The More Things Change...

Is hunting gear really getting better? Sure, some of it is. But for some, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Let's talk about a few items where the OG just might have been the best. 

The Hunting Roots Podcast is brought to you by onX Hunt - www.onxmaps.com

www.mossyoak.com 

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Welcome back to the Hunting Roots Podcast. I'm Brody Swisher. This is episode 248, and this podcast is brought to you by our good friends at Onex Hunt. OnexMaps.com is the website. And I guess as we do things these days, the app and your smartphone. The little smartphone app. Go there to the app store and you can find all you need to know. On X Hunt is the app, the official hunting app of the Hunting Roots podcast. And so we thank those guys big time. Be sure to check them out. Also, a big thanks to the crew at Mossy Oak, Mossyoak.com. Go there, check out their camo, all your camo needs. And then while you're there, be sure to check out the articles and content. Lots of great stuff to get you through the offseason, the summer months, fishing, hunting, whatever it is you need to fix. Go check it out at mossyoak.com. Lots of great content there. Guys, we got some good stuff we're going to bring you this week that I've seen popping up. We're going to be picking up on what the social media world has been laying down. All kinds of good stuff. Here we are closing in on the month of June. Now I can't believe even saying that. I mean, it's it's been just a fast and furious month, but also we were talking about this the other day. Just a month that has, you know, the first, it seems like the first two or three weeks just were slowly ticking by, just crawled by at a snail's pace. You know what I'm saying? It was just uh the first couple weeks, we were just nonstop every day. We were with camps and programs and sportsman camps and and stuff at church, sports camp, you know, just all kind of stuff for the first two and a half weeks, three weeks. And then you get to um this last and you realize, oh my gosh, where did it go? It seemed like it crawled by for the first half, and then here we are closing in on July. And so um, man, that's how summer goes. It seems to just the blink of an eye, which is okay because I I I love the break. I love the uh different pace of summertime. I love working in the garden, growing some veggies. Um, but I don't mind those hot summer months blowing by as quick as possible so we can get to my favorite time, the fall season and deer season again, bow season. And so here we are, again, closing in on July. I hope you guys are enjoying the summer as much as we are. And um, again, it's it's good, it's refreshing. I know everybody's like, I hate the off season. I hate, I hate when we can't hunt stuff. And I mean, if you if I if you find yourself saying that, first of all, there's always something to hunt. There's no there's no excuse for not hunting something. You know what I'm saying? I personally have enjoyed the break. Uh I used to just just beat the doors down, you know, when turkey season clothes start hunting coyotes and just go through and working on the coyotes every few days or every week at least, trying to call up coyotes. And uh I've backed off that some, just some from lack of desire as much as I used to, but a lot of that's just attributed to the fact that a lot more guys got into it, and a lot of places that I could easily go and hunt, other people started hunting coyotes. And and I and again, I attribute that to the the calling contests and these these predator tournaments or contests, whatever that popped up all over West Tennessee, kind of tanked things a little bit, kind of made it more difficult, a little more frustrating trying to call. Um anyway, I kind of lost my predator drive uh in a lot of ways, but I'm starting to get that back a little bit. But this is a good time. And so if you're if you're that guy or gal that's like, man, uh there's nothing to hunt right now. Man, there's always stuff to hunt. Predators uh of the calling variety, be it coyotes or whatever, but also, you know, we're gonna start getting into some of this uh coon calling, you know. I mean, you talk about a critter that comes to the call good. I mean, coyotes are about as good as it gets when they come charge into the call. Um, but on a smaller scale, pound for pound, probably the nastiest, meanest, toughest animal in the woods is that coon. And uh they will come and and beat the snot out of your call and come aggressive and come with a vengeance, come in multiples. And so um we often don't think about that, but and that opportunity is now uh alive and well in West Tennessee, in Tennessee, you know, across the board for summertime coon calling. And uh used to be more of a seasonal used to be more of a conservative um season for those critters, but now I mean they they want you to kill coons. They are um they