Show Notes
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last several years, you know about saddle hunting. While saddle hunting has been around for a long time, the resurgence in its popularity recently had many asking the question, Is saddle hunting just a fad? While it's not for everyone, most deer hunters could benefit tremendously from having a tree saddle as another tool in the belt. They're undoubtedly lighter, quieter, and some argue safer than a tree stand. And for many, they can also make you a more effective and efficient hunter.
In this episode of the How to Hunt Deer Podcast, Josh talks with Jason Redd from Timber Ninja Outdoors about deer hunting and Timber Ninja Gear. Timber Ninja came on the market with the industry's first carbon fiber sticks. Now they've rounded out their offerings with saddles, accessories, and a lot of new cool stuff that's getting ready to launch. If you're curious in the slightest about saddle hunting, give this one a listen! And be sure to check out timberninjaoutdoors.com to see their full line of products.
Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant, outdoor content!
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Show Transcript
Josh Raley: Welcome to the How to Hunt Deer podcast, which is brought to you by Tica. This podcast aim to educate those who are interested in becoming deer hunters, brushing up on essential skills, or maybe just adding a few new tactics to the toolkit. We cover a variety of topics that will help you be more confident and successful in the field.
While you're hunting deer, thank you so much for tuning in with us this week. We've got a good one for you. I was able to catch up with Jason Red from Timber Ninja Outdoors. Now, if you [00:01:00] haven't heard of Timber Ninja Outdoors, they came on the scene in May of 2020, I think it was May, uh, as the very first company to bring carbon fiber climbing sticks to the market.
Now, I had a chance this year to handle their sticks as well as their saddles at their booth at a t a. And let me tell you, I was very, very impressed with their gear, not only with the individual pieces, but with, as you're gonna hear in this episode, they're really working towards making their kit work all together as a system.
They've got a couple of saddles on the market right now. Obviously, they've got their sticks, they've got a bunch of great accessories, and they also have a brand new platform, which if you have been a little bit leery of some of the smaller, uh, saddle hunting platforms in the past, this is one you might wanna take a look at, especially if you're a bigger guy.
It has a weight rating of up to 350 pounds. Or if you have a little bit bigger boot size, or if you'd just like a little bit more room on the platform. I know that's something that I'm looking into now for this year. I've been using a smaller platform [00:02:00] over the last couple of years, and I think it's about time to upgrade because I'm finding that, uh, rather than just leaning in a saddle or just sitting down while I'm in the saddle, I typically like to stand.
Uh, I don't know why, but that's, that's the direction that I'm going. So I think I'm gonna give the new platform from Timber Ninja a good hard look. In this episode, Jason and I talk about, uh, where he grew up hunting, the transition from hunting the, the river bottom land of the south, up to now where he is at in North Carolina, kind of mountain country.
We talk about timber nija and how they got their start. We talk about the new products they've got coming out, the features of their current product line, and then what you can kind of expect from timber nija in the days ahead. It's a great conversation. It's not all gear focused. We do talk dear, a good bit.
And so no matter, uh, where you're at as far as being in the market for a saddle or not, I think you're gonna take away a lot from this talk that I had with Jason. If you'd like to see more from them, you can head over to their website, timber ninja outdoors.com. Now, from what I can tell, [00:03:00] we are getting to that time of year when a lot of folks are really starting to get dialed in for, uh, for deer hunting.
And I get it, that's the same way for me, but I'm seeing our download numbers creep back up, you know, during this late spring and early summer. You kind of see a little bit of a lull. But then as we get closer to 4th of July, which for many folks, it's kind of the official kickoff of summer prep for deer and, uh, yeah, totally get it.
So, I know a lot of you are beginning to think about your fall season, and let me make a couple of suggestions. We've got several great brands that we partner with here at the How to Hunt Deer Podcast. And as you're thinking through your camo, your filming needs or your mapping software, I wanna encourage you to go check out our sponsors.
First of all, tactic cam, they're the title sponsor of the show. And, uh, as I've told you before, their tactic, M 6.0 and solo, extreme cameras are fantastic and I usually spend a lot of time telling you about the specs of their camera. But today I just want to mention a couple of different things because I'll usually throw in at the end like, Hey, they've got mounts and [00:04:00] adapters that are really cool and, uh, so rather than just saying that, again, I wanna tell you about my personal favorites.
Number one, the tactic. Amm 6.0 stabilizer mount for your bow. That's a no-brainer. If you're gonna be shooting this summer and you want to self film your hunts with a tactic AMM six oh this fall, you need to go ahead and get the stabilizer so that you can practice shooting with it. That one is kind of a no-brainer.
They also have the Bindi clamp mount, which I think is probably my personal favorite because I can take that bendy clamp mount and stick it on pretty much anything. I can put it on a tree branch, I can put it on my backpack when I'm walking in. I can put it on the stock of a weapon of like a rifle or a shotgun.
It's super, super versatile and we'll do pretty much anything you need it to do. They've also got a shoulder strap so that you can get, or a shoulder mount so that you can get that over the shoulder angle, which is really, really nice if you're spending some time fishing or scouting. They've also got a head mount if you want to wear it up on your head, like a traditional point of view camera might be.
So if you think about tactic cam and you think, well, those are just for my, uh, those are just for my [00:05:00] weapons. They may be not for, you know what you would use a typical point of view camera for you are mistaken, you need to go check 'em out. Tac cam.com, grab one of their 6.0 cameras or the solo extreme camera and get started sharing your hunt today with tactic am.
Next up, if you're looking to add some camo to your arsenal this year, go check out hunt worth gear.com. I've been super impressed with a couple of different pieces, specifically for summer scouting and early season hunting. Their Durham lightweight pants are amazing. I've got them in the gray and I've also got them in the camo.
Uh, they also have an olive color and an ash brown color that I just don't have yet. But, uh, certainly plan to because these pants are super, super comfortable. They keep you cool. They're tough and durable. They've got just a little bit of stretch to 'em, which is nice when you're trying to make your way through the timber when things are really greened up outside.
And honestly, here in Georgia, I'll probably be wearing those pants well into the season. I mean, they're lightweight enough that you can wear them during the summer, but if you throw on, you know, one of their base layers underneath, you can actually [00:06:00] get a good chunk of the season. You know, if you're in a climate like Georgia where it's not necessarily gonna get freezing.
Now up in Wisconsin where I hunt, I'm probably not going to be wearing those past, uh, you know, middle, early October-ish. But when you get those 70 degree days, it is nice to be able to pull those things back out, head over to hunt worth gear.com to check out all of their products and learn more. Finally, last but not least, the Onyx Hunt app.
If you did not catch the episode that I did with Jacob Linner, On the Wisconsin Sportsman Podcast, uh, the previous episode launched on June 27th. It's called Up Your Map Scouting Game for Big Bucks, man. First of all, fantastic, fantastic episode. Uh, probably one of the best Wisconsin sportsman episodes that I've done that's devoted to Deere.
Had a really great time recording that one, but it was all about, if you can't guess, map scouting. And it sort of re-lit the fire in me to be doing some map scouting for some properties that are local to me here in Georgia. So I've been putting the OnX Hunt app to work here lately, and as I'm doing that, one of the [00:07:00] features that I really, really love is the, uh, the markup folders.
So what you can do, you can, you know, drop your pins and you can add those to a folder and send them to a buddy, which is what I personally like to use them for. I can put, you know, several pins in a folder, send them to a buddy and say, Hey, what do you think about this? Rather than having to send them one pen and then another pen and then another pen, I can just send it all at once.
So, if you're like me and you like to share pins with your buddies to get their thoughts on areas that you're map scouting, Check 'em out today, onxmaps.com, or you can find them on the app store of your choice. Now let's jump into today's episode, talking Deer Hunting and Tree Saddles with Jason Red of Timber Ninja Outdoors.
