56:06
Speaker 1: maybe a comfortable with it. And then, uh, it wasn't
56:09
Speaker 1: until when you first you mentioned what we're eating lunch?
56:12
Speaker 1: You made yourself a tree set out of fleece. And
56:14
Speaker 1: then the first thing I thought is like Andy took
56:16
Speaker 1: an old north face and stitched together and just hung in.
56:18
Speaker 1: That thing's essentially what it is that terrifies me. Well,
56:23
Speaker 1: I should say I did have a professional lightweight rock
56:27
Speaker 1: tiving harness as a backup under that, so I was
56:29
Speaker 1: thinking totally tied into that. But it wasn't until um,
56:35
Speaker 1: I tried the mantis that I actually found comfort, like
56:39
Speaker 1: out of a commercial type settle, and why I chose
56:41
Speaker 1: that one over the fleece. It was much lighter. Um
56:44
Speaker 1: It's it's not nearly as as warm because it's a
56:47
Speaker 1: mesh material, but it just the way it sits or
56:51
Speaker 1: the way it just captures my body. Um, I've been
56:55
Speaker 1: able to be very, very comfortable in it, and that's
56:57
Speaker 1: something for me personally. I've had a hard time finding
57:00
Speaker 1: and a lot of saddle hunters can get comfortable in
57:03
Speaker 1: just about anything, and I'm not one of those guys.
57:05
Speaker 1: So for you, the big thing was having like the
57:07
Speaker 1: back strap, it was a big thing for you. What
57:09
Speaker 1: are some other things that you guys are doing to
57:11
Speaker 1: make it more comfortable? I know one thing for me
57:13
Speaker 1: was just figuring out the right height for my tether
57:16
Speaker 1: to attach. Um, can you guys a huge thing? Talk
57:19
Speaker 1: more about that or anything else you do. Yeah, I mean,
57:21
Speaker 1: so to begin with, it's a normal question that that
57:26
Speaker 1: can't be comfortable. That's completely normal. If you just see
57:29
Speaker 1: a video or a picture of it and you see
57:31
Speaker 1: this dude hanging out of a tree with thing under
57:34
Speaker 1: his butt, like, I get it, Like that doesn't look comfortable.
57:38
Speaker 1: But once you try it and you get your system
57:41
Speaker 1: dialed in, like and he was talking about once you
57:43
Speaker 1: get it figured out where it works for you, man,
57:46
Speaker 1: it is like a lightbulb and it just works. You know,
57:50
Speaker 1: tether height, it is a trick that you mentioned mark
57:53
Speaker 1: about where do you put your tether height on the tree? Now,
57:56
Speaker 1: what that means is for the for those maybe just
57:59
Speaker 1: hearing this for the first time. Your tether again, is
58:01
Speaker 1: that main safety rope that goes around the tree and
58:04
Speaker 1: attaches to your saddle. That is, that's your main life support. Uh.
58:08
Speaker 1: Like John said, it's like a seven thousand pound rated rope.
58:11
Speaker 1: It's super crazy strong. But where you attach that to
58:14
Speaker 1: the tree. I like to tell people to start at
58:17
Speaker 1: around forehead height. Start there, and then you can adjust
58:21
Speaker 1: that up or down. I actually go even lower than that.
58:25
Speaker 1: I go to about my Adam's apple, So we're kind
58:28
Speaker 1: of like where my neck meets my collar bone. That's
58:31
Speaker 1: about where I wear my tether. Where I tie my tether.
58:33
Speaker 1: Now I know guys that tied as high as they
58:36
Speaker 1: can reach above their head. Uh So there's no wrong
58:39
Speaker 1: way to do it, but it's important to spend some
58:43
Speaker 1: time in the backyard at ground level figuring that out.
58:48
Speaker 1: You don't want to figure that out twenty five ft
58:50
Speaker 1: in the air when a pope and young is staring
58:52
Speaker 1: at you. You want to figure that out in the
58:54
Speaker 1: in the season, you know, preseason, or you know at
58:58
Speaker 1: least in the backyard on the around where it's safe,
59:01
Speaker 1: so that's important. Where you put the saddle on your
59:04
Speaker 1: body is very important. Some guys like to wear up
59:07
Speaker 1: high above their waist where they would higher than they
59:10
Speaker 1: would put a belt. Not me. I wear it down
59:13
Speaker 1: underneath my butt, down below where I would wear my belt. Uh.
59:18
Speaker 1: And there's every kind of option in between. But the
59:21
Speaker 1: trick is to set it up in your backyard on
59:23
Speaker 1: the tree, move it up and down, squinch it up,
59:27
Speaker 1: loosen it, play with the micro fit adjusters, play with
59:30
Speaker 1: the saddle, kind of get it right, and then once
59:33
Speaker 1: you once you nail it, you know that it's nailed,
59:35
Speaker 1: and you're like, I got it this This works really
59:38
Speaker 1: really well. And the back support product that we have,
59:42
Speaker 1: the recliner, which is nothing more than a few pieces
59:45
Speaker 1: of webbing. You don't have to buy it from me.
59:46
Speaker 1: Go out and make one on your own, you know.
59:48
Speaker 1: Go go in your garage and find some old webbing
59:51
Speaker 1: or old fleece blanket and stitch it up, tie it up.
59:54
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be fancy, but back support is
59:57
Speaker 1: a really big deal. Ours is pretty cool because it
59:59
Speaker 1: clips into your carabine er and it's got adjustments on
1:00:02
Speaker 1: both sides, so it's like idiot proof, but you could
1:00:04
Speaker 1: make one just as easily as you could buy one UM.
1:00:07
Speaker 1: But the back support thing was a huge game changer
1:00:10
Speaker 1: for me. I mean, once I figured that thing out
1:00:12
Speaker 1: and I started playing with you know, support up high
1:00:16
Speaker 1: kind of underneath my armpits for when I really wanted to,
1:00:20
Speaker 1: like recline, it's perfect. And then if i'm you know,
1:00:23
Speaker 1: getting ready to maybe it's you know, an hour before
1:00:25
Speaker 1: dark and it's starting to get the prime time, I'll
1:00:28
Speaker 1: slide that thing down a little bit, so I'm a
1:00:29
Speaker 1: little bit more ready to take a shot. But there's
1:00:31
Speaker 1: so many ways that you can get comfortable. If you're
1:00:33
Speaker 1: willing to spend fift twenty minutes in your backyard at
1:00:37
Speaker 1: ground level where it's safe and just play with everything
1:00:39
Speaker 1: you can, you can get it dialed in. Yeah, I
1:00:42
Speaker 1: made the mistake of not ever trying the back uh
1:00:45
Speaker 1: support last year, so I'm intrigued to give that a shot.
1:00:48
Speaker 1: And just it's we brought you one UM so you
1:00:51
Speaker 1: can you can try it, and it's it's you're gonna
1:00:54
Speaker 1: like it. I'm excited where you have where you have
1:00:58
Speaker 1: it tethered as far as high has a lot to
1:01:01
Speaker 1: do with your shot opportunities as well. When you get
1:01:04
Speaker 1: in a tree and you tether it as high as
1:01:06
Speaker 1: you can reach. If you're right handed and you're setting
1:01:08
Speaker 1: yourself up for a shot ninety degrees to your right,
1:01:11
Speaker 1: you know that lead is probably when you take a shot,
1:01:14
Speaker 1: it's going to be in the way of your elbow
1:01:15
Speaker 1: when you draw your bows. So by lowering the lead
1:01:18
Speaker 1: the tree tether also it puts that tether out of
1:01:21
Speaker 1: the way when you take shots to your to your right,
1:01:23
Speaker 1: to your left side, or whatever side you're gonna shoot.
1:01:26
Speaker 1: And another thing is that's so much more comfortable than
1:01:29
Speaker 1: anything in a tree stand because at the tree stand,
1:01:31
Speaker 1: you're sitting in a seat. It's got a nice soft cushion,
1:01:34
Speaker 1: but you're sitting ninety degrees basically, and with the saddle,
1:01:38
Speaker 1: you can adjust your drape at any moment at any time.
1:01:42
Speaker 1: I probably on an all days sit will adjust my
1:01:44
Speaker 1: drape twenty times. When you say adjust your drape, okay,
1:01:47
Speaker 1: there is a drape adjustment on the lead which comes
1:01:50
Speaker 1: down to your saddle. There's a real fast drape adjustment
1:01:53
Speaker 1: where you just if you're using the rope man drape
1:01:56
Speaker 1: adjuster or the proofs of either one. We gotta get
1:01:59
Speaker 1: John a tethered assory. So he starts using the terms. Ye,
1:02:04
Speaker 1: he's been doing his own words. But you can, you
1:02:10
Speaker 1: basically can let out a little bit of lead. So
1:02:13
Speaker 1: in other words, I like to sit with the majority
1:02:16
Speaker 1: of my weight in my seat, so my butt is
1:02:19
Speaker 1: supporting most of my weight, like sitting in a hammock
1:02:22
Speaker 1: in a yard, basically a hammock seed. Now when my
1:02:25
Speaker 1: if I sit there for three hours and my butt
1:02:27
Speaker 1: gets sore and I want to stand more upright, I
1:02:30
Speaker 1: just reach up, pull some lead up, and now I'm
1:02:34
Speaker 1: standing more upright. Some guys like to stand with their
1:02:37
Speaker 1: legs straight, so they've got all their weight on their
1:02:39
Speaker 1: feet and a little bit on their butt. Well, if
1:02:41
Speaker 1: it gets to the point where your feet gets sore
1:02:43
Speaker 1: from standing on steps or whatever, you're standing on a platform,
1:02:46
Speaker 1: all you gotta do is let a little bit of
1:02:47
Speaker 1: lead out, and you'd be shocked. You can let out
1:02:49
Speaker 1: just two inches a lead and it makes a world
1:02:52
Speaker 1: of difference and how comfortable you sit two inches long way. Yeah,
1:02:58
Speaker 1: it's uh, it's your story. That was a softball were dealt.
1:03:10
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how loud. That's what she said,
1:03:12
Speaker 1: was screaming the back of her mind. That was a softball. Yeah.
1:03:17
Speaker 1: The beauty thing is no two bodies are built the same,
1:03:21
Speaker 1: and sounds are so adjustable, and and maybe one brand
1:03:26
Speaker 1: works better than another in your particular body shape. But
1:03:31
Speaker 1: play around with it, um, Like we had talked about,
1:03:34
Speaker 1: little microadjustments make major changes in how things feel, and
1:03:38
Speaker 1: the only way you're going to figure it out is
1:03:40
Speaker 1: playing your yard. Um, I'm to the point now where
1:03:42
Speaker 1: I can set up blindfolded, and I know where my
1:03:45
Speaker 1: tether tie off point is, where my rotman's at, where
1:03:48
Speaker 1: I want the saddle, So within about fifteen seconds, I'm
1:03:52
Speaker 1: in what I would call my most comfortable position. So
1:03:55
Speaker 1: I was asked this continuing on with her any window.
1:03:58
Speaker 1: So when I said, what's your favorite position and and
1:04:02
Speaker 1: what how do you kind of alluded a little bit,
1:04:04
Speaker 1: But when you're actually in there, what do you guys
1:04:06
Speaker 1: find it be the most comfortable positions to be in
1:04:08
Speaker 1: your saddle because it's a whole bunch of different ways.
1:04:10
Speaker 1: You can kind of beet your feet on the platform
1:04:13
Speaker 1: and the steps and you're kind of leaned out. You
1:04:15
Speaker 1: can kind of stand almost all the way up right,
1:04:16
Speaker 1: you could be in almost like a seated position with
1:04:18
Speaker 1: your knees against the tree. You could straddle the tree,
1:04:20
Speaker 1: you could side saddle, go around the tree with your knees.
1:04:23
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different ways to do it. Whatever
1:04:25
Speaker 1: you guys found to be the most comfortable ways to
1:04:27
Speaker 1: spend long hours in the tree. Yeah. For me. For me,
1:04:30
Speaker 1: it's because of my my back issues, things to get stiff.
1:04:34
Speaker 1: It's kind of all the above. I'm I'm changing positions constantly.
