Wear your harness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OBXarcher]

Good reminder. I teach the hunter Ed classes and tell the students if there are only two things to get out of this is never point at something you don't want to kill and wear a safety harness.

[swamper]

climbed for 10 years doing tree work, fell two times, both times from deer stands always take the safety harness

[KentuckyTJ]

Thanks God you are alright Brother. I'm not sure if I could have climbed back up after that one in the same day.

[Roy from Pa]

There are two hunters in Pa and one in Illinois who have died from falls from tree stands this past week. Get a harness and wear it.

[Tajue17]

just bought a used pro hunter vest harness here but not sure if I like the way the strap wraps around the tree,, the metal buckel seems like ti will be a pain in the butt in the dark..  

don't use a life line for assending and dessending (sp?) but really should.

[BigBucksnTrucks]

Great tip kykiller.....everyone needs to heed his advice.  Straps are cheap, invest in new ones regularly. My father was climing up his stand and trying to get into the seat when an old strap busted and he fell on top of his sticks and it put a big ol' gash across his stomach, fortunately nothing serious but could have ended very badly.  Also keep in mind, with wet whether straps can loosen, so it's always a good idea to give a quick check before climbing.

[Brad Arnett]

Glad you're ok. I work for EMS in a rural county here in northern Michigan and we deal with guys who get hurt falling form stands regularly. So far we haven't had a call yet for a fall from a stand this season. I will also say that on most of our calls the guy fell while either getting into or out of the stand, not while sitting in it.

[goldflinger]

Glad you were Ok! I bought 3 hunters safety system vests for me and my two boys last year for Christmas. Last night was the first time I had hunted since then. Used mine and wonder why I haven't been using one for years. I am 48 and last night was the first time I have ever used a safety harness. I've been lucky all those years and from now on I will be strapped in. It was no problem at all. I could not even tell I had a harness on.I will admit those "hunter safety systems" are a little on the expensive side, but I am glad I bit the bullet last year and it makes my hunt more enjoyable not having to worry about the boys falling. Spend the money fella's if you don't have one!!!

[kykiller]

I called loggy yesterday and they told me I need a new harness.  They said they were only rated for 1 fall.  There are folded tethers stiched togeather in the strap coming off the vest and they all pulled out when I fell.  The guy said I needed a new one to be sure it would hold me.

[ChuckC]

Killer,  can you do something please.  Describe what happened,  in detail.  I have been rolling out of treestands wearing a safety belt, and then harness for a number of years, for my Bowhunter and Hunter Safety ed classes.  A great exhibit, my face turning red, hanging upside down, yadda yadda.  But we never just pulled the lever and dropped, as you would when a stand breaks.

I am so glad you were wearing a safety device and equally glad that it was a full body harness (that's what I think I read in your original post) and not a waist strap, which likely would have left you with broken ribs and maybe punctured lungs.

What all happened and how did it feel ?  Were you able to "save yourself" after you dropped ?
How ?

ChuckC

[jonsimoneau]

This is going to sound rediculous and stupid to some of you guys.  And it is.  But for 16 years or so I have hunted and have NEVER worn a harness.  And yes I have fallen out of a tree before and had to sit out November.  I always tried to use the cheap ones that come with a stand when you buy it and just could not deal with them so I said hell with it.  Now I am 34.  I'm a little older and a little smarter.  I now also have a fear of heights after falling through my attic onto some saw horses and a concrete floor.  This year I can only hunt public ground.  This means I will have to hang and take down a stand each and every hunt.  So I decided that a good harness was going to be a necessity.  I bought a nice one complete with the linemans belt.
    I've only been able to hunt three times this season so far but I have been using it.  
    I have to admit, even though this harness is very nice I STILL do not like using them. But I am forcing myself to do so in order to get used to it.  
     I don't have children but when my nephews are ready to start bowhunting I will insist that they wear one or they will not be going hunting.  
    For some reason when I was younger, falling from a treestand did not seem like that big of a deal.  But now it seems like a VERY big deal!

[awbowman]

Great post, always stay attach!

[Roy from Pa]

Use it Jon! There is a dead hunter in your state from a fall last week. It only takes one time to fall and die.

[kykiller]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
Killer,  can you do something please.  Describe what happened,  in detail.  I have been rolling out of treestands wearing a safety belt, and then harness for a number of years, for my Bowhunter and Hunter Safety ed classes.  A great exhibit, my face turning red, hanging upside down, yadda yadda.  But we never just pulled the lever and dropped, as you would when a stand breaks.