Joining me for this week's episode of the How to Hunt Deer podcast is Jason Red from Timber Ninja Outdoors. Jason, how's it going today? Pretty good,
Jason Redd: man. Just, uh, enjoying all this heat and humidity we've gotten this week.
Josh Raley: So yeah, we've got a little bit of a, of a, of a heat wave going on right now. What's, uh, what's it feeling like where you are?
Jason Redd: I think we're in the eighties today, [00:08:00] up in the mountains here in North Carolina, so just a little muggy. Yeah. All right. But can't complain, I guess it is what it is.
Josh Raley: Busy, uh, busy time of year for you.
Jason Redd: Yeah, this is the busiest time of the year for us, so we got a lot going on. You know, we, we started in 2020 and keep growing every year and like I was telling you, this is still a part-time job, but it's, it's about 70% of my time now, so, and right now it's more than that cuz I've been working nights as well.
Josh Raley: Yeah. Keeps growing, man. That's awesome. So, um, before we jump into kind of the history of Timber Ninja, you know, I'm curious to hear more about you, like how did you get, uh, to where you are today as far as an outdoors man? I mean, I know you're a big, uh, you're a big bow hunter. Um, are you strictly traditional archery equipment at this point?
Jason Redd: Uh, for archery, yes. Okay. Uh, but I still do hunt with a gun in muzz load or something.
Josh Raley: Okay. So did you, uh, you grew up hunting in North Carolina, is that right or
Jason Redd: No? I grew up in the Mississippi Delta in Arkansas. Okay. [00:09:00] So, uh, I've been out here for 14 years. Yeah. But grew up, grew up in the
Josh Raley: Delta. So where you were in the Delta, was that more like a Midwest ag country kind of portion of the delta or were that kind of river bottom, swamp stuff?
River
Jason Redd: bottom, swamp, yeah. Okay. Yeah. We don't like to be called the Midwest. We're the south. Yeah, for
Josh Raley: sure. For sure, for sure. I, um, so I, I, I lived and hunted in Louisiana for about eight years, and so Oh, okay. I knew there was that, I mean, we obviously had a lot of Piney woods and that kind of thing as well.
Um, but there is part of Louisiana, a lot of folks don't know it, and part of the Delta really, that looks a lot like the Midwest and Hunts a lot like the Midwest, just as far as agriculture and that kind of thing. Mm-hmm. Um, those, those big river bottoms are a whole, a whole different beast.
Jason Redd: Yeah, they are, they're really interesting.
I, I, I enjoyed hunting the river bottoms. Um, you know, you talk about getting lost, you can get lost in the river [00:10:00] bottoms in a heartbeat. I mean, everything, none of the, none of the slews flow the same. So like, you can get turned around, you know? Cause growing up, you know, I'm 43 years old. We didn't have map systems and stuff like that.
We just kind of went by it. And we did a lot of coon hunting and man, you get turned around in those bottoms at night for sure.
Josh Raley: Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, and there's no, there's no uphill, there's no downhill, there's all the trees look the same. There's very few. I mean, for a lot of 'em, at least like the ones that I've hunted that flood regularly and that kind of thing, the vegetation's just monotonous for pretty much
Jason Redd: all of it.
Oh yeah. Yeah. A lot of things like to bite. Wanna bite you? Yeah. Mosquitoes, man
Josh Raley: snakes. Ain't that the truth? So how, when did you move, uh, away from that and how has your hunting transition? Cuz I know now you're not so much, uh, hunting river bottoms anymore.
Jason Redd: Yeah, I moved here in 2009 and, um, you know, I, I hunted pretty consistently most of my life.
But, you know, when my twenties I got into, uh, endurance sports, [00:11:00] I was, uh, a road cyclist and ultra runner, and I, and I focused a lot on that. But I still hunted and during the fall, but, you know, I wasn't super serious. I moved up here, I got back to getting more serious and moved to the mountains and it definitely was a, a transition as far as hunting styles.
And it took me a while to kinda learn the animals. And also, like our deer density is so low here that you, I mean, they're deer are real pocketed, so you gotta spend a lot of time, you know, combing the national forest to find areas with deer in it. But, you know, having the terrain features in the mountains, we do, it kind of combined, to me, it combined some endurance activity with hunting, you know?
Yeah. Because like most of my. Most of the places I hunt are three miles one way in. And you know, like there's a spot that I, I'm hunting a big deer for the last few years. It's um, three miles one way and it's like 1700 feet of elevation gain to get up in there. So it's like, oh my goodness. It's a workout.
Yeah, it's a workout getting in there, but i's what I like about it man. [00:12:00] Cuz it, because, you know, um, here in these mountains, you know, we have big continuous tracks in national forests and some wilderness areas, so you can have a really good remote experience, uh, up here. And we have some great whitetails, but just not many of them.
But, uh, yeah, I really enjoy it, man. And I, that's pretty primarily all I hunt these days for whitetail is like mountainous terrain on the east coast. So I hunt, uh, multiple states, but it's always kind of the same type of terrain because that's what draws me is the terrain and the adventure. Uh, in a lot of those areas you can find big deer for sure.
Mature age class.
Josh Raley: Yeah. Well, and anytime you've got deer that are just hard to get to, they're just gonna start to get older. You know, you're starting, you're gonna start to get that, that better aid structure. But man, I'm curious, you start getting into that like three miles and 1700 feet of elevation mark, like at that point you start thinking, do I just need the camp in there?
So are you doing any, are you treating it like a back country hunt at all or is it all straight in, straight out?
Jason Redd: Uh, it [00:13:00] depends. I do a little bit of both. Uh, I, I love to go in and bivy overnight. I don't carry much with me when I do that. You know, a lot of times I just sleep on the ground with my bag and pad.
Uh, it does, I do a lot more of that during gun season than I do both season, but Okay. You know, it has crossed my mind cause I've been at, cuz one thing I do is I, I like to find a couple older bucks here at home and that's all I focus on, uh, during both season is those deer and, and during rifle season, I'll kind of take a break and go run around in the national forest and do some of those bivy hunts and kind of look at new terrain, but, Um, primarily, you know, I kind of focus on one or two deer that I've located and try to do my best to get on them.
And I have been considering, like what you were saying, like this spot I've been after this deer for a few years. I've thought about Vivian and their during, uh, boat season, which I may just kind of cut down some of that walking.
Josh Raley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, cuz I mean, what kind of travel time is that, is that for you?
I mean, I've, [00:14:00] I'm no stranger to long walks, uh, you know, to get to a tree stand. But I mean, there are points where I know there are just spots that I'm just not going to hunt them, especially after time changes. Like I'm just not gonna make it in the morning. I don't have enough hours to, to walk back in there, you know?
Yeah,
Jason Redd: yeah. Uh, man, on that specific spot, it, you know, it takes me about an hour and a half. Okay. Um, cuz it's a straight uphill climb to access the top of the ridge and it's a long ridge all the way out and I drop off the other side to where these deer or where, you know, where they primarily spend most of their time.
Josh Raley: Gotcha. Gotcha. I'm curious to hear, so we were talking off air just a second ago. I moved to sort of northwest Georgia and, um, the hunting obviously is very different than Louisiana. Very different from southern Alabama where I used to hunt. Uh, very different from southern Wisconsin where I hunted over the last couple of years.
Um, and one of the things I'm noticing here is how pocketed the deer are. Mm-hmm. We have a little bit lower density where I'm hunting, [00:15:00] uh, you know, as compared to like South Georgia. It's just got way too many deer. Um mm-hmm. What are you doing in these big continuous tracks of land to find those kind of pocketed?
Uh, deer because I've had a heck of a time, uh, just finding where the deer hanging out.
Jason Redd: Yeah. I mean, you know, if you're in hilly, mountainous type terrain, I typically, I mean mainly for, you know, mature age class deer anyway, I typically find most of 'em on the north facing sides. Uh, steeper the better, honestly.