1:04:39
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm sitting more like John, and I'm kind of
1:04:41
Speaker 1: more sitting in the in the saddle, and then I'll
1:04:44
Speaker 1: adjust my to other or just the ropeman up a
1:04:48
Speaker 1: little higher so that I'm I'm more leaning and I'll
1:04:50
Speaker 1: put my knees kind of into the tree. Um, you know,
1:04:54
Speaker 1: sometimes I go to the side, um and just it
1:04:56
Speaker 1: just kind of depends. Um. But I'm I'm constantly adjusting.
1:04:59
Speaker 1: But it's nice about it. As opposed to a tree stand,
1:05:02
Speaker 1: it's it's all like it's all very slow, and it's
1:05:04
Speaker 1: all very minute, and and like you guys said, it
1:05:07
Speaker 1: makes a big difference. Where we're in a tree stand,
1:05:10
Speaker 1: I'm constantly standing and then and then sitting and you know,
1:05:13
Speaker 1: much more movement. But one thing I want to mention too,
1:05:16
Speaker 1: that was a big increasing comfort for me for like,
1:05:20
Speaker 1: for all days sits and stuff. That Predator platform made
1:05:23
Speaker 1: a huge difference in comfort for me. Um, the ring
1:05:26
Speaker 1: of steps. I did that for a lot of years
1:05:27
Speaker 1: and I still will do it. Um. But if I
1:05:30
Speaker 1: have a choice, UM, I go with the Predator platform,
1:05:34
Speaker 1: even though it is carrying a little more weight. Just
1:05:36
Speaker 1: for me personally, UM, it brings my legs together a
1:05:40
Speaker 1: little more so I don't have quite the hip pressure. Um.
1:05:42
Speaker 1: And it's just a little more comfortable on my feet.
1:05:44
Speaker 1: I think I have some pretty weak senset of feet
1:05:46
Speaker 1: or something, and I like that too. And you can
1:05:49
Speaker 1: every once in a while you want to just stand
1:05:50
Speaker 1: up like you're standing like a normal anywhere tree standard
1:05:53
Speaker 1: on the ground, and just having the ability to do
1:05:55
Speaker 1: that once in a while, it is really nice to
1:05:56
Speaker 1: be able to do a couple of times a day
1:05:58
Speaker 1: if you're all day setting or something. And sometimes you know,
1:06:01
Speaker 1: I'll stand up. The way the way we design the
1:06:04
Speaker 1: little Predator platform as we call it, like a pivot
1:06:06
Speaker 1: a pivot style platform, is I'll stand up on that
1:06:09
Speaker 1: thing pivot my feet around to where now my back
1:06:12
Speaker 1: is against the tree. My teather is coming over my
1:06:14
Speaker 1: shoulder and kind of pulling me back into the tree.
1:06:16
Speaker 1: And I'll just put my back against the tree sometimes
1:06:18
Speaker 1: and just stand there. And I'm also kind of like Andy,
1:06:23
Speaker 1: I'll use every single method during an all day sit.
1:06:28
Speaker 1: I'll stand, I'll lean, I'll sit side saddle, I'll straddle
1:06:32
Speaker 1: the tree. If the tree is not too big, I'll
1:06:34
Speaker 1: go around to the side and I'll put one knee
1:06:36
Speaker 1: into the tree and I'll sit that way. And it's
1:06:38
Speaker 1: kind of like what Andy mentioned about, You're making little
1:06:42
Speaker 1: adjustments slowly throughout the day to remain comfortable. So you know,
1:06:47
Speaker 1: if if I'm listening in my car driving to work
1:06:50
Speaker 1: and i hear that Greg just said, I'm gonna move
1:06:52
Speaker 1: around to this position, in that position, in this position,
1:06:54
Speaker 1: in that position, I'm thinking, oh, man, that's a lot
1:06:56
Speaker 1: of movement. Well, it's not because I'm doing it very slowly.
1:07:00
Speaker 1: I'm doing it very deliberately. I'm taking my time, I'm
1:07:03
Speaker 1: not making noise, and I'm doing it every thirty minutes,
1:07:07
Speaker 1: every hour, every hour and a half. Whenever I'm starting
1:07:11
Speaker 1: to get sore, I'll move a little, I'll just it
1:07:14
Speaker 1: And I'm like Andy said, I'm going slow, I'm paying attention,
1:07:17
Speaker 1: I'm being I'm being quiet, I'm looking around. I'm not
1:07:20
Speaker 1: just gonna go swinging around the tree. I will say, though,
1:07:24
Speaker 1: like if you are new, like this is your first
1:07:26
Speaker 1: year trying to saddle, pay attention to that because it
1:07:29
Speaker 1: is easy. It's so easy to move around, so easy,
1:07:32
Speaker 1: it's almost you could almost like I found myself a
1:07:33
Speaker 1: couple times, almost like I'm in a rocking chair. I'm
1:07:35
Speaker 1: not paying attention. I'm kind of just like comfortably and
1:07:37
Speaker 1: like whoa mark, you gotta pull yourself together here. So
1:07:41
Speaker 1: you're right, it's fun. It's fun to swing around, easy
1:07:44
Speaker 1: to swivel around and stuff. So do remember like, hey,
1:07:47
Speaker 1: you're right, Um, I am much more mobile than I
1:07:50
Speaker 1: would be in a tree stand, but you have to
1:07:52
Speaker 1: temper it with slowness, with the proper timing um, and
1:07:56
Speaker 1: so much of using a saddle, well, I'm from my
1:08:00
Speaker 1: small amount of experience, seems to be timing when you're
1:08:03
Speaker 1: getting position for the shot, timing when you make those readjustments.
1:08:06
Speaker 1: Timing a lot of the the flexibility of it is
1:08:11
Speaker 1: very dependent on how you utilize that flexibility. You can
1:08:13
Speaker 1: really you could screw yourself over a whole lot if
1:08:15
Speaker 1: you do it, you know, poorly timed. So I want
1:08:18
Speaker 1: to throw one thing in that andy. I'm like you,
1:08:20
Speaker 1: I move around all the time, probably twenty three times
1:08:23
Speaker 1: and then all day said. Um, but one thing, I
1:08:27
Speaker 1: definitely want to mention the new users if you're just
1:08:30
Speaker 1: something new, because I've seen lots of guys set up.
1:08:33
Speaker 1: But you know, during my workshops, I have people bring
1:08:35
Speaker 1: their saddles and they set up in them, and they
1:08:38
Speaker 1: always get new users always sit in a tree where
1:08:42
Speaker 1: they're they're back is beyond parallel to the tree trunk.
1:08:46
Speaker 1: In other words, their back is leaning backwards. And if
1:08:49
Speaker 1: you're sitting with no back support, if you don't have
1:08:52
Speaker 1: the back support that you guys were talking about a
1:08:54
Speaker 1: minute ago, and you're back is not parallel to the
1:08:59
Speaker 1: tree or four. If it's leaning backwards, you're gonna be
1:09:02
Speaker 1: uncomfortable very fast. If you don't have something supporting your back,
1:09:06
Speaker 1: you always want to be parallel to the trunk or
1:09:08
Speaker 1: leaning forward. And another thing is, um, you know you
1:09:13
Speaker 1: had mentioned some people like the saddle where it's up
1:09:15
Speaker 1: above their waist. If you have a saddle and it's
1:09:18
Speaker 1: up above your waist. What what that? That is kind
1:09:21
Speaker 1: of detrimental because what that does is it locks your
1:09:24
Speaker 1: upper body mobility into your lower body where you can't
1:09:28
Speaker 1: spin at the waist to shoot behind you. Once you
1:09:31
Speaker 1: bring something up into your lower back, it locks these
1:09:34
Speaker 1: two together, so you lose that ability to spin at
1:09:38
Speaker 1: the waist to shoot back behind you. Because because when
1:09:40
Speaker 1: you got that at belt level or below, you can
1:09:44
Speaker 1: spin around and you can easily shoot directly behind you
1:09:47
Speaker 1: ninety degrees, if not a hundred and twenty degrees. And
1:09:50
Speaker 1: as far as me, when I'm sitting in myself, my
1:09:51
Speaker 1: knees are bent probably three degrees. So I'm not like
1:09:56
Speaker 1: when I'm sitting in my saddle. I'm not like ninety
1:09:58
Speaker 1: degrees like you're sitting in a tree's in n ac
1:10:00
Speaker 1: My knees are only that like thirty degrees. One thing
1:10:04
Speaker 1: that hasn't been brought up yet is kneepads. I wear kneepads.
1:10:10
Speaker 1: I used to think I don't need them until the
1:10:12
Speaker 1: first hunt I used them. I won't go into those
1:10:15
Speaker 1: without them now. Um. I tend to find myself a
1:10:18
Speaker 1: lot of times with one knee on the tree, both
1:10:21
Speaker 1: feet on the platform, and my legs at like a
1:10:24
Speaker 1: forty five degree angle, So I'm kind of in the
1:10:25
Speaker 1: middle between leaning and sitting. I don't sit flat like
1:10:29
Speaker 1: you would sit at a ninety degree in a deep squat,
1:10:32
Speaker 1: so I'm kind of a hybrid between the two. I'm leaning,
1:10:34
Speaker 1: but I'm also kind of into the tree with one
1:10:36
Speaker 1: knee for support, and that also, you know, I we
1:10:40
Speaker 1: all try and set up so that I have to
1:10:42
Speaker 1: move as little as possible for the premier shot that
1:10:45
Speaker 1: I'm looking for. And when I'm in that position, I've
1:10:48
Speaker 1: got one knee on the tree, two ft on the platform,
1:10:50
Speaker 1: and a rope at my hips. It's hard to get
1:10:52
Speaker 1: much more stable than that for my setup. A couple
1:10:56
Speaker 1: of questions on On last questions and comfort, there's the common,
1:11:01
Speaker 1: somewhat common question of hip pinching. That's the thing that
1:11:05
Speaker 1: pass people with past saddles had concerns with. People. Wonder,
1:11:09
Speaker 1: you've got these two ropes pulling off either side of
1:11:11
Speaker 1: your hip, so you've got this pressure point right there,
1:11:13
Speaker 1: your hip points kind of Um, is there anything you
1:11:17
Speaker 1: guys recommend to avoid that, whether it be how you
1:11:19
Speaker 1: adjust your saddle or what you wear or has a
1:11:22
Speaker 1: lot to do. It's coming from. Yeah, you guys can
1:11:25
Speaker 1: probably address that for future reference. Yeah, bridge links definitely one. Uh.
1:11:31
Speaker 1: Saddle sizing. You know, if you don't have the right
1:11:33
Speaker 1: size for your particular body shape, Um, your tether height. Um.
1:11:39
Speaker 1: The higher your tether is, the steeper that tethered angle is,
1:11:44
Speaker 1: the more it's gonna feel like it's pulling up. And
1:11:46
Speaker 1: the more pressure you're gonna feel on the top of
1:11:48
Speaker 1: that saddle, the more you're gonna have stuff around your hips,
1:11:50
Speaker 1: the lower it is, and the more flat you can
1:11:53
Speaker 1: get that angle, I mean to a point, right, you
1:11:55
Speaker 1: don't want it horizontal, but UM to a point. Now,
1:11:58
Speaker 1: instead of all your weight being in the saddle, you're
1:12:03
Speaker 1: spreading some of that weight to your feet and it
1:12:05
Speaker 1: allows you the saddle is now pulling you towards the
1:12:09
Speaker 1: tree instead of pulling you up the tree. And that
1:12:11
Speaker 1: makes a big difference. That does make a big difference.
1:12:13
Speaker 1: And and let me those are all really good points
1:12:17
Speaker 1: to consider, but there's another way to look at that
1:12:20
Speaker 1: problem too. So imagine if if you went out and
1:12:24
Speaker 1: you hung your tree stand and it's the first first
1:12:28
Speaker 1: weekend of deer season, you haven't been in a tree
1:12:30
Speaker 1: in in a year essentially, and you went out and
1:12:33
Speaker 1: you tried to sit all day long, you would be
1:12:36
Speaker 1: so incredibly uncomfortable. Now fast forward a month and a
1:12:40
Speaker 1: half into the season. Now you can sit all day
1:12:43
Speaker 1: because your body has gotten accustomed to sitting in that
1:12:47
Speaker 1: tree stand and being still and being silent and focusing
1:12:51
Speaker 1: on your surroundings. It's the same thing with a saddle setup.
