As the hunting season gets closer and we all are chomping at the bit to get back into the woods, we all start dialing in our saddle hunting setup and decide what we will be bringing out on opening day. Sometimes we forget how hot it can be outside from late September through the middle of November. Somedays it will be 70-80 degrees when we go out to hunt and realize we are sweating our ass off.

To reduce the sweaty, mosquito infested, swamp ass hunts we all dread, we are going to talk about early season saddle hunting setup and how to reduce the misery when hunting during warm days.

The majority of us take vacation in November for the rut. What about the rest of the season? We are left to hunt either weekends or we get off work early to do a quick hunt. Being efficient is important when you only have 2 hours before sunset. How do you effectively use your time to execute your plan? The last thing I would want is to be hindered by unneeded gear and limited mobility. Down below is a quick list of what we will be talking about and what you should consider.

• What saddle to use
• What pack to use
• Consider using a chest rig
• Consider one sticking
• The most important accessories

During the early months of hunting season, it is important to understand, what kind of saddle you are going to need to combat those hot muggy days. You have a plethora of different options when it comes to hunting saddles, so we're going to break each and every single one down and we're going to choose the best one for early season.

We have 3 options for saddle types:

• Single Panel (Mesh or Foam Structure)
• Double Panel (Mesh or Foam Structure)
• Pleated

Mesh vs Foam

When you are trying to figure out what kind of saddle you want to buy and use for hunting season, you're going to come across multiple different kind of saddles. First thing you are going to realize is that there are some saddles that are made out of strictly mesh and other saddles that are made out of foam with backed mesh.

Mesh hunting saddles offer:

• Airflow to your back end and body
• More mobility
• Lighter in weight
• Dead silent

Foam hunting saddles offer:

• Comfort with a cushioned chassis
• Insulating foam properties (Keeps you warm)
• Wind resistant (Keeps you warm)

As you can see there are many types of different saddle hunting setups. We broke it down for you to understand the difference between a mesh saddle and a foam saddle.

The best early season saddle hunting setup you are going to want if you are looking for mobility and breathability is going to be some sort of mesh saddle. We highly recommend our Praxis saddle as it specifically has features that accommodates early season hunting.

Not only is it going to allow you to stay cool in the early season, but it will also allow you to be more mobile to work your way around in the deer woods

The simple answer to the question of whether or not you should run a chest rig, or a hunting pack will be answered by your goals. If you want to be minimize the amount of gear you carry or decrease the setup time in the tree, you will naturally want to carry less stuff. Thats where a chest rig comes into play. If you one stick climb or run a mobile tree stand, a chest rig would be the best option to carry your other gear.

For an early season saddle hunting setup, chest rigs give you the ability to carry essential gear along with a pair of binoculars on your chest. This will reduce weight, setup time, and overall, less baggage (Literally) while hunting.

Conversely, If you are not interested in running just a chest rig, you'll need a quality, compact hunting pack that has enough storage for your gear while being able to carry your climbing sticks and a platform. The best hunting pack you will want for a saddle hunting setup is a pack that offers compression straps on the back and bottom of the pack. This allows you to carry your platform and sticks hands free.

Hands down the best pack you will want is a Kuiu Venture 2300 or something similar to that. Even a smaller version of that would be a Pack Rat hunting pack.

The benefits of running a chest rig:

• Lightweight and less bulky than a hunting pack
• Keeps you minimalistic 
• Requires you to bring your most important gear, in return making you more effective

One of the biggest debates in the saddle hunting community is whether one sticking or climbing sticks are better than each other. They both have their pros and cons. As far as I'm concerned, each climbing method has its own place within a specific time period of the hunting season. Let's dive in to see what kind of saddle hunting setup you want to use.

One Sticking (Early Season - Mid Season)

If you are in early season and don't have flexible hours to hunt exactly when you want, one sticking is the best option. You will be lighter, more mobile, and much more effective. Not only will you have a faster set up time and faster time getting to the ground and packing your stuff up to move, one sticking is much lighter than carrying around 4 climbing sticks and a platform. Pair this with the fact you don't have to bring a pack into the woods, and you just got off work to hunt that last hour of daylight, you can be extremely time effective with this saddle hunting setup.

Also in early season, you are not layered up with clothes to keep you warm. Usually, you'll wear 2 layers at most and will strip the outer layer off when the temps start to rise. Due to not being layered up, you will have increased dexterity and not be limited in mobility with all your layers. So, it makes one sticking a breeze if you are halfway in shape.

The main reason why you would only want to hunt with a one stick saddle hunting setup early to mid-season, is due to the clothes you wear when temperatures start to drop. It gets pretty hard to be able to one stick with all the layers on and will restrict your movement.

Climbing Sticks (Mid Season - Late Season)

If you are in mid-season to late season and have the vacation days racked up to hunt the rut, you are most certainly going to want to use climbing sticks. Although climbing sticks take more time than one sticking to be completely setup, there will be no reason to rush when you have vacation days off for the rut.

When it comes time for you to start layering up because of temperatures are dropping, this is where climbing sticks really outshine one sticking. Naturally, when it gets colder outside, you are going to be wearing multiple layers of clothing. With the restricted dexterity and mobility, it will be a really hard time to one stick. But using climbing sticks is very straightforward and does not require any major moves up in a tree such as one sticking. Although climbing sticks take a little bit longer to completely set up with your platform. It is very easy to use your climbing sticks and not have to worry about bending over while suspended out of a tree to retrieve your one stick with limited mobility. This is the best saddle hunting setup for beginners.

Accessories for your saddle hunting setup in early season is pretty important if you are trying to be efficient. A lot of us have experienced the pain that we sometimes go through when trying to set up in a kill tree and we have to fumble around with a bunch bull crap we really don't use. My philosophy is to be as minimal as possible so I can accomplish my plan. I'm going to say it again, there really is nothing more annoying than fumbling around with gear that we never really use. Here is a quick list of what you should absolutely bring with you when going out on a hunt. This will finalize your saddle hunting setup.

(Accessories for your saddle hunting setup) **Assuming you'll automatically bring your range finder, binoculars, and release.

• Gear Strap w/ bow hanger and small S clips
• Back band
• Bow rope
• Knee Pads
• Knife
• Flashlight

There really isn't any more accessories that you need while going out for a quick and efficient hunt. Obviously, this list is going to change when mid-season comes around when the rut is in full swing. As you will be bringing out snacks, water, and other little things to make sure that you're comfortable throughout the entire day.

Your saddle hunting setup with these accessories, you can now see how a chest rig becomes very important. You can store everything in our Moose chest rig that is on this list and still be comfortable with it on. And that quite honestly could be the best saddle hunting setup for early season for the men that work hard and that needs something very effective and efficient while having limited time to hunt

Take advantage of early season hunting by remaining lightweight and minimal with the gear you bring out into the woods. The majority of us that works for a living, deal with time restraints, so we have to be calculated in order to be efficient to hunt. Stick to the basics, be nimble, and don't weigh yourself down with a bunch of unnecessary gear to keep set up times and traversing times as low as possible. This is the best saddle hunting setup for early season.