Hunting from a tree saddle with a flintlock LR

[Onojutta]

Has anyone ever hunted from a tree saddle with a flintlock longrifle?

I have found my tree saddle to be perfect for hunting with archery or modern rifles, but I am wondering how it might work out with the extra length of the LR and the additional accoutrements that go with flintlock ignition.

When I hunt from a tree with a bow or modern rifle, I typically hang the weapon from a hook until I need it. When hunting from a conventional tree stand with my flintlock LR, I don't hang the rifle but keep it in my lap. I'm wondering how this would work in a tree saddle...

 

[theoldredneck]

Forgive my ignorance, climbing out of bed in the morning from age 50 on is about the extent of my climbing LOL. The tree lounge stands or ladder stands I understand. What is a tree saddle, how does it work? I'm pushing 70 ,still active, is this easier than a regular stand?

 

[Onojutta]

Tree saddle:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The problem will be the reload while in the tree, IF you use patched round ball alone. IF you use a rifle with a barrel with a 1:48 twist, you could reload with a conical bullet after making the shot with a patched, round ball, or use conicals alone for hunting.

I've found conicals to be quite accurate, but no advantage on harvesting deer, since you are not going to get a quick enough second shot at (let alone into) a deer (unless you have a double rifle)..., and the recoil on my shoulder is quite disagreeable in comparison to the round ball. Round ball appears to harvest deer just as well as a conical...

On the other hand, you can always wait to reload when you've gotten down. Most of the tools and such that go with the flinter are for rare problems that occur at the shooting range. If your flint is sharp and secure, the only problem you might have is a "flash in the pan"..., and all you need is a safety pin to prick the touch hole, and a small powder flask to reprime, and you're back in business.

Just like with your bow, when you make a shot on a deer with a traditional ML flintlock, you wait at least ten minutes before going to get your deer. Some folks wait as long as 20 minutes. Being up in a tree you may have a better chance of seeing the deer is down...but I hunt exclusively from the ground. It's very likely that the deer will not move very far if it doesn't crumple where it's standing when hit. So when I harvest a deer, I shoot, then reload, then sit for 10 minutes. I actually check the time to be sure. So in your case you will have plenty of time to reload and go and collect your deer.


LD

 

[Brokennock]

I haven't tried one yet. I've talked with people who really like them. I would only be using it for bow hunting though. This biggest issue I would see with a traditional muzzleloader is where and how to hang it when doing things that require one's hands. Reloading if needed would be an issue too.

 

[Patocazador]

Has anyone ever hunted from a tree saddle with a flintlock longrifle?

Oh, you mean a bosun's chair.

 

[olskool]

that is interesting. back in the day I was big into traditional bow hunting. I new an older man who built bows and bow hunted. he was a ship yard worker until he retired. he showed me a device he said they used to work on the side of ships. it was a wooden chair with ropes they hung over the side and sit in. he had one he made I would say in the 60s he used it to bow hunt from. he said he killed many deer from it. there is nothing new under the sun,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Sun City]

Ask your Doc for a shot of morphine you can take with you because after two hours of hanging in that contraption your rear is going to be in the dying stage and you’ll need a shot for pain!!

 

[hanshi]

I don't climb at all these days; too dangerous and that's just after I get home! I hunt from a little folding canvas chair that i pack into the bush. I use to climb ladder stands, portable stands and home made stands. Still, I spent many a season on the ground with little problem. In my native Georgia where the limit is 12 deer, I'd always stay in my stand at least an hour after shooting a deer. Very often I go home that day with three deer taken in just one hour. Plus I tend to nod off a lot.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I don't climb at all these days; too dangerous …, I spent many a season on the ground with little problem. In my native Georgia where the limit is 12 deer, I'd always stay in my stand at least an hour after shooting a deer. Very often I go home that day with three deer taken in just one hour. Plus I tend to nod off a lot.

AMEN to that!
Everybody told me 30 years ago, "You gotta get a tree stand". Well I was teaching Hunter Safety and we'd get updates on the previous year's accidents. We might get as many as five deaths a year, and sometimes one of them would be from a shooting, BUT more often we'd get one or two from heart attack, and the rest from guys falling out of tree stands to their death. Since I tend sometimes to get sleepy, Dave decided he can't fall out o' no tree stand if he simply isn't gettin' into no tree stand.

As far as stayin' put...I've gotten a second deer (we are allowed 10 doe where I live) twice, and my buddy near to me has gotten a second deer out of the group from where I just shot mine, twice. In my case after the initial confusion and moving off of the remaining group of does, one of the doe came back to see what happened, and I got her too. For my buddy, the group would seem kinda uncertain what it should do, then it moved off in a sort of circular course..., right toward him, and voila! Now had I moved right away..., none of those extra deer would've presented a shot.

LD

 

[Patocazador]

I won a hunting trip back in the '70s and one of the hunters was Mr. Baker, the first one to manufacture climbing stands. I asked him how they worked for long-term sitting. He said, "I don't know, I've never used one. They scare me."

