For y'all hunters who've been using both for a bit, which y'all end up liking more ?

they both have their places and pros n cons.
cant really say i like one over the other, although the saddle takes more getting used to in my opinion.

Spend all day hanging in a saddle and your ‘boys’ will let you know. If you have and know how to use a good set of lineman’s spikes, opportunities are endless with a saddle. Extremely mobile and you can travel light.

Lineman spikes?That ends it for Maine.Not legal here

a lot depends on the horse under the saddle if its better than using your own legs to climb a big hill

Hang on with sticks.

A bucket, IF I can't find a stump in the right spot, lol

I haven't hunted with a saddle but have some buddies who do. I just bought a climber this year and the only thing I don't like so far is having to be selective about what tree I climb. One branch between ground level and 15-16 feet up an otherwise perfect tree and it's a no-go. I did climb 10 feet up a dead tree that was broken off about 20 feet up last year, but it was literally the only option and I gave it a few good kicks to make sure it was solid before I climbed up.

unless your talking about a rock harness/safety harness, you should never have any problem with your junk. Ive done a lot of all day sits in my phantom.

Never liked the foot section of a climber. You can if you choose, your foot section with a saddle if you wish to really increase the safety factor. Ill never touch a climber again.

you dont need spikes for saddle hunting. just need some method of getting in the tree. I rope climb myself using either SRS/SRT or 2 Tether climbing

That sounds like a pain.

Not really just matter r of practice. Plus you're not wondering if you got the angle at the bottom right or.not.. if you can climb up a vertical ladder you can rope climb. Two tether is a bit harder but it's the cheapest way up a tree you can get.

Carry a saw

x2

if I was 35 years younger and 100 pounders lighter it would be a saddle. Number one reason is the flexibility in the trees you can get up that wouldn't work for a climber or ladder and being able to setup multiple trees ( stand locations) in advance. My son has mastered the saddle in the last couple of years. You will need to practice and learn your equipment.

I will take the climbers or ladder stands

I started using a saddle in the mid 1990’s, and within a few years I had given away or sold all of my treestands. Climbers included. Now it is 30 years later, my hair is turning gray, and last deer I shot was from a ground blind.

The saddle (it was actually called a tree sling back them) was perfect for me. After I built an upper body/head support sling for my setup, I learned that deer are indeed spooked by snoring.

Hmmm I'm gonna have to look into that. Old school hunting gear always interested me

Look up sit drags

Saddlehunter.com as a lot of good forum for saddle hunting