are all over. They are destructive, they're bad news on a lot of the other critters out there, and so there's opportunities, is what I'm getting at. I ran down a trail there, but I'm just saying there is no off-season. For the guy or guy that likes to hunt, there's always something out there to keep you in the woods. If you can handle the heat, can handle the ticks and chiggers and snakes and poison ivy, everything else that goes with it, there's opportunities out there. And I'm kind of feeling the itch, I'll be honest. Turkey season's been over long enough now that I'm I'm feeling the itch to shoot something, and um maybe it's the bow fishing, something. We we've got to get back out. Drop the string on something for sure. Hey, I just want to touch base on a couple topics this week, and uh just some things I've seen popping up, and it made me wonder uh, you know, and I I've often thought this and known this and seen this or whatever over the years. It seems like uh, you know, you you've heard it said before, the more things change, uh something to the effect, more the more they stay the same, or something like that. The more things change, the more they stay the same, or um, you know, and just kind of speaking to that whole thing, and I I see that in the hunting industry. I I've seen it again this last week or two, and just see products that have come out that are just kind of reminders of, you know, we we do this, we try to make this faster, lighter, quicker, bigger, smaller, whatever. And we ultimately come right back around to, well, we kind of had it right the first time, and you see a a product that kind of goes back and returns back to um the way it was originally created, or the way it was uh the original manufacturer intended. And kind of going back to the roots of some of these products. Uh case in point, I I saw this last week, the the release of the Mission Stride, mission by Matthews. Uh they released this new mission bow called the Stride. And one of the unique things about the Stride, and and Mission is kind of that, again, a sister company, um kind of that uh value-priced uh side brand for the company, whatever you want to call it, the budget-friendly option, uh, they run through the mission and uh mission bows. Well, the stride comes out and you know, great looking bow. Uh looks sharp. But one of the things I quickly noticed and that everybody was talking about is that it is a return to the solo cam. And that's what Matthews, man, that was their bread and butter. When I first found out about Matthews and my first Matthews 20 plus years ago, you know, was the solo cam and that was it. Catch us if you can. They were all about the solo cam, and that was their thing, smooth as butter, um, and just just the stuff. So let me just read you here on this new 2026 Mission Stride from um Mission by Matthews. It says Mission Stride redefines versatility as the most adaptable platform in the mission lineup. Equipped with the all-new Mission Solo Cam, this tride produces a smooth control draw cycle with a solid back wall designed to maximize efficiency across all draw lengths and setups. It's available in two limb configurations. The stride will be offered with standard limb, standard limbs offering draw weights ranging from 50 to 70 pounds or stride light limbs with draw weights ranging from 30 to 50 pounds. It's outfitted with Matthew's proven 3D dampening technology to reduce noise and vibration and machine dovetail mounting system for seamless integration of the new Mission Ultra Rest R1. The stride is the most advanced entry-level bow ever offered from Mission Archery. Uh the bow comes available in black, uh a brown, a tan, and my personal favorite, bottom land camo option there. So that's it, the mat the Mission Stride. Uh great price coming in at $599.99. And uh, I mean, I I've said it a million times, but I think that's what we've got to have. More bows, better price uh coming in at that option. We have about outpriced ourselves on these bows when you come in at uh flagship bows being, you know, pushing two grand now, fifteen hundred dollars, you know. They were always uh again, this bow hanging here in my office uh in the podcast studio right here on the wall is uh my first couple bows. I've got an old PSC that I had back in the early 90s. Um and then late 90s or right around the turn of 2000, um the mission, or excuse me, the Matthews bow, my first Matthews bow up there, and um what was it called? The Q2? I think the Q2. Um and it was the first time they had the harmonic dampenings in there. But that bow was giving us 550. Uh bought it for 550 flagship bow back in 99 or 2000. And I get it, things change, prices go up. But I mean, here we are nowadays, um, you know, 20 plus years later, the flagship bows are thirteen, fourteen hundred dollars. And um, it's just a different time. I mean, and there's there's bows hitting 2,000 plus, and uh that ain't even getting into