Don't forget you all's safety harnesses!

[Gdpolk]

Long story short, no animal in the woods is worth a fall which could alter your life or end it. 

Today I had my foot platform on my climber get away from me.  Yes, it was tethered to the seat, but the tether was old and snapped.  I was left dangling from my hand climber on my forearms.  I had to use my linemans belt to hold my weight as I shifted the seat portion down a touch.  Then, crawl on the seat and move my linemans belt down a touch.  Then jump off the seat and move it down a touch, and so on and so forth.  All in all I came out perfectly fine and safe, but without the proper safety equipment my life could have changed forever this morning.  By the way, this method was NOT the preferred method of scooting down a tree but a man has to do what a man has to do sometimes.

[Homey88]

Glad you are ok!

[Cavscout9753]

You only get so many close calls in a lifetime, really glad you had your belt on! There’s a myriad of practical reasons that I don’t use treestands where I hunt, but my fear of falling certainly rounds out the list.

[matt steed]

Proud your ok. I wear a safety harness. I would Not climb without one, for this very reason.

[Roy from Pa]

Thank God you are ok.

I have fallen 3 times.

First time an old baker stand lost its grip and down the tree I slid, nothing hurt.

Second time I climbed into and old tree stand, jumped up and down and it held.

Went to take my muzzleloader off my back and the stand collapsed.

Down I came 20 feet, had both knees operated on within a year.

Third fall, my seat broke on my stand.

I had a safety belt around my waist and a 3 foot tether on.

Safety belt saved my life as I was 25 feet up, but it broke my rib from that fall.

Now it's a full body harness and climbing rope system.

I since then have preached safety to tree stand hunters till I am blue in the face.

BUT..

There are always guys who do not listen.

[Eric Krewson]

I had a platform drop out from under me a few years ago, it was tethered to my hand climber as well. Like a dummy I was climbing with my TC M/L across the hand climber instead of pulling it up later.

I had a harness on that caught me but the platform that was tethered to my climber was too low for me to pull up from where I was hanging. The TC dislodged and I was holding it in my hands as well.

My first order of business was to poke the TC through the climber supports and keep it from falling. Hanging in a harness is very uncomfortable and I knew I didn't have a lot of time to get things right.

I was a gym rat at this time of my life and could do 20 pull-ups easily.  I found out when you are hanging in a tree in the freezing cold with snow blowing, dressed in most of the heavy clothes you own, doing one pull-up back up on a hand climber is a challenge but I made it.

Once I was back on the hand climber I could pull the platform back up and get my stand back to normal.

[Sam McMichael]

Just last week my new safety harness vest arrived in the mail. I considered it my birthday present to myself. When using elevated stands it is an absolute necessity.