For this edition of our W2 Profile we visited with Rickey J. Seyler, 75, founder and principal owner of LePerch Outdoors residing in Chesterfield.
Tell us about your background and how it prepared you to create Le Perch Outdoors.
Iam a retired materials scientist with 44 years of experience in materials, product, and process development and testing. New materials formulations and subsequent products often require some level of invention, especially from a processing perspective and frequently from a testing perspective. The creativity required to support such development resulted in my acquiring over 25 US patents.
I grew up in rural eastern PA, the oldest of four boys whose father was an avid hunter and fisherman. So hunting was always a family tradition in our household. Needless to say, there was always competition in the field, plenty of good-natured ribbing, but also the support and teamwork of family and friends. The 2025-2026 hunting season will be my 63rd which included successfully taking a deer in NY, IN, VA, and finally in PA using pistol, shotgun, rifle, compound bow and cross bow. I have hunted from rock piles, fallen trees, hang-on tree stands, ladder stands, climbing tree stands, and my own two feet (still hunting).
As the years have mounted, it became increasingly more difficult for me to hunt comfortably and successfully. Many of you folks out there understand hunting comfortably especially at ground level requires being quiet and relatively still which translates into best chances for success. So, during those quiet moments in the woods allowed me to ponder ways in which I could be more comfortable and hopefully successful. Since most of my hunting in the past 20 years has been on new properties most being public lands, tree stands were not realistic and neither were cold rocks or damp logs.
A light weight go anywhere portable tree seat was my solution. More quiet hours in the woods designed the first version of a seat in my mind. Shortly thereafter with the engineering support of our co-owner John Mememdez, Le Perch Outdoors was born.
What is Le Perch Outdoors and what are its goals?
Le Perch Outdoors, LLC is a small Virginia based company in Chesterfield, VA. Our business intent is to develop and market ground level light weight portable equipment that will allow outdoor enthusiasts to experience nature comfortably and safely. While the primary focus is hunting related, nonhunters such as bird watchers, outdoor photographers, hikers, and wilderness campers might also benefit from a comfortable seat.
Since we are ground level focused, we are especially interested in helping handicapped individuals get a more enjoyable outdoor experience. We have established a relationship with two Virginia organizations –The Fallen Outdoors and Virginia Wheelin Sportsmen—in an effort to provide portable equipment for their members and associates. In addition, as a recently approved mentor for the First Hunt Foundation, I am hopeful that we can provide a memorable first experience for young folks as well.
Can you detail why and how you came up with Le Perch?
Thinking about the hunting experiences and preferences of myself and others, not everyone can or wants to climb into a tree to engage the outdoors. At ground level it is essential that one remains quiet and still (or unseen) to maximize one’s experiences with nature. So, a comfortable seat was a logical product. There were several prototypes of the seat, each with additional or upgraded features such that the current product won’t rust, weighs just 3.8 lbs (less than my wife’s shoulder purse), folds compactly for easy portability, has a warm dry closed cell foam cushion, mounts firmly with a ratchet strap that doubles as a carry strap, automatically adjusts for tree lean, and the seat swivels 360 degrees with one half rotation placing the seat further away from the tree while the other half rotation places the seat 2” closer to the tree accommodating user size and preference.
Sitting in the woods after a morning Virginia wet snow dripping down my back, I decided I needed something to keep me dry. Looking at what is available as tree umbrellas and talking with fellow hunters, a big complaint was that most current offerings aren’t big enough so one’s legs from the knees down still get wet.
At the same time, I was considering a blind option to use with our seat and it made sense to have a canopy that would cover the blind enclosed area. With these factors in mind, I decided on a 3’x3’ footprint. Again, light weight, portable, and waterproof were required features. The result is a waterproof fabric of a trapezoidal shape on an integral shock corded 3’x3’fiberglass frame that folds into a cylindrical bundle weighing 2.5 lbs with its separate tree grip. When fastening the attached slope strap around the tree above the tree grip using the supplied spacer creates the slope with the excess fabric and also fixes the canopy to float in a horizontal position.
Depending upon the terrain you are hunting, one can feel rather exposed sitting on your seat, especially if it is a keen-eyed gobbler you seek. Even on a comfortable tree seat, one is not immune to movement that even the best camouflage can cover. As mentioned above for the canopy a 3’x3’ footprint was also selected for our lightweight blind frame. A fully shock corded fiberglass frame was again used which collapses into a cylindrical bundle weighing about three pounds with tje sam,e tree grip as the canopy. For many, camo is a very personal preference and one’s selection can vary depending upon the time of year and location. We decided to offer only the frame and supply packets of eight hangers that pin to one’s preferred curtain fabric and that allow the curtain to be hung quickly and securely from the frame and readily changed to an alternative.