crossbows, which are two, three, four thousand dollars. Crazy, crazy stuff. Um, so all that to say, I'm I'm glad to see these bows. I'm glad to see companies saying, you know what, we're gonna offer a solid, solid shooter for $599. And um, that's that's good. We need more of that stuff. We need more bows out there where somebody can say, man, I'm gonna I want to get into this deal. You know, I don't want to be spending $1,000, you know, on the bare bow. I want to get into this deal for, you know, under a grand, all in. And uh and so there's options out there. And I get it, that $599.99 is is even uh more spending than a lot of folks want to do. That's why we need bows, you know, a package bows for $400 or you know, package bows for $500 or less. You know, that's where uh you know I think you gotta have some options in that three to five hundred dollars for folks that want to say, you know, I want to try this stuff out, but I ain't dropping a fortune. I can't drop a fortune. Give me something for 300 bucks that I can get in, all in, knowing it's not all the bells and whistles, know it's not the fanciest and and and uh high-end materials, but I can get out there and kill stuff. Shoot deer this fall with a bow, all in, $300. We need more of that. And uh and so there's companies doing it, and I'm I'm appreciating them. But the bottom line back to full circle here is I kind of felt like this was coming. Not trying to say I told you so because I didn't. I did I've never said anything about it, but I've often thought they're gonna go back to that solo cam one day. It's not dead and gone. You know, everybody went to these, you know, uh Cambos, dual cambos, all this stuff, and I've yet to see anything that was as smooth as that solo cam. And just when you draw it back, it's just money. I mean, just like I said, it's butter, and it's just so smooth, easy draw, you get back. You know, I know people say, well, that's not really necessary. Man, it that that's so nice when you're trying to ease that bow back on a deer that's standing there, and you're trying to sneak that bow back at full draw, and it's there in bow range, and you know, that's that's where it's a Twayton Gold. I loved it. I always was a big fan of that. And yes, the performance came on, and they realized that, oh man, we can do we can do this other deal, we can have other options and these different crazy cams and all this stuff, get more performance, but you've never gotten as smooth as that solo cam. And so in the back of my mind, I always thought that's gonna come back around, or people are gonna at least realize, hey, it never has been as good. You know, we've never been able to top the smooth draw of that solo cam. And here we are, 2026, and they're introducing it into the mission line. I'm curious as whether it's gonna come back to Matthews. I just can't help but think people are like, dude, bring that sucker back. As much as we are in this time frame now where everybody loves a return to the old school style, return to your roots, return to that vintage. We like the vintage stuff. Now get get it, that's uh you know, primarily in camo and whatever. But I think people are gonna dip back to realizing the way it was. You know, we we went off on this tangent, we went off chasing other things and faster, better performance and whatever, whatever. But I think people are gonna return to the roots. I think they're gonna go back to like that time where it was we had it, this was good, this was the best, these were the best days, these were the glory days, whatever. And um I just can't help but think that there's not a bow on the mission or on the Matthew side of things in the works that they're gonna bring back that solo cam, maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But we do see that. We see where where we come up with all these products, and then we chase after other things. We make it shorter, we make it this, we make it that. And then and then again we realize, man, it I it was kind of better when it was the other way. Case in point, again, we I mean, you look at the bows and they've gotten they've gotten shorter and shorter. Again, I've got a PSC hanging on the wall on the wall here, my first I had my second PSC back in the early 90s. I think it was my second compound bow I had. Um, and it was the one I really first started killing some stuff with. When I started uh working on deer and becoming successful with the bow hunter, that was it. Old PSC, that sucker's 41, 42 inches long, compound bow and and uh just a huge deal. Well then over the years from that bow on they became shorter and shorter. Again, that uh Q2 up there, I don't remember what it is, but it's 36 inches or 35, I don't know what it is. Maybe um maybe less, I can't remember. Um I'll have to check it out and measure that. But they got shorter and shorter. Then there was the the uh 32. I remember um oh, I think it was the 32 or something. Maybe