1:12:55
Speaker 1: I like to call it saddle shape because it takes
1:12:58
Speaker 1: your body just a little while to get used to
1:13:01
Speaker 1: the different geometry and the different physics. It's different to
1:13:06
Speaker 1: go from a tree stand where you're sitting on a
1:13:08
Speaker 1: metal seat versus being essentially suspended and hanging from a rope.
1:13:13
Speaker 1: The geometry is just different. The physics, it's just different.
1:13:15
Speaker 1: It's just gonna put pressure, support, whatever you wanna call it,
1:13:20
Speaker 1: in different regions of your body. I call it saddle shape.
1:13:25
Speaker 1: You gotta get your body used to it. Your hips
1:13:27
Speaker 1: gotta get used to it. Um When I go out
1:13:30
Speaker 1: and I hunt the first time in September, my hips
1:13:33
Speaker 1: are gonna hurt a little bit. And I've been saddle
1:13:35
Speaker 1: hunting for ten years. It's just because I gotta get
1:13:38
Speaker 1: used to it again, So don't don't overthink it. Sometimes
1:13:42
Speaker 1: if you're if you're new to a saddle and it's
1:13:45
Speaker 1: hurting in the backyard and your hips are getting a
1:13:47
Speaker 1: little tender, well that's normal. You know, as you get
1:13:50
Speaker 1: used to it and you start to figure it out more,
1:13:52
Speaker 1: you're gonna get it's gonna get better. Um, if it's unbearable,
1:13:56
Speaker 1: that's a different thing. Now you're probably looking at you know,
1:13:59
Speaker 1: do you have the wrong side eyes? And my tying
1:14:00
Speaker 1: in wrong? Am I wearing it way too high? Help
1:14:03
Speaker 1: above my belt? Is that uncomfortable? But if it's just
1:14:06
Speaker 1: a little uncomfortable, your hips are a little tender, a
1:14:08
Speaker 1: little sore, that might be normal, and it might just
1:14:10
Speaker 1: be that it's different. Genlemetree. You gotta get used to it,
1:14:13
Speaker 1: and you gotta get your body in saddle shape a
1:14:15
Speaker 1: little bit. The pressure, the pressure hits somewhere just even
1:14:18
Speaker 1: on a tree stand, like on your on your sitz bone.
1:14:22
Speaker 1: You know, after a while, it's like they'll start to
1:14:24
Speaker 1: get sore, and you you relieve it, You adjust, you stand,
1:14:28
Speaker 1: you you do what you need to do to kind
1:14:30
Speaker 1: of relieve that pressure. But when then in the saddle,
1:14:32
Speaker 1: it's really easy to do that by just making some microadjustments.
1:14:35
Speaker 1: You just change that pressure a little bit and it
1:14:37
Speaker 1: takes like next to no movement. But going back off
1:14:40
Speaker 1: the hip pinch thing, one thing that really helped me. Um.
1:14:44
Speaker 1: So when I used when I use a ring of steps, um,
1:14:47
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of uncomfortable on my feet. So what
1:14:50
Speaker 1: I tend to not put as much weight on my
1:14:52
Speaker 1: feet and put more weight into the saddle sitting. And
1:14:55
Speaker 1: when I do that, UM, I usually will straddle the tree,
1:15:00
Speaker 1: which you know, brings my legs out wider, which kind
1:15:02
Speaker 1: of makes the saddle I guess more dig into the
1:15:05
Speaker 1: side of my leg. Some people can handle it, it's
1:15:08
Speaker 1: not a big deal for me. It hits like a
1:15:11
Speaker 1: nerve and it will kind of make my legs go
1:15:13
Speaker 1: to sleep sometimes. So UM, when I have the choice,
1:15:17
Speaker 1: I prefer that platform. That made a huge difference in
1:15:20
Speaker 1: comfort to me, not only the bottom of my feet
1:15:23
Speaker 1: but just having my legs together. That that pinch that
1:15:25
Speaker 1: I was getting on the bottom of the saddle is
1:15:27
Speaker 1: like all but eliminated, you know, So that that right
1:15:30
Speaker 1: there for me. Um from a guy that struggled with
1:15:33
Speaker 1: hip pinch, that pretty much solved it. Yeah, I did.
1:15:37
Speaker 1: I did find that the platform for me too made
1:15:40
Speaker 1: it more comfortable. And I would say another thing back
1:15:43
Speaker 1: the platform. If you're coming from a tree stand hunting
1:15:46
Speaker 1: background and you're trying to go to a saddle, that's
1:15:49
Speaker 1: a really nice transition. Yeah you're comfort let's go. Okay,
1:15:53
Speaker 1: I understand what this. This is much smaller version than
1:15:55
Speaker 1: what I'm used to, but I can wrap my head
1:15:57
Speaker 1: around this. You stand on that, there's a certain comfort
1:15:59
Speaker 1: and you end stand up every once in a while
1:16:01
Speaker 1: and get repositioned. There was only one hunt all of
1:16:04
Speaker 1: last year that I was uncomfortable in my tree saddle,
1:16:07
Speaker 1: and it was an all day sit. And with your
1:16:10
Speaker 1: wife in the tree no no, sorry, thank goodness too,
1:16:16
Speaker 1: she would have been really mad with me. Um, I
1:16:19
Speaker 1: forgot my platform. I saw I had what I had,
1:16:22
Speaker 1: like I think, I had two random screwings I found
1:16:26
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the backpack. And I was with
1:16:28
Speaker 1: a cameraman and and the cameraman had to be on
1:16:31
Speaker 1: one side of the tree, and so I had to
1:16:33
Speaker 1: be in a tree that was leaning back towards me.
1:16:36
Speaker 1: The tree was leaning back. I had no platform, So
1:16:38
Speaker 1: I got one ft on a tree kind of one
1:16:40
Speaker 1: half feet on tree pegs leaning back, and it was
1:16:43
Speaker 1: an all day sit in the run. And yes, so
1:16:45
Speaker 1: I could never and I could never get stood up
1:16:47
Speaker 1: to readjust and ever, once in a while, I know
1:16:49
Speaker 1: I talked to you, I was trying to figure out
1:16:50
Speaker 1: how to properly adjust my hips still to get the
1:16:53
Speaker 1: weight coming out at the right angle, and that point
1:16:55
Speaker 1: I wasn't quite getting it right, so I kept on
1:16:57
Speaker 1: winding to readjust where my saddle was on mys But
1:17:00
Speaker 1: you can never stand up enough to get the pressure
1:17:02
Speaker 1: off just and so ever since then, I just said,
1:17:05
Speaker 1: you cannot, at least for if you're gonna be in
1:17:08
Speaker 1: wonky trees like that. The platform is really nice to have. Yeah,
1:17:11
Speaker 1: that was a recipe for disas. Yes it was a
1:17:13
Speaker 1: just a bad set up. Um. But this brings to
1:17:16
Speaker 1: mind another thing that I get a lot of questions about,
1:17:18
Speaker 1: and I have I had some preconceived notions, but I
1:17:21
Speaker 1: don't know. After you guys have talked to so many
1:17:23
Speaker 1: of the people, what about bigger men and women? Can
1:17:28
Speaker 1: settles work for really large people? I mean when I
1:17:31
Speaker 1: said really large, I don't know, but I mean I've
1:17:33
Speaker 1: talked tall guys and girls. Have you talking about in particularly.
1:17:37
Speaker 1: But but I mean, but someone listening might think, uh,
1:17:41
Speaker 1: is this gonna work for my shape and style and size?
1:17:44
Speaker 1: Do you have you guys talked to people and finally, hey,
1:17:46
Speaker 1: you know people over seven foot this isn't for you
1:17:48
Speaker 1: or people over I mean, is there any kind of
1:17:53
Speaker 1: have you heard any feedback the guys that were three
1:17:56
Speaker 1: or fifty pounds using it back in the old trophy
1:17:59
Speaker 1: line base, and they had It's basically comes to your
1:18:01
Speaker 1: ability to climb to the heights to use it, because
1:18:04
Speaker 1: it's gonna be just as comfortable as a sitting in
1:18:07
Speaker 1: a drestand for sure. It's you're just gonna have a
1:18:10
Speaker 1: bigger seat, that's all. What are you guys seen from
1:18:14
Speaker 1: the manufacturing side working with customers? Well, Taylor, look how
1:18:19
Speaker 1: big Taylor is. Taylor is a big guy, three h
1:18:21
Speaker 1: pounds and Taylor's like probably pushing four hundred pounds. He's
1:18:26
Speaker 1: he's a giant. Kidding Taylor. We love Taylor, Ernie, I mean,
1:18:32
Speaker 1: what do you think? Yeah, I mean it really at
1:18:36
Speaker 1: that point, it's just a matter of finding a saddle
1:18:39
Speaker 1: that's big enough for you. Um, the materials will hold
1:18:43
Speaker 1: it and if you can find one that's sized right,
1:18:47
Speaker 1: so that it'll that it will match your body size
1:18:51
Speaker 1: and whatever else. Um. And then it's you know when
1:18:54
Speaker 1: you try and say it's like a weight limit, well,
1:18:57
Speaker 1: I mean, are you three hundred pounds and four ft
1:19:00
Speaker 1: taller three pounds in six six right? That those are
1:19:03
Speaker 1: very two different body shapes. Um. You know, so it's
1:19:07
Speaker 1: a matter of what kind of fits your profile. But
1:19:10
Speaker 1: I've seen some really big guys. Uh. There was there
1:19:14
Speaker 1: was a guy and I don't know his name, but
1:19:15
Speaker 1: he showed up at the showdown and I believe it
1:19:20
Speaker 1: was Birmingham. Where that dude in Birmingham. I do remember
1:19:23
Speaker 1: that dude in Birmingham. He was that big, was that memorable? Yeah, yeah, know,
1:19:28
Speaker 1: he was a big dude. I'm gonna I'm gonna say
1:19:30
Speaker 1: he was. He was three. He was three and a half.
1:19:32
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say he was. He was three and a half.
1:19:34
Speaker 1: Like if you were fishing, you would amounted him. And
1:19:39
Speaker 1: he was a big dude. He was a big dude. Yeah,
1:19:41
Speaker 1: good for him. And he was rocking it. Yeah, I
1:19:44
Speaker 1: mean he he got up in in our saddle and uh,
1:19:46
Speaker 1: you know, he had tried on a few different brands
1:19:48
Speaker 1: and whatever else and I'm sure all of them felt
1:19:51
Speaker 1: like the knees on him, but it's like, uh, you know,
1:19:55
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of what works for each guy. Yeah, yeah,
1:19:57
Speaker 1: probably a comfort just every each in vidual is going
1:20:00
Speaker 1: to have a different comfort level with things like that,
1:20:02
Speaker 1: and it's worth trying them on. But I you know,
1:20:05
Speaker 1: John kind of mentioned this, But at the same time,
1:20:10
Speaker 1: a three fifty pound guy is not sitting on a
1:20:13
Speaker 1: on a tiny ultra light tree stand either. I mean,
1:20:16
Speaker 1: that's gonna be so incredibly uncomfortable, but you can do it.