And one thing I really like to key in on is finding, you know, obviously, you know, you want a mixture of good masks in there, um, which is kind of sparse. We don't cut as much here, so it's a lot of old growth masks. And also I like to look, one of my favorite things to find on a north facing side is, um, A creek and I like to hunt up.
Typically, I usually find bucks up around where the creek starts cuz you'll have a lot of, [00:16:00] um, a lot of, uh, foliage there throughout the summer. They've got water that north facing side's always gonna stay cool. Uh, it's very consistent for them, for thermals too, on those north facing sides especially that have a creek.
So, you know, I I, I tend to find that those bucks really like to hang out in those areas. And honestly, um, I, all the mature bucks I've killed here have been in that type of terrain.
Josh Raley: Okay. That kind of scenario. It's, it's really interesting. You know, I hear a lot of the guys from up north and they talk a lot about those south facing slopes and deer wanting to get out in the sun and the, you know, when it's cold outside and I'm like, man, our deer down here, they're just trying to stay cool, you know, basically until November hits.
Jason Redd: Yeah. You know, man, I mean, we get cold. It gets cold up here and I think, you know, that. That, um, Intel is really good for all, you know, for deer in general, especially for dough groups. But you gotta think he's mature bucks, man. They're, they've got a lot more fat on 'em. They're [00:17:00] bigger, they don't get as cold as easy.
And uh, you know, that sun hits that north side for a little bit. I mean, I killed one on North facing side, uh, Christmas a few years ago and it was negative six and he was still betting on that north facing side cuz you, you know, and I got a buddy that, um, he sent me a video of this, had a buck get up out of his bed on north facing side on a, a single digit day.
And he was panting cuz he, cuz it, it, the son had just. Hit it for a little bit and he was still panting from heat. Oh my goodness. Um, yeah, so I, I think those older deer tend to stay on that north facing side cuz when you're mature age class deer too, you know, they're, they're pretty much gonna be loners and they don't really wanna be where everybody else is all the time.
They'll kind of check in on what's going on, but, you know, they're usually gonna be tucked up by themselves, especially as their horns get hard. Like, I, you know, one of the big deer I've been hunting for a few years, I found his summer range and he has a tendency, he likes, he's got two bucks he's been running with, I saw him with last year and I've already got him on cam this year with both of those [00:18:00] deer and uh, uh, and one of 'em is actually another mature deer, which is interesting.
And, but he tends to run them out of there about, you know, late October, but then they kind of buddy back up.
Josh Raley: That's wild. That is wild. So what is, uh, I'm curious what the, um, I guess prevailing hunting season wind is for you. Um, you know, I, I hear a lot of guys in different regions of the country talk, you know, It's that north northwest wind, blah blah blah.
I know where I'm at personally a south, I mean an an east or an east southeast wind is gonna be the prevailing wind all the way through, through the entirety of the hunting season really. Unless we get a really good cold front blowing through. So what's it looking like where you
Jason Redd: are? About the same. Okay.
Uh, last year we tend to have a lot more easterly winds. Um, what I found up here in our terrain anyways, bucks really don't spend a lot of time focused on, on wind. Mm-hmm. Um, cuz it's so inconsistent with the different, you know, saddles and mountainous terrains cause they can be calling a south [00:19:00] south a, I mean a south, um, wind and I can go in there and it can be blowing, you know, out of the west.
Yeah. It's just, it just depends, you know. So that, that's why I think in my opinion, that thermals are a lot more thermals in sight are two of the most important things I find for mature bucks to put their beds here in the
Josh Raley: mountains. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense. So, uh, well man, I want to transition a little bit into.
Uh, timber Ninja and the gear that you've been making. Mm-hmm. I had a chance to get my hands on some of it at ATA this past year, and I was super impressed. I mean, not only from each of the individual pieces, but kind of how everything was coming together as a system, uh, in general. Mm-hmm. So before that though, tell me a little about the, um, the history of your company.
I mean, timber Ninja kind of came out when I would say that initial saddle hunting fervor was at, was at its peak. You know, there were, there was a lot of competition kind of coming onto the market, uh, right around then. Mm-hmm. And, and [00:20:00] you're one of the guys in your products have stood out, you know, in, in the midst of a lot of competition.
So tell me about sort of what got you maybe to, to bringing a, a saddle to market and what, what sets you guys apart?
Jason Redd: Well, I mean, so we, we launched our company officially May of 2020. So in the height of Covid. And, uh, man, it really was not a plan at all. Uh, I had, you know, been hunting mountains and, you know, tired of lugging around all the heavy stuff and had done a lot of different things for myself to make my system a little bit more compact and light.
Cause I live with a backpack on hunting. Like I, I hardly ever go hunting without a frame pack. And so, you know, I wanted to make some items for myself that were, um, you know, worked well for that far as pack ability, lightweight and, you know, making sure they were efficient. And so, you know, back then I was using a, um, I was using a lock [00:21:00] on stand that I'd taken a seat off of to save some weight and.
I was using my treat, my rock climbing harness as, you know, my fall restraint and you know, and I had multiple sticks that I had tried. And so I got started by, uh, making some carbon sticks for myself. And it took me a while to figure out how to do it, but I had had some experience with carbon fiber from racing bikes and kind of knew some people in that industry and ended up, you know, making a set of sticks for myself that honestly I had zero intentions of, um, bringing to market.
Uh, I mean, it'd kinda always been in the back of my mind that I would like to do something in the hunting industry cuz it's one of, you know, the outdoor industry as a whole. Cuz I love the outdoors. Um, but I owned, you know, my other company that I still operate and also had another, uh, uh, large Airbnb business that I was running.
And I just didn't have the time to start another company. But after all my friends started seeing my sticks, they were like, man, you should bring this out. They, uh, as you know, launching as a product sell. And, [00:22:00] and I was like, I don't have time. And two of my buddies, you know, Had wanted to do something separate than their day jobs.
And so we all kind of came together and launched Timber Ninja with the sticks in 2020. Yep. Uh, that's kind, kind of what got us going. But, you know, once I, we decided that we were gonna start a company, like I wasn't gonna be, you know, they didn't want us to be like, just a company that sells six, you know, like it's not a very good business model to only sell one product.
It's not gonna last long. Yeah. Uh, so like what we wanted to do was to create a company that was gonna be the ultimate, um, mobile hunting company as far as any type of product that you use. And, uh, you'll see, you know, the next couple years how it's, how we're, you know, gonna stay true to what we do with, from a mobile hunting perspective, but we're gonna have other items that come out that compliment a year-round outdoorsman.
That. Um, I mean, I think you saw our packs and stuff, or some of the early prototypes and, you know, things that we can use throughout the whole year, um, and not have to buy a new piece of gear for every little outdoor [00:23:00] activity, whether it be hiking or fly fishing or Turkey hunting, you know, so, uh, so yeah, we just wanted to, you know, create and become the most innovative, um, mobile hunting company there is.
Uh, and we're, you know, we're trying, I think we do a pretty good job, uh, as far as innovation goes. And, you know, a couple other things that, you know, are, are true to our core. You know, we're all serious hunters. We've been doing it our whole life and, um, we spend a lot of time in the woods. So like when we create something, you know, people, one of the things that we hear a lot is like, man, you can tell this was created by hunters.
You know, cuz there's a lot of companies out there that essentially come up with ideas, put 'em own ca and. Launch a product without any field testing. Mm-hmm. You know, our products, I mean, we put years into field testing stuff to make sure it's gonna be right. And, you know, now as our team's grown, we've got some field staff people, you know, we're able to put more people into prototypes.
You know, like the, our new saddles where we launched this year, we had about 4,000 hours in those last year. Wow. Um, so like through that amount of [00:24:00] time you can kind of figure out what's, what works and what doesn't. Yeah. And, uh, you know, we, we make all of our stuff in the United States, we're not gonna go away from that.
