This is 1 of my soft-sided stadium seats covered with a burlap bag. I resew the female end of the side straps closer to the seat for WAY better back support shooting from a bipod. I also attach an addtl. snap on the ends of the side straps for carrying around my waist hands-free. I'll never use anything else--portable, cheap, and versatile (also unsnaps and acts as a 3/4 shooting mat)--

Good idea ! I use a feed sack also but mine's the nylon type with a thin cheapy rubber bathroom floor mat inside. Measures about 20" square. Keeps my hinney warm and dry.

Man--that's a great idea too--cheap and portable, sounds like.

The older I get the less inclined I am to pack anything but the bare necessities.
I’ve considered some of the nice comfy folding chairs some of you are using but I’m just not willing to pack anything that’s bulky, requires unfolding or has clanky metal parts.

I like the strap on inflatable butt pad that Evil Lurker uses. It’s always right where you need it and requires no more thought than standing up and hiking to get it to the next stand.
Randy Andersons Bark-A-Lounger is tempting but I just can’t see myself hiking all day a Laz-E-Boy strapped to my butt.

Hey, Kff, wait til yer a bit older. Ya just ain't got there yet. If I were to sit flat on the ground, I'd have to call for a winch truck to get me back up!

Regards,
hm

I too have the same Hiney Saver that Evil and KFF use. Very lite and ads a little more comfort to the stand.

That's the way i hunt too. I park my vehicle on the road close to several sections i'll be hunting for maybe 1/3 of a day. I hydrate at the vehicle as i'm gathering my gear, and put a small bottle of kool aid in my shirt pocket. I can cover several miles spotting and stalking mostly and can process fur by skinning from fence posts, etc. without having to carry a backpack. Addtl. skinning gear goes in BDU leg pockets. Any fur i get goes inside the seat strapped around my butt/lower back. At 52 now i have to think about portability as much as possible. This shooting system is the most portable, stable and comfortable (back support) i've ever used.

+1 on the light weight 4 legged stool with strap. i got one gave $4.99 at Academy couple years ago. best stool i've used yet. love it. comfortable, portable, fits in my backpack. can afford to lose it. dont't laugh. i lose stuff.

Another vote for the turkey seat.

My butt covered in gore tex pants if wet or snowy. Otherwise if dry what ever I have on.

Here's something for you guys that choose not to elevate your hind end a bit to chew on. For the past several seasons, at the end - say the last three weeks or so - I've experienced a back ache, which coincided with an increase in the amount of numbness in my legs after about fifteen minutes sitting on the ground. I used to sit on the bare dirt, legs crossed "Indian style" leaning forward into my rifle and sticks as I tried to minimize my outline.

Last season, the last four weeks were total [beeep]. Talk about pain. The very last week, my partner had to either help me up after each stand, or I'd have to roll to one side, get up on all fours and wait for the pain to subside before trying to stand and stretch.

Unlike years prior, the pain didn't go away last spring once I'd quit spending every day off in the field, as it had in the past. Ended up calling the dr. and an MRI revealed that I had ruptured a disc in my lower back. Looking at everything I do, it was decided by my doctor, myself and my physical therapist that the way I sit calling coyotes is what was the cause. That posture that so many of us use puts a tremendous amount of torsion on those lower vertebrae and the discs between them. Combine that with the staccato rapid pushing in your abdomen and chest by blowing through a handcall and you've just maginified the problem several fold. The first signs are numbness in the legs after about fifteen or twenty minutes. That's your warning right there. My advice is to heed it. Once you start having pain in your glutes with radiation down your legs, you're in trouble. I was lucky... two rounds of shots - eight shots per round right into the nerve root - got things under control. But, those shots can be extremely painful and I spent five days after each round on my back in bed with my knees elevated on serious pain drugs until the 'roids kicked in. Worst pain I've ever experienced. And all the while that I lay there, I worried that in my haste to cut corners and not protect my back while doing something I love as much as calling, I'd somehow managed to possibly destroy the means by which I provide for my family. And I'm not that old - turn 45 on Wednesday!