I am so glad you were wearing a safety device and equally glad that it was a full body harness (that's what I think I read in your original post) and not a waist strap, which likely would have left you with broken ribs and maybe punctured lungs.

What all happened and how did it feel ?  Were you able to "save yourself" after you dropped ?
How ?

ChuckC

Chuck it happened really fast but I will go through it best I can.

I had got to my stand that morning before first light.  I have a loggy bayou saftey harness that has straps that go around your legs and fasten with a tie down strap kinda buckle, a seatbelt style buckle around your waist and padded shoulder straps like you have on most strap style turkey vest.

I don't use a life line or the line man's strap when I climb up I just try to be careful but after this weekend I think I will be putting some of those togeather just in case.  It has a 2" nylon tree strap that has loops in both ends.  I climbed up that morning and put the tree strap around the tree above the biggest limbe available which was about head high when I was standing up.  I think attached strap coming off the back of my harness to the tree strap with a aftermarket rock climbing clip that the salesman said would hold a small elephant.  Altogether I probably have around 3 to 4 feet of slack to move around without tension, which I like.  It lets me move around without to much trouble.

Now back to that morning.  I had been sitting most of the morning with not much action but my camera had showed some movement around 8:00am so I had high hopes.  About 7:55am I decided to stand up and give my butt a rest and stretch my legs and a bum left knee.  I slid my feet under me slow trying to be as quiet as possible incase there was a deer close by.  I almost got all the way up but when my knees where about to lock POP!!! the top rachet strap broke on my lock on.  The bottom stayed on but got loose as well.  This created a trap door affect and I was out'ta there falling strait down.  Next thing I knew I was hanging there.  There wasn't much of a jolt that I remember but it happened super fast.  The stand was over a limb and I fell on the opposite side from my climbing sticks, but the were still almost in reach.  With a little swinging I was able to reach them pull myself over and get on them.  Then I climbed up a few steps to take tension off the strap and unhook as well as get my bow off the holder and lower it down, and get my tree strap off the tree.  After reaching the ground I was alittle shaken by the events that had taken place but not bad at all.  I guess I figured I had a tool in my harness and it had worked.  I wear it for saftey and for peace of mind.  If anything I will be more comfortable in a stand now with it on since I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it works.

After I got home and inspected it I noticed the strap coming off the harness looked different, it had broke stiches.  Before the fall the strap was folded and stiched in 3 even places.  When I fell the distance before the strap got tight and my wieght 240lbs. created enough momentum to break all thoughs stiches which act as a small brake, which is probably why the fall didn't seem to jar me much.  Hope the description helped.

[Roy from Pa]

I use a lock on stand also. It has it's own braided rope that you snug around the tree, then pull the stand down and it kinda snaps in towards the tree. I also attach two ratchet straps around the stand and tree, one at the top and one at the bottom, that really makes the stand ROCK solid. But on top of the three straps, I also run a large 3/8th hook lag bolt thing into the tree right under the top cross frame of the stand. Actually I have already ran the hook in first to hold the stand onto the tree while I run the ratchet straps around. Those ratchet straps are stong, but one never knows. That's why I run that large lag bolt hook in also. I  fell three times from stands in my younger days, now at 64 I like to go over board with safety:)

[ChuckC]

Yup, thanks.  This happens so fast it is hard to absorb what you actually went thru.  

Some important facts for me.  Studies talk of suspension trauma.  Unless you are using a climber (no steps, one strike against them), or hit your head and become incapacitated. . which could very well happen, I just can't understand how an able person can't right himself and get to their steps.  With the waist strap, I had issues of even breathing, but with the full body harness, we experienced almost none of that, and every single time getting out was somewhat easy.  Again, we are falling out and not "breaking" the stand, so I have not (nor do I want to) experienced what you just did.

Thanks for sharing, glad you are well.

Climbing up in trees is the most dangerous thing that we do out there. . (OK  chasing polar bears with stick and string might beat it out).  You are not weak, or less of a man or woman, or obstructed by wearing a good quality full body harness and learning how to use it.  Add to that, obtain and use good quality equipment (stands, steps etc).
Be safe
ChuckC

[Roy from Pa]

Above all, use a harness, if not for yourself, use it for your wife and kids. They need their Daddy.