Bowsite.com

I've been researching them steadily this summer and WILL be using one from here on out

I've always just that bit of fear going up a stand, especially those frosty mornings.

I'd love to see some good info on harnesses and safety.

It easily could have been me fall from a stand.

Also, the vests I have are probably 10 years old at least, how do I know if I can hook up a climbing rope to it?

Cabelas has a HSS harness on sale right now. $40 off reg price. Sale price is $49.99, with the extra linemans strap.

Set things up so that you can use an existing rope tied in a loop to pull a strap around the tree when you get into the tree. You have to strap the ladder to the tree anyway, so do it in advance.

If you can get a strap around a tree to secure a ladder stand, I'd most certainly thing you could get a lifeline around that tree.

Use something to help get the rope around the tree. You'll think of something you can use.

Ironicly, there has been a recent surge in safety harness threads here and over on the LeatherWall, do a search...

Probably jinxing myself here but been in the telecommunications industry for over 34 years and rarely use a safety device unless really high like probably over 20 - 25 feet from bottom of my feet, depending on where and how I feel, but anyhow would personally rather fall at treestand height rather than stuck hanging...

What really scares me, is getting a foot caught in a tight tree branch fork and hanging upside down...

I have 2 climber that are 20 years old (I inspect regularly) but I only have the strap that goes around the tree, then your waist and you scooch it up and down the tree as you climb.

Do you just shuffle the lifeline up the tree in the same manner except you have a full body harness? A couple years ago someone on bowsite game me and my daughter 2 harnesses that I use in our ladder stand with lifelines. I never thought about using it in the climber.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunter-Safety-System174-Ultra-Lite-X-treme-Harness/1206161.uts?No=0&destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fsafety-restraints-harnesses%2F_%2FN-1102321%2FNo-0%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104639580%3FrecordsPerPage%3D18

I won't climb a tree without a harness and a lifeline. Have them on all 15 of my stands. I additionally clip into a safety strap once I reach the stand as well.

I use the linemans belt with my climber too.

Hope this helps Dave

I don't use the climber but a couple times a year. Good thread as it got me thinking!

To not use one, in my opinion is just stupidity.

The current ensemble of safety gear is well-designed and works well when used properly. Is it a PIA (pain in the ass)? Yup, quite frankly it is. But it's nothing compared to the PIA that being crippled would be, or the PIA to your surviving family if you die from what is a preventable accident!

Use a harness and a lifeline, and have a suspension strap available in case you fall and have to take pressure off of your legs while hanging. Make sure you have a way to communicate for help in an emergency, and make sure someone knows where you are hunting and when you should be back. Practice with your gear in advance and remove any guesswork about how to orchestrate everything. Stay connected to your tree at ALL times.

I am an IBEP Bowhunter Ed instructor, and one of the reasons I teach the course is to help folks learn ways to hunt safely, especially from elevated stands. Be careful and live to hunt again and again!

BTW, I will donate the UNUSED HSS vest to the first person who PMs me and will USE it ! You pay shipping and it's yours.

"if you fall more than 8 feet it is likely to be fatal"... Where are the stats on that... Dang, I must be living right or have nine lives...

I see your from TX, would like to see your demonstration of how to "Stay connected" at "all times" while climbing those metal tripod stands, especially those that ride around on the back of pickups...

Being the "instructor", what are the death stats of traumatic hanging versus those fallen onto a bed of leaves and soft soil...

I guess in this perfect world out there, everybody must do it politically correct, so we need to train our growing trees straight and limbless for 20' so they're easier to climb so we can stay connected to the trunk at all times...

Takes me SECONDS to put my harness on and get strapped to the tree.....your time must be way more valuable that your life...not sure how that's possible, but that's your logic.

Quote; "1/3 of all hunters at some point will fall from their stand in their hunting career!" That is a provable fact. The risk of serious injury is high if you fall. That is a provable fact. The risk of death is a provable fact though it is lower than catastrophic injury but why even take the risk at all of either happening.

