Always
A better poll would have have asked -
harness?
belt?
no protection?
Almost posted a second question along those same lines. Go ahead a post it. I believe it will be interesting to see the results. I think more say they wear them then actually do.
Well, I'll step up and say ALWAYS, almost. I did forget it once last year- but the stand was 12 feet, and surrounded but limbs- really no chance to fall more than 3-4 feet. So 99.9% of the time I wear my SOP harness, hanging stands, or hunting.
Really don't feel like not being able to raise my kids, or do everything else I like to if I were stupid enough not to wear it and fall.....
I grew up hunting without a belt or harness - nobody really thought about it back then. After the 2nd time I rode a Baker stand down a tree, I just quit hunting out of trees.
I just started using a stand again this year. I tried using the harness that came with my Lone Wolf climber, and found it really awkward to use. Since I really wasn't comfortable with the idea of hunting without one, my wife and kids got me a HSS for Father's Day. I won't leave the ground without it!
I think of all the years I never used anything,and now there's no way I would climb into a stand without my harness.If you're gonna hunt from a tree hunt safe and buckle up.
I never get in a treestand without a safety belt...
JDS III
I cannot for the life of me beleive that 13% of those who voted said "never".
Are you guys all ground pounders or are you really in a tree with no safety belt????
ALWAYS!!!!
I am a 20 plus year tree trimmer any one who dosen't is INSANE. I know what happens even if you only fall 6 feet.
doug77
Man i hate when i post at night after taking medication for my shoulder...long story short..i hate them but wear them religiously because my brother fell 20 feet & broke his back while hunting alone. He had back surgery but has full mobility now...he hunts primarily from a ground blind now and is a great weatherforcaster!!!
Wear them!
I NEVER get in a treestand.....with OR without a harness
I never use to wear any type of safety harness.And I've never fallen out of a stand.
However, in 1987 I fell while climbing up to my stand.( slipped off a tree step) The next thing I remember was my hunting buddy standing over me calling my name. He was in his stand 60 yds away and heard me fall, he immediately came to check on me.I was out cold from the time I hit ground until about 45 seconds after he got to me.
When I sat up we realized just how close a call I really had. 1) I landed flat on my back, on top of my bow and quiver. 2) there was a 14 inch cypress knee 3 inches from the right side of my chest. 3) there was an 8 inch cypress knee 4 inches from the left side of my head!
Just a matter of a couple inches either way and I would have been either impaled or have broken my back.
Ever since I both climb, and sit in the stand with a safety harness.
body harness- every time- no exceptions. Its not for YOU. Its for those you will likely leave behind, or worse, that will have to empty your bedpan and clean up your rear end for you the rest of your life if you don't
I always do now, after falling 3 feet with a safety belt and getting a broken rib from it. My seat on my stand broke and down I went. Believe me it happens so fast. Cost me the remainder of bow season and 3 weeks off work.
Always use one even, including the safety life line
I said No never the question as I read it was harness I always wear a belt using a prussic knot
ttt
ALWAYS !! I have fallen 18 ft while climbing, and I have had a harness catch me a couple times while in a stand after losing my balance or nodding off.... now I use 2 ropes while climbing , so I can stay attached at all times, while going around limbs or a stand. If I find I have forgotten my harness, I hunt off the ground.
I didn't start using a tree stand until I was 56 and at that time I was still afraid of heights - I wore a belt because that's what there was. I got over being afraid but as soon as they came out with harnesses (and explained why they were better) I made up my mind to get one as soon as I could afford one. I did (with a prussic knot) and loved it over the belt. This year, my hunting buddy, Mike, ordered a safety vest for each of us (I had decided I would get one of those as ASAP also). What a friend, and all I got to say is - they just keep getting better, easier, more comfortable, and SAFER!!!
Don't leave home without one (Harness or Vest, belt, if it's all you have) - if your playing in the trees - PLEASE!!!
Always.
I never leave home, or the ground, without my vest! I've been hunting from treestands for over 20 years and I still don't like heights!!
Bill
Absolutely!!!
Always or I do not climb up. Full body harness. Just makes sense.
J
Went to a harness last year. Have added rope and prussic knot this year.
I absolutley ALWAYS wear my safety harness and would hope everyone else does! I will agree it does feel akward at first but if you use it a few times you will get use to it. I wear mine not for myself but for my FAMILY!
I started using treestands; the mighty Baker stand the first year they were legal. There were no body harnesses; and such.
I have hunted bears with a treestand more than with any other animal; this year I spent about 4 mornings or evenings in a treestand for deer; and yes; I wore a body harness.
But with a bear stand; I ussually opt for having a tree close enough I can jump to. Bears will come into the bait; and they will establish dominance over it. The lesser bears will climb trees for safety while the bigger bears eat.
