waited for daylight and my first saddle hunt - Jonathan B.
I fell hard into the hunting addiction late in life; I was in my mid thirties before I went on a walk in the woods with a gun in my hand. After I harvested my first deer, though, I couldn’t hardly think of anything else. Taking the plunge into saddle hunting hit me in the same way.
There had to be something better than just walking around or sitting at the base of a tree. And I didn’t own any land, so I couldn’t build a box blind. I hunted too many different places to buy a ladder stand for each, or go to the trouble of setting up the same one in different spots. The saddle was the answer. I just knew it. So after many hours of research I chose the components I thought would be best to get me up a tree— SRT climbing gear, a ring of steps, and a saddle— and I broke out the credit card.
Practice in my yard showed me the strengths and weaknesses of the system I’d put together. My saddle was perfect. SRT climbing was great, but impossible to do on a dark morning if I didn’t already have a preset line up in the tree. And the ring of steps quickly fatigued either my feet or my knees, depending how I stood. I was a little heartbroken at the money I’d spent on equipment that wasn’t as useful as I’d hoped. With a hog hunt coming up in two weeks, I frantically researched solutions. I landed on the Wild Edge Stepps for climbing, and the Perch platform. They arrived at 4:30pm on the day before the hunt.
I tested the Perch first. Rock solid. I felt like I could stand on this thing all day if I had to. I wanted to try climbing as well, but didn’t have time. Instead I just left all the Stepps deployed in my trees, because the ropes need to stretch overnight before their first real use. At 4:15 the next morning, I snatched a Stepp and the Perch from a tree and drove to my hunting spot. In the early dark I climbed 25 feet up a rope, easily set the platform, and waited for daylight and my first saddle hunt.
It was everything I hoped for. I was safe, secure, comfortable. I had a vantage point to see and shoot through a wide area with heavy game traffic. My footing was sure, and I could even turn around if a feral pig approached from the woods behind me. Sure enough, that’s what happened. At 9am a 130lb sow and her youngins made their way out of the palmettos to the base of my tree. A 357 magnum round dropped her on the spot. The piglets scattered but quickly returned. Since they’re an invasive nuisance species, I took two of the young hogs before they ran away for good. I felt like the Big Bad Wolf. Too bad he didn’t have a saddle and a Wild Edge Perch.
The next weekend was another hog hunt. I tried a few practice climbs with the Stepps, and felt confident using them. This time I brought my bow, my first opportunity to put an arrow into something other than my target bag. I went to the same tree, and the previous weekend repeated itself. I stood comfortably and safely 25 feet off the ground, and at about 9am another, slightly larger, sow walked with her shoats to the exact same spot. I was stable enough to execute a perfect shot through both lungs, nicking the heart. I watched her brief run from my lookout perch, and saw where she fell. My buddy, who had been sitting on a stool a hundred yards away, rubbed his butt and muttered that he might have to give this saddle thing a try.
It’s not the only way I hunt, but saddle hunting is by far my favorite method. I really appreciate the quality that Wild Edge puts into their products, and I get excited every time they announce a new product release. Their customer service team has been lighting quick responding to my questions, and I imagine they’d be just as quick in the unlikely event that I ever had a problem. I won’t hesitate to buy any of their gear for as long as I’m still able to climb trees and drag game out of the woods.
-Jonathan Boore
Riverview, Florida