I can tell you why many hunters don't use them. It is for the same reason young men don't think anything bad could ever happen to them. Hunters that don't use them think "it wont happen to me" until it does.

IMO there is no valid excuse for not wearing a harness except "I just don't want to." If that's the case I respect a guys choice to do so but short of "I just don't want to" there is no other valid excuse IMO. This is just my opinion

I hunt mostly from the ground but I have never had a tree I couldn't wear a safety strap on and a vest when hunting from trees and I have sat in a few crazy trees in my day and helped set well over one hundred stands for friends and family over the years. If you use a climber I cant see any tree you would have an issue with. If the climber will go up so will the safety strap. If you have hangers with limbs in the way on the way up you use 2 safety straps on the way up to set it and then hook up a safety line once to your desired location so it is there and ready for when you go up the next time. If you have a ladder stand you hook in before you go up incase the stand falls over. Just my opinion and 2 cents. No stand or limbs or anything can prevent me from using safety equipment.

Staying attached at all times if a guy wants to is an easy problem to over come with a 2nd strap to get you over things. It hangs until you reach an impasse and then goes over the obstruction and hooks in and then you unhook the other and then once over and you reach the next you use the other and visa versa all the way up and you never have to be unstrapped if you don't want to be.

HSS Linemans belt that I use. It is included in the above safety harness that I posted.

Having treated many people over the last 20 years for falls from step ladders to tree stands, blunt force trauma from even just several feet is very serious. Liver and splenic lacerations, bilateral calcaneal fractures, spinal cord injuries and death--all are preventable from using a safety harness and a linemans belt or lifeline.

HTH Dave

Wow. Lucky guy. Thankfully you were rescued.

I had an incident about 15 years ago that surely would have severely injured or killed me. I bought a climber and thought I would give one a try. I was rushed and forgot my safety equipment. I was stuck but made the poor choice to hunt from the climber anyway because I didn't have a blind and wouldn't drive back 3 hours to get my safety straps. I went up the tree and had to get up over the smaller tree in front of me for my shot that I knew would come because I picked the spot and knew it was great because it had deer there every evening. I was at least 23 feet up and saw I was good for my shots and was getting ready to turn around when disaster hit. My feet slipped out of the bottom as I pushed upward and I will be damned if the rope connecting the two section came undone and down went my stand about 8 feet down.

OMG I thought but I tried not to panic. That didn't work!I was on the top portion pushing upwards with my arms just like you would do if you were gonna keep going up. That's the position I was in when the stand fell. I stayed that way looking around and down for what seemed like forever. Finally I fatigued and had to drop downward to relive my arm pump I was getting. I then at the last "minuet" realized the stand was just below my feet and maybe I could reach it. I was stretched out hanging on by my fingertips. I was ready to let go and fall and take my chances. Well actually I wasn't really 'ready' but I didn't have a choice. Luckily I had an angel with me I guess because somehow I miraculously got one toe of my boots into the strap on the bottom portion at the last "second."

This gave me new life and I was able to shimmy the bottom portion back up about enough that I could take my weight off my arms and stand on the bottom platform. It seemed like forever and it was too. I stood there clutching that tree for at least 5 minuets and almost lost it. I shimmied the top part down and got down the tree and went home and have NEVER stepped up to a tree since without ALL the right equipment.

That climber sucked and was a death trap. I gave it to a buddy and he almost fell using it too. It was just unstable. We turned it into a hanger and he hung it in a tree and left it there. lol I have only ever used a climber once since then and would rather hunt the ground unless my kid is hunting with me because she like the stands. We are both strapped up better than just about anyone. I use over kill now after that.

While you are falling, you'll think of your family and how taking those few minutes would have been a worthwhile investment.

I had a friend who ran a tree service. He said that the most serious injuries they experienced were guys who fell from below 8'. He said that the guys felt that they didn't need to strap in when they were that low.

The guy who taught me to bow hunt lost his brother when he fell 7" from a tree limb.