Three weeks ago, on an early season hunt, I simply decided NOT to tote my stool to the stand. I sat on the ground and turned to the left at the waist to light up a pair of circling coyotes with my 12 gauge. When I went to stand, my back spasmed for the first time since March and I was very worried that I'd just set myself back six months and might miss the season. Somehow, with PT and a lot of anti-inflammatories, I've got it all under control and the pain is minimal.

My stool is a cheap-o turkey hunting rig that elevates me about four inches, with one side being slightly higher than the other. On top of that, I have a four-inch thick pad consisting of a foam pad wrapped around a gel core that cost me around $75 at Cabelas.

That's a lot of money, but then again, so is the co-pay for those epidural injections, co-pays for pain meds, and for surgery if it comes to that.

All in all, between my insurance company and me, we've spent about $10,000 because I stubbornly refused to use a seat when calling so as not to be injured. Small amount considering the other side of the coin... how much is it worth to you to ensure your ability to walk, work for a living, and hunt unencumbered? Makes carrying that extra stool seem like quite a bargain.

Sorry that this is long, but it's important and I don't want any of the rest of you to see the pain I've had over the past year. Take care of yourselves!

Similar here, Lance.

PT lady told me to move my billfold "to my front pocket", L-pocket, rather than my [rear L-pocket]. As in the back pocket & while sitting. Tilts my spine & adds stress to my lower Lumbar vertebre. I also had those shots in my Sacroiliac joint L-side[from Arthritis]. Shot pain was a 20 on a 1-10 scale.

Moving my billfold, as well as getting those Steroid shots & some PT. Helped a great deal. I was so bad off prior, I couldn't even put my socks on. Life sucked then.

I've since changed my sitting posture as well [no more "slumping forward or tilting]. Heck, I feel 40 again .

Guys i know what you mean im 31 and had to have the surgery. Worst move im my life ever. Surgery was more then a complete failer im worst then i ever was and would not reccomend the surgery to my worst emeny. Mine blew out into my spinal colume and got both nerves. Had l5 s1 fusied with rods and screws and like i say it 10 times worst now. I take pain killers all day long just to walk. I tryed not taking them a week ago for a day and couldnt move at all. Take it for waht it is worth think long and hard about the surgery if they start telling you its your only option. My brother just had the same one a tear ago mine was two years ago even after he has seen how mine turned out. Hes a little better then mine is but im affraid he will be in the same boat as me. I feel for ya guys i know what its all about. Hope you get better.

We use the turkey seat that you wear like a back pack, it has a seat that folds up under the back shelf while walking and unclips when you sit. It is nice as you can carry your call and decoy in it while you walk in to a stand. I will get the actual name and take a pic. When I get home and post it.

Here are the pics of the turkey seat I use...I just did some research on the company that made my seat and found out that they have gone out of business..Go figure..

What do you sit on when calling??

My butt.

Cactus.

I like to sit on a stacked up pile of dead dogs...

Here is what I use. It's very comfortable and the back support is great. After a trip to the chiropractor one time due to sitting uncomfortably on the ground, I began searching for a seat and found this. The back support also adds greatly to a solid shooting rest from a bipod or shooting sticks. The seat is adjustable and can tilt back or more upright. It can even be used on some pretty steep hillsides. This seat is available at GCI Outdoors, but I don't think the camo model is available anymore.

Over the years I've used pads; stadium seats w/backrests; folding leg turkey seats like I see some using; plastic buckets & just plain putting my keester on terra firma.
But the older I get, with back problems & weighing way too dang much, it's almost impossible for me to get up off the ground in a reasonable fashion.
Besides, those turkey seats & even the buckets arem't designed for my weight & they collapse.
A couple months ago, I checked into the "Bull Stool" seat. Wanted to buy it in person, & not online or catalog. Stopped @ Cabela's in K.C., & found out they were out of them. So for now, I'm sticking with something I found @ a garage sale this summer (in picture below).
It's actually designed for a fisherman. It sits 16" high & probably weighs 5 or 6 pounds with my call lanyard & accessories inside.