1:20:20
Speaker 1: I mean, it's all a matter of Ernie hit the
1:20:23
Speaker 1: nail on the head of figuring out what size works
1:20:25
Speaker 1: for you and and putting some time into making it work. Yeah,
1:20:29
Speaker 1: and probably the the ascent, the method of ascension is
1:20:32
Speaker 1: a big one. To how comfortable do you feel doing
1:20:35
Speaker 1: a mobile running down with sticks or timing of tree
1:20:38
Speaker 1: pegs or whatever means you choose to do. That might
1:20:40
Speaker 1: be a factor to think about as well. And I
1:20:42
Speaker 1: would think stereotypically, you're bigger guys like the feel of
1:20:48
Speaker 1: a ladder, you know, a ladder, so because they they've
1:20:51
Speaker 1: got that nice structure that they can grab onto and
1:20:54
Speaker 1: it's you're not as concerned about foot placement on your
1:20:57
Speaker 1: way up the tree. You've got a big wrong to
1:20:58
Speaker 1: work on. And then when you get there, the seat
1:21:01
Speaker 1: is big, you've got room to sit in. So I mean,
1:21:04
Speaker 1: although we tell everybody to get in the saddle, I
1:21:07
Speaker 1: think some people just feel a lot more comfortable having
1:21:11
Speaker 1: a different type of a structure to work with. You know,
1:21:13
Speaker 1: the biggest guy that I know of that that has
1:21:17
Speaker 1: sat in this when we first launched a guy a
1:21:21
Speaker 1: fellow reached out. There was a professional wrestler. I don't
1:21:23
Speaker 1: remember w c W or WWF, but his name was
1:21:26
Speaker 1: Braun Stroman. And he's like he's he's massive. He's like
1:21:32
Speaker 1: six six three seventy. He wanted us to make but
1:21:38
Speaker 1: we ended up sending him an extra large and it
1:21:41
Speaker 1: was it was snug on him, but he but he
1:21:43
Speaker 1: made it work. Um and uh, I mean I can't
1:21:47
Speaker 1: imagine many people that big being willing to climb a
1:21:49
Speaker 1: tree to but uh, yeah, that's a big like a Brocker,
1:21:54
Speaker 1: like a brock Lesner. He makes er look like a
1:21:57
Speaker 1: little kid. Just see him standing next to each other
1:22:00
Speaker 1: and photos and and he makes Brock look tiny. It's
1:22:04
Speaker 1: like Greg standing next to Andy at that point it's
1:22:06
Speaker 1: like it's that extreme. So so we're safely up in
1:22:17
Speaker 1: a tree. We've got the right gear, we're feeling comfortable,
1:22:20
Speaker 1: we've took our nap uh, all the things you need
1:22:23
Speaker 1: to do. You've adjusted in the tree with as there's
1:22:26
Speaker 1: deer moving past. You're always hidding. You're seven eight nine
1:22:31
Speaker 1: hours into your all day. Sit man, this is a
1:22:33
Speaker 1: perfect hunt. It yet perfect. We just need one sixty
1:22:38
Speaker 1: to come by. Now. It's it's five fifteen in the evening.
1:22:42
Speaker 1: The sun's heading towards the horizon. The wind's sword as
1:22:45
Speaker 1: starting to die down. Where you really are here in
1:22:48
Speaker 1: the birds chirping again, and you hear the leaves crispin
1:22:51
Speaker 1: and crunching again. Got to be a writer. I got
1:22:54
Speaker 1: looking that I will work. This is all right, we're
1:23:06
Speaker 1: almost of the climax now. And then you hear that
1:23:11
Speaker 1: twig snap, and then that you perk up. But then
1:23:15
Speaker 1: there was always that second where is it a squirrel
1:23:17
Speaker 1: or is it a deer? And then you hear it again,
1:23:19
Speaker 1: or you hear the right cadence of the steps, and
1:23:21
Speaker 1: when you said, okay, yeah that's actually a deer. Now
1:23:25
Speaker 1: you're thinking bucker dough. You slowly turn your head. You
1:23:28
Speaker 1: see it's a buck. You see it's a mature shooter buck.
1:23:31
Speaker 1: You're going to try to get a shot this, dear.
1:23:33
Speaker 1: I want to know what is going through each of
1:23:36
Speaker 1: your guys minds and what process you go through to
1:23:39
Speaker 1: set yourself up for a shot in the saddle. Now,
1:23:44
Speaker 1: maybe each of you can describe a slightly different scenare
1:23:47
Speaker 1: of how that deer is coming in or what you
1:23:48
Speaker 1: would imagine. But I'm interested to hear how you what
1:23:52
Speaker 1: you're doing the tree because a little bit different than
1:23:54
Speaker 1: when if you're just sitting in a tree stand. Um,
1:23:57
Speaker 1: maybe John, you want to lead us off with how
1:23:59
Speaker 1: what what you're doing, what you're thinking about, how you
1:24:02
Speaker 1: properly get a good shot out of the saddle. The
1:24:04
Speaker 1: first thing is going to be where am I hunting.
1:24:07
Speaker 1: If I'm in a bedding area where he could turn
1:24:08
Speaker 1: and go any direction, I'm just gonna keep watching until
1:24:12
Speaker 1: I know he's going to make a movement to a
1:24:14
Speaker 1: direction where I may need to move. If I'm at
1:24:16
Speaker 1: a destination location, like at a primary scrape area, where
1:24:20
Speaker 1: I know he's going to come into the primary scrape area,
1:24:22
Speaker 1: I'm probably already set up for that shot because I
1:24:25
Speaker 1: set up to shoot to that primary scrape area. So
1:24:28
Speaker 1: it totally depends on the location. But let's just say,
1:24:31
Speaker 1: carte blanche, I see a buck and he's coming through
1:24:33
Speaker 1: the timber, through the swamp or whatever. You know, my
1:24:37
Speaker 1: first mindset is, Okay, where do you think your opportunity
1:24:40
Speaker 1: shot is going to be with the way he's moving
1:24:43
Speaker 1: in the direction he's heading. And then I may at
1:24:46
Speaker 1: that point, you know, well, before he gets close to me,
1:24:49
Speaker 1: I may move into position for that because it's always
1:24:53
Speaker 1: best to move into position as soon as you can
1:24:56
Speaker 1: so that you're not making any movements when they're closer in.
1:25:00
Speaker 1: Then if I need to move and make an adjustment
1:25:02
Speaker 1: as he gets closer and he's going to be in
1:25:04
Speaker 1: a different spot than what I assumed, then I will
1:25:06
Speaker 1: make that adjustment. But I'm always keeping my body behind
1:25:09
Speaker 1: the tree because it's so simple when you keep your
1:25:13
Speaker 1: body behind the tree to just just barely lean out
1:25:16
Speaker 1: to the side and take that shot. So it's always
1:25:19
Speaker 1: it's always keeping my body profile so he can't visually
1:25:22
Speaker 1: pick me, because that's a big big deal in the
1:25:24
Speaker 1: state I live in. And then just trying to figure
1:25:28
Speaker 1: out where he's actually going to end up where you're
1:25:30
Speaker 1: gonna get your shot and being in position for that shot.
1:25:33
Speaker 1: And it's kind of akin to the You'll have two
1:25:37
Speaker 1: decisions like this when I'm hunting from a tree stand
1:25:40
Speaker 1: usually you've got the decision of this depends on person.
1:25:43
Speaker 1: But do you want to be seated or standing? So
1:25:45
Speaker 1: a lots of times I'll stand if I'm in a tree,
1:25:47
Speaker 1: stand like to take the shot from standing positions. So
1:25:50
Speaker 1: I'll understand at this point this buck is far enough away,
1:25:53
Speaker 1: or at this point the bucks behind this cluster of trees,
1:25:55
Speaker 1: I can make my movements and then I stand, or
1:25:57
Speaker 1: if I'm a set okay, this is when I will
1:25:58
Speaker 1: adjust lightly to my shooting position. And then you've got
1:26:02
Speaker 1: that next decision of movement, which is when do you
1:26:04
Speaker 1: draw your boat? And that's gonna be something I have
1:26:06
Speaker 1: to think about regardless of what you're hunting from. Um, Andy,
1:26:09
Speaker 1: is there anything else going through your mind? Um? Are
1:26:12
Speaker 1: you or what about feet position? What about what's the
1:26:15
Speaker 1: ideal shooting position? Like should you be niece to the tree,
1:26:18
Speaker 1: should you be standing up more fully leaned back? We
1:26:20
Speaker 1: talked about all these different positions for comfort throughout the day,
1:26:23
Speaker 1: what's the ideal position for the shot? Go ahead? And yeah,
1:26:28
Speaker 1: I think first of all, I think, you know, I
1:26:30
Speaker 1: have nothing really to add. What about what you said
1:26:33
Speaker 1: about as far as what to think about when a
1:26:35
Speaker 1: deer's coming. I mean that's pretty much spot on, I think. Um.
1:26:38
Speaker 1: One thing, um, you know, shooting position. Um, obviously you
1:26:43
Speaker 1: know you got your your your kind of go to shots.
1:26:46
Speaker 1: You know, uh, straight to your left, Um, it's easy
1:26:49
Speaker 1: to make the shot. Like John said that you know
1:26:51
Speaker 1: kind of in front of the tree where you just
1:26:53
Speaker 1: kind of peek around just a little bit, and even
1:26:55
Speaker 1: straight behind you is a really easy shot. Um, if
1:26:58
Speaker 1: you're gonna go to your week's Um, that's always been
1:27:02
Speaker 1: uh a little more of a difficult shot for me. Um,
1:27:06
Speaker 1: you can you know, go around the tree, kind of
1:27:09
Speaker 1: go around the radius and and come from the backside
1:27:12
Speaker 1: and get to a certain point. Um. And now with
1:27:15
Speaker 1: the with the platform, it's you know what I like
1:27:17
Speaker 1: about that is that I can just kind of stand
1:27:19
Speaker 1: up on the platform and just kind of pivot bring
1:27:22
Speaker 1: my bowl over and it makes for me personally, it
1:27:24
Speaker 1: makes that shot much more easy. Um. But one thing
1:27:28
Speaker 1: I like about a lot of guys worry about shooting
1:27:30
Speaker 1: from the saddle. Um, I actually shoot really well from
1:27:34
Speaker 1: the saddle, and I think, you know it's because, UM
1:27:38
Speaker 1: usually when I'm when I'm about to make that shot,
1:27:40
Speaker 1: I try to, you know, if at all possible, kind
1:27:43
Speaker 1: of try to suck my knees into the tree and
1:27:46
Speaker 1: try to get more of a like a like a
1:27:48
Speaker 1: wider base. So I feel like I'm explain that when
1:27:52
Speaker 1: you say suck your knees of the tree, I try
1:27:54
Speaker 1: to make as much contact with the tree as possible
1:27:58
Speaker 1: up against the tree or maybe even slightly stri eddling. UM.
1:28:01
Speaker 1: So what that does for me, it gives me a
1:28:04
Speaker 1: more solid platform. You know, I don't feel like I'm
1:28:07
Speaker 1: trying to maintain balance from my feet all the way up.
1:28:12
Speaker 1: It's from my knees or maybe even like the inside
1:28:14
Speaker 1: of my thighs up. So it's much much less to
1:28:18
Speaker 1: um to stabilize. I feel more grounded to a point.
1:28:22
Speaker 1: And then another thing, UM two is is kind of
1:28:25
Speaker 1: when you're you're you know, at least in most angles
1:28:28
Speaker 1: or a lot of angles, when you're kind of hanging
1:28:30
Speaker 1: off the side of the tree. It puts you in
1:28:33
Speaker 1: that perfect t position. You know, for a lot of
1:28:36
Speaker 1: shots like that's really important, you know, as a bow
1:28:39
Speaker 1: hunter to try to maintain that position, especially if you're gonna,
1:28:43
Speaker 1: you know, if you're gonna try to take a shot
1:28:44
Speaker 1: out past you know, five yards. Those are long shots
1:28:49
Speaker 1: with a bow. You know, that stuff becomes super important
1:28:52
Speaker 1: and and a lot of times in that tree sattle,
1:28:54
Speaker 1: it just kind of locks you into that position because
1:28:57
Speaker 1: your hips are are supported by the saddle. And yeah,
1:29:00
Speaker 1: you got those examples where the deer comes in lower
1:29:02
Speaker 1: where you have to kind of, you know, compromise for
1:29:05
Speaker 1: him a little bit. But you know, I'm, like John said,
1:29:07
Speaker 1: I'm trying to I'm starting to to to kind of
1:29:09
Speaker 1: ease into the position as I see the deer coming.
1:29:13
Speaker 1: I'm trying to anticipate the whole where this is all
1:29:15
Speaker 1: going to happen. So I'm trying to do that as
1:29:17
Speaker 1: soon as possible and not while he's standing there or
1:29:20
Speaker 1: closer to the tree. Do you so, based off what
1:29:25
Speaker 1: you said, would you take just as long of a
1:29:27
Speaker 1: shot from tree saddle as you would take from a
1:29:29
Speaker 1: tree Standar Grumblin? Yeah, Um, I mean for me, I
1:29:37
Speaker 1: feel just as comfortable taking any length of shot out
1:29:40
Speaker 1: of the tree stand. It's all going to come down
1:29:42
Speaker 1: to the conditions of the weather, the deer's alert level,
1:29:46
Speaker 1: what I'm feeling comfortable with, you know at the time,
1:29:49
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But I'm I've practiced out of
1:29:51
Speaker 1: it just as long as I have just shooting in
1:29:53
Speaker 1: my flip flops in the in the backyard, and I
1:29:56
Speaker 1: can shoot just as accurately out of it. Do you
1:29:58
Speaker 1: think that wind impact accuracy more from a tree settle
1:30:03
Speaker 1: or the same versus a tree stand? Um, wind as
1:30:08
Speaker 1: far as uh, like, if it's a really windy day.