The simple physics of the situation is that the force of you hitting the ground from a 15' fall, about average for a tree stand, is the same as if you stepped in front of a bus going 40 mph.

You continue to make excuses and tell yourself what you want. They will remember all you pithy little quotes at your funeral, or when they visit you in the nursing home.

TBB

Cabelas, HSS harness on sale right now. $40 off reg price. Sale price is $49.99, including the linemans strap (Reg an additional $20).

Good Luck to all and remember.... We OWE it to the family at home who love us and rely on us.

Not using a harness is selfish, plain and simple.

This is the linemans belt that I use. I hang the stand using this belt , drop a lifeline then hook to the lifelne with a rock climbimg harness. Always hooked up going up or coming down.

Speaking of falling; I fell at work from "several" feet up. It latterly changed my life, physically.

It busted me up so bad, I spent 2 months in a hospital, 2 years of physical therapy. I cannot do things anymore that most take for granted.

The fall never hurts, it is that sudden stop that does. And do not forget about hitting something on the way down or landing on an object.

Still posting comments for shock value reaction I see.

You would rather fall 15-20 feet rather than using a harness??? I'm calling BS on your idiotic post!

Do you guys remember the young man who fell last year and chose to not be on any type of support or be a quad? His cousin works with me and is on my hunting club. They were favorite cousins and if you saw Eric's mood the entire season you would all wear a harness.

To be so selfish and not care what you would leave your loved ones left feeling is nothing but a lack of respect for the love they have for you!

When we hang stands I use my summit to assist installing the lockons when i can. I always wear my harness when hunting or installing stands....

Do I need to repost the photos you posted on bowsite a few years back where you shot at a doe from inside your house?

Oh yes the guy to smart to fall forgot to open the window up before illegally shooting at a deer from inside your house? The best part is that you actually posted those photos and described your ethical hunt step by step on the Ohio forum!

What was your comment it was not hunting it was killing for sustenance? Oh yeh you live in Ohio not Alaska!!!

You sir are my poster child of SLOB HUNTER with your BS shock value seeking comments and hunting ethics!

Those who live in glass houses should not cast stones!

Last year bought a Black Diamond rock climbing harness but hadn't felt the need for it yet, although another year older and weaker, I'll likely use it this year with a safety tether rope and Prurssiic knot, but will not climb with one of those lines... Was taught by the company to climb hand over hand with the 3 point system, and not using the climbing belt until you belted in once up the pole. Too late to teach this old dog new tricks, so I'll strap in once up the tree if need be...

If you guys jinx me and I fall this year, I'm gonna haunt you...8^)

A note about falls. I work for a mining company, and we are required to do safety training every year. Each year, we have several new "instructors and their families" that provide insight into safety. These "instructors" are the folks who have died or been seriously injured on the job in the past year.

The common thread through almost every incident year after year is that it is normally not 'the new guys' that get hurt its the older more experienced folks who have become 'comfortable with what they are doing' and took a shortcut to save time/effort.

Who cares!

Again...... '1/3 (it's actually just over 1/3) of all hunters will fall from their stand in their hunting career suffering serious or catastrophic injury or even death'.... If you had odds saying you had a 33+% chance to win the lottery each week would you play? I probably would. Well get ready because at some point your number is coming and when you slip or a strap breaks or whatever you can keep telling yourself all the way down that you will not be in that 1/3.

Over 1/3rd of all hunters WILL fall. That was true when I was a kid it is still true today. Difference is today you can strap in soundly and push the odds to almost 0% of "dying" if you slip or a strap breaks etc. This bull that wearing safety equipment could make you careless or complacent is just that. Its Bull. I wear a harness and it has only giving me a sense of security that when I finally slip again I wont die from it and might just get a bump or 2. I still am very careful and just as careful as before. In fact even more carful because you are minding your safety equipment so safety is in the forefront of your noggin.

Wake up Zbone sir. We don't want to eventually read a thread that you have slipped and fell. Who cares what you have done and others have done in the past and who cares where you worked and what you were told 30 years ago at the telephone poll co. Things have changed now. Safety equipment is better now and odds of death if strapped up right go to almost zero.

