Over the last week or so the topic of using a safety harness has come up several times. Most people seem to say they use them but not all. Of those that don’t their body language is always the same. The heads tilt down and sideways, a small smirk comes across their face, and they almost sheepishly say they won’t (or don’t) wear one. I have to wonder how many people here wear a safety harness while in a climbing or hang on stand?
I do but not all the time or in all trees. 
I’m making leaps and bounds to what I used to do.
Is it a hassle to wear one? You bet. But, it’s better then the alternative and way more of a hassle to be living in a wheel chair for the rest of my life or perhaps not living at all. 
This is what pushes me to wear it more and more each time out. I love my Loggy Bayou Transformer System. IMO the best one out on the market and at a decent price.
Good Topic! 
Bought one of those “Hunter Safety Systems” Vest last year, hook it up once on stand.
It seems the older I got, the more unsure I would get up in the tree stand. Maybe I figured out that I don’t bounce anymore. Back in the day, I could hang a portable stand on a 6″ tree 30′ up. Now a days I like being in a 16′ ladder stand way more. And I always strap in, unless I’m in a buddy stand with a shooting rail.
I’m in the same boat as a lot of you. I never used to wear them until a few years ago, I had a close call. I use em 100% now on portables and sometimes on ladder stands. Better be safe than sorry!
I use a safety strap almost all the time now. I had the bad luck of falling last year. I was in a hang on stand and the plat form was about 20 feet off the ground. I sat in that stand the day before with no problem. But on this day I had a problem. I just steped on to the plat form hung my bow up and set my fanney pack on the seat to dig out my range finder. All of a suden the bottom of the stand let loose form the tree and it took my feet right out from underneath me. I rolled up in a ball and hit the ground. After checking to make sure nothing was broken it took me a good 5 minutes to find all my stuff.
Lucky for me, I did not break anything, but it still took 4 trips to the chiropractor to get every thing back into place. I guess what they say might be true: there are those who have fallen out of tree stands, and there are those who will fall out of tree stands.
Every one be safe out there this hunting season, wear a harness. That big buck is not worth your life. I walked away without a scratch, but it just as well could have been a very different out come.
Quote:
It seems the older I got, the more unsure I would get up in the tree stand. Maybe I figured out that I don’t bounce anymore. Back in the day, I could hang a portable stand on a 6″ tree 30′ up. Now a days I like being in a 16′ ladder stand way more. And I always strap in, unless I’m in a buddy stand with a shooting rail.
Same here most of my bow hunting is out of portables and I always where a harness. For gun hunting I have a 20′ ladder stand with shooting rails all the way around and I feel very comfortable in that without strapping in. They say that most falls occur when climbing in and out of your stand and I have to admit that when climbing it and out of my portables I am not using one on the way up or down, I have it on when I leave the house and hook up when I am in the stand. I use screw in foot pegs so it is a pain trying to work around them being strapped in while climbing, in fact one of my trees is way to big around to get a strap around on the way up.
I don’t strap in when rifle hunting because our rifle stands are 4’x4′ enclosed box stands. But when in my hang on or climber I’m strapped, period. When I first started to hunt I was ascending a tree in my Ol’Man climber when it decided not to bite. I was just about to reset my tree strap as it was right in my lap when down the stand went. I stopped only because of my strap! While I only fell about 4′ it scared the HECK out of me. My face hurt because it slammed into the tree when everything tightened up but that would have been nothing compared to going the rest of the way down, another 12-15′.
I’ve seen a different style harness system designed to let one climb up or down without having the steps or ladder get in the way. It is basically a rope that hangs to the bottom of the tree that you clip to right away on the ground. I don’t recall the exact mechanics of the system but think of it everytime I’m in my stand. Someday I might axctually think to search it out and see if it is a good option or not.
Quote:
I don’t recall the exact mechanics of the system but think of it everytime I’m in my stand.
The type of set-up you may be thinking of is a rope with a Prussic knot attached. That is the style I used and loved it. What I had was a rope 25′ long with a loop on one end. When you first set your treestand, take the rope up with you and feed thetail through the loop and tighten. On the rope there is a Prussic knot attached with a caribiner(sp). The caribiner attaches to your safety vest. As you are climbing, you slide the knot up, and keep it above you. The mechanics of the knot is if you were to fall, the knot “binds” and prevents you from falling.
Yes sir you are exactly right! As soon as I read the prussic knot I knew it was it. My current harness and rope uses the same style knot and it works wonderfully. I guess all a guy would have to do is get a properly rated rope and leave it hang down by your ladder or steps. Thanks for the memory jogger. 
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