they called it the Q32, I can't remember. And it was just like, holy smokes, this bow is so short. There's a this is a short, short bow. PSE had one, uh, super short, and you know, 32 was just blowing people's minds. That is a short bow, and it was just like the deal. You know, this tiny little bow everybody thought was so short. Well now we went to 30, and then we went to 29, and then you know, you you'd see bows down in the 26-inch cam to, you know, uh axle to axle range. And everybody was it was kind of this push, how short can we get these bows axle to axle? And they did it, and they kept pushing it. And then I think they kind of got there, and then it's like, okay, that's cool. We did, we created the shortest bow ever. But now what do we, you know, and then they just keep going back. And they're like, uh, now we're going back to 29, you know, 29. Oh, let's get back to 30, 32. And you see now they've worked their way back up to that sweet spot of, you know, 30, 32, uh, and then you get a 32 or 33-inch bow, and that's kind of the longer draw, right? Now these bows are doing, hey, we got a 28 nine-inch model and a 33-inch model for some of you that want a longer or a 32 axle to axle, for you that want that longer axle to axle, and that's considered a longer axle to axle here in 2026. Is that 32 or 33? So it's just crazy how things have changed. But again, we get that we go to the extreme and we kind of bounce back realizing, oh, it was a little better when it was bigger, better, smaller, whatever. You know, we um go back and we realize that and as much as we try to make things better, sometimes they we we got it right the first time. And sometimes it's uh going to the extreme doesn't always uh end in that performance we hoped for, anticipated, whatever, and then they go back, kind of return to the glory days, a return to something better. Are we seeing that with the solo cam? Is it back? Is it gonna be back uh full scale? Are we gonna see that showing back up? Are they gonna make some kind of cam system that is is closely in line with that? Uh you know, who knows? Um I tend to think that that might be uh what we see. I feel like the solo cam is coming back in the Matthews line. That's just me. But uh I feel like it might possibly be. Alright. Other stuff that falls in line. Y'all y'all go check out the mission stride, seriously. Go check it out, mission um Mission Bows, Matthews. Go look at what they got. Again, 599, uh, Mission Stride. Sweetbow. I'll give you a spec before we move on. I'll give you a specs on that because I I do want to I know somebody's gonna ask always is one of the first questions. What's the specs on that? The brace height on this stride, brace height of six inches, uh IBO rating, uh 320 feet per second at 29 inch. Uh again, the axle axle on this is uh 28. I think they've got a stride 28 and a stride maybe 30 or 32, whatever it was, a longer axle axle. Uh draw length range from 21 to 29 inches, let off of 80%, physical weight of 3.83 pounds, a pretty light little dude. Uh it's got the mission solo cam, and then the price again is $599.99. So that's the mission stride. Now, another thing that popped up that kind of got me thinking of this that I've seen this week is and we've talked about this a little bit on the podcast before, is the the whole tree stand thing, platforms, saddle platforms, and all that stuff. That's another product that I feel like people have gone to crazy lengths to make it smaller, make it lighter, and all these things that are popping up. And at the end of the day, we kind of go right back to oh wait, it was kind of nicer when it was bigger. Now I do the saddle hunting thing, I've got the saddle setup, I've got a variety of different platforms, uh, some different saddle setups, and and I've used a variety of different ones. Um, not saying any one is better or you know, worse or or whatever. I've got some I like more than others, and we'll get into that on another another episode and kind of break down some of the saddle setups I've used. But um I've used a lot of them, and I've used the uh ones that were so light, it's like, hey, how small, how light, how much of the how can we make this just a touch above a strap? You know what I'm saying? How can we make this thing so light? And, you know, because that was the deal. We're chasing how light can we make this equipment? You know, we want instead of packing around a uh 25-pound summit climbing stand, we want you to be able to climb, you know, walk around with six or seven or eight pounds of gear for your setup. And it was just like, how can we shave off, how can we make this saddle so light that it's a pound or two pounds or whatever, and then how can we make these sticks so light that they're only a pound of stick? And then your platform, we're gonna we're gonna make this platform, and then we're gonna make it smaller, and then we're gonna make it carbon fiber, and make it the lightest possible thing out there, all these things, and and they make these little saddle hunting platforms that are so small, and uh and I'm like, man, yes, it's small, yes it's light, but I mean you're standing on you know an index card. You know, I mean it it's a size of nothing. It's a s it's tiny, and your feet, you got your toes on it, but your heels are hanging off, and yes, it's a quarter of a pound, but there's nothing to stand on. That's miserable, that's so uncomfortable. And I began seeing that. I thought, oh, that's great because it's so compact, you're not you can shove that down in your backpack and it weighs nothing. It takes up no space. But the first time I use some of those things, I'm like, this is ignorant. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm up there switching feet, you know, one foot at a time on it, just so my whole foot can be on it, and it's so small. And you're, you know, if you put both feet on it, you got the your you know, the pads, your feet, or your toes, or all you get on is, you know, the front half of your boot. And that sounds cool, it sounds, oh, that's great. And after about 10, 15 minutes of that, 30 minutes, you're done. You're like, this is miserable. My feet are numb, my feet are hurting, they're tingling, this is awful. And then so then you're like, okay, give me a bigger platform. And you realize that super tiny, you know, compact deal that packs so nice, it's so light, it just ain't it. And you gotta have something bigger. And a lot of those companies have gone, they've pushed for that tiny, tiny stuff, but then you look at it like, okay, now we're gonna go back and we're gonna offer you a bigger platform. And then we're gonna offer you, you know, the next year they come out with realizing that that still wasn't big enough or that wasn't as comfortable as they once told everybody it was. Now we got the XL version. You know what I'm saying? We got the supersize, we got the XL, the big jumbo, whatever you want to call it. Because we know, in fact, that yes, that was lighter, that was smaller, but that wasn't comfortable, and you need more, and we want more, and comfort is king when it comes to spending all day in the tree stand. And so then the XL version comes out, the bigger model comes out. You get more of your feet on there, and that's like, dude, that's what I want. I'm not worried about carrying a, you know, it's half a pound heavier, a quarter pound heavier. Maybe it's a pound heavier. I'm okay with that. You know what I'm saying? Maybe you're talking two and a half pounds instead of one and a half pounds. I'm okay with that. I you know, give me something that I I can enjoy because when I'm not comfortable up there, I'm done. You know what I'm saying? I I just don't and I get it, there is gonna be some sacrifice to any kind of style you're hunting with and I'm not saying I gotta be sitting in a in a you know shooting house in a lazy boy recliner, but I want something that's not just painful all day. Give me something that I can enjoy and and make my time out there enjoyable. That's what I want. I don't want to um I'm I'm I'm not at that point in life anymore where I've got to prove anything, where I've got to sit there and and be miserable and just be like, you know what, this is the grind. We're just grinding it out. It's raining, we're miserable, we're soaking wet, we're freezing, I'm miserable in the stand, I'm miserable standing on this platform, but this is what it's all about. I'm gonna post pictures about how I'm I'm sacrificing and working harder and all this stuff and just the grind, the grind. You know, everybody likes to talk about the grind and how miserable their experience is, but they're still sticking with it because they know that's what it takes. And I'm like, man, a lot of times that grind is a waste of your time. You know what I'm saying? You can sit there and say you're grinding it out and you're doing, but you're not hunting smarter. You're just you're just out there just hunting, and in a lot of ways you're wasting time. You call it the grind, but you're really wasting time hunting in conditions that aren't conducive to killing critters, you know what I'm saying, for the sake of the grind, for the sake of the gram, so you can post those pictures and all that stuff. We've gotten so caught up in that stuff, and we've gotten so caught up in I want the equipment I can backpack in the lightest, and I want all my stuff to to weigh in at five pounds, all in, everything I got, tree stand gear, five pounds. And I'm like, dude, you can have that, but you you're you're not comfortable. That's not comfortable, and and you know, you're doing all these things, guys are doing all these one sticking things, and I get it, one stick's cool, you know, it's a great method if you want to do that. I've got several buddies that do that, and it makes a lot of sense. But then you've gotten guys like, wait, the one stick's