1:30:13
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just imagining like someone listening is going
1:30:16
Speaker 1: to think, oh, well, if I'm hanging from a rope,
1:30:18
Speaker 1: will I be moving in the tree more than I
1:30:19
Speaker 1: would have a tree stand. You're anchored in at least
1:30:22
Speaker 1: by your feet, if not more. Yeah, you can actually
1:30:25
Speaker 1: anchor and you know, kind of closer to you know,
1:30:28
Speaker 1: you know, the midline of your body or closer to
1:30:30
Speaker 1: the bow, you can you can kind of you can
1:30:33
Speaker 1: actually like shorten you know, that length from you know,
1:30:37
Speaker 1: if your feet to the bow at a normal tree stand,
1:30:39
Speaker 1: if you're standing two you know, your knees or the
1:30:43
Speaker 1: inside of your thighs, you can you can kind of
1:30:45
Speaker 1: really get tight to that tree and kind of use
1:30:47
Speaker 1: that more as as support. Now, I mean it's just
1:30:49
Speaker 1: like a tree stand. If it's blowing and your trees
1:30:51
Speaker 1: blown like this, Yeah, you know that that stuff is
1:30:53
Speaker 1: can affect you either way. But yeah, my favorite position
1:30:58
Speaker 1: to shoot from is with my knees into the tree
1:31:01
Speaker 1: at least one. I love to put a knee into
1:31:04
Speaker 1: the tree and then and so I'm supported with two
1:31:08
Speaker 1: ft my hips and a knee. That's my favorite way
1:31:11
Speaker 1: to do it. Um. But kind of getting back to
1:31:14
Speaker 1: what you talked about a minute ago about what goes
1:31:17
Speaker 1: through your head, So I think it's important to bring
1:31:20
Speaker 1: up like John really hit the nail on the head
1:31:22
Speaker 1: with describing the scenarios. But you gotta keep in mind
1:31:26
Speaker 1: also that in a in a traditional tree stand, you
1:31:30
Speaker 1: can't shoot behind you because the trees there. So you
1:31:32
Speaker 1: you've got I don't know a hundred eighty degrees that
1:31:35
Speaker 1: you can shoot in a traditional tree stand, maybe slightly more,
1:31:37
Speaker 1: but uh um, you can't shoot behind you in most scenarios.
1:31:42
Speaker 1: So in a in a saddle set up, let's I
1:31:44
Speaker 1: like to talk about it from the perspective of a clock.
1:31:47
Speaker 1: So if the trees at twelve o'clock directly in front
1:31:50
Speaker 1: of me. Six o'clock is to my back in a
1:31:52
Speaker 1: saddle set up, when I hear a deer coming from
1:31:56
Speaker 1: noon or one o'clock rotated counterclockwise back to nine all
1:32:02
Speaker 1: the way back to six six o'clock, so eighty degrees
1:32:06
Speaker 1: right there slightly more is a absolute piece of cake.
1:32:10
Speaker 1: That's the shot that I'm setting up for. That's the
1:32:13
Speaker 1: one that I that's the position I want the deer
1:32:15
Speaker 1: to come to. One of those positions on the clock
1:32:18
Speaker 1: from one o'clock to six o'clock where it comes becomes
1:32:21
Speaker 1: problematic and you have to start thinking when you hear
1:32:24
Speaker 1: those footsteps coming is if they're coming from the opposite
1:32:26
Speaker 1: way what Andy said is the weak side, which is
1:32:30
Speaker 1: from one o'clock down clockwise to about six o'clock. That's
1:32:35
Speaker 1: what the saddle hunting community would call the weak side.
1:32:37
Speaker 1: And there's a few different ways you can you can
1:32:40
Speaker 1: execute that shot. John would probably walk around to the
1:32:43
Speaker 1: top side of the tree and shoot it, or he'd
1:32:45
Speaker 1: kind of probably walk around backwards and then spin around
1:32:48
Speaker 1: counterclockwise to make that shot. So that's what I'm thinking
1:32:52
Speaker 1: when when I hear that deer coming is which direction
1:32:55
Speaker 1: is he coming from? Because if he's coming from or
1:32:58
Speaker 1: coming from my weak side where I'm not prepared, I'm
1:33:01
Speaker 1: going into. Okay, which method am I going to used
1:33:04
Speaker 1: to spin around to shoot that deer? Because in a
1:33:06
Speaker 1: tree stand I wouldn't be able to make that shot,
1:33:08
Speaker 1: but in a in a saddle I can make it.
1:33:10
Speaker 1: I just gotta figure out the most efficient way, the
1:33:13
Speaker 1: most efficient movement to do that, and hopefully that makes sense.
1:33:16
Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to talk through without being able
1:33:18
Speaker 1: to visualize it, but a clock kind of makes the
1:33:20
Speaker 1: most sense for me. Can I throw something in on that?
1:33:23
Speaker 1: And typically if I'm gonna because I I don't believe
1:33:26
Speaker 1: in taking a week shot, I think that's a ridiculous
1:33:27
Speaker 1: shot to take. I've taken one, you know, my thirty
1:33:30
Speaker 1: eight years of saddle hunting, and it was something where
1:33:33
Speaker 1: there was a big ten point chasing a doll and
1:33:35
Speaker 1: he stopped six yards right directly to my right and
1:33:39
Speaker 1: I'm right handed, so I had no option. I didn't
1:33:42
Speaker 1: have time to move around the tree to lift my
1:33:44
Speaker 1: bowl over and take that shot, and unfortunately I did it.
1:33:46
Speaker 1: But that's the only time I've ever taken that shot.
1:33:48
Speaker 1: But typically if I see something and it's gonna come
1:33:51
Speaker 1: to my weak side, which is gonna be my right
1:33:53
Speaker 1: side as a right hander, you know, I'll move around
1:33:56
Speaker 1: to my left typically if I have time, because once
1:33:59
Speaker 1: I move around to my left, now I still have
1:34:01
Speaker 1: the tree as a blocker between the deer. The deer
1:34:04
Speaker 1: and me. So deer's typically coming from like let's say
1:34:07
Speaker 1: five or four o'clock, and you are now as again
1:34:11
Speaker 1: as as the tree is our twelve o'clock, you are
1:34:13
Speaker 1: stepping around your twelve o'clock from your six, and you're
1:34:17
Speaker 1: stepping around clockwise direction around the tree, swiveling around the
1:34:21
Speaker 1: tree up to twelve, and then that three or four
1:34:24
Speaker 1: o'clock becomes a doable shot. Yeah, and I'm keeping the
1:34:27
Speaker 1: tree trunk. I still have the tree trunk to hide
1:34:29
Speaker 1: behind while he's still moving forward once I've made that move,
1:34:32
Speaker 1: because if he's moving forward and coming in from like said,
1:34:36
Speaker 1: say five o'clock, if I move around to my left
1:34:40
Speaker 1: or to my right, I'm sorry. If I move around
1:34:42
Speaker 1: to my three o'clock, then basically my whole body is
1:34:47
Speaker 1: going to be exposed to make in the drawing movement
1:34:49
Speaker 1: when he's within shooting distance. Whereas if I swing around
1:34:52
Speaker 1: at the twelve o'clock, my body is not going to
1:34:55
Speaker 1: be exposed. It's gonna behind the tree, and I just
1:34:56
Speaker 1: lean out to the side and take the shot. Do
1:34:58
Speaker 1: you need to adjust your tether or your your ropeman
1:35:02
Speaker 1: or your prusick not at all, or think about your
1:35:04
Speaker 1: tether when trying to make that dramatic of a move
1:35:07
Speaker 1: around the tree. I'll let anythink that one. I think
1:35:09
Speaker 1: it depends on the size of the tree. Exactly diameter
1:35:12
Speaker 1: of the tree. If it's I try to hunt in
1:35:14
Speaker 1: a tree that's gonna be basketball size or smaller at
1:35:18
Speaker 1: hunting height, and in that situation, I don't have to
1:35:23
Speaker 1: adjust anything. If you start getting into a really big tree, obviously,
1:35:27
Speaker 1: as you circle around the tree, the circumference of the
1:35:29
Speaker 1: tree starts eating up more rope and that's where things
1:35:33
Speaker 1: get problematic. And so it really depends on the size
1:35:35
Speaker 1: of the tree. Yeah, and and John and I were
1:35:38
Speaker 1: actually saying the same thing. If the deer comes in
1:35:40
Speaker 1: at at four o'clock or five o'clock, my we call
1:35:45
Speaker 1: it the weak side because it's hard to make that shot.
1:35:47
Speaker 1: But what my mind goes into is, Okay, what movement
1:35:50
Speaker 1: do I have to execute right now to turn that
1:35:52
Speaker 1: into a strong side shot. I've got it. John would
1:35:55
Speaker 1: walk around the top side of the tree to keep
1:35:59
Speaker 1: the tree in between him in the deer because he's
1:36:01
Speaker 1: hunting on a ring of steps around the tree. When
1:36:04
Speaker 1: I hunt from a platform, what I would do is
1:36:06
Speaker 1: I would stand up, turn around, and then basically I
1:36:10
Speaker 1: would be like shooting from a tree. Stand yeah, because
1:36:13
Speaker 1: I would be standing on my little platform, and then
1:36:14
Speaker 1: I would shoot at that. You can almost sometimes while
1:36:17
Speaker 1: in your leaned back position, just swiveling a whole hell
1:36:21
Speaker 1: of a lot. Absolutely shoot to four o'clock. The first
1:36:25
Speaker 1: mule deer I shot in Colorado, I did exactly that.
1:36:29
Speaker 1: The deer came in too, about five o'clock, and I
1:36:32
Speaker 1: just kept spinning. Luckily he was a little freaking for
1:36:35
Speaker 1: key and he he wouldn't have picked me. I mean,
1:36:37
Speaker 1: a mature buck would have probably seen me do it.
1:36:39
Speaker 1: But I just spun all around just like you said,
1:36:41
Speaker 1: and I shot him at five o'clock just by spending.
1:36:44
Speaker 1: It feels a little bit like should I be able
1:36:46
Speaker 1: to do this? But like you're surprisingly rock solid rocks
1:36:50
Speaker 1: absolutely long as you keep your saddle below belt level.
1:36:54
Speaker 1: If your saddle was riding the deer upper back, and
1:36:57
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be able to spin around and shoot it
1:36:59
Speaker 1: because you're upper body would be locked your lower body.
1:37:02
Speaker 1: And also we let me I got to touch on
1:37:04
Speaker 1: something real quick. We were talking about the you know,
1:37:07
Speaker 1: strength of shooting from a saddle versus the tree stand.
1:37:10
Speaker 1: Anytime you're shooting out of a saddle, you have three solid,
1:37:14
Speaker 1: hard points of body contact. You either got one knee
1:37:17
Speaker 1: and one foot on a step, or your knee in
1:37:19
Speaker 1: the tree and your weight in your butt. You got
1:37:21
Speaker 1: three solid points. When a lot of times when you're
1:37:23
Speaker 1: shooting out a tree stand, you stand up and you're
1:37:26
Speaker 1: balancing somewhat on two feet on a little tiny platform
1:37:30
Speaker 1: to take a shot, So you only got two points
1:37:32
Speaker 1: of body contact, plus you're balancing yourself when you're against
1:37:36
Speaker 1: a tree. The tree isn't moving, it's a solid rock,
1:37:38
Speaker 1: hard foundation, and you've got three points of body contact
1:37:41
Speaker 1: took to it. You hunt bigger trees than I do.
1:37:48
Speaker 1: I've been in trees that are definitely moving well, I
1:37:51
Speaker 1: have too, but I typically I try to find a
1:37:53
Speaker 1: bigger one. Have any of you guys gun hunted from
1:37:57
Speaker 1: a saddle? I shot two bucks last year with my
1:37:59
Speaker 1: rifle in the saddle. So this is another one. People
1:38:01
Speaker 1: are like, I don't know if that would work with
1:38:03
Speaker 1: a gun. Any considerations, any thoughts on how that works.