Well, they didn't scare me so I bought one. Best hunting tool ever. I have used one ever since and still do at age 76. I've killed over 100 deer from one although they are now much improved from the original Baker.

Some, like the Tree Lounge are very dangerous and I had a friend killed when he fell out of one.

If you take your time, pay attention to what you are doing and don't exceed the design limits, they are a great tool.

 

[Onojutta]

Good replies but a little off topic here. Tree Saddles have been around for a couple of decades or more but never really became mainstream. There are now a couple of manufactures trying to change that, but bottom line is a tree saddle presents an alternative way to hunt from an elevated position as opposed to a conventional tree stand.

If you haven't tried one, they are more comfortable and safer than most conventional tree stands. What I like about them is that you can hide behind the tree and so you are much more concealed from the deer than when you are sitting on a protruding platform.

Anyway, in a tree saddle its not as convenient to lay a rifle across your lap as when you are sitting in a ladder or hang-on stand. I hang my modern rifle from a hook or branch by its sling until I am ready to use it. But as we all know, a 60" longrifle is not something you hang from a sling. Then there is the possibles bag, powder horn, etc.

A good point was made above that in a hunting situation you don't need all of the accoutrements that we lug around in our possibles bags, but there is still the issue of what to do with the rifle itself...

 

[EC121]

I put a seat belt about chest high in my ladder stand. Autozone sells them.

 

[theoldredneck]

Have been watching this thread. Years ago worked some from a similar rig. Was a good way to work in some situations but also had some drawbacks. Working the more tools needed added extra weight and where to put when not using. Hunting I could work around using a percussion rifle easier than flint. Losing prime in pan from handling would probably be my problem. I would want to hang the rifle like the bow in photo. Reloading for me wouldn't be practical, I'm not good at that standing on the ground without something to put things on. I like the setup, if a lot younger would try it and could probably make it work. Being able to rotate around the tree would solve one of the issues I didnt like about most tree stands. Will continue to watch the thread, nice to learn new things.

 

[Onojutta]

You know, I've never considered trying to reload my frontstuffer from any tree stand. After shooting a deer, I always wait a while, then climb down from the stand, reload, then go after the deer.
I've also considered how the powder in the pan would hold up in the tree saddle. Perhaps no worse than a coventional tree stand if I keep the rifle across my lap.
I think my biggest worry as of now is protecting the gun and keeping it from getting scratched and chafed from the "bridge" of the tree saddle. But, I am planning to install some padding around that hardware with a neoprene beer cozy.
Anyway, I aim to try this next month when early muzzleloader comes in PA, and if I think of it I'll post back how I made out.

 

[SDSmlf]

Played with a buddy’s Saddle ‘stand’ a few years ago. Never tried it more than a foot or so off the ground with a bow. Could imagine wrestling with a 60” muzzleloader in it being a real challenge. Might consider trying with a short barrel (say 26”), which is my preference for stand hunting. Haven’t tried, but using the foot rests for support while reloading a short muzzleloader might be possible with some practice.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

I'm facing the same question. Has anyone hunted from a tree saddle with a longer barreled rifle? Thinking about getting one.

 

[Onojutta]

So I’ve done it a few times since posting this thread. It isn’t ideal, but can be done. The long rifle and movement associated with handling it gives up much of the extra concealment and stealth that you get using a tree saddle.

When in the saddle, I usually lay the rifle across my lap. My saddle has lots of strapping and metal connections in this area, so I use a small towel or something soft to wrap the stock to protect it from getting scuffed up by the saddle. Possibles bag I either wear like usual and let I hang, or I hang it from the tree.

I do not reload from a saddle. In any hunting situation, I only take well placed shots. As we used to say in the Army, one shot one kill. After shooting a deer I reload as soon as I get back in the ground.

Using my flinter in a tree saddle also presents somewhat of a conflict of motivation. After all, the appeal to hunting with black powder is its primitive nature. Ascending a tree in a modern tree saddle while donned in my Scentlok cammo hunting outfit sometimes just feels like it ain’t meant to be. I prefer to use the saddle for hunting with compound bow during archery season. But, some places I hunt it can be more practical even with the smoke pole. And in the 18th century, our forefathers would have leveraged any advantage possible to harvest game, so at least the final objective is period correct.

 

[Blue_Duck_97]

I hunt out of a saddle using a compound bow and cross bow. I’ve also used a rifle (muzzle loader and modern).

I’m unable to reload the cross bow or muzzle loader while in the saddle.

With that said, the saddle has opened up so many more hunting opportunities for me. I hunt public land here in Kansas. Ladder stands tend to walk away and have to be removed at the end of the season (on the walk in hunting areas).

I generally keep my firearms in my lap or simply hang them from my equipment loops that go around the tree.

Happy hunting!

 

[Buckskinn]

I have a saddle and have used it a few times, I'm not real fond of it. I'm on almost all private land so no real advantage over other stands.
I'm considering selling it, especially since I'm going wooden long bow this year. I think it would be reasonable to shoot a rifle/flinter out of it, but as you said, not in the primitive column...