Post more Carl. Please...I use one on public land here in central and southern MD. I like it, but have never used a climber so I don't have the point of comparison.
I've found it to be comfortable but ymmv. I'm still in decent shape and fairly athletic so climbing with wild edge steps is doable and can get me up pretty high pretty easily.
I am adding a platform step this year,because that was my main complaint last year. for reference, my other hunting was all Alaska so any single day hunt where I'm not soaking wet, hungry, cold, or getting killed by mosquitos is pretty comfortable.
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so any single day hunt where I'm not soaking wet, hungry, cold, or getting killed by mosquitos is pretty comfortable.
I have a bit of an ulterior motive for wanting the tree saddle. I have some limbs hanging over my roof and with tree spikes I could take care of them myself. They're so expensive though. I wouldn't want to buy them for this one job....but I also don't want to pay a fortune to a tree company. I did tree work for a short while. They ain't cheap!
Is there a local place that sells tree saddles where I could try one out? Of course, sitting in one for a few minutes isn't the same as 4-5 hours but it would at least give me some idea.
I'm leaning away from getting one after hearing everyone else here. The lack of a backrest sounds exhausting. I think that a bit of comfort from a lighter rig on the walk out won't come close to balancing out the loss of comfort from having to hold my upper body up for hours. I guess I could rig a shoulder harness like I do for kids when they're climbing but that seems a bit much when the climber tree stands aren't that much heavier.
I use to use a climber but last year switched to a saddle. I am very impressed with it, I use a knaider and swaider with the wild edge steps. 5 steps gets me roughly 22 feet up and it all fits In my back pack which is a huge deal cuz I walk over a mile on public land each time. It’s safer in my way of working because your in a lineman’s belt going up as opposed to the climber.
Are there regulations against using something that penetrates the bark (like climbing spurs) on public land in Maryland?