Everything's made, um, local here. I mean, we even try to source as much of, uh, components like webbing and stuff for our saddles that's made in the US that we can, uh, this and we use local machine shops and local sewers, uh, for the saddles and our bags and stuff. And ultimately our goal is g goal is, is to become fully integrated and do all of our own manufacturing too, which we're gonna start.
Um, start a phase of that next year is the
Josh Raley: plan. Wow. I, I'm curious about that point. So I've talked to some other guys who, you know, are either own the, a saddle company or, you know, they're part of a team behind the saddle company and a lot of the struggle that they've had is finding, you know, places where they can sew a saddle and feel like it's gonna, it's gonna come back high quality, even from here in the us.
Like they've had to, they've had to do a lot of, of testing of the, of the product as [00:25:00] far as getting that part right. So what's that journey been like for you to find the right place to make things to your specs and, and the quality that, that you guys want to keep it at?
Jason Redd: Um, well, I mean, a little bit of additional background about me is I, I've been in the safety industry for almost 20 years, so I, you know, I sell all types of safety products, but I'm a fall protection specialist, so I train, consult, um, Uh, I, I do, um, you know, accident investigations for fall protection product development.
So our first saddle that we started, uh, came, we, we, we, our black belt, our original black belt release last year is made by one of our fall, one of my fall protection companies. And, uh, so, you know, obviously they know how to make stuff that's, you know, it's gonna keep you safe at heights, uh, and that they're an ISO certified third party testing facility too.
So like we test all of our products there and then, but you know, they're industrial, so [00:26:00] like, uh, all the innovative type types of materials that are out there, they don't really stay on top of that cuz like, There's nothing crazy innovative in the fall protection industry. It's just industrial, robust, you know, gear to get it done.
Like it's improved a lot since the early days, but it's not to where you see like climbing harnesses for rock climbing or you know, mountain bike gear, alpine mountaineering type gear, anything like that. So our new saddles, so another hobby, I've been doing it for a long time. I'm a, I rock climb, so I've got a lot of connections in the climbing industry and, and that's how I got connected with the company that's making our, our ultimate, our nano and doing all of our packs and stuff is that they, um, they, they have experience in the rock climbing industry for making harnesses and, um, so they know how that world world works and, but they make very innovative high-end mountain bike and camping type gear and so they know all the latest and greatest as far as materials and things like that.
So that's been a really good, [00:27:00] um, uh, partnership for us from a product development perspective. And also from a manufacturing, cause they do their own manufacturing, then we all, they also have two sister plants that help, you know, cause like right now we're running full capacity and so we've got like, between the three facilities, I think we got like 35 sewers.
Wow. Okay. And yeah, and every product, you know, just the craftsmanship that's in these, uh, new saddles and the bags and stuff is just top-notch. Like, you know, you can look at some people's products, you know, I, I, you know, that are using facilities here in the US that aren't accustomed to working with this type of material.
And you'll see a lot of weaknesses in their stitching crafts from the ship. I mean, some of your best saddles come out of guys that taught themselves. Um, uh, you know, like, I, I always say that, you know, as far as the industry goes, You know, one of the products, you know, like Matt over at, uh, TX five, he makes a really good quality saddle.
Uh, but he's, he pretty much does it all himself, you know, so. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and [00:28:00] it takes a lot of time to, you know, you're looking at, you know, about six hours per saddle by the time it starts to finish.
Josh Raley: Yeah, yeah. I had a, uh, an Overwatch outdoors saddle that I was using for a long time, and, um, that one's really high quality.
Um, again, guy, guy that owns it, kind of doing it all himself, had another brand though that I've had to send back a couple of times to say, Hey, this Stitch Stitching's coming undone. When I'm, when I'm dangling from a tree, I don't really like my stitching coming undone. Uh, kind of no matter where it's at, on, on the product.
Right.
Jason Redd: Yeah. You know, that's the problem. Um, You know, if you're doing it yourself, you can have a high level of craftsmanship because, you know, you essentially at that point have been, you know, spent enough ti time behind a machine to be good at it. And, but the problem is training another sower to do that.
And that's what tends to happen when you see stuff that's getting mass produced. But the problem with the first side of it is you only can make so many saddles by yourself. [00:29:00] Yeah. So like to really scale your business is very complex. Um, and we're very fortunate. I mean, both of the facilities we use, um, the primary facilities, they're all train quality sewers that are used to sewing, you know, technical stuff.
And so, you know, from mass reduction, you know, we inspect every saddle that comes through. I mean, like, we apply all of our own bridges. Uh, that's something I really don't want anybody else doing at a plant, to be honest. Uh, so we do that here and that way we can actually put our hands on every saddle and, uh, make sure.
Cause I mean, I, I've, I, there's a couple companies out there that I know of that I've seen and had people tell me that they get their saddle and their proect doesn't tighten up on the, on the bridge line. Mm-hmm. You know, like they're using essentially the same size ropes. And so, uh, we don't want that happening here.
So we inspect everything, make sure all of our barrel knots are in tied and we, we hand check every proect that goes on. So, um, you know, that's, those are little things I think that [00:30:00] really can help. Set you apart and make sure you're making a good quality product.
Josh Raley: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the, one of the very first, uh, episodes that I ever did when it comes to saddle hunting was called, uh, is Saddle Hunting a Fad?
Mm-hmm. Uh, I did that a couple years ago. And I'm curious where, where you are, I mean, obviously your company is, is cranking out saddles, you're busy today. Uh, what do you think about the current state of saddle hunting as far as, uh, as a tool that people are using? I mean, it did hit a fever pitch where it's like, if you're not hunting out of a saddle, can you even kill deer?
Like, did we kill any deer before saddles were around? And, you know, um, but, but at this point I think they're, they're seen as a legitimate tool. And so, uh, what are you seeing as far as usage and, and you know, just the, the, the room in the market still?
Jason Redd: Uh, I think you're gonna, you know, and this is based on also like larger companies that I work with that have a lot more people to analyze markets than I do.
But just from my perspective and talking to them like saddle hunting I don't think [00:31:00] is going anywhere, um, at all. I think more people are understanding the beauty of how efficient and lightweight and safe it is. Uh, I think we're the originators of the people that really got it going in this resurgence.
Cuz Saddle Hunting's been around for a long time. It's not like it's new Sure. In the last 10 years by any means. But they've kind of, like you said, they've, they've kind of created this whole like, subset group of people that are saddle hunters, right? Mm-hmm. And the thing that we have to understand is, and this is like something I run into being a traditional bow hunter.
I, I'm friends with a lot of old school trad guys, and if you know any old school tra guys, they're, they're, they're assholes, you know, like they're just good dudes. But you know, they're like, they're set in their ways. And like, you know, they know I make saddles and they're like, I'm not gonna be seen. I'm not a saddle hunter.
I'm like, well, you gotta understand that the saddle itself is just a fall restraint. And that's where we've done a poor job of marketing this product. Yeah. To where, you know, to evolve as an industry and understand that, you know, the saddle has a lot more uses than just hanging on like a small platform [00:32:00] or hunting like that.
We just have to break it down and understand that it's a, it's a fall restraint, so it can be used with a saddle platform, it can be used in a lock on as your fall safety device. Um, and it gives you a lot of different options to hunt. So you can pretty much ditch your traditional, uh, tree stand safety harness.
That's a cumbersome, and, you know, it's, and really it's, it's safe and as far as keeping you from falling and getting hurt. But self rescues really hard when you're attached to the back. You know, like when you're attached to the front. Self rescue is a lot easier. So I think we're really, just from a um, saddle hunting industry, I think you're gonna start seeing even more and more people transfer over.