1:38:07
Speaker 1: I'll tell you it's I used the tree as a
1:38:10
Speaker 1: brace and then swivel, keeping the tree on the brace,
1:38:15
Speaker 1: keeping the gun on the tree. Um. I'm actually fairly
1:38:19
Speaker 1: new with the whole bull hunting gig and h. So
1:38:22
Speaker 1: for the longest time, all I did was rifle on
1:38:25
Speaker 1: um from a saddle. Yeah, yeah, um, and yeah, I
1:38:29
Speaker 1: had no issues whatsoever. Now most of my rifle kills
1:38:33
Speaker 1: are in bowl range, so I mean it could have
1:38:36
Speaker 1: been bow hunting or whatnot. Um. One thing though that
1:38:39
Speaker 1: I've started picking up that, I just think it's a
1:38:41
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I haven't been successful at it yet, though,
1:38:44
Speaker 1: is uh saddle hunting with a handgun. Um. Because it's
1:38:49
Speaker 1: that whole bulk weight everything right. I can carry that
1:38:52
Speaker 1: handgun on a chest holster. I got nothing. Even a
1:38:56
Speaker 1: bowl is big compared to that everything right, And so
1:38:59
Speaker 1: I can sit there with a handgun and there's no
1:39:02
Speaker 1: weak side, there's no movement there was because I can
1:39:05
Speaker 1: take that gun under my bridge, over my bridge back
1:39:07
Speaker 1: to the tree. Front tree of the tree, turnaround. I
1:39:09
Speaker 1: don't have to move at all to make the shot
1:39:11
Speaker 1: with a handgun. Now, I haven't been able to kill
1:39:13
Speaker 1: anything with a handgun, but in my mind that's all
1:39:18
Speaker 1: um for those who've been out there with a rifle.
1:39:22
Speaker 1: Any do you so it sounds like you used to
1:39:24
Speaker 1: use the tree, But as far as rests anything else,
1:39:28
Speaker 1: is there any other would you ever use the bridge
1:39:31
Speaker 1: itself to kind of rest against that? I've quite a
1:39:34
Speaker 1: few here with a gun out of his saddle, just
1:39:36
Speaker 1: like you guys, and I use I typically use the
1:39:38
Speaker 1: tree as arrested's. That's a solid rough, pretty good well,
1:39:42
Speaker 1: and it depends. Let's say you're in a saddle on
1:39:45
Speaker 1: a field edge and you're watching a field right, so
1:39:49
Speaker 1: you kind of know where you're expecting to see animals.
1:39:51
Speaker 1: On that deal, you can take um, one of those
1:39:57
Speaker 1: two parts swinging bull hooks, you know they were what
1:40:00
Speaker 1: ten inch sections, Screw that into the tree at a
1:40:05
Speaker 1: height that you think is appropriate, and now you've got
1:40:08
Speaker 1: actually a bar you can lay your rifle on for
1:40:10
Speaker 1: making the shot across the field. I ever thought of that.
1:40:14
Speaker 1: It's like the mobile running gunners, ladder stand or table
1:40:19
Speaker 1: in the exactly only from a guy who would make
1:40:23
Speaker 1: a table in the woods, can we get that kind
1:40:24
Speaker 1: of great little tip? But it does work, um, you know,
1:40:28
Speaker 1: and you can have yourself a real stable arm to
1:40:31
Speaker 1: lay your rifle on if you can predict I'm going
1:40:33
Speaker 1: to be watching this field in this direction, right, that's
1:40:35
Speaker 1: a great idea. So we took. So I shot to
1:40:38
Speaker 1: two bucks this past season out of my out of
1:40:41
Speaker 1: my saddle, and both of them must go back to
1:40:44
Speaker 1: the clock analogy. One of them was at nine o'clock.
1:40:48
Speaker 1: I mean that's like that's the saddle hunter's bread and
1:40:51
Speaker 1: butter right there. That's that's what you live for. And
1:40:54
Speaker 1: that one was so easy now that it was probably
1:40:56
Speaker 1: only fifty yards away, so I mean that was really easy. Uh.
1:40:58
Speaker 1: The other one was at I'm gonna say seven o'clock,
1:41:02
Speaker 1: so I had to spin away from the tree a
1:41:03
Speaker 1: little bit, and that one was slightly more difficult, uh,
1:41:07
Speaker 1: just because I felt like I was balancing just a
1:41:09
Speaker 1: little bit more pivoting away from the tree. But still
1:41:12
Speaker 1: it was only a thirty yard shot. I mean I
1:41:14
Speaker 1: could have made it with my bow and with a
1:41:15
Speaker 1: three D wind bag. I mean I only had to
1:41:17
Speaker 1: get close to the deer to kill it. So it was.
1:41:20
Speaker 1: It wasn't hard at all. I could imagine maybe swinging
1:41:24
Speaker 1: away from the tree to shoot at say six o'clock
1:41:28
Speaker 1: freehand and a longer shot. It might be a little difficult.
1:41:32
Speaker 1: That might that. I don't know if I would take
1:41:34
Speaker 1: that shot. But you know, if you could manage to
1:41:37
Speaker 1: like Ernie said, and hunt somewhere in front of you
1:41:39
Speaker 1: where you can use the tree as a brace, it's
1:41:42
Speaker 1: definitely doable. Well. And if he had to shoot a
1:41:45
Speaker 1: deer at six o'clock it's around, just let out a
1:41:50
Speaker 1: little late and you can do whatever you want. Yeah. True.
1:41:54
Speaker 1: So we've got the shot, We killed the buck. We
1:41:58
Speaker 1: climbed back down the trees stand or down out of
1:42:01
Speaker 1: the tree, got of him, took our pictures, went home.
1:42:05
Speaker 1: Now we're going back and chat with all of our
1:42:07
Speaker 1: buddies and our friends, saying, holy smokes, Bill, this thing
1:42:10
Speaker 1: actually works. It's more comfortable than I thought, it's easier
1:42:13
Speaker 1: than I thought, it's lighter than I thought, it's quicker
1:42:14
Speaker 1: to go up in the tree than I thought. And
1:42:16
Speaker 1: I don't need to buy twenty tree stands next year.
1:42:19
Speaker 1: But then your buddy Bill gets one and he tries
1:42:23
Speaker 1: it the next year and he gets back He's like,
1:42:25
Speaker 1: oh man, this went wrong. But this went wrong. This
1:42:30
Speaker 1: wasn't as cool as I though I was going to be.
1:42:32
Speaker 1: All these little mistakes the first time saddle hunters might
1:42:35
Speaker 1: do nipptoun in the butt. What is a thing or
1:42:39
Speaker 1: two you can think of as far as a common
1:42:42
Speaker 1: mistake that we can just nip right now and make
1:42:46
Speaker 1: sure that those common mistakes don't get made. I think
1:42:50
Speaker 1: Greg hit it right on then head earlier. You know,
1:42:52
Speaker 1: you need to practice in your yard first to weed
1:42:55
Speaker 1: out all those mistakes before you were ever getting a tree.
1:42:57
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think that's I think that's normal that
1:43:02
Speaker 1: you would encounter those types of things, little things because
1:43:06
Speaker 1: it's different. I mean, I always like to think back
1:43:09
Speaker 1: to the guys that were first using the old Baker
1:43:11
Speaker 1: climb and tree stands, or when you when you transition
1:43:14
Speaker 1: from a recurve to a compound bow, you had the
1:43:17
Speaker 1: same naysayers, ah that that wheelboat never work. My my
1:43:22
Speaker 1: recurves tried and true. I know exactly. It's gonnaway blah
1:43:25
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah, same old stuff. So you
1:43:29
Speaker 1: just have to you have to put some time into
1:43:31
Speaker 1: figuring out your system. If you take a climb and
1:43:34
Speaker 1: tree stand and the very first time you go out
1:43:36
Speaker 1: in the woods and put it on a tree, you
1:43:38
Speaker 1: don't know how the locks work, how to make it safe,
1:43:40
Speaker 1: how to make sure it's connected right, how to do
1:43:41
Speaker 1: it quietly. You're gonna spook everything in the woods. You're
1:43:45
Speaker 1: gonna scare them all away, and you're probably not gonna
1:43:47
Speaker 1: be very safe, and you're gonna be uncomfortable. It's a
1:43:50
Speaker 1: learning curve. So you got to spend a couple of
1:43:54
Speaker 1: sessions in the backyard shooting your bow at ground level.
1:43:57
Speaker 1: If you will do that, if you will spend two
1:44:00
Speaker 1: sessions in your backyard fifteen or twenty minutes apiece, you
1:44:04
Speaker 1: will work out of the kinks right there. And then
1:44:09
Speaker 1: it's going to take you a few hunts to really
1:44:11
Speaker 1: work out the rest of that little tiny bit that
1:44:13
Speaker 1: you have left of learning curve. But you can figure
1:44:16
Speaker 1: out most of it in your backyard in thirty minutes.
1:44:19
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I could be wrong, but I that's
1:44:22
Speaker 1: that's been my experience with most folks. I think a
1:44:24
Speaker 1: lot of guys expect comfort immediately. They expected, you know,
1:44:28
Speaker 1: they hear all these benefits of it, and and they
1:44:30
Speaker 1: get it and they try it on and they get
1:44:32
Speaker 1: in the you know, try it in the backyard and
1:44:35
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, it's pinching my hips or this
1:44:37
Speaker 1: isn't comfortable, or you know, like you said, not only
1:44:40
Speaker 1: do you gotta get in saddle shape, but it's really
1:44:42
Speaker 1: important to get it dialed in. And it takes time,
1:44:45
Speaker 1: you know, and you've gotta you gotta do that before
1:44:47
Speaker 1: you go on the woods and hunt. Right, don't figure
1:44:50
Speaker 1: that out twenty five ft up right when the Pope
1:44:52
Speaker 1: and young is looking at you. Do it. Do it
1:44:54
Speaker 1: at a time, and it's worth just reiterate. And it's
1:44:57
Speaker 1: been said several times, but little tweaks in how you
1:45:00
Speaker 1: tighten things or how you position things make a big
1:45:02
Speaker 1: difference in how it feels. So like making that little adjustment,
1:45:06
Speaker 1: and he mentioned it might just be just as much
1:45:09
Speaker 1: as tightening something half an inch and all of a sudden,
1:45:11
Speaker 1: oh it's a lot better. But it's if you think
1:45:13
Speaker 1: right out of the box, it's going to be perfect,
1:45:15
Speaker 1: you know, no, because it's made to adjust for all
1:45:18
Speaker 1: sorts of different body types and sizes, right like you're
1:45:20
Speaker 1: supposed to adjust it to you and that guy, you know,
1:45:24
Speaker 1: going back to your example, the guy who went out
1:45:26
Speaker 1: in his saddle the first time and didn't like it. Um,
1:45:31
Speaker 1: he's comparing it to how many years has he had
1:45:35
Speaker 1: to dial in his climbing tree stand. Right when you
1:45:38
Speaker 1: first bought a climbing tree stand, it wasn't perfect, but
1:45:41
Speaker 1: he's he's used to that. Now, he's dialed in, he
1:45:44
Speaker 1: knows how to use that stand. Now he's gonna try
1:45:47
Speaker 1: something new and suspect the same efficiency, in the same
1:45:51
Speaker 1: comfort out of a new product. And you're just not
1:45:54
Speaker 1: gonna get that that that's gonna come with time. And
1:45:58
Speaker 1: that's where I think a lot of people just aren't
1:45:59
Speaker 1: pay enough to to to think about the first time
1:46:03
Speaker 1: they had a climbing tree stand. I mean, my first
1:46:05
Speaker 1: climbing tree stand was a tree lounge. And if there's
1:46:07
Speaker 1: a louder, more awkward stand up putting the tree than that,
1:46:11
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is. But I hunted with
1:46:13
Speaker 1: it for years and got to be where I could
1:46:15
Speaker 1: do it. Um. Then I moved into some other brands
1:46:18
Speaker 1: and whatever else. But you have to use the stuff
1:46:22
Speaker 1: and get familiar with it so that it becomes muscle memory.
