Safety harness issue and bowhunting video?

[lpcjon2]

I watched a video from bowhunter magazine i got it about five years ago. Well in the video ( not sure of the production date  maybe 2002) it blew me away that not one of the hunters had a safety harness on. So I got to wondering when did the harness start to come into play. Oh and my kids will not be watching this video at all.

[Jake Diebolt]

I've been wearing a harness since I started hunting 10 years ago...and my Dad's been wearing a harness at least since I was born. So call that 24 years.

Mind you, we hunted with a numbskull for a while who just tied a rope around his waist instead of a proper harness, when he bothered to do it at all. We had a treestand called 'The fall-down maple' because of him.

So maybe me and my family were early adopters?

[Guru]

The kids will learn from YOUR example, not from a video.

If you wear one, and tell them they have to as well, I don't think showing them the video and explaining the right and wrong of it will be a problem.

[GRINCH]

I gotta agree with Guru,you set the example for your kids not some video.

[elkken]

Good advice Curt  ....  

[RC]

I almost fell once from a cypress but was able to catch the bottom of the stand and hang there a minute and get back on. There were Cypress knees sticking up all under me and it would have been ugly. I was maybe 20 feet up. That was over 20 years ago. Now if I go to the woods and forget my safety rig...I don`t climb. If a fella comes hunting with me and uses a stand he will have a harness or he won`t hunt with me.RC

[Oliverstacy]

I've worn 1 of some sort since I started hunting from a treestand back when I was 13...that was a few years ago!

I 1996 a great friend forgot his one night and decided to hunt from a strand anyway…he didn’t feel right so decided to get down.  Lower his bow to the bottom of the tree and the next thing he remembers is waking up on the ground and not being able to move.  He suffered a spinal cord injury and is a paraplegic.

Always wear a safety vest/harness system…best money you can spend if you’re going to go up ANY distance from the ground, it doesn’t take much height to do a ton of damage or worse!  

I’ve worn a Seat-o-the-Pants since 2002 and wouldn’t hunt without it!  

Get a good harness system and never leave home without it…if you do find a good ground blind or don’t go, trust me it isn’t worth it!  I’ve seen the results first hand.

Thanks,

Josh

[Eugene Slagle]

I've been wearing a harness ever since I started using a climbing tree stand, something like 15+ years ago.

I will admit though with a home made stand that we had on the farm back home I didn't but that was back in the mid 80's & I don't think I had the wisdom back then I have now.

My first time in a climbing stand which came with the harness "just a belt around you really but it worked" well I didn't know what the little string was for, you know the one that tethers the foot base to the seat, well I go climbing up this oak using the harness like a friend showed me & all of a sudden the foot base dropped nearly to the bottom of the tree.
I think I was around 12' up hanging by the harness & holding on to the seat, took what seamed forever to get into the seat & it took even longer to get lucky to snag the foot base using the bow rope so that I could get back down "no cell phone back then."

Ever since then I swear by having a safety harness when I'm not planted on the ground & on my club if anyone plans to be in a tree stand of any kind they better be using a safety harness or they will be asked to leave, I've gone all the way to my sweet spot once with everything but my harness & just hung my climber at the base & hunted on the ground because of that possibility of me finding ground faster than I can handle.

[Flingblade]

I have always wore a safety harness.  Been hunting for 25 years.  Started out with just the belt around the waist type but wouldn't use those today.  Full harness with shoulder and leg straps for me.  I like Seat of the Pants harnesses.  I've fallen twice and both times it was from ladder stands that I was taking down.  Took off the chain at the top and had the ladder go over sideways while climbing down.  Both times I rode the ladder down and wasn't hurt.  Did bend the heck out of the stabilizer bar though.  Can't be too careful when climbing.

[Hoyt]

I've got two friends that fell from treestands. Weren't using safety harness. One is cripled for life...can get about but limps real bad. The other died a few yrs back due to complications from the fall. He was paralyzed from the shoulders down after the fall and later had to have both legs removed.

Myself or anybody I hunted with used safety belts or harnesses back in the 60's and early 70's. Lot of us were real lucky to have escaped serious injury climbing up and down the tree's before light and after dark using pole climbers and not always with a safety belt while climbing and putting up and taking down stands. Hunting from rickety homemade loc-on's and later homemade climbers. Not to mention the Baker death trap.

Won't climb without one now.

[thunder1]

When I started hunting all that was being sold was a belt and rope system. My hunting partner always found that funny and made great sport of it. Until he fell a sleep in a tree and woke up on the groud. Well woke up while falling from his stand. Guess who went shopping later that day. Same guy stopped using a quiver for a short while, but that's another story.

[Rusty in Fla.]

You could use this as a learning tool as well. Instead of not allowing your kids to see it, you could watch it with them and see if they see what's wrong with out pointing it out to them. Give the kids some credit for knowing right from wrong.

  Kids need bad examples in their lives too.

[rraming]

28 years ago I used a real piece of junk, so I assume not much prior to that - I'd think in the 70's maybe 1975!

[TxAg]

So who has some recommendations for a comfortable, quiet safety harness?

[Oliverstacy]

Originally posted by TxAg:
So who has some recommendations for a comfortable, quiet safety harness?

I have a Seat-O-The-Pants and love it but I've looked at some vest style HSS and I'm about to spend the $$ for a new one.

All full body harness are good...some are better but all should be worn!

Thanks,

Josh

[SheltonCreeker]

I have a hunter safety systems. Kinda of high but the price of falling is quite a bit higher. I like it. Once you get used to wearing and using them they are second nature.