Tree stand safety reminder

Way too often, we are reminded about the dangers of trees stands AFTER a serious injury. As in this case. My neighbor’s father had an accident a couple days ago and was med-flight to the hospital. Details are still vague, so I won’t speculate on what all happened. Just a reminder that most, not all, accidents can be avoided with a few safety items. Wear those harnesses and lift your unloaded gun/bows, back packs….up with a rope.

Jeff Bennett had posted a video on Facebook of the medflight. At the time, I had no idea it was someone I know. Be careful out there

My first time out this year I had a close call. Which fortunately I walked away from. I went out a bought a quality harness and have been attached to whatever tree I am climbing as soon as I step onto my climber.

Lets hope he makes a full recover, sucks to hear this time of year.

It amazes me that people still don’t wear harnesses weather it be 5ft or 40ft, there isn’t a good way to fall out of a deer stand.

tbro16 wrote:

I have heard of tree stand harnesses, but I’ve never looked at them. Any you recommend? What other safety equipment should I look into?

This year was the first time I have put together my own tree stand and I can tell it isnt done perfectly. Not exactly sturdy.

http://www.huntersafetysystem.com/

Install a safety line the day you put your stand in and use it every time. Climbing in and out is when people fall. Makes no sense to just buckle up once you are in and seated. All you need is good rope and a connection like below.

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Harness and this will save your life, I thought last year when I was about 30′ in a tree how the hell do I get down if I fall then I realize you need these to go with your setup.

FYI – The accident happened while attempting to make a repair to an existing treestand. Very sad that a board broke and Jay fell head first and is in a comma. Outlook is very grim. This truly was an accident and not carelessness

tbro16 wrote:

This year was the first time I have put together my own tree stand and I can tell it isnt done perfectly. Not exactly sturdy.

If by “put together” you mean building a stand in a tree out of wood, I’d say start looking at pre-fab metal stands.

Wooden stands are just an accident waiting to happen and even if built well, they have to be inspected and carefully maintained every year or you’re putting your life at risk.

We started switching over all our stands to metal ladder stands and I suspect by next year we’ll have replaced 8 stands with metal. For the price, they can’t be beat because they are easier to put up and far safer. No wood to rot, no nails to pull out, no broken screws, etc. A good metal stand should easily last 10 years or longer. The only part that needs to be replace is the ratched straps that tie it to the tree. We just replace all of ours every 3 years.

We realized a long time ago when we were still doing wooden stands that it was crazy not to build tree stands out of treated lumber, but with today’s prices, it can easily run up the tab to more than a good metal ladder stand would cost.

This isn’t saying that the safety harness and line isn’t a good idea too. Just saying that stand construction is part of the overall safety.

Grouse

tbro16 wrote:

it freely moves around a little more than it should.

That is a death trap looking for a victim.

About 8 years ago I swapped out all our wooden stands for steel and “The Wieland’s Tower”. However, after the first year of use of the steel stands, I threw out all the ratchet straps. I bought chain, links, hooks, and turn buckles and went super heavy duty on the mounting hardware. Mine are all permanent (stays on my land), and I went to a rock solid system to secure them. An over-kill, but after having a squirrel chew a strap and a ratchet let loose, NEVER AGAIN for me