way too much weight to carry around. I'm going with this little this little rope system, and I can climb the tree with just this little rope and strap system, you know, just crazy stuff that's they're putting out there. That's man, it's like, dude, it wasn't too bad the way it was originally designed, or um, you know, you're doing all this stuff to save a half a pound or a quarter of a pound, and doing these things going to some great lengths to monkey up the tree just to save a little bit of weight when reality's like, man, that's so taxing on the body. Um, it's kind of semi-dangerous, whatever. It's just some sketchy stuff out there for the sake of saving weight. And I'm like, man, you you don't have to do all that stuff. I mean, if you want to grind it out, if you want to be a man, a real man, carry half a pound more and have a whole lot better setup, have a whole lot more comfortable platform to stand on. Um and again, you see that. Uh one of these other things popping up just kind of triggered this idea. My um, you know, thought of my mind uh was the other day. Just uh the hybrid, I think it was who was it? Let's see if I can find it, pull it back up here. Uh Lone Wolf Custom Gear, maybe. And it just is uh it's just a hybrid saddle platform. So this is the most hybrid saddle platform that allows you to hunt in multiple different ways. Only 6.5 pounds. I like that. That's light, super light. Uh only 6.5 pounds and has a 300 uh pound weight capacity. This is a ranger platform from Lone Wolf Custom Gear. And um, so again, it's 6.5 pounds. It's a hybrid, okay? So they they they went to the saddle platform, got down there to a pound. Who's got one that's a pound? Who's got one that's a pound and a half, two pounds, three pounds, whatever. Now we kind of introduce carbon stuff in there. I know tethered introduced a pretty slick carbon platform, shaved off a half a pound or maybe a pound of whatever it was. Kind of nice, but um again, they offered it in the in the standard and then a uh XL version or a large, whatever it was. Uh I think it may be the XL, I think is what it was called, the bigger platform. And that's what I ended up wanting. I want the XL. Again, I'm not worried about carrying a half pound more or a pound, whatever it is. It gives me more space, more room. It's a whole lot more comfortable. I can maneuver better. But guys saw that the standard wasn't enough, maybe the XL was enough. They wanted a little more. Now here we go. We're crawling back up. Now we've got the the hybrid platform, and it's weighing 6.5 pounds, and it's more space. It's more like a it's got a seat on it, it's more like uh, you know, a tree stand. And so I see that guys went so small, how small can we get these saddle platforms? How light can we get them? And now they're like, hey, let's go back. Let's get that XL. Let's get that, well, not just XL, let's not stop there, let's get the hybrid now. It's kind of like a tree stand, kind of like a uh saddle platform, it but it more it looks more like a um you know hang-on stand, and we see crawling back the other way. We see guys going back and like, hey, I, you know, let's do this hybrid. It's a hang-on, but it's kind of small, and then I don't know. I think guys are finally just realizing that you know, comfort is king. I'll say it again, comfort is king, and having something that you're not miserable and bailing out of the stand. Because I mean it that's the bottom line. If you're not comfortable, you're gonna not stay as long. You're gonna start making up excuses to go back to the house, go back to the truck, go back to the camp. And if you can stay up there, if you can stay comfortable and your feet aren't numb and tingling and falling asleep and hurting, you're gonna be up in that tree stand. I don't care if you're deer hunting, elk hunting, bear hunting, or whatever it is, you're gonna be up in that stand. And so this was another one, and tree stands are just that. They are the deal that people have gone, hey, how small can we get this? How can we make this more portable? How can we uh make this mobile? That was everything. You know, like we've got to make it mobile so you can run and gun and keep moving, and I get that. That's that's that is important. That's the beauty of the whole saddle setup is you can walk into the woods, and I love that. I walk I love walking in the woods and finding sign and finding the stuff that's like, hey, these deer are here. And we used to say, uh, hey, the sign is right here, and if you you had your summit climber, you you know, you just climbed on up. Um but in a lot of times we would go in and scout and find that sign. They're like, hey man, I need to be back here tomorrow. Um, I need to have a stand in here, you know, this weekend or whatever. No, you need to have a stand in there today. You need to have a stand in there right now, and that's the beauty of a uh super mobile setup is you've got that saddle