1:46:27
Speaker 1: Like a process. You're like, Okay, yep, this is how
1:46:29
Speaker 1: I do this is how I do this. I'm in,
1:46:30
Speaker 1: I'm in, I'm going. You don't think about it and
1:46:32
Speaker 1: you're already in your comfort zone. But that doesn't happen
1:46:35
Speaker 1: the first day. I got a question for you, Mark,
1:46:38
Speaker 1: Why didn't Bill ask his buddy to show him how
1:46:40
Speaker 1: to use it? He's a stubborn basket. Bill wanted all
1:46:45
Speaker 1: the trees to himself. He didn't want the guy to
1:46:47
Speaker 1: figure it out. Because the first thing I tell people
1:46:49
Speaker 1: is throw, you know, put three or four targets out
1:46:52
Speaker 1: around the tree you're going to practice in. Put some
1:46:54
Speaker 1: steps or platform eighteen inches off the ground, and just
1:46:57
Speaker 1: shoot it all the different. Just practice shooting it all
1:46:59
Speaker 1: a different target it and none of your eighteen inches
1:47:01
Speaker 1: off the ground. You just get out and get your girls,
1:47:02
Speaker 1: get back in it, and just practice. That's exactly what
1:47:05
Speaker 1: I tell everyone. Practice right on the ground, at ground
1:47:09
Speaker 1: level shooting. You will work out most of the kinks
1:47:11
Speaker 1: right there. I'll add, though, take it one step further
1:47:15
Speaker 1: in practice, ascending to thea the hole. Get up, because
1:47:18
Speaker 1: you don't want to be practicing hanging all your sticks
1:47:20
Speaker 1: and pulling up your platform and pulling your bow on
1:47:22
Speaker 1: your backpack for the first time on opening day, and
1:47:25
Speaker 1: you know you already running an hour late, and your
1:47:27
Speaker 1: wife was mad at you, and you're stressed out, and
1:47:29
Speaker 1: you forgot your range finder, and then you don't remember
1:47:31
Speaker 1: how to get all these things up. No, get that
1:47:33
Speaker 1: taken care of in the summer, or at least a
1:47:35
Speaker 1: couple of days ahead of time. I mean last year,
1:47:37
Speaker 1: I got my saddle just in time, um, like two
1:47:41
Speaker 1: days before I left for my first hunt of the year.
1:47:43
Speaker 1: And so I took it out, went out for like
1:47:44
Speaker 1: a half hour, climbed up in two a tree once
1:47:46
Speaker 1: with it, got comfortable and there shot a few times
1:47:49
Speaker 1: and like, all right, I'm going And I killed a
1:47:51
Speaker 1: really nice buck three days later and felt, um, so
1:47:54
Speaker 1: it was really cool. I sent I sent a saddle
1:47:57
Speaker 1: to my brother last year. He wanted when he was
1:47:58
Speaker 1: going to hunt in Kentucky, and I told him the
1:48:01
Speaker 1: same thing that I tell everyone. I said, make sure
1:48:03
Speaker 1: you set it up in the backyard, practice your shooting,
1:48:06
Speaker 1: get comfortable. Of course Jack asked into it. He he
1:48:10
Speaker 1: threw it in his bag and drove to Kentucky and
1:48:12
Speaker 1: went out and hunted the first afternoon, just just in
1:48:16
Speaker 1: the thing, and then at the end of the hunt,
1:48:18
Speaker 1: or you know, during the middle of hunt. I can't remember.
1:48:19
Speaker 1: We were talking every day, but he's like, Greg, I
1:48:21
Speaker 1: don't know what you're talking about. He said, I was
1:48:23
Speaker 1: comfortable in this thing from the moment I put it on.
1:48:27
Speaker 1: I I don't know, Ernie, maybe you could add to this,
1:48:30
Speaker 1: but I would say probably maybe four or five out
1:48:34
Speaker 1: of ten guys say have that experience that it was
1:48:38
Speaker 1: perfect right out of the gate. And that's not just
1:48:40
Speaker 1: with our particular models of saddle that's just kind of
1:48:44
Speaker 1: saddle hunting in general. You know, maybe forty and guys
1:48:47
Speaker 1: kind of get it right away and then the other
1:48:50
Speaker 1: half or or you know, maybe it takes a little
1:48:53
Speaker 1: bit longer. I was in that where it took me
1:48:56
Speaker 1: some time and some figuring to get it done. So
1:49:00
Speaker 1: like Andy was in that same six where it took
1:49:02
Speaker 1: him some time and some figuring. So it's normal if
1:49:05
Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable, if it hurts a little bit, if you
1:49:07
Speaker 1: don't get it, it's normal. But those advantages that made
1:49:12
Speaker 1: you buy the thing in the first place, they're still
1:49:14
Speaker 1: there even if you don't figure it out right away.
1:49:17
Speaker 1: So keep that in mind. You know, man, this is
1:49:19
Speaker 1: gonna make me more efficient, it's gonna make me lighter,
1:49:21
Speaker 1: it's gonna make me quieter, it's gonna make me give
1:49:23
Speaker 1: me the ability to shoot around the tree. Remember that
1:49:26
Speaker 1: as you're trying to work through these things and figure
1:49:28
Speaker 1: out your system, that if you can figure it out,
1:49:31
Speaker 1: it's gonna make you a better hunter. I find that
1:49:35
Speaker 1: I don't know how to really relate this to any
1:49:38
Speaker 1: word other than I can say, if you kind of
1:49:40
Speaker 1: come in for a fitting, people get it a lot faster.
1:49:44
Speaker 1: I find this like with a knowledgeable person, Yeah, meet
1:49:47
Speaker 1: up with somebody who's used it and knows how to
1:49:50
Speaker 1: adjust that whatever else. I find this all the time
1:49:52
Speaker 1: at trade shows, that saddle demos, that anything where a
1:49:55
Speaker 1: guy can try it on, because I can look at
1:49:57
Speaker 1: somebody and be like, okay, you need this size, here's
1:50:00
Speaker 1: how you put on, here's how you do it. Sit
1:50:02
Speaker 1: in here, and then I'll walk them through a couple
1:50:05
Speaker 1: of the adjustments, and and they can feel and witness Okay,
1:50:08
Speaker 1: this adjustment, does this, this adjustment this, And usually within
1:50:11
Speaker 1: five minutes they're dialed in. But you're not gonna have
1:50:16
Speaker 1: that quick of a transition on your own. And it's
1:50:20
Speaker 1: interesting from the opposite side of it, being the friend
1:50:23
Speaker 1: showing to someone. And I alluded to this at the beginning,
1:50:26
Speaker 1: but this is one of the only things piece of
1:50:29
Speaker 1: gear I've actually been excited to bug my friends about.
1:50:32
Speaker 1: Like I'm like, dude, you need to try Like come,
1:50:34
Speaker 1: I got at my truck, come come try on to
1:50:36
Speaker 1: try it on. Seriously, you like it. Like vegans crust fits,
1:50:40
Speaker 1: they like to tell each other about the fact that
1:50:43
Speaker 1: they do it. It's it's something else. So here's the
1:50:46
Speaker 1: last question. And I asked my audience, the listeners what
1:50:50
Speaker 1: kind of questions they had for the saddle hunting gurus,
1:50:53
Speaker 1: and the most widely requested question that we need an
1:50:57
Speaker 1: answer from was this, And I wanted to have us
1:50:59
Speaker 1: all answer at the same time. So you say, if
1:51:03
Speaker 1: it's a yes, say I. If it's a no, say no.
1:51:07
Speaker 1: So I ask the question and then we'll go one
1:51:09
Speaker 1: to three and we're gonna answer. Okay, can you pee
1:51:15
Speaker 1: from a tree saddle? You can do one and two
1:51:19
Speaker 1: For me, I was you want some podcast gold let
1:51:25
Speaker 1: John described that process. I will not describe that process,
1:51:32
Speaker 1: but it's possible. Huh oh, I've done it. Many times.
1:51:36
Speaker 1: All right, well there you go, ladies and gentlemen, real careful.
1:51:42
Speaker 1: And one other thing on safety I want to throw
1:51:44
Speaker 1: in real quick. I have had two different fathers come
1:51:48
Speaker 1: to my workshops with their kids, teenage kids. One was
1:51:53
Speaker 1: a girl, one was a twelve year old boy, and
1:51:57
Speaker 1: the mothers would not let their kids hunt out at stands.
1:52:00
Speaker 1: They would only let them haut out of saddles because
1:52:02
Speaker 1: it was safe from a moment they left the ground
1:52:04
Speaker 1: to the moment they got back on the ground. And
1:52:07
Speaker 1: the one girl that came, they were from New York
1:52:10
Speaker 1: Dad and he brought his daughter and they were after
1:52:14
Speaker 1: this one big eight point and she ended up shooting
1:52:16
Speaker 1: it on and all days said in the rain. He
1:52:19
Speaker 1: didn't even want to go. She said, Dad, I want
1:52:21
Speaker 1: to go. We gotta go today. You gotta give me
1:52:22
Speaker 1: a rain soon. And she ended up killing that big
1:52:24
Speaker 1: away point was it was awful. We had an instance, uh,
1:52:30
Speaker 1: not that long ago, a couple of months ago, and
1:52:32
Speaker 1: uh we had a bunch of people around and we're
1:52:35
Speaker 1: trying on saddles and we had somebody in a saddle
1:52:37
Speaker 1: who had never been in one. Um we didn't know
1:52:41
Speaker 1: at the time necessarily, but he had a health issue,
1:52:46
Speaker 1: and in my backyard in his saddle, he went into
1:52:49
Speaker 1: a he was in the shop, it was on the
1:52:53
Speaker 1: concrete floor. He went into a full epileptic seizure. Um,
1:52:58
Speaker 1: zero control of any of his body parts. He kind
1:53:01
Speaker 1: of swung forward into the post, did his thing. We
1:53:05
Speaker 1: were able to kind of lower him down on whatever else,
1:53:07
Speaker 1: but that saddle kept him upright and off the floor.
1:53:11
Speaker 1: And and to add, he was not a small guy.
1:53:15
Speaker 1: He did not have the end seem of a beagle.
1:53:18
Speaker 1: He's too he's too fifty. If he had hit the ground,
1:53:22
Speaker 1: it would have been it would have been bad. So
1:53:24
Speaker 1: it was very fortunate that he was his you know,
1:53:27
Speaker 1: testing out that saddle. My mom was really paranoid. This
1:53:32
Speaker 1: is that mom that was a helicopter warrior. And so
1:53:36
Speaker 1: the only place I bow hunted for most of my
1:53:38
Speaker 1: younger life was right behind our house. We had three
1:53:40
Speaker 1: and a half acres. That's why I learned to bowhunt
1:53:42
Speaker 1: was our three and half acre property. And um we
1:53:45
Speaker 1: had a good number of deer and a few bucks
1:53:46
Speaker 1: here and there. But on her life, she would not
1:53:49
Speaker 1: allow me or my dad to put a tree stand
1:53:51
Speaker 1: up back there. You head out from the ground but
1:53:54
Speaker 1: if I had a tree saddle back when I was thirteen,
1:53:55
Speaker 1: I would have had a hell of a lot more
1:53:57
Speaker 1: bucks on my wall been spinning around like tethered. Got
1:54:03
Speaker 1: nothing to worry about? Are you an only child? No,
1:54:06
Speaker 1: I was the oldest though. Yeah. So with that, unless
1:54:11
Speaker 1: you guys have any other final thoughts you want to add.
1:54:13
Speaker 1: I got something. Um, there's a couple maybe for me
1:54:19
Speaker 1: that might might even be some of the biggest benefits
1:54:22
Speaker 1: out of saddle and I'll make it quick. But um,
1:54:26
Speaker 1: I guess I don't have any one type of style.
1:54:29
Speaker 1: The way I hunt. I often hunt from the ground. Um.
1:54:33
Speaker 1: I often go into um an area where I think
1:54:36
Speaker 1: a good deer is. And I don't have any plan
1:54:39
Speaker 1: as far as what tree I'm gonna be in. If
1:54:41
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be in a tree, um, you know, uh
1:54:45
Speaker 1: access all that stuff and with with the tree settle,
1:54:50
Speaker 1: what I like is that I can wear that in
1:54:53
Speaker 1: and I can without a problem. I can sneak through
1:54:58
Speaker 1: a standing cornfield without getting called it up on every stock.