Cuz that's still the biggest thing that we hear when we go to trade trade shows is people are just curious about it. You know, cuz they're hearing it. Now you have companies that are, you know, like your tethers and trophy lines that are really hitting the big box retailer. So this is gonna put it out there in front of more people's eyes and it's gonna have more people saddle curious, [00:33:00] I think there's some subsets of saddle hunting that have been created that I, I'm wondering if it's a fad, like the whole one sticking thing.
Like, you know, there's a big. Um, interest in that amongst a lot of people. And we get hit up all the time about making a carbon one stick. But like for me to make that type of investment, uh, uh, a prototype product, like, I gotta really know I'm gonna go get my money back. Uh, yeah. So like, how many, you know, how long is one sticking gonna be around?
You know, like, so I think there's certain things that will be a fad, but I don't think saddle hunting as a whole is gonna go anywhere.
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It's like, nah, I own property, or No, I have a lease. You know, so the thought is, why would I ever use this when I'm not on public land? You know, it's kind of a. It had, it, it w it's pigeonholed in a lot of people's minds as to you. You really have to be a public land hunter to use this because, you know why [00:35:00] it's, it's secondary to a tree stand right.
You know? Mm-hmm. Like, why would you ever use this if you've got the ability to hang and leave tree stands? And, um, I know for me, when I was still using a lock on and climbers and stuff, um, I had already moved around to the back of the tree just because I was getting spotted less and getting busted less often.
Yeah. And so, you know, I would hang from my old muddy harness with the strap hanging up over my shoulder facing the tree just like in a saddle. So when I finally found tree saddles, I was like, okay, this is, this is where it's at for me, you know, as far as, you know, staying concealed in a tree and, and not getting busted.
Um, I wanna talk a little bit about the, uh, products that you're, that you're bringing to the market. I mean, uh, you've got a, a stellar lineup right now as I obviously got my hands on some stuff at ata. And then was looking over your website a little bit earlier, kind of familiarizing myself or refamiliarizing myself with what you've got.
So tell me a bit about your, your saddle lineup first of all.
Jason Redd: Um, so we currently [00:36:00] offer three saddles. Uh, we have our original black belt that we released last year. It's a two panel foam padded, um, saddle it, um, it won Best New Saddle of 2022 by Outdoor Life Magazine. It's a really great, uh, product. You know, it's a two panel saddle is really comfortable.
Um mm-hmm. You know, cuz I'm, I'm mainly hunt it like a one panel, but I have the ability to move the panels or drop a panel and sit in it like a chair chair if I want to, if I wanna take a nap or something like that. I think, you know, a two panel saddle is like the most versatile. If a person's gonna buy one saddle, that's all they can, you know, all they need is one which most people do.
Uh, I think it two panels the way to go. And, but it's, it's a very, um, It's just, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that our new saddles have, and it's a great product that's made in us. And like for a two panel padded saddle, it's extremely comfortable out the doors. 2 49 0.99. So like you can get that for the same [00:37:00] price.
You can get some of this import meshed stuff. Yep. Um, and so it, that's kind of our, like, our starting point and our saddle lineup. And then we added our nano and our ultimate this year, which the nano is, uh, essentially the lightest single panel saddle on the market. It, uh, we don't use mesh. We use a proprietary material that's a two way, two way stretch, and it stretches more one way than the other.
So we have the stretch, the most going horizontally, kind of, you know, kind of suck around you. Uh, it's breathable fabric. It's really quiet, but it's also has a higher tensile strength than tear resistance than rip. Stop. So, you know, rip stop's a great material, but it doesn't give, so you don't get that like elasticity around you when you set.
But rip stop when it gets cold, as loud as all get out. And it's also like, it, it's not very puncture resistant. Uh, you can puncture holes and that thing pretty easy with our product. It's with this material we use in our nano, it's very puncture resistant, tear resistant, and just, man, you put that thing on, [00:38:00] you don't even know it's there.
Yeah. And like walking in it, it, it wears like a pair of pants. It's just, it's really hard to explain how comfortable it is just to wear, its into the field. Uh, and then you get up in the tree and we built that saddle. I actually modeled that saddle off a alpine climbing harness that I've used for years.
Like in climbing the Alpine, you want very minimalist type stuff. So you, cuz you're usually hiking in, you know, long ways up until the alpine, before you can even start rock climbing. So everything that you have is you usually gonna be very compact and light, uh, cuz you're carrying everything on your back and, but very minimalist, like an alpine climbing harness is not something you, you just hang around in all day.
It's just built for compact and light, you know, weight. So I actually, um, modeled the nano after that with the goal. Not really trying to make it the most comfortable. We just want it to be the most compact and the lightest. And after we developed it and made it and hunted it last year, we realized how comfortable it was.
Uh, [00:39:00] and as far as a single panel of saddle, I put it up against any single panel of saddle in the industry as far as comfort goes. Um, you know, a few things that we'd seen that were problems with a lot of saddles that we'd used over the years was one, uh, hardly anybody's waist belt stays tight when you're walking in, especially if you have a pack pushing down on it.
And nothing pisses me off more than walking three miles and I feel like my pants are sagging. You know, that's, oh my
Josh Raley: gosh, it's worse. You still, you feel the, like, constriction around your hips a little bit as it starts to sag too. What? It is Such a pain.
Jason Redd: Yeah. So we wanted to fix that. And so we have a, a waist belt system on ours.
You, you know, we use a little bit different type of webbing for that, that it bites better with the buckles and man, you can wear that thing. And I don't typically wear my saddle in a lot, uh, because I'm walking so far and I'm usually having to layer up the tree anyway. But, you know, uh, early season hunts and like, um, and just overall, you know, we tested it that way cuz we know a lot of guys, you know, do wear their saddles to the tree.
And [00:40:00] I have yet to have my waist belt come loose and I wear a frame pack over the top of it. Uh, I actually wore it scout another day cuz I was messing around with some presets I have back in that spot where I'm hunting that big deer and I wore. The nano in just for the heck of it. And I wore our little waist belt thing that we have coming out on top of it, and nothing pushed down.
And like, like I said, you, you don't even know you're wearing it. I didn't get hot and it was hot this past weekend. I didn't feel any different than in my pants and literally, like, I didn't know it was there. But beyond the comfort and, you know, little things like the waist belt, we added some features into our saddles, uh, and our new saddles that nobody else is doing.
We have magnetic, uh, stick attachments on the side. So essentially, um, you have, uh, a stick strap that you girth hitch onto your stick, and then when you get to the tree, you can take your sticks off your backpack and put two one on each side into the magnetic attachments and you can go up the tree, [00:41:00] you know, without having to, you know, hang a, you know, line or something, or some 3D printed piece like you.
It's already built in there and it works extremely well. And then also on the back we have a magnetic, uh, platform attachment. So you can, um, essentially it's a, a webbing with a magnet on one side that connects into a a v slot. And you just, you just loop that around your platform lock, you know, it locks in.
And once you get up to the top and when you want to, uh, disengage your platform, all you gotta do is pick up on the platform and it'll come loose and you can hang your platform. So, uh, those are some of the, you know, things that are very different than other saddles. And the other thing that's, we have a patent pending what we call our tacky bridge.
So, um, it's a tacky material we use on our bridge loop so you can make micro adjustments with your bridge angle. Um, and I, you cannot have that stuff, make that stuff break loose. Like it, wherever you put it, it stays. So you can make very little micro adjustments or you can adjust it as [00:42:00] much as you want up or down and you're not gonna have any movement there.
Um, and then, um, That's our nano, that's the single panel. And then we also came out with, uh, the Ultimate, which is our, our, um, new two panel and essentially has all the same features as the nano as far as the magnetic stick attachments and the, um, platform. But it also, um, the back has what we call our mud flap stick hauler.
So it's uh, essentially a mud flap that you can carry up to four lightweight sticks horizontally across the back of your saddle, and you can get to the tree, unhook your mud flap, get your sticks off. If you're carrying four, typically you can set two from the ground and you put your two on the sides and you can run up the tree.
