SADDLE vs. STANDS - PROS & CONS
September 26th, 2023
By: Alex Comstock (@whitetail_dna)
Going into the 2022 deer season, I had never hunted from a saddle. In fact, I thought as saddle hunting became more and more popular, it was closer to a fad than anything else. Then, I was introduced to saddle hunting in a hands-on scenario and as I reviewed what it actually entailed; it piqued my interest. It helped that moving into the 2022 deer season, I wanted to hunt more mobile than ever. Through all of last deer season and my first twelve sits of this deer season, I have now hunted out of a saddle more than sixty times and have come to love it. Just like anything though there are pros and cons to both saddles and treestands, so let’s cover them.
Saddle Hunting Pros
Let’s start with the pros for both saddles and stands. When it comes to saddles, the biggest and most obvious pros are the mobility they give you. A good saddle setup is lightweight and more
packable than any treestand setup I’ve put my hands on. It allows you to pack way back in on public, and maybe help you get to areas you otherwise would have never been. Additionally, it
could simply change how you approach your hunting if you spend a lot of time bouncing from spot to spot. For example, when we hunt in North Dakota early season, we have countless areas prepped, running cameras, etc. When we deem a spot needs to be hunted, we head in with our saddle setups. We don’t hang any treestands ahead of time, or anything like that.
The last couple pros that I want to cover are safety and shot radius. When it comes to safety, assuming you’re using your lineman’s rope, given that it’s always on you, from the time you leave the tree to the time your back on the ground, you should be attached to the tree. I climb up with my lineman’s rope on, get situated, put on my tether rope, then detach my lineman’s rope. I don’t have to worry about remembering my treestand harness or anything of that nature. You also can pull of many different shots more easily. I’ve found with a little bit of practice; you can quite effectively pull off any shot in a 360 degree area. This is something I’ve really come to enjoy when it comes to saddle hunting.
Treestand Pros
Now, let’s jump into the treestand pros. The first one for me is comfortability. Not that saddles aren’t comfortable, but there’s nothing quite like being able to sit down, and especially in certain treestands, you can get very, very comfortable. The next pro I want to discuss is for as nice as saddles make being able to hunt anywhere, anytime possible, if you have a spot that you know you’re going to hunt multiple times throughout the year, I love being able to have something already setup for me. For those of you that hunt private land or own land, I feel as though treestands can make more sense in a lot of situations.
Another treestand pro that I wanted to cover is the different variations of stands that you can get. Maybe you’re someone that doesn’t like heights or climbing trees. In that case you can get something like a single ladder stand to help curtail that. Maybe you’re a parent and want to bring your child hunting. In this case, it may make sense to utilize a double ladder stand. Or maybe you’re someone that owns a piece of land and you want to have a ton of setups ready to go, but don’t want to break the bank. In this case, you can buy a bunch of cheap hang on stands, set them up and forget about them. No matter what your situation is, there are plenty of pros when it comes to treestands. For example, if I know I’m going to be a hunting a property in Wisconsin in mid-October, I really don’t care if I have big bucks on camera in the summer or not. What I want is wherever I’ll be hunting to setup as good as possible for mid-October. That could mean oak trees holding acorns, areas I’ve scouted previously with fall sign such as scrapes, etc.
Treestand Pros
As it pertains to treestand cons, the biggest one to me is weight and setup. Treestands can be semi difficult to place, depending on what kind, etc. Especially if you want to setup some type of ladder stand, you’re more than likely going to need help doing so. Another con for me when it comes to treestands is your shot radius. For someone like me who is right-handed, shooting in front of me and anything to the left is awesome. If I must try and pull off a shot to my right, it can be cumbersome to get up, turn my body all the way to the right so I can get aligned and pull off a shot. And then shooting behind you is typically out of the question.
Saddle Hunting Cons
When I think about the cons of using a saddle, the first is going to be the intimidation factor of getting used to one. For a lot of hunters, it may seem like there’s a lot going on and it’s just more difficult than using a treestand. It certainly takes some getting used to, and I wouldn’t recommend hunting out of one unless you’ve spent time practicing setting up and shooting out of it. Next, sitting long hours can be somewhat challenging. I’ve done all day sits in a saddle, and if I know I’m going to be sitting all day, I’d definitely prefer a comfortable treestand. Lastly, one of the more noteworthy cons is layering. What I mean by this, is that it can be a challenge hunting out of a saddle say during November or December, where you want to add layers in the tree. It can be a bit hard to loosen it, while there’s no tension so you can get an additional jacket on under the saddle. It’s not easy, but it can be done.
Conclusion
Overall, when it comes to saddle vs. treestand hunting, you need to look at your situation and figure out what style of hunting you want to go with and what will work best for you.