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