I have hunted for 34 yrs now out of a stand. I am lucky because I have only had one mishap while I was a teenager. It was with a climber baker treestand, you remember them. We have come a long way since then. Every year, I hear someone coming out of a tree with bad results. Last season, I decided that I would rig all my stands with safety lines. I have spent about 25 dollars per set up, but it is worth it. This year is my stepson's first year hunting traditional, he is 15.
I used about a 30 ft piece of climbing 7/16 kernmantle, two screw eyes, and a 5 ft piece of 5/16 kernmantle or bee-line for the prusik knot.
I tie the main line around the tree above the stand and thread it through a screw eye about where you would tie your safety strap. The reason I do this is to make the rope taunt and the prusik knot slides easily on the taunt rope. The proximal rope is tied off on a screw eye at the base of the tree.
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b301/TimAntoine/prichettknots006.jpg)
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b301/TimAntoine/prichettknots007.jpg)
As I get to the tree, I attach my hunter safety vest to the prusik knot and begin to climb.
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b301/TimAntoine/prichettknots008.jpg)
second bee-line prusik
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b301/TimAntoine/prichettknots010.jpg)
the prusiks are tied with double fisherman's knot
another set up
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b301/TimAntoine/prichettknots012.jpg)
You can find all rope online from companies like Wesspur aborist catalog.
A 25 dollar insurance policy that everyone should invest in.
Very good setup. Prussik knot is one every woodsman should know, and that's a great application for it.
Very easy to do. I didn't know the rope was that easy to find. I need to check into it, I bought 2 of the Summit lifelines for $45 a piece. Great peace of mind though.
Great info!
All of my hunt club stands has a life line similar to yours attached that I had purchased from Lowes & in my club it is a requirement that you are attached to the tree with a safety line & harness if you plan to be more than 2 feet off of the ground, no exceptions.
Safety should be #1 in everyones thoughts while in the woods & this is a great way to guarentee that safety while above ground level.
awesome! Im home with a hurt shoulder and was rigging the same lines for all my stands today. This is exactly what I do and it works great. There is NO POSSIBLE way to fall if you use it!
:)
Sweet, I will have to do a few stand sites a year as I have 57 stand sites and that would cost me some big bucks to do all at once!! Great pics. and idea!! Thanks! Shawn
I just reviewed how to do this with 70 kids in Hunter's Education this weekend. I always preceed the discussion with the 32 y/o patient I had who fell while climbing into a stand-- he's now a paraplegic.
70% of falls occur while climbing up/down or transitioning from steps to the platform, v.v. Just tying off once you're on stand is not good enough people! We all think "it" will never happend to us...until "it" does.
Hunt safe. Manolito
Way to go.Safety before all.
I do the same thing to my stands on private property. I like the eye bolt idea. It is hard to tie the rope tight enough around the trunk. The only suggestion I have is to "dress" the prusik knot so the knot isn't where the carabiner will be sitting on top of the knot. The knot will be stronger if it is pulled from a single direction rather than on the bend. That is something I had beat into my head during my rock climbing days.
QuoteOriginally posted by bicster:
I do the same thing to my stands on private property. I like the eye bolt idea. It is hard to tie the rope tight enough around the trunk. The only suggestion I have is to "dress" the prusik knot so the knot isn't where the carabiner will be sitting on top of the knot. The knot will be stronger if it is pulled from a single direction rather than on the bend. That is something I had beat into my head during my rock climbing days.
Agreed but I didn't think of that myself, good call.
I have my knot in the looped area around the main line .
Nicely done. I would take it a step further and dump the tree steps for climbing sticks.
Slipping and then swinging into a tree step will leave a mark.
Nice Timmy.....a little different than the old days of wrapping our arms around the tree and pulling ourselves up with a Trailhawk stand strapped to our feet! :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
Went on a hunt a few years ago and the outfitter had the HSS Life Lines. I went out and bought a few and so far none have been stolen. I won't go up a stand without them now. Also great tip with the eye bolt since it isa paid tieing off the rope at the bottom.
Great advice and great post. Having a fall restraint on from the ground up is the only way to go. Another idea to consider; while setting up the vertical climbing rope, attach a 2nd wrap-around rope to your body harness in case you have a limb en route to the stand level. This way you can clip the secondary rope above the limb before unclipping the primary. You can do this sequence all the way while setting up the stand. Of course on the way down, and next trip up the tree you can use the climbing rope.
Ward
Any life line and full body harness is wonderful! Beware of purchasing your life line rope from the box stores. You need to know that the life line is rated for a VERY HIGH tensile strength. Meaning that the force that can be applied, as in a fall out of a stand, can be withstood by the line. Most off the counter ropes are not rated for this.
Everyone should take the NBEF Treestand Safety Course, if at all possible.
you know the old saying better to be safe than sorry :thumbsup:
Up
:archer2:
Sherrill Tree is another great place for climbing rope.
Be safe out there guys.
Joe
Ok, I've hunted with a partner who used the same setup but you're not using the rope everytime... somehow the rope has to be attached to the tree in the first place they don't just grow there.
Good point about set up safety. I use an extension ladder to set stands - even ladder stands - and to tie the safety rope. Its not that hard to carry a good ladder into the woods for stand placement and its much safer.
I use a climbing harness to put my stands up so I am always connected to the tree.
Tree workers and professional arborists -- people who climb trees every day for a living -- use a "throw line" (check Sherrill Tree for this) to get the rope into the tree before they ever leave the ground. They then secure the rope and climb the rope rather than the tree.
Their safe climbing techniques are something you can find on line.
Be safe out there.
I use pretty much the same system except I prefer to use an Ascender instead of the Prusik Knot.
(http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r224/REALVTer/BowSeason10012.jpg)
I do pretty much the same thing minus the eye bolts. I tie off the rope above the center of my sticks and run it right down the center and tie it off to the bottom of the sticks.
QuoteOriginally posted by BobCo 1965:
I use pretty much the same system except I prefer to use an Ascender instead of the Prusik Knot.
I use lifelines like these on all my setups for my treesaddle.
I tried the ascender instead of the prusik a few years ago, but I found that if there is moisture/frost on the mainline, the ascender that I used would NOT 'grab' the rope!!!!
I went back to prusiks. I actually think they are fun to make and use.
I use a 11mm mainline from Bluewater Ropes along with their 7mm Dynamic Prusik cord.
http://shop.blackjackmountainoutfitters.com/7mm-Dynamic-Prusik-Cord-500700.htm;jsessionid=4E76C02CCDF24CD0B46AA9BF760F422F.qscstrfrnt06?productId=155
I have found that 50" of the 7 mm tied with a double fisherman's gives me the optimal prusik for use with the 11mm mainline.
I went to this same set-up last year after a strap broke on a ladder while I was exiting a stand.
I second the comments on getting a good climbing rope. The stuff at the big box stores is not what you are looking for. I did a lot of research and ended up getting small hanks of climbing rope (roll ends) for cheaper than I could find anything else. Check the auction site and be choosy.