gang wear your safety harness while huntig in tree stands and always be safe im goin to visit my huntin bud in the trama hospital here in pa he has 7 broken ribs and colapsed lung i hope thats all he HAS           be safe , CHUB

Can never be too careful!!

Keeping the faith
Magnus

We should also be using some kind of rope or safety support while ascending and descending from a tree.  That always seems like the most vulnerable time to me.  Paul Brunner (Screaming Eagle) marketed a climbing belt and rope years ago for this.  

Do any of you guys use anything like this?  I do not...but definitely should!

Please provide a link for any good product out there for this purpose.  

Thanks!

Kris

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=401485&pdesc=Hunter_Safety_System_30_Treestand_Lifeline&aID=503H7&merchID=4006

http://www.basspro.com/Fall-Guy-20-Retractor™-Treestand-Safety-Strap/product/64372/-1158559

I made one from some climbing rope from REI and a smaller diameter rope for a prussic knot.  Clip in, climb up, hunt clipped, climb down, unclip.

Hope your bud is ok. Hap

I hope your buddys allright. I didnt wear a harness for a long time and thank god i never had a bad accident. When my daughter was born i bought a harness and now feel naked in a tree without it. I cant believe i actually used to hunt without one!!!

TTT

I hope your friend is making progress in his healing and experiences a complete recovery.

A friend fell asleep and fell out of his stand. Woke up in blinding pain. The front of his shirt looked like a pup tent because, aside from cracked ribs, dislocated shoulder, etc., he split his sternum down the middle! He's lucky it went out instead of in. By the way, you don't "set" a sternum back in place. You wait for it to go back on it's own, over many painful weeks. He didn't remember how he was able to somehow crawl back to his car and drive to a farm house for help.

A harness is way cheaper than the hospital visit, missed work, or a funeral. Keep that in mind.

QuoteOriginally posted by reddogge:
I made one from some climbing rope from REI and a smaller diameter rope for a prussic knot.  Clip in, climb up, hunt clipped, climb down, unclip.

I do the same.  I have 16 stands out right now, and have ropes in every one of them.  I am clipped in from the moment I leave the ground until I am back down, even on my ladder stands.  What has suprised me is not only how easy it is to do, but how much more comfortable and secure I feel when I climb up.

QuoteOriginally posted by Whip:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by reddogge:
I made one from some climbing rope from REI and a smaller diameter rope for a prussic knot.  Clip in, climb up, hunt clipped, climb down, unclip.

I do the same.  I have 16 stands out right now, and have ropes in every one of them.  I am clipped in from the moment I leave the ground until I am back down, even on my ladder stands.  What has suprised me is not only how easy it is to do, but how much more comfortable and secure I feel when I climb up. [/b]

X3...It's easy to do and really adds to the security of tree stand hunting. In addition to the safety rope, I'd also add take your time climbing up or down. I used to scramble up and down trees like a squirrel. Heck, when I was a kid, we didn't even have tree stands. We'd just find a tree that had what looked like a good place to stand, climb up and wait for the deer...no stand, no harness, no safety rope (no clue!). Now that I am older and hopefully wiser, I try to make sure I have three points of contact with the sticks/ladder, use safety ropes, and ALWAYS hook my Hunter Safety System to the tree before I even pull up my bow. I love hunting too much to spend part of the season in the hospital (or under ground).

Have fun, be safe!