set up or hang on set, you know, lightweight hang-on setup. You got on your back, you're scouting your way in there, and you find that spot, and you're like, boom, here it is. I need this right now. Let's go get up the tree, and you hunt it today. And uh that's what that equipment allows you to do. But you've got some guys that are going, I saw this too. Uh this is another another piece that I've got. Again, I'm just throwing some stuff I've seen this week out that uh you guys be thinking about and want to hear what you guys think. You got some guys that are calling stuff mobile setup, and and maybe it's not necessarily, and I don't know where these guys are going, but I did see this. Uh what is it called? Let me pull it up here. The Trinity tree stand. And it says, Have you ever seen a tree stand that you were able to carry like a backpack? This is the Trinity tree stand. And so they've got this folding ladder stand. Okay, it's a fold-up ladder stand, and you can pack it in. And, you know, it backpacks down, and I I don't know how to describe the ladder, but what I saw looks like those work ladders that you kind of fold up and they they have a hinge in them, and you can fold them up and you can use them as a uh scaffolding. You know, they fold up in the middle and they got two two folds in them, so you can use them like scaffolding, you can just rearrange the ladder, fold it out instead of a sliding ladder, um, you know, they they got a hinge in them. And so you can fold this ladder up. And I don't know uh the specs on it again. I I'm trying to think. I know I saw something that said folded up, it was like four foot eight, so you're talking almost five foot uh in length. And I mean a dude, I mean this guy in the picture is not a real tall dude, you know, I'm guessing. But I mean you put a a ladder stand, even folded up that's five foot, almost five foot on your back. I mean, you're you're hitting yourself in the in the shins or the calves of your back, and you know, that's hanging up. You go step over log and it's hitting the log. I don't know. I thought that's not real packable. I mean, I I know it's on your back and and you know, it's a backpacking ladder stand. It sounds good, but I thought that's still probably pretty miserable. Again, I haven't used it, so I don't know. It's got this little harness system, you know, this shoulder strap system you can put over your shoulders. I'm not seeing any kind of uh belt strap. So just a basically a shoulder strap and a stern strap there. Um allows you to pack this thing in. Um I don't know, again, I don't know if they're if they're trying to make this the mo I mean I don't know why else you would you would have a backpacking ladder stand if you weren't taking it coming and going. But I'm thinking, man, that's the last thing in the world I want is a a ladder stand that I'm gonna carry in and out. And I don't care how quickly and quietly it may set up, you're making some noise with that. Um Now look, if you're the guy or gal that that, you know, ladder stands on the way you're gonna go, this is for you, you know. But I'm just thinking this is not what I would consider or classify mobile. Uh yes, you take it in and out, so I guess technically it's a mobile uh effort, but if this was their idea for a running gun setup, I I'm just not seeing it. You know what I'm saying? I don't feel like you're running with that. Um It ain't happening. Again, running gun with a ladder stand that's five nearly five foot package on your back folded up. Gotta make noise, gotta be, you know, whatever. And again, it's just one of those ideas, and and I hope they sell a million of these things. Not trying to be critical. I'm just saying there's some ideas we think, oh, this would be good, this would be better. Um it's kind of the other end of the extreme. Like we've said, hey, let's how how small can we make this mobile hunting gear? Um, but then you got another camp of folks that's saying, hey, how can we take gear that's normally not mobile and make it mobile? How can we take a ladder stand and make it packable? But the sucker's still weighing in it like 40 pounds, you know what I'm saying? So again, you can carry that on your back all day long. 40 pounds, whatever, no big deal. 38, 40 pounds. Um, but it's not your run and gun setup. I mean that's 38, 40 pounds, just your ladder, and then you got another 10-pound backpack, or for some of y'all it's 20-pound backpack, I don't know. Just a lot of stuff there. And um, so go check that out. It's Trinity Tree Stand. Go look it up. Uh they're making these I don't know, packable ladder stands. Great idea, but I'm still, I'm as far as I'm concerned, uh I like the idea that it's a packable um ladder stand, because man, let's face it, ladder stands, you know, me and the boys will go in, we'll take a ladder stand, we're carrying them. We put them together, we have them on the trailer, haul them off the trailer, you