Um, so that makes, that's the reason we call it the ultimate is like, it's, it's pretty much your do all saddle. I mean, that thing, it, it's super comfortable. I, I mean, Everybody that's sitting in it, his mind's been blown about how comfortable it is even hunting. [00:43:00] It is a single panel. It's just extremely comfortable.
It's really lightweight. Uh, I believe it's, it, it's the lightest, uh, two panel out there. It's padded. Um, and you know, just has all these features built in that nobody else has. And um, and then also you has the ability, we have an optional lumbar pack that goes on the back of it. So, um, we came out with, uh, three new side bags this year.
Uh, we have left and right specific side bags that are kind of a teardrop shape because I didn't like the saddle bags that everybody was making that remind me of like a chalk bag and climbing. They kind of bounce around. They're not very efficient. Um, you know, they're primarily open on top. So we made some really high end side bags that have one-handed zipper and they're left or right specific that way if you wanna keep your lineman's belt ta, uh, in, you know, a lot of people girth hitch their lineman's to one side and then stuff their rope in that side.
That way when you have it in there, you [00:44:00] can zip the zipper toward the front and kind of keep it secure. Um, they're waterproof zippers, pretty much the packs, I mean, the little bags are waterproof too. Actually wore our hip hip pack the other day, um, fly fishing, and I had to wait a section. It was up to my belly and my phone and everything was back there, and I didn't get any leakage on that.
So actually I'm gonna do some water testing.
Josh Raley: Yeah. So, so did you, were you testing them on purpose or was that an accidental test and you realized Uhuh
Jason Redd: that was an accidental test. Um, and then, uh, you know, also on those bags we added orange liner, so you can see inside of 'em real easy when you unzip 'em.
Oh, nice. Uh, just a little. You know, a little added feature. Um, so yeah, that kind of, you know, that covers a lot of the features and benefits of those saddles. And then also both of our new saddles also accom, have loops in the top of the saddle to accommodate our uni system that we're coming out with.
It's a, uh, we call it uni, uni system. Cause it's universal. It's essentially a [00:45:00] shoulder strap system. It's oriented like backpack straps on, on you, and it has a magnetic, um, disconnecting backpack that you can pop off. Mm-hmm. And then also with that backpack, which we just or about finished up with it, uh, we made a few changes since the one you saw at ata, but you can use it with the magnetic attachments.
You can take the magnetic attachments off of it. You can add, um, regular backpack, shoulder straps. That connect into it so it can function as a standalone day pack. And then it also has a, the uni uni system has a waist belt, uh, system. So like when you're not using your saddle, you can connect your shoulder straps and the magnetic backpack into your, this waist belt system, which the waste belt system is set up.
Um, we have all different types of modules that work with it. We have a Turkey hunting seat that goes on it. We have a a four liter lumbar pack, um, that way you can use it for scouting. It [00:46:00] has a mud flap on the back of it similar to what's on our ultimate. So like when you're going in scouting and you wanna put a couple cameras in your lumbar pack, you can put, you know, a stick or two in that mud flap, you know?
Yeah. When you're going into scout. Also, I found, you know, I used it a lot Turkey hunting in the Turkey hunting mode this year with the Turkey seat and that's gonna be a killer little waist belt for guys that like to stalk and whitetail hunt with a rifle too. Nice. Um, yeah, so that, that system is really cool, man.
I can't wait to roll that out to everybody cause our little day pack also have a, a brain that goes on it, lid, whatever you wanna call it, that you can take off, and that that lid is actually, will function as the lumbar pack on the waist pack, uh, lumbar bag on the waist pack. And then it also like say you're hunting and you.
You shoot something and you're gonna go blood trail it and you wanna carry, like kill kit or something with you, you could take that lumbar pack off and it has hidden a hidden waist belt in it. It'll come off and it'll, you can wrap it on you like a [00:47:00] fanny pack. So Nice. Yeah, it's hard to explain, man, that thing, that's gonna be like a 30 minute, uh, tutorial video that's going through all the features of this uni system, but man, it is, it's, it's totally sick.
Um, I, I get so excited about making the stuff, man. Like that's the, that's the part I like, I mean, running the business, I could care less about, uh, I, I really get stoked on designing and making stuff that, you know, I've been thinking about
Josh Raley: for years. Yeah. Well man, that, so the, the whole system and the way it all fit together at ata like that, that was amazing.
And I think it was, I think it was the nano saddle that I sat in and I can, I can vouch for what you said earlier, it's like, it's not even there. It's like you just, it's like there's nothing, you know, there is, there is no, um, nothing hanging. I mean that, that I think is probably one of my primary. Gripes about saddles in general.
There's a lot of times you can just tell there's just something hanging from you and, and I've never really liked that. Uh, but man, this system that you've got, especially with those magnetic [00:48:00] clips for the, the sticks and for the, uh, for the platform, because I've been using paracord loops all this time.
Yeah. And I've had it so many times where you get up in the tree and you go to pull the stick outta that paracord loop and somehow it's twisted a couple times on your way up. And it's, it's just a nightmare to try to get it, you know, when you're hanging off the side of a tree, try to get everything, um, squared away with that.
So I think that's, uh, that's a huge upgrade that honestly, I'm surprised we haven't seen a lot of that when it comes to, you know, saddles in general. But, um, certainly pretty excited to, to see how that, how all that works. So, um, let's talk about your sticks a little bit. So you were the first company to bring carbon fiber sticks to the market.
Jason Redd: Yeah, first and only, first and only. We're the only, we're the only real carbon fiber stick out there. There it is. Uh uh, yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, our C1 was our, you know, our flagship product that kind of launched our brand and it's a continuous fiber car, carbon stick. Um, it's a [00:49:00] tube style, you know, so it's essentially a carbon tube similar to like an aluminum tube as far as shape goes.
Mm-hmm. And we, we manufactured, um, machined, um, um, it's a plastics material for our steps. We machine that out and cuz what we wanted to do, we wanted to make them. Lightweight and quiet. And uh, also, um, we didn't want 'em to be cold to touch, you know, like living in Wisconsin, how many times you have freezing cold hands and you grab aluminum stick and put on a tree and you're like, geez.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. That was the, the main, uh, concept for us. And also we, we wanted a, a, a flat stack. So like we wanted, you know, all, we didn't wanna change the length when we stack four of 'em together. Cause I typically, if I use four sticks, which is very uncommon, I put two on each side of my bag.
So we wanted them to stack quietly and easy. And, you know, they don't lock together when they, when they stack, but all you gotta do is take your, um, attachment method and wrap it around. And they don't go anywhere. But, you know, they ca [00:50:00] they're a 20 inch stick, um, and they weigh, uh, 1.2 pounds, which, you know, you know, I, I don't know, there's always an argument over who, who has the lightest stick, you know?
Uh, but I think it's still one of the lightest sticks on the market, or is the lightest stick when you. Add up how long it is and everything compared to others. Uh, but it's performed really well for us. Uh, we also have the option to add in a retractable eighter. So it's a, a cable eighter that retracts up in the tube and it gives you another 12 inches of climbing height.
And, um, and we use metal standoffs. Uh, I, you know, people ask me all the time, why don't we, we don't do carbon standoffs is, you know, they're not gonna bite the tree as well as, um, aluminum wheel. And also, uh, it's actually gonna make a little more noise than aluminum, you know, uh, when you go to slide, slide it down on the bark, it's gonna make noise.
And the one thing, unless you trot our sticks, the one thing that we did a, we spent a lot of time trying to fix [00:51:00] is I like to take a stick. You know? Cause you get on these obscure trees, like I, I, I love hunting the tree that splits. Mm-hmm. And sometimes that requires me to climb up the right tree and then cross over to the left tree to, you know, get in a place that's straight, to put a, uh, You know, a stand or platform and when you're leaning across to, you know, set up on that other tree, like you're, it's just, it's awkward, right?