If they find your stand; they will use it as a good place to sleep while the bigger bear eats its fill.
I have been bear hunting on almost a yearly basis ( in the spring hunts; I am bear hunting every day for normally two months). So; I spend a LOT of time in a treestand.
And a lot of time watching bears.
I have had on several occasions been charged by bears- trying to get to me in the stand; and I have had bears swat at me in the stand; and I have had one bear grab my boot and shake.
In those cases; I want not to be a pinata; but to be able to jump to another tree.
So; while sometimes I wear a harness; most often I do not.
Now this fall I have a treestand in a tree that is over the deer trail about 12 feet; but it is 35 feet in the air. The tree is in the side of a cliff. I wear a harness everytime I put up stands; and when I hunt this particular stand.
I have found the danger in treestand use to be- and not in this order... putting the stand up; putting in the treesteps; and getting in and out of the stand.
I profess ignorance about what a prussic knot is.
I know I feel totally unsafe crawling into and out of the treestand. I do not know what beats that moment in technology.
I know I cannot use the standard system for going up a tree - when there are limbs on the tree. How do you ( forgive the pun) get around that?
I have two gorilla provided safety harnesses; and too undo the strap around the tree- to get over limbs; I have to pull off the most dangerous tree climbing stunt of all; to reach around and undo the latch system for the belt.
What I do - in and out of the stand; is to take the strap that you eventually attach to the tree; and that comes up the back of your neck; and put the opening over the treesteps as I climb. It could very well cause a problem; as most likely it would fall off the step if I fell.
I have heard so many arguments for safety belts; and yet the 'how to' of getting up trees pales in comparison to the arguments.
To explain how to get up the tree safely requires that you talk to the lowest denominator in the audience; the dumb person.
We need the 'idiots guide' to treestand safety belt use !
Name it after me; I don't care - but we need a thread; or a photo journal of how not just to climb a naked limbed tree safely; but how to get up a tree with limbs all over it on the way up.
and an explanation of just what is a "prussic knot".
This is not stuff that you should need a secret handshake to know; it should be top ( forgive that one) priority to get message out there.
And I have heard many stories about people falling asleep in their treestands ! Falling asleep? Its pucker factor ten when I am in a stand - every second from the first step up to the last step to the ground !!! SLEEP ???
Igorance is NOT our friend in this issue !!!
Well I guess I'm going to confess here. I've only worn a harness one time and that was the first time I was in a stand. I didn't like it so I've never wore one after that. That was a few years ago. (I'm only 26)
That being said the last season I hunted I was sitting on the edge of a soy bean field on the ground cause the spot I wanted to hunt had no large trees for my climber. When three doe walked out 15 yrds away from me I was totally surprised when they just started to feed around me. I had put ZERO cover in front of me so I couldn't draw my bow. I sat there and watched those three doe feed for about 15 minutes until my movement for a draw spoked them. Now that I know I can get that close to a deer and not be in a stand, I'll never carry that hunk of metal to the woods again. I don't like it and most importantly I know I don't need it. It sits in the shed covered in cobwebs.
I will however build better ground blinds in the future.
:) :) :) :) :) :D :bigsmyl: :)
Brian - pm sent.
Steve
You'd be a fool if you didn't!!
Are you KIDDING? There's a lot of unavoidable risk involved in a lot of the things we do outdoors, and after years of hunting dangerous game, flying the Bush etc. I have accepted my share. But hunting from a tree stand without proper fall restraint is absolutely insane. Don
Its amazing 15% responded never, accidents are just that. But not protecting yourself is suicide.
Not only are you worth it most of all your loved ones are, and your children. Who are they going to call daddy or mommy next. Think about that one.
Hunt SAFE, USE A RESTRAINT
I'm amazed that 70% responded ALWAYS. Of that 70% I wonder how many are using only a belt or are using there system incorrectly.
I'm also curious as to weither age plays into the decision to either wear or not to wear.
gr
Quotebut the stand was 12 feet, and surrounded but limbs- really no chance to fall more than 3-4 feet.
Last time I went through my OSHA training, according to them of all the fatalities that happen due to a fall, 80% of them are a fall from 6' or less.
Something to think about when you think 3'-4' isn't much.
I always wear a harness. . Always!
Brian,
A Prussic knot is a climbers knot that is tied over a climbing (safety) line & locks when a load is put on it. Thus stopping a fall.
Google the name, there are several sites that will come up & show you how to tie it.
Larry
I always use a harness!!!
Climbing and sitting in trees is by far the most dangerous thing we ,as bowhunters, do. I religiously wear mine
I use the harness that came with my StrongBuilt ladder stand for both the ladder stand and my climber. I'll be the first to admit I'm a little afraid of heights and I feel naked in a tree without my harness on.
