Youth treestand safety stuff????

[Dave Bulla]

My daughter Lindsey is 14 now and she's ready to bowhunt deer for the first time.  She's about 5'5" and 120 pounds or so so she's pretty well full grown for a woman but I expect the mens youth stuff will fit her???

I need to find a good safety harness/vest that isn't too expensive.  I like the vest style set ups but it seems most are in the $80-$90 range.  I don't want to skimp on safety but I've been out of a job for a while now and necessity dictates that I at least shop wisely.  

How much does a Seat O the Pants harness run nowadays?  Are they still around?  I like mine a lot but thought that for a kid the vest type would be more user friendly.

Any other brands that you all like?  Suggestions?

[Dave Bulla]

Oh yea, any thoughts on maybe installing a tight line from stand to ground with a Prussic hitch on it so that she could hook on while climbing up and down?  It's the same knot as the one on the rope that comes with the Seat-O-the Pants harness.  A bit of an extra hassle but I gotta keep the kid safe as much as I can.  Heck, I've thought about using one for myself but don't often leave a stand up on the public land I hunt.

[metsastaja]

I use SOP with a taught static line from the base of my tree stands to as high as I can reach standing on the seat of my stand. All my stands are ladder on private property.  I have as many as 3 prussic knots on the line itself.
One remains at the top..this is the one I clip into and is set for me while seated with very little slack. Will not allow me to roll out of seat if I fall asleep.

2nd Purssic remains just above shoulder standing height until I am in the stand.  

The third one is the travel knot I hook into while going up and down.

As soon as I reach the seat I transfer to the upper most knot and haul up bow n stuff.  I then adjust the second and 3rd knot so that if I were to fall the travel knot is low enough to become a foot hold and the second is low enough to be a hand hold.

NO matter what you decide have your daughter practice hanging in the air in the restraint and regaining a seated position.  All you need to do is set the seat a couple feet off the ground.

Best of luck

[Dave Bulla]

Les, that sounds about like what I had in mind but I hadn't thought of using multiple knots.  Still don't think I would as I'd prefer to remain hooked up to just one rather than be unhooking from one to the other.

What rope did you use for your tight-line?  I bought some soft black rope at Lowes a while back to replace my original rope from my SOP harness which I lost and it's about identical.  Figured I'd just get more of that.

[Arwin]

Dave,
 My daughter is 13 and close to the same size, a vest safety harness works great for her. Saves confusion of the old style harnesses.  Look on the auction site, sometimes you can find them cheap.  

[GrnMtnTradNut]

I trust mine and my childrens life when stand hunting with only one vest oeriod thats a Hunter saftey system, if you don't have it you can't hunt unless we go home to get it, and if you do fall from a stand you send it back and they replace it free ask my dad it saved his life and he's over 250# since we hunt 100% out of stands for any weapon I will spend the extra $$$$ and they are easy to use both my 6yr old daughter and 9yr old son can take them on and off without help.

[BobCo 1965]

Instead of the prussic knot, you may want to try an ascender (rock climbing store or construction worker supply) and attach it to a rope attached to the harness. It is much easier to put on and off and if you leave it attached to a line while she gets in and out of the stand it should protect her from the second her feet leave the ground.

My son is aso 14 this year and will be hunting. But, it'll be from the ground in some natural blinds that we constructed.

[geno]

I don't want to skimp on safety but I've been out of a job for a while now and necessity dictates that I at least shop wisely.


Maybe think about a ground blind this yr. Then she can concentrate on the other aspects this being  her first yr..

[gregg dudley]

Dave,

When Reed started climbing stands with me I bought a device that works like a car seat belt.  I can't think of the name of it, but they sell it at Bass Pro etc.  It has a 20' retractable line that you pull down on a small string.  When you climb, it retracts just like a seatbelt.  I hook that to his safety harness and when he gets to the top he ties his safety harness to the tree, but leaves the seat belt device on attached as well.  Works like a charm.