1:55:01
Speaker 1: I can sneak through marsh grass without making all kinds
1:55:04
Speaker 1: of racket of my my tree stand um, you know,
1:55:07
Speaker 1: catching on the on the cat tails I can get
1:55:10
Speaker 1: into a spot and hunt from the ground and where
1:55:13
Speaker 1: my where my saddle? And I did that last year
1:55:16
Speaker 1: and and almost killed a great book in Ohio. Um
1:55:19
Speaker 1: I can carry my um my head's up decoy, and
1:55:23
Speaker 1: I can have the saddle on, and I could, you know,
1:55:25
Speaker 1: set that up, get twenty ft up in a tree.
1:55:28
Speaker 1: Or I can set it up, hunt from the ground
1:55:30
Speaker 1: and have everything I need on me or in my backpack,
1:55:33
Speaker 1: and I don't have to worry about taking this big
1:55:35
Speaker 1: twelve pounds stand off and and setting it. Or you know,
1:55:39
Speaker 1: if I spot, if I spot a buck bedded and
1:55:41
Speaker 1: now this might not happen often, I could stalk him
1:55:44
Speaker 1: if I want to with that thing on. And you
1:55:46
Speaker 1: know when we used it in we had we had
1:55:50
Speaker 1: those saddles on. We were prepared to get up in
1:55:53
Speaker 1: a tree. We were prepared to glass a book and
1:55:56
Speaker 1: sneak up on it. We were prepared to sit on
1:55:58
Speaker 1: the ground without any extra bulky gear that's catching on stuff.
1:56:03
Speaker 1: I mean you can adjust, uh you know, you know,
1:56:07
Speaker 1: if you're hunting on the ground or still hunting, all
1:56:09
Speaker 1: that stuff comes into play, and it's all in a
1:56:12
Speaker 1: very small package that's with you without the bulk and
1:56:15
Speaker 1: the extra weight of a tree stand. So that really
1:56:17
Speaker 1: fits my style. Well, I don't always get up in
1:56:20
Speaker 1: a tree, but I always have it on, so the
1:56:22
Speaker 1: option is always there. Well, what from our camp to
1:56:25
Speaker 1: where I ended up shooting my buck in Nebraska was
1:56:27
Speaker 1: over two miles? Right if I had been carrying a
1:56:31
Speaker 1: thirteen extra thirteen pounds stand bulky with me, what I've
1:56:34
Speaker 1: made it that far or what I've been like, Oh
1:56:35
Speaker 1: screw this. I was gonna stop in a mile and
1:56:37
Speaker 1: a half or something, but instead I was wearing my saddle.
1:56:39
Speaker 1: I made it the two two and a half miles
1:56:41
Speaker 1: or whatever it was. And then I spotted that buck
1:56:43
Speaker 1: and then it made a move, and then I realized
1:56:44
Speaker 1: there's no tree to get set up, and so I'm
1:56:46
Speaker 1: going to hunt from the ground. But I didn't have
1:56:47
Speaker 1: to worry about all this other stuff. I could just
1:56:48
Speaker 1: squat right in that cedar tree and super duper flexible,
1:56:51
Speaker 1: and then I killed that dear perfect. It's a fantastic point.
1:56:56
Speaker 1: We were with the other day, Ernie and I were
1:56:58
Speaker 1: in Iowa with the hunting public, and Zack Farrenball made
1:57:01
Speaker 1: that exact point, but he added a little caveat to it.
1:57:05
Speaker 1: He said, If I'm carrying that tree stand and it's
1:57:08
Speaker 1: and I'm going deep, he says, I almost feel obligate
1:57:11
Speaker 1: like I took it. I got to climb the tree
1:57:13
Speaker 1: and hunt out of it, right, And he said what
1:57:15
Speaker 1: you said, Andy, that you know, I'll wear the saddle
1:57:18
Speaker 1: now and I'll walk in and if I find a
1:57:20
Speaker 1: place on the ground, I don't feel bad about not
1:57:23
Speaker 1: climbing the tree or feel piste off that I just
1:57:26
Speaker 1: carried this boat anchor back here for you know, two miles.
1:57:29
Speaker 1: I think it's a really really it's versatile, but it's
1:57:34
Speaker 1: it's good insight to hear that. You know, a golfer
1:57:37
Speaker 1: doesn't carry one club a saddle. You don't have to
1:57:40
Speaker 1: be weirdos like me and Ernie that we only saddle
1:57:43
Speaker 1: and John like we only that hunt that way, a
1:57:46
Speaker 1: golfer carries more than one club. Right, So if you
1:57:49
Speaker 1: get a saddle, sometimes it will work for you and
1:57:51
Speaker 1: maybe sometimes it won't. You choose it when it makes sense,
1:57:53
Speaker 1: and choose it or leave it at home when it
1:57:55
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. But the way you what you just
1:57:59
Speaker 1: brought up, Andy was really really good about you know,
1:58:02
Speaker 1: you could hunt from the ground it's really a versatile product.
1:58:06
Speaker 1: And I will say, for like in my position, having
1:58:08
Speaker 1: just started last year, after one year using it, where
1:58:12
Speaker 1: where I've settled as far as where I see saddle
1:58:14
Speaker 1: hunting fitting into my repertoire and moving forward is where
1:58:17
Speaker 1: I have tree stands already up from prior years. I'll
1:58:20
Speaker 1: keep hunting them because they're there, they're ready to go,
1:58:22
Speaker 1: but from here on out hunting new locations, whether it
1:58:25
Speaker 1: be mobile or even when I'm prepping spots like this year,
1:58:28
Speaker 1: I prepped a new farm and I only hung one
1:58:30
Speaker 1: tree stand because I wanted to have one tree stand
1:58:32
Speaker 1: for like a new hunter maybe who didn't have a saddle,
1:58:35
Speaker 1: just something otherwise. That was a bill. Bill, I got
1:58:42
Speaker 1: a question for you, Mark, Yeah, And you're the perfect
1:58:45
Speaker 1: guy to answer this because I remember last year when
1:58:47
Speaker 1: you did a little five or ten minute dissertation after
1:58:50
Speaker 1: you use the saddle um you had questioned how well
1:58:55
Speaker 1: it would work with the camera, and you found it
1:58:57
Speaker 1: to work very easy with the camera. A lot of
1:58:59
Speaker 1: people out there use cameras. Really good question. Yes, that
1:59:02
Speaker 1: was one of my big question marks leading into it.
1:59:04
Speaker 1: It sounded like it's gonna be tricky, but no, it
1:59:07
Speaker 1: actually worked better because when you're self filming, you've got
1:59:10
Speaker 1: this camera arm that has to attach to the tree,
1:59:13
Speaker 1: and when you're sitting against the tree, that camera arm
1:59:15
Speaker 1: is off to one side of you. So for me,
1:59:17
Speaker 1: I typically put up my right side so I could
1:59:19
Speaker 1: hold my ball and the left and I could adjust
1:59:21
Speaker 1: the flu ahead with her right to film. But when
1:59:24
Speaker 1: you're in that position you can film. You know, that's
1:59:26
Speaker 1: okay for using the clock idea again. But now I'm
1:59:29
Speaker 1: sitting with the tree is now at my so the
1:59:32
Speaker 1: trees at my twelve. Now I'm facing the six. I
1:59:35
Speaker 1: could film obviously from a six to nine, I could
1:59:38
Speaker 1: film maybe to ten or eleven, but you have to
1:59:41
Speaker 1: spin all the way around and then going to my left,
1:59:44
Speaker 1: I could film easily five four, three to one. But
1:59:47
Speaker 1: anything behind you you couldn't wrap the tree arm around
1:59:50
Speaker 1: you because there's only a couple of feet of lengthen arm.
1:59:53
Speaker 1: So really you couldn't film past three o'clock because you
1:59:56
Speaker 1: are in the way. So with the tree set, although
2:00:00
Speaker 1: I'm leaning out away from the tree, so now that
2:00:02
Speaker 1: arm moves inside of me, so now I can wrap
2:00:05
Speaker 1: around the tree much more either way to film. Never
2:00:08
Speaker 1: gotten the way and it was actually better than from
2:00:11
Speaker 1: a tree stand. That's my experience too. I've been filming
2:00:13
Speaker 1: my hunts for three seasons now. In I mean, I
2:00:16
Speaker 1: hate carrying a camera arm and it's stupid and bulky,
2:00:19
Speaker 1: and I hate it. Every every year I say I'm
2:00:21
Speaker 1: not gonna do it, and then I do it again anyway.
2:00:23
Speaker 1: But I have never once felt like the saddle got
2:00:26
Speaker 1: in the way of filming. It was. It was always easy.
2:00:31
Speaker 1: And again you can maneuver around it more too, with
2:00:33
Speaker 1: the whole fact you can move in the tree in
2:00:35
Speaker 1: the saddle better. That's another way. For some reason, the
2:00:37
Speaker 1: camera was in the way in my tree stand, I'm
2:00:39
Speaker 1: stuck with it. Now I can just swivel a just
2:00:42
Speaker 1: shoot around it. Well. And I've heard a couple of
2:00:44
Speaker 1: people too that if you have a dedicated cameraman that
2:00:48
Speaker 1: don't even bring an arm, they bring a shoulder mount
2:00:52
Speaker 1: camera because the saddle itself gives you so much flexibility
2:00:57
Speaker 1: to maneuver around the tree that you don't need the
2:01:00
Speaker 1: arm necessarily to make those moves. As uh, that's how
2:01:05
Speaker 1: is doing That's how they were doing it. Oh, you're
2:01:07
Speaker 1: saying for the guy who's filming. So if I'm a cameraman. Yes,
2:01:10
Speaker 1: I don't bring in arm anymore because I can actually
2:01:13
Speaker 1: just doing that use the body to adjust exactly. That's
2:01:16
Speaker 1: like it seems like a lot of movement to me,
2:01:19
Speaker 1: but maybe not. I've never tried it, but you know, interesting,
2:01:23
Speaker 1: don't where you're at, hands doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Just
2:01:27
Speaker 1: jump in the saddle with you and you just choke
2:01:29
Speaker 1: them out right. Oh, somebody did ask me, like, on
2:01:33
Speaker 1: a one to ten scale, how much more likely will
2:01:35
Speaker 1: my wife be into me if I use a saddle
2:01:37
Speaker 1: to hunt? We have answers. Yeah, I've got a second
2:01:41
Speaker 1: trial in the way, so question answer, and with that,
2:01:48
Speaker 1: I think we'll wrap it up. Thank you, Greg, John, Andy, Ernie.
2:01:51
Speaker 1: Absolutely thank you for the office. They appreciate it. And
2:01:55
Speaker 1: that is a rap one hell of a podcast, if
2:01:59
Speaker 1: I don't say so myself, I hope you enjoyed this one.
2:02:03
Speaker 1: If you haven't taken the leap in saddle hunting, you know,
2:02:06
Speaker 1: we were just hammering it hard for two hours, all
2:02:08
Speaker 1: about it. Um, you know what I think about it.
2:02:11
Speaker 1: I do think trying them on, feeling it out would
2:02:14
Speaker 1: be helpful. Feel free to reach out let me know
2:02:17
Speaker 1: what kind of questions you have. What concerns you might
2:02:19
Speaker 1: still have Hit me up on Instagram at wired to Hunt,
2:02:22
Speaker 1: or go to our Wired Hunt Facebook page leave a
2:02:24
Speaker 1: comment in question under this post. For this podcast, we'll
2:02:27
Speaker 1: do our best to answer those questions and get you
2:02:30
Speaker 1: more info if you need it. So until then, I
2:02:33
Speaker 1: know a lot of you guys are starting your hunting
2:02:35
Speaker 1: seasons here any day. Now. Wow, that's a crazy thing
2:02:39
Speaker 1: to say. I still can't believe it. As you're listening
2:02:41
Speaker 1: to this, I am either still driving or I've arrived
2:02:44
Speaker 1: in North Dakota and I'm setting up on a bluff
2:02:47
Speaker 1: doing some long distance scouting, and I am pumped. I'm
2:02:51
Speaker 1: so excited. This is the time of year we've been
2:02:53
Speaker 1: working towards four months and months and months, and now
2:02:56
Speaker 1: it's time to execute on that game plan. So I
2:03:00
Speaker 1: will leave you all with the most good luck I
2:03:04
Speaker 1: can possibly send your way. I'm gonna be sending all
2:03:06
Speaker 1: the good vibes that possible can't out to all of
2:03:09
Speaker 1: you folks listening. Good luck, have a great time, be safe,
2:03:13
Speaker 1: and until we chat next, stay Wired to Hunt.