One more thing. If some IDIOT reads your post and chooses not to wear a harness due to bravado and/or faulty and misguided words from you and he then falls you will end up being the one haunted!

"faulty and misguided words"..... Not hardly, only past experiences... BTW, didn't I just say I bought a rock climbing harness....

http://youtu.be/yceXR7VK1Yc

Here is mine:

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/climbing-harnesses/couloir-harness-BD651039_cfg.html?gclid=CjkKEQjwqsCcBRDt7_Gts5a91YYBEiQAm-wYEWxjwWn_r_YxzKx2RBziLCvBtISshUXwYGMRnyyRLeXw_wcB

If any "IDIOT" falls its no one's fault but their own, I'm only haunted by past blown big buck opportunities...8^)

I like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NcroPLbzPc

However i do wear a shoulder harness that has a d-ring in the back while hunting.

I often figured if a treestand goes in will go quick. and with nothing but thin air to grab onto, There is a reasonable chance you might not be able to land on your feet. Don't know, and don't want to find out.

I'm going to say this though. If you are not in good physical shape. And are not physically fit enough to get yourself spun around and shinney down a tree, then you probably shouldn't be up there.

1st off I didn't say 1/3rd would fall this year!

I used info from a previous study I viewed a couple months back when I had a similar thread. I believe I cited it in that thread. Several states have done these studies and found that just over 1/3rd of all hunter will "at some point" fall from their stand "over the course of their hunting career" suffering injury or even death. Those that fall that die if I remember it right is 3% but those that suffer bad injury is quite high. Not everyone that falls suffers catastrophic injury or death but the numbers don't lie and it is not worth the risk and anyone who would make an excuse about not wearing one is out there IMO. If they don't want to wear one then that's one thing but there is no valid reason other than I don't want to"

I believe you can find the study on the net under Pennsylvania if I recall.

Zbone,

"sounds as you believe your opinions are the only one that counts.... geeesss"

No it is not just my opinion. There are studies to back it up. My opinion is I hope no one reads this thread and decides not to wear one due to what you have said.

No sir it was not from any harness CO. I discounted the 1 or 2 I saw from them because it could be skewed to try and sell product. What posted if I recall was a state study. I think F&S had an article saying the exact same thing too.

I haven't climbed one inch up a tree in 20 years without a harness on and consider myself lucky to have never had a close call. I love my SOP.

Sounds to me like they did a study and found that in the sample group that over an entire lifetime of hunting that 1/3rd of all those hunters fell and suffered injuries.

Think about it....You have 100 hunters that hunt for 40 years. 33 of them will slip and fall or something will happen that will make them fall at some point. The study also said that the vast majority that fell did so when going up into or coming down out of the stand. Not many fall from the stand itself though some do for various reasons.....I did know a guy who actually walked out of his stand once and live to tell about it. The big dummy tried to get a better shot and actually stepped forward a little and poof. How dumb is that. lol

Hell I don't hunt stands a lot and even have slipped a number of times and was just lucky to keep ahold but had I not I would have not fallen to the ground. Most guys in my climber situation would not have made it out w/o falling. I was just wayyyy lucky on that one or I would be in that 1/3rd who was injured or killed.

I do not find it hard to believe at all that 1/3rd of us hunters will fall at some point in our hunting career. I will say the study made no mention of how high or the average height the falls came at. They only said the vast majority that fall are on the way up and down.

Look at it this way....Believe the data or don't and wear a harness or don't. It is what it is and it's better to be safe than sorry

If you hunt from a tree stand, it is possible that you may fall due to such things as equipment failure, tree failure (e.g. branch breaking when stepped on), or human error. Likely? That is debatable. Possible? It is possible every single time you go up.

The point is, will you be prepared to minimize your risk of injury should something unexpected happen, or not?