Mm-hmm. And so I wanted, I wanted our sticks to bite to where, you know, essentially you can take our stick and put it on a tree and kind of, you run it down the tree a little bit to get to lock and take your hands off of it and it's stuck on the tree without, you know, before you put your rope. But that way you don't have to use your face or whatever, you know?
I'm sure you've been there up Oh man. Up, got your forehead against them
Josh Raley: all the time. Forehead or my chin, you know, trying to, yeah. Yeah.
Jason Redd: It's, it's awful. Yeah. So we wanted to make sure, you know, that our sticks bit, the tree and I mean, I've been hunting these sticks since 2018, I believe, and I've yet to have one kick out on me, cuz I've had, you know, over the years I've had a lot of sticks kick out.
Yeah. And that's not a fun experience. [00:52:00]
Josh Raley: Yeah, for sure. I've been, I've been using the old school, uh, lone wolf sticks and I've, I've swapped back and forth to some different ones. Uh, but even with the lone wolf sticks, I've had, I've had kick outs and that kind of thing. And, uh, it's, it's a little bit, a little bit nerve wracking, you know, when Yeah.
When, uh, when you have that going on. But, um, I'm curious now to hear about your, your platform. Is your, your platform's up for ready for pre-sales right now? Is that correct?
Jason Redd: Yeah, yeah. We came out with the, um, the ledge. I've been working on that thing for, this is our third year, uh, of working on that, you know, and really what we wanted to do is I hunt with a traditional bow and being tight to the tree, you know, always have issues with potential limb contact.
And, uh, so like small platforms have never worked out for me too well, and also I like to stand to shoot if I can. Mm-hmm. So the goal of the platform was to make one a little bit bigger. A lot of people that make bigger [00:53:00] platforms, they just make 'em wider. They don't make 'em any, uh, deeper from the tree.
Yeah. So, We wanted to accomplish that. And also, which ours is 14 inches away from the tree, so you know, unless the tree's bending back towards you, any, you know, most, most men have no problem standing up to shoot. And, and that really comes into play as well with the weak side shot. You know, like the weak side shot is the dreaded shot from a saddle, right?
Mm-hmm. And with this, you can stand up on the platform and turn around and take that shot without having to, you know, contort around or walk around the tree or something like that. Um, so we wanted to make it deeper. We've got angles on the sides that you can kind of, if you're pushing off the side, you, you know, you got good angles to bite, you know, your, for your, uh, boots to bite on to kind of push off if, if that's the way you like to hunt.
And we also like, the problem I've seen with a lot of platforms is most of them that I've tried just really do not. Cam very well and have a tendency, you gotta like toe hook 'em and stuff like that [00:54:00] to get on a bite. So we wanted a platform that really bit the tree and dug in there really well and we accomplished that.
Like this thing, once you lock it into the tree, you don't have to do any toe hooking or anything. You can take the strap off of it and it's still stuck in the tree. Nice. Um, and then we also powder coat 'em with a non-skid powder coat. So you've got some, uh, tacky surface there. So it grips really well, especially if, you know, most guys are starting to use like mountaineer type boots or something with some type of premium rubber.
So that grips really well on these, um, platforms and we made an integrated, uh, versa button on them. And it's all, uh, machined aluminum out of bill of aluminum, uh, because, you know, we found that. We've seen a lot of caste platforms that have failed. Mm-hmm. And when we were talking to engineers about designing our platform, you can make cast a lot cheaper than you can machine.
Um, but uh, the problem with caste is, you know, it has the [00:55:00] tendency to create sinks and have dead spaces that you don't see from an outside perspective. So that can be an area of failure. And also over time, if your formulation's not good enough, you can start creating micro fractures in it. And, and the problem with cast when it fails, it just blows up, you know?
Yeah. It doesn't, it doesn't bend and give you a warning. It just blows up on you. I had a buddy last year that had a Cas pat platform blow up on him. It, it, right there above the bolt, it just shattered and he fell. Oh man. While he was testing our, he was using our saddle as a test, he was testing our saddle for us last year, and it caught him.
So, um, it has been fall tested, but, uh, so we, we decided not to go that route. Uh, after talking to engineers, um, multiple engineers about it. Cuz if you use traditional bill of aluminum, it's gonna bend weight well before it actually breaks. So if you were to have a failure, it would, you know, essentially bend and you wouldn't just have it trap door on your right.
Yeah. The way you could with cast it costs a little more to make it that way. But we also were able [00:56:00] to, um, achieve a 350 pound weight rating, which I believe we've got the only platform that has a 350 pound weight rating. Yeah,
Josh Raley: I was looking around at some other platforms, um, before we, before we talked and because I noticed that 350 pound weight rating and, you know, that's, there's a lot of guys that are concerned about that.
And, and rightfully so. You know, with some of these other platforms, a lot of folks are pushing the limits, especially geared up, you know, heavy boots on and all that kind of stuff. They're, they're, they're pushing the limit on some of these other platforms.
Jason Redd: Oh. But I get a lot of phone calls from guys cuz you know, our.
Our sticks had a 300 pound weight rating platform. You know, the saddles are 300, the platform's three 50. And I get a lot of guys that call me and be like, Hey, you know, how, how good are you at 300? I'm like, you know, most of our stuff is, you know, went well past 300 pounds, but we just use 300 pounds. And I'm like, you know, what's your weight?
And they're like, oh, I'm, you know, I'm like two 90 now, but I kind of move back and forth and we all know come wintertime, that's when most of us get, are fluffies. So if you're two 90 in the [00:57:00] summer, you're gonna probably be 3, 3 10 in the winter. Yeah. And then you add, you add all your kit and everything on, you know, you, you pick up 20 pounds pretty quick.
Yeah. Just gear. Absolutely. So, so yeah. I mean, we actually tested this platform to failure and it failed at 826 pounds, man. So, um, okay. And the, we, the welds are what broke at 826. It wasn't, the billet didn't bend or. Or anything, it just welds broke. Cause that's another area that when we were designing this, the engineers called out that they felt that it would, the weld's, the weakest point in the whole system when you deal with aluminum.
So if you, that's another thing that, you know, if you see a platform that's got a lot of welds in it, you know, those are areas of concern for failure too. So trying to limit the amount of weld you have and, um, using billet, you're gonna have the, the most secure, uh, piece I think for the woods.
Josh Raley: Yeah, man.
Very cool. So when can we expect some of that other stuff that, that's coming out? I mean, you said there's the, uh, the, the uni system coming out. [00:58:00] So when, when can we look forward to that?
Jason Redd: Uh, we we're about to run time studies at the plan on that now to kind of get our costs situated on that and the waist belt and everything.
And our plan is to start doing some drops of those,
Josh Raley: uh, this fall. Okay, very cool. So talking about the fall then, what are your, uh, what are your hunt plans? I mean, so just, just for those out there who are wondering. Uh, many people think that when you get associated with the outdoor industry, fall rolls around and you just, everything gets to shut down and you just get to hunt all fall long and just do whatever you want.
And that is very, very much not the case. A lot of guys hunt, uh, less once they're in the hunting industry then before they were in the hunting industry. So what, what do your fall plans look like?
Jason Redd: Uh, I mean, I, I try to stack myself up because. You know, we've never really marketed, we just started marketing this year technically.
So like, you know, we just run by the beat of our own drum. And um, so I try to hunt mu [00:59:00] as much as I can, the fall or get out. Um, but to your point, like anybody thinking they're getting in this business and it's just gonna be free time, that's, that's that, that's, you got the wrong mindset cuz it's not easy growing a business and unless you take, unless you got a lot of daddy money or investor money's, you know, you gotta, you gotta start from scratch and build it up and it requires a lot of late nights and, uh, just a lot of hard work.