know, carrying them through the woods, one guy up front carrying the platform in, another guy carrying the backside of the ladder. It's not fun, you know. So maybe this is a great way, but I'm still, for me, it's gonna be put it up, set up, and forget about it, you know, and uh I'm not hauling a ladder stand in and out every time. Um I'm not sure, you know, as far as the uh folding legs, I don't like that. I I want to I just to me that in my mind, if it can fold right there, then it's gonna fold while I'm up in the tree stand. I want a solid ladder uh that doesn't have a hinge or anything to it. I don't know. I'd have to check this one out. Again, I've not done this, you know, a review on this, I've not laid hands on it. I'm just seeing what popped up on social media. Uh but anyway, go check it out for yourself. Trinity tree stand, um the packable folding, compact. I say compact, kind of compact-ish ladder stand. It's right there. So check it out for yourself. Interesting, interesting stuff. But I want to hear from you guys. I mean, what do you what do you think? What are you thinking on the trends with stuff? Compact gear, packable gear. Um do you like what you're seeing? Do you like the trend? Or would you say that, yeah, they've they've pushed it too far and now they are going back the other way? Uh people are realizing that, yeah, we made it smaller, we made it lighter, we made it bigger, whatever, but it was really better the other way. It was the original was better. I mean, what products would you say that about? What uh products would you say, yeah, they've tried to do this, but the OG is still number one. They tried to make it better, faster, bigger, smaller, whatever, but the OG has still not been topped. I want to hear from y'all. What do you think? Contact me, reach out, shoot me a message, and let me know. Some of those products you you would admit that, yep, they they didn't, they haven't made it better. They've made a difference in it, and it's you know, variations of the original, but the original is still king. Let me know what you think. Hey, quick word from the word. You've heard this one, one of my favorite verses of all time, Matthew 6 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you or provided for you. Seek God first, seek him first. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Uh if you find you're struggling, you ain't getting where you want to be, you're not getting what you need, you think, or what you want. Uh you're getting what you need because the Bible's clear on that. God provides what you need. Uh maybe not what you want, but when you're struggling, you think, man, I'm just not getting what I where I need to be, where I want to be. I'm not I'm not where I'm at, where I want to be, and all the stuff. I want you to consider the fact of maybe is it because you're not seeking him first? You're trying to get all these things, you're trying to get all this stuff, you're trying to get what you want to get, but you're not getting what God wants you to get, and so those things are always gonna be a struggle. He's just like, dude, seek me first. Okay? Seek me first, and then those other things will come as you need them. They will be um coming into play, uh, coming in line. Yeah, if they're good things and godly things. Now listen, if you're trying to get stuff that you know ain't right, stuff that you know is wrong, stuff you know is sinful, and that's what you're after, you're chasing that. Well, that ain't happening. You know what I'm saying? You may enjoy that for a moment, but that's not godly stuff, so you you're gonna always struggle with that. You're not gonna get uh sinful stuff and then try to get your little God on the side as well. But when you start lining up your life and seeking him first and chasing after what he wants you to chase after, then those other things will be provided for you. But seek him first, and then all those other things. And all these things will be provided or added unto you. All the other stuff, it'll fall in line when and where it should when you seek him first. That's the name of the game. Seek him first. And that's tough, man. I I got a lot of things I try to chase after before I chase after him, and I've I've constantly have to have this reminder to seek him first, and uh to keep that in number one, seeking him first, seeking him first every day. That's a daily struggle, daily challenge, because there's a lot of things family, relationships, work, even ministry, other things that can get in the way of seeking him first. And so are you doing that? If not, buckle up, tighten up, seek him first, and then all those other things will fall into place as they should. I hope that helps this week. I hope you've enjoyed the time. We always appreciate you hanging out with us. Chase him with all your heart, soul, and strength. We look forward to seeing you right back here next week. Shoot straight. God bless you.