No one knows when or if an accident will occur. And it is probably safe to say that most will never need a safety harness to arrest a fall. But isn't it better to have it in place, just in case?

I bet you were no longer tired after that 2nd one. lol..Wide awake and alert after that one eh? Thank God you didn't get badly hurt.

I climbed for years doing tree work and utilizing the prussic knot the whole time and I always tied my prussic knot onto a line of the same diameter. I can see that the knot rope could be of smaller diameter, but my years of daily climbing experience say that it does not need to be.

1. We don't know what caused the fall. It may have been a medical condition, or he may have just fallen. However, the fall itself was not survivable.

2. We do know he fell. His injuries indicated a fall.

3. That morning he had refused a safety harness and instead tied a rope around his waist and then tied that rope to the stand platform. This created a fall of about 6 -7 feet with a sudden jerk at the end. At 220 lbs, I don't believe that fall would be survivable by almost anyone. We did not have an autopsy done, but he either suffered massive internal injuries, a broken back, or both. He most likely, at the time of the fall, had the knot around his waist either to his side or in front of him based on how he had it tied to the stand platform. You just think through that for a moment ... of what a rope connected in that way would do to a human body from a fall of 6-7 feet when it came to a sudden stop. If it was in his front, it would have almost surely broken his back. If to the side or on his back, the internal injuries would have been devastating.

4. We know my dad survived the initial fall and remained conscious for at least a short time. He had made his way back so that his body was outside the ladder (it was a ladder stand), as if he were going to climb back up. He then slumped through the steps on the ladder, still tied to the rope. After his slumping through, he took off is facemask and gloves and laid them on the ground. He then succumbed to his injuries. This is how my brother found him. We do not know how long he suffered. That is what haunts me the most.

5. The night before, he had a conversation with a friend about how he had never fallen out of a tree stand. He definitely did not think it would happen to him. He was dead less then 12 hours later.

I truly hope every one of you thinks through the physics of a fall if you do not have a full body harness. My dad never did. The force of that fall, all put on that rope around his waist ... with a sudden jolt after 6-7 feet ... not even a 20 year old could survive that in most cases. No doubt my dad would have been here today had he just worn a safety harness.

I've worn a harness for years, with ground to stand safety lines in most of my stands. I plan to upgrade most of them this year and add a step relief loop so that I can relieve pressure from the harness on my legs in the event of a fall. This too can kill you. No reason not to be safe out there.

MathewsZ7MN here is a $25.63 harness you can "save up for"... http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00J0W4Y92/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I want to use one so I'm hooked up going up and down. What I don't get is how do you move the knot up or down without letting go of the steps? Anyone have a good video showing this? I'd really like to see the safety line in action....and use it.

Thanks

I have a linesman belt I can use with my harness. Be safe!

Climb up (lineman's style) then throw this around the tree and clip in. SAFE

Here is how I do it with a climber, but it also shows the prussic knot and climbing harness.

The value of moving a tree strap or lifeline up or down the trunk as you go, is that if you fall off of your steps, it can arrest your fall. If you are just using a lineman's belt, yes you are still attached to the tree and able to do hands-free stuff, but it is not designed to arrest a fall. If you fell while using just the belt, you may or may not hit the ground as the belt would likely snag on steps, but I bet the experience would be very unpleasant. Would much rather have a fall stopped from above via being tethered to a tree strap or lifeline.

Not trying to sound all preachy about this, but just trying to explain there are techniques and options to minimize risks. It is of course up to the personal preference of the hunter to decide how much, if any, to utilize.

http://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?forum=4&threadid=435174&MESSAGES=156&FF=4#3872052

Bill

I have no room, no acceptance, and no pity for anyone of you who come on here with the macho bravado, and preach that falling from a treestand is a "freak accident". The year is 2014...we are too intelligent to not only wear one ourselves, but to strongly encourage others in our ranks to do the same. What I learned the most from that day, is that wearing a safety harness isn't just for my safety...it's also to protect your loved ones from alot of undue agony, pain, and grief. Hunt smart, my friends.