But, uh, yeah, I, I get a chance to go out. Um, I, I've got a lot of stuff I gotta get done in July and then I'm leaving in August. I'm going to, uh, Alaska be my third trip to Alaska. I'm going up there for, uh, 14 days on a hunt and that's my first hunt of the year, which I'm really pumped about cuz Alaska's like my, it's my place I love remote.
Areas, um, and Alaska's like pro one of the last places you can kind of get away from people and Sure. Uh, but it, but it comes with a line of consequences. You know, I don't, I I, you know, this isn't like ego or anything. I, I've, I've been doing a lot [01:00:00] of stuff in the back country for a long time, you know, especially in the rock climbing world.
Uh, I've done a lot of like, backcountry rock climbs and, you know, ultra runs by myself. And so I have a lot of experience being out in the wilderness by myself. And, uh, so I, you know, for anybody that ever wants to go to Alaska, if you're gonna do a d I Y thing, like you really want to have your skills dialed in before you go out there because, you know, both the hunts I've done out there are all re uh, remote drop off hunts.
And once that plane leaves, you know, it's just up to you about getting yourself taken care of if something happens and little things can happen, like little things that you don't think about that could be a major issue, you know, can be a major issue if you, you gotta rely upon a plane coming to get you, especially if there's inclement weather.
You know, you may be stranded out there and they can't even get to you. So, uh, a lot of precaution goes into that. I mean, it's like cutting yourself while you're, you know, dressing an animal or something could be a major issue, especially if you were to cut a artery, which that's happened, you know, to people.
I mean, people have had broadhead spot or quiver and step on [01:01:00] 'em and go up in their calf, you know, like those things can be a problem for you, you know? Um, but I, I love going into the remote areas of Alaska and it's, you don't have any cell phone service. You don't have anything, and you can completely like, disconnect.
And it's crazy how much I, my stress levels tracked on my watch and I can look at a yearly graph and it's always plateaued during the times that I'm on, like back country type hunts. Like whether it's, you know, a five day whitetail rut hunt where I don't have service. Like my stress level is just low, but when I come back home it spikes back
Josh Raley: up.
So what are you, what are you hunting in Alaska?
Jason Redd: Uh, I'm going, uh, on a, uh, sick of Blacktail hunt on Kodiak. Oh dude. Yeah, uh, I'm going, I fly out August the seventh. I get there on the fourth in Kodiak and I'm going fishing for a day. I got a charter set up to go, uh, catch some halibut and some salmon that I'm gonna freeze and fly back with me.
That's on the sixth. And then I fly out [01:02:00] on the seventh on a float plane. I'm getting dropped in the alpine because the, the reason I'm attracted to that hunt specifically is the, the blacktail deer live in the alpine in the summer, so they're up in essentially goat country. So I'm gonna get to hunt blacktail deer.
Uh, it's a cheap man's goat hunt's, all it is. Mm. So I get dropped off on a remote lake up there, and then I can spike camp out of that and hunt blacktails.
Josh Raley: That's awesome. I've always wanted to do, um, a drop caribou hunt where, you know, like you said, plane comes in, drops you off, and boom, they're like, see you in 10 days.
And I haven't quite been able to talk the wife into that one yet. Uh, and it has nothing to do with the money and everything to do with, um, her thinking, I'm gonna kill myself while I'm out there accidentally. You know, I did
Jason Redd: that hunt in 2020. It's a fun time. Yeah. Did you have success? Yeah. Yeah. We killed some caribou.
Uh, um, you know, it was, I'm glad I experienced it, but I don't [01:03:00] know if I'd go do it again personally. Yeah. Like it just got very monotonous looking at the tundra. Oh yeah. Um, I liked the mountains and that tundra man. Uh, my buddy killed a crank bull the first day, and, uh, he was, it was five miles from the camp and we packed it out on one trip and a mature, a mature caribou's, you know, way bigger.
He's not quite as big as an l I mean, I would say a mature caribou. He is about the size of a satellite bull. Okay. Um, so, so, I mean, it's pretty heavy getting, getting out in one trip, but man, walking across that tundra is like, it is like baby heads, like, uh, like what is it, Musk g or whatever. Yeah. Uh, uh, and these things will roll on you and they're like, you know, like you tundra grass, um, like, uh, lichen and stuff like that.
And, you know, you'll go to their area that's like soggy and it's just, yeah. It's, it's a crazy pack out man. It's a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be. And also you're gonna deal with all the mosquitoes. Yeah. Um, they're [01:04:00] pain man. Like, there's times that you could breathe in and you'd suck mosquitoes up your nose.
Oh my
Josh Raley: gosh. That sounds miserable. But,
Jason Redd: but it's fun man. Uh, you know, I think everybody should do it at least once. If I go back hunt caribou again, I think I'd go do the hall road hunt
Josh Raley: personally. Yeah. I have a buddy who went to do the hall road hunt last year and uh, he attempted it with a bow. And didn't have any luck.
He said there were a lot of rifle hunters out there though. And the rifle hunters were having a lot of success. A lot
Jason Redd: of success. Yeah. Well if you, if you do the hall road, you gotta be five miles from the road road with the rifle. Yep. Um, but man, when we were, so we went into the North Brooks is where we flew into and we had to drive up the hall road to get, get picked up by the plane or, and, uh, I mean, I saw a lot of caribou off the side of the hall road.
I mean, one of 'em I totally easily could have shot. Like it was kind of a weird deal. He was in the road and was stuck on a bridge and he ran up the bridge and up this hill and by the time he, and there was a ridge coming across the top of that hill [01:05:00] and by the time he got to the top there, his tongue was hanging out.
And I told my buddy, I was like, man, I could easily get out, get my bow and slip around the backside of that ridge and catch him. Oh yeah. You know, sneak up on him cuz he was eight, he was tired. And, uh, two, just great, you know, ambush point there, but I, I saw multiple shooter bulls from the. Haul road. I mean, I would, it'd be a lot cheaper to do it that way too.
Cause I think all in, you know, you're looking at about, you know, per person, about six, $7,000 Easy. Yeah. For a flying home. Oh yeah.
Josh Raley: Yeah. They're not, uh, they're not cheap. So, uh, any, uh, any big whitetail plans or you say sticking close to home?
Jason Redd: Uh, yeah, I travel every year. I, um, I'm gonna, I'm really close on this deer.
I've been hunting for a couple years. I, I got 40 yards to of him last year and I found a summer range last year, uh, in October where he'd been spending his time for the last few years. And I put a lot of time in there, uh, this year scouting. Then I already got him back on camera, coming back to the summer [01:06:00] range.
And I, so I'm, I'm really trying to get on him. Uh, this year. He's a really, really good deer for here. And I think I got a good chance one of us is gonna mess up. That's all I wanna say. Hopefully he messes up and I capitalize or. Maybe I get busted in, in the middle of it. I don't know. But, uh, so I'm putting a lot of time in on him.
And then I'm definitely gonna be hunting, uh, West Virginia, probably Virginia and I may do a Midwest hunt too Nice this year. But for sure North, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, um, they're kind of, the definites already got tags for those, so I'm definitely gonna do those. Yeah.
Josh Raley: Awesome man. Well, thanks for coming on the show today.
I appreciate it. Good luck to you this fall. And, uh, man, I, I look forward to seeing what else comes from Timber Nija in the future. Cool,
Jason Redd: man. Thank you. Thanks
Josh Raley: for having us on. That's all for this week's episode. As always, thank you so much for tuning in. If you dig this show, be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever it is that you get your podcast.
If [01:07:00] you could leave us a five star review, I would very much appreciate that. While you're at it, you can follow along with my outdoor adventures on Instagram at How to Hunt deer. That's also the best way to get ahold of me. Suggest topics that you want to hear, guests you want to hear from, or questions that you'd like me to explore on the show.
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