Falling out of tree stand

[Sunray]

"...I don't wear a harness in my tree stand...why and how do most tree stand accidents happen?..." When guys fall asleep or otherwise lose their balance while in tree stands without wearing a safety strap. Not wearing a safety strap is an accident waiting to happen. Pay up your life and disability insurance before you go hunting. Your wife and kids will thank you later.

 

[cracked butt]

Don't go cheap on harnesses. I wouldn't use a belt. A woman from my area died a few years back when she fell out of her tree stand wearing a belt. She was suspended above the ground and the belt came up under her armpits and she suffocated. The trunk of the tree was all scraped up where she tried in vain to try to get a grip on it with her boots- she did not die quickly or in a very painless fashion.

You can also buy shock absorbers for your tether- they are a length of cord stitched together in an accordian shape that will rip when you fall to take some of the shock out of hte sudden stop. Even with a harness on, falling is going to hurt like hell. If you don't believe this, have someone lift you off the ground by your harness with a comealong or winch once.

 

[mfree]

Even without the shock absorbers, I'll bet the shock of you meeting the ground is much greater than meeting the end of your rope.

 

[41 Redhawk]

We call it deer hunting season.....The local emergency dept. calls it tree stand season

Use the strap

 

[Roadkill]

I definitely use a harness with my climbing stand. This year I started putting it on and adjusting it before I leave the house. When I start the climb I put the top section on first, then the bottom one, climb on, fit straps on my boots, make sure I have safety strap hooking top and bottom sections together, stand up and hook safety strap around tree after running it through the two harness loops which are sticking out of my collar. Then its a three step sequence of safety strap, bottom section, and top section. Went up about 40' on a large pine tree this afternoon, took a 130 lb two point buck with a Marlin 336 30-30 (150g sp, 27g 4895) at 100 yds with a shot through the shoulders. Would never have had the shot without using the climbing stand, I found two fresh scrapes about 30' apart, the pine tree was right in the middle of them.

rk