The 2025 ATA Show Proved Saddle Hunting Has Gone Mainstream
Walk the floor of any recent ATA Show and the vibe is unmistakable — the saddle hunting crowd keeps getting louder. But the 2025 edition in Indianapolis felt like a genuine tipping point. The hottest booths at the show were, once again, the ones loaded with lightweight mobile gear, and the brands showing up weren't just the usual suspects. New players, new materials, and a whole lot of creative problem-solving put this year's gear wave in a different league.
Tethrd Comes Loaded
If there was one brand that dominated conversation on the show floor, it was Tethrd — and they earned it. Three launches hit at once, each one dialed into a different pain point for mobile hunters.
First, the Carnivore 2P saddle. Tethrd's new Dual Panel Construction is the headline here: the saddle wears like a slim single-panel on the walk in, and a quick press of the RAD Buttons drops it into two-panel mode once you're at the tree. Comfort without bulk on the hike. That's a tradeoff mobile hunters have been wrestling with since the beginning, and this is a legitimate swing at solving it.
Then there's the Predator V platform — the fifth generation of one of the most trusted platforms in the whitetail woods. The update isn't dramatic, but it's smart. High-pressure die-cast aluminum, an angled front edge for reduced foot and ankle fatigue, improved traction tread, a better stomp pad for toe-camming, and a redesigned leveling knob. It comes in Regular and XL. Evolutionary, not revolutionary, but you can feel years of real-world feedback baked into every change.
The real jaw-dropper, though, was the Predator CFX. Tethrd's carbon fiber platform — made in the USA using their proprietary Tetra CF2™ compound — clocks in at just 2.3 lbs in the Regular and 3.25 lbs in the XL. Pair the Regular with a three-pack of ONE sticks and your entire climbing setup runs under five and a half pounds. The carbon fiber is certified to hold up to four times the required load standard at a lower weight than aluminum, and the non-conductive material actually keeps feet noticeably warmer on cold sits. That last detail doesn't get talked about enough.
The Sabr Saw: Best New Accessory, and It's Not Close
Sometimes a small tool steals the whole show. The Tethrd Sabr Limb Saw won Best New Accessory at the 2025 ATA Show, and if you've ever tried to silently snap a limb at 25 feet with one hand while keeping your balance, you already understand why it resonated. The Sabr is a folding hand saw that converts to a pole saw in the field — its Limb Locks clamp to a cut branch using stainless steel teeth for a solid connection, letting you reach that one brush stem that would have wrecked your shot window. The blade itself is a curved SK5 steel design built to cut fast and quiet. Simple concept, serious execution.
Hunter Safety System Enters the Game
Here's the storyline nobody fully saw coming: Hunter Safety System, long known as a treestand safety pioneer, rolled out a full saddle hunting lineup for 2025. Their Legend Platform is positioned as an approachable, comfort-first option, featuring a slope-front edge engineered to reduce fatigue during long sits. The design also allows 360-degree shooting access around the tree — something HSS built in intentionally, not as an afterthought. When a brand with that kind of retail footprint and name recognition enters the saddle market with a complete lineup, it signals something bigger than just a product launch. It means saddle hunting has moved well past early-adopter territory.
Why This Moment Matters
The broader picture here isn't just about any single product. New tree saddle brands continue to enter the space every season, competition is keeping prices honest, and the innovation curve is steep. Carbon fiber platforms, two-panel saddle designs, multi-function field tools — these weren't on anyone's radar five years ago. Now they're table stakes at the industry's biggest trade show.
If you've been sitting on the fence about going mobile, or you've been running older gear and wondering whether an upgrade is worth it, the 2025 ATA Show made one thing clear: the best time to build out a saddle kit was last year. The second best time is right now. The gear has never been this good, and it's only getting better.