I just started bow hunting/hunting from treestands this year, and I always wear my harness. I am not comfortable at heights and being strapped to the tree helps me to feel safe and enjoy the hunt. Plus I promised my wife and baby girl I would stay safe!
Never. But after reading your posts........and that I am over fifty and do not fall as good as I used too.....I'll try the new one that just came with my new stand. Thanks!
Oh and yes some what crazy, foolish at times, part time fire walker(burn scars to prove it), retired Rugby Football player of 20 years. Living on the edge as not to take up much space!LOL
I wear it all the time. hate it every minute. I've got the HSS systemand just can not get used to the confinement it presents. What is the best way to attach it to the tree? Never seems like it is high enough overhead and then the teather strap interferes with my shooting. I bought the 30'safety rope but it doesn't seem to help.
Like my mother's oldest son too much not to wear it every time.
I teach Hunter Ed. and IBEP. Some of my best show and tells are guys who have survived a fall! You need to talk to some of them, or just give them a chance to talk. May change your mind on not wearing a good fall restraint system! Better yet talk to someone who will be in a wheelchair the rest of their life, because they thought it would never happen to them.
Whats your life worth?
Make it the right safety system. A couple days ago, a fellow was climbing a tree in his climber when the bottom slid out leaving him hanging from his safety BELT. The belt kept him from falling, so much so that it cut off his ability to breathe. Searchers found him at 2am. It was his last hunt.
Wear a harness and, if you use a climber, at least tie the two sections together with a 4 or 5' length of rope. That way you can pull the bottom back up to you and reset it if it slides out.
Absolutely!! I coach football and every year we play a team that is coached by a man in a wheel chair. I remember him as a bow hunter who did not use his safety harness one day...hense the chair. When in a tree a harness is for me.
Bob.
I'm prone to napping in my stand, so I tie it up so high that when I'm sitting down I can't even lean!!
i'm typing this with my 9 month old hunting buddy on my lap, how could i nto wear a safety harness now. although i will admit that in high school when i started bow hunting i didn't.
99% of the time I use my HSS. Only time I don't use one is if I screw up and leave it at home.
Always, watched my dad fall out of his practice ladder stand in the back yard and break his arm when I was 7. I was his arrow chaser. Ever since I started hunting I wore a harness.
I'm mainly using a belt, but lot of caution and cinched up tight so little slack and a short fall if I do lose it. I know a harness would be better - just can't get comfortable with one. Not a good excuse, but ALWAYS at least a belt.
I have my harness on always. I am tied off all the way up and all the way down. 30 years ago we didn't have as many options. I wouldn't go up now without one.
If you sleep while you hunt as much as I do then you best be wearing the best safety harness you can get.
I dont hunt in trees too often though.
I have to admit...and it is stupid, but I hardly ever wear one. It's funny this topic came up because I just told my fiance tonight that I need to dig out on of my harnesses. I'm 30 now. Not very old, but I feel a little bit of wisdom finally coming on with these things. For 15 years I have bowhunted without one. Now that I am engaged, my life and well being is important to someone else, and I feel I need to be more responsible. I'm not very big and I am very agile. I never felt unsafe without one before, but lately, my brain is kicking in a little more. I plan to start wearing one until it becomes conditioned into my tiny brain.
I should but I do not. I have one that someone here sent me. I do not have a tether(spelling) for it so I look kind of goober wearing it while it isn't actually providing any protection.
Chris Kiefner
I just can't imagine being in a tree without my harness. I have hunted exclusively from the ground for the last 5-6yrs. but if I do choose to climb I'll be wearing my harness and I buckle up when driving.(nut)
A friend of mine fell 15 ft. from a hang on stand when the strap slipped (his nephew hung the stand).It broke 7 or 8 ribs and punctured his spleen and one lung. He was in ICU for 4 days. I spoke to him today and he is home recovering. WEAR YOUR SAFETY HARNESS!!!
The thought of my next hunt possibly being my last just doesn't set well with me, not to mention leaving my family with a lot of heartache, stress, and a "loving memory". Wear your harness. If you don't have one, I'll send you one (have one extra).
yup...ALWAYS. if I'm in a fixed stand I always have a static line on the tree and attach to it before ever leaving the ground. if I'm using the climber I use the little 8 foot line provided with my SOTP before my first pull up the tree...same on the way down.
for the past few years I've been using a klemheist knot to attach the tether to the static line...I like it better than prussik knot...its easier to move with one hand...and lets face it...we only need it to grab in one direction anyway...right?
always. and always amazed at the number of seemingly intelligent people I know and meet that don't wear one. a buddy was worried about my tractor not having a tarp on it the other day and I said "it's a $@%% tractor and your worried about a tarp. this coming from the same guy who doesn't wear a safety harness"