BigGameHoundsmen.com

Tell me what you think is the perfect hunting saddle for your country.

Tree type-- roper , slick fork. or the undercut swells like the Ellensburg or formfitter.
Riggin type and such.
Most are probably like me and ride what they use on other jobs, but what would you use if you had strictly a hunting saddle?

I realy like my mclelen(spelling)? ol army style saddle. it fits me great....only problem with it is it didnt fit any of my horses backs. to narrow of a tree for my fat back horses

I ride gaited horses, and like the Tucker Trooper saddles. Very comfortable on long rides. You can normally find them used and in good shape for about $500-$600.

Heres a link: http://www.tuckersaddles.com/catalog23.shtml

I've built several circa 1890 style saddles (for mules) I use them for hunting and find them quite comfortable

Getting a few, just curious as to what folks are riding in different parts.
I ride a Norton Roper most all the time, mainly for the work that gets done.
For a huntin saddle I'm still trying to figure out if I like the true Hamley Wade or the Hamley Ellensburg the best.

Cook Saddle

+1 on the Billy Cook saddle.

Anyone use an australian stockman saddle? What do you think of it?

Robin,

I ride really pretty rough country and very few trails so a lot of it is at times sore of a combination of free falling thru brush and sidehilling and scrambling up steep shaly sides so I like a little front to hold be on the downs side and a little back to hold my behind from flying off backwards on those lunging accents. I have 3 sadles I alternate around because some fit different horses back a little different. I ride old Gus who is a big gray that is sort of throurbred built and narrow in the front with a pretty good wither. I have an old Fraser that is a bit like a Tipton I would say built around 1910 with a silver horn and long taps. It really balances nice and I can ride for days in this rig and never feel a trace of fatigue. Those old time saddles like that were dang sure built for guys who made a living on a horse. On my Shadow horse who is a little more traditonal quarter horse backed I have a custom built Buck Proffet Olin Young Roper that really sets him good. This saddle is a slicker in the front being a trippin saddle than I like but I get by fine with it and find myself riding more all the time. My main saddle that I can ride most anything in is a Leualen tree with some swells and a 3 1/2" canlte. This is rigged with a 3/4 flat plate riggen . This saddle was built by famous Wilson Coggshall saddle maker Peter De Verbeck in Miles City Montana in 1964. I have ridden this saddle thousands of miles, I jerked the orginal horn out of it tied to a wild cow on a rugged hillside wreck near Eagle Creek Arizona years back and had a number 4 Texas dally put back in place and made it even better rough country cowboy rig. It is heavier than all get out, and I don't like that but one thing for sure you feel like you got a saddle under you when you are in it.. Some years back I had it all reworked and had custom silver hardware put in flat plate riggen and all by award winning bit and spur make Russell Yates of Rotan, Texas. It's not the fancy stuff it's the good stuff and it's a might punchy looking rig.

I would love to have a ( Severe) yes as in Robin Severe slick fork some fine day but when you are talkling Severe you are talking the very tops in saddles and trees in the world so I don't know if I will live long enough to get on that list. LOL!

I ride a 16" seat wade saddle. Slick fork ,5"cantle. I have 3" ropeing sturrups for comfort. I will carry bucking rolls with me in country i've haven't been in. I'll also ride my 151/2" saddle which is a billy cook for short day rides. There is nothing like a deep seat high cantle saddle for a long days ride in the high country.its like sitting in the old rocker at home.

Now we're gettint to the nuts & bolts, thanks all.
Mike, the Lieuallen family lives bout 15 miles from me. Thet tree is a good one for lots of reasons. I think Paul Leiuallen was the one who came up with the tree, or maybe his father.

I'm looking at trees that have a shorter bar to keep the bars outtta the kidnys. I like the added security of the Ellensburg/ Assn. tree, but in real steep ground the Wade won't sore your thighs on those long downhill rides. You can get the security with the buck roll's & they are soft.

Both these trees are real comfortable for long rides and I'm kinda torn between the two. Two things make me lean a little toward the Wade, the horn is lower to the horses withers for roping, & it can be made much lighter than most saddles due to the wood horn.

Mike, my dad & I worked a lot with trippers on the early Olin Young ropers. That tree has a good bar in it. The word I got is that it was designed from the Buster Welch cutter. The Buster Welch cutter came from a old busted bronc saddle that Buster liked ( so the story goes)
They do have the same lenght bar and same shape as the Assn tree.

Thanks guys.

That makes sense on the Olin Young. I had a Buster Welch flat seat Longhorn Cutter back when I thought I was riding some cutters. I use to like to ride colts in it because it was light and I liked the room in it to move around a bit, and it had a lot of leg freedom so I could put a lot of leg feel on a horse.

I am sure leaning toward a Wade type to cut down the weight and as you said it does put the center of gravity right down into the pocket rather than rocking on the top.

I've got a couple picture's I'll try to get loaded on photobucket tonight.
A little history of where the Wade tree came into being.

Ray Hunt made the Wade saddle popular in the 60's, Dale Harwood made Ray's first Wade. In the in the 30's Tom Dorrance (who is considered the 1st natural horseman) saw a saddle that Clifford Wade was Rideing and had Hamley saddle &Co. copy it with a few modifactions. Hamley wanted to call it Dorrance tree but tom insisted it be called the Wade. That the short of it that I know about the Wade, except that you can't beat a well made Wade.

Yuppers, can't be nothing but a wade......

Lots of different stories floating around on the history of the Wade tree. Most of the guys that know for sure are gone so no way of proving who did what.
Walt Youngman was the treemaker at Hamley & company who built those first trees and made the patterns of the saddle that was brought into him. I have those original patterns. My dad learned his trade from Walt in the treeshop and my uncle learned the leather end in the Hamley saddleshop.

I've heard all the stories about how the wade came into being but the owners name of the original Old Mex saddle that Tom & Bill Dorance liked so well has slipped thru.
Dale Harwood at Trails End Saddle shop used to get trees from dad for around 12 years, Ray Hunts first wade saddle has one of dads tree in it.

When Dad couldn't keep up with the demand Dale came over and learned to build trees himself, good ones I might add. Rays second wade, the one with the tooling to the inside has one of Dales trees in it.

I credit the Dorrence's with making the Wade as well known as it is today.
They are the ones who took the saddles into the high desert and the cowboys there got a look at them and realized the value they had for thier kind of riding. Wallowa Co. in Oregon had lots of Hamley Wades in it as well as lots of Wades from our shop well before 1950. The nature of the work in that country fit the wade to a tee.
I'll post a couple pics of the country the guys used these trees in. The pictures where not to far as the crow flies from Dorrance Cabin. A bit further as the horse walks.
The Imnaha river canyon above town.

Saddle Creek, just down from freezeout saddle, one of the main trail's into Hell's Canyon

I'll get back tonight and explain some of the things in the wade tree that makes it so great for this country and now other spots folks still wear out horse shoes.