Guys,
Not looking for sympathy here just thought i would relay some information.
I was just informed that very good friend and hunting buddy of over 20 years lost his life 2 weeks ago falling from a treestand and broke his neck. We hunted all species of game together and he was as experienced a bow hunter especially from trees that i know of. I had moved from my home state of michigan a couple years ago and our contact was limited to phone calls regularly to see what each other was killing throughout the year and planning to get together this coming fall for a hunt. I called to check with him last night and his wife had informed me of the tragic news.
I am asking all who hunt from Trees and other raised platforms PLEASE PLEASE invest the 150.00 in the hunters safety system vests. If not for you own safety PLEASE do it for your loved ones and friends. All ( the rest )of my hunting buddies and I have made a committment to do so and we will not allow others to hunt with us without them.
Don't lose a friend or family member or hunting buddy this way. It can happen to you or I and they have made this vest to be an easy and convenient way to save your life or someone elses.
I am giving everyone i hunt with one for christmas and hope you all do the same.

What a tragedy

Wow! Very sorry to hear about the loss.

I use a full body harness but don't use anything until I'm in the tree. I've always felt I was playing the odds, especially now that I'm getting a little older.

Thanks for the reminder. I always use my harness but there are times I've been up the tree for awhile and suddenly notice I haven't clipped in. I always say under my breath "clipped in" when I do it now, hopefully it reinforces the action in my mind.

I'm sorry you lost a buddy, good ones are hard to come by.


the chef

I can't decide whether its a good or bad statistic that treestands kill more hunters than firearms/weapon accidents. Guess its a loss either way. Its a tragedy for that mans family, especially so close to the holidays. I use the hunters safety system vest with full confidence, i feel its the safest and most convenient way especially for a bowhunter.

My condolences to you for the loss of your friend. I always try to remember that I am wearing this safety harness not for me, but for those who depend on me.

I tend to get sleepy in a tree (ladder) stand....and fell forward out, but somehow realized it as I was pitching forward, and pushed backward with my legs so I would fall into a cedar tree immediately in front. That saved me. Now, I use a harness,

I've been using the hunter safety system since shortly after I bought my first tree stand. The harness that comes with most stands is a total cluster f#*k. I'm paranoid as hell about falling out of trees and also tend to doze while on stand. I haven't fallen yet and hopefully never will.

Migra

i am very sorry to hear of your loss. i nearly lost my dad earlier this year to a treestand fall. he was not hunting, but taking down a ladder stand. he had unbuckled the ratchet strap on the top of the stand, leaving the bracing pole secured to the tree, but a stiff wind came and blew him straight to the side. the stand then caught, dropping him to shatter his pelvis, and nearly impaling himself on a small stump. after several hours and nearly freezing to death my uncle finally found him. so be careful while in the tree, but also when taking down stands. and don't do it alone. now i tie a rope around the top of the stand where the ratchet attaches, leaving a slip knot i can untie from the ground, so the stand cannot fall while i am climbing down.

Any death while hunting is tragic, it is a shame we've educated people to the point we have few shooting injuries or deaths but now we have several people fall out of tree stands each year.

As for me, my big ole behind stays in contact with Terra Firma cause I'm just happier that way.

This is a very very sad thing. I'm sorry for your loss.

It takes so little to cause a fall. Just one little unexpected thing and down you go.

Wearing the harness clipped in, climbing up, while hunting and coming down is a pain in the butt. It slows you down. You have to move the main choker up and down while climbing. But it is the only real safe way.

I'm so sorry for the tragedy of your friend and the pain this will cause his family.

Sorry for your loss.

I have said for years.

Hunt safe and live to hunt another day.

I am also truely sorry for your loss, but far more so for the pain his loved ones will go through for a loooong time for a so simple to prevent tragedy.

I also did not use a harness of any sort for the first ten or so years that I hunted out of tree stands. Considering I hunted at least 30 days a year out of them and 95% of the time at hights above 25 feet, and never fell leaves me hoping I did not use up to much of my luck.

Then one day while getting into my tree stand I nearly fell. I actully had enough time to be able to leep on to and grab a tree trunk that parraleled the one I was set up in. That was as close as I EVER want to come to soiling my underwere.

But I had to learn another lesson about harness DESIGN, thankfully not the hard way. as soon as I could after my close call I boyght what I thought was a quite well designed life line type system that went around my waist and attached to the tree. I liked it because it was dirt simple, easy to put on and offered total mobility while bow hunting. Now I want EVRYONE and I do mean EVERYONE to pay close attention to what I am about post.

During the non-hunting season I was watching a bow hunting program on cable. I do not recall wich one. It devoted an entire episode to harness use and types. To say it opened my eyes about harnes and non-harnes design dangers and limitations would be one of the great under statements on parr with saying the passengers on the Titanic picked a bad day to go swimming.

It actually showed what will happen to you if you fall out of a tree and are wearing only a fall restaint system that ONLY GO'S AROUND YOUR WAIST and suports you no where else. Under a MDs supervision that actully had a guy hang off the ground while being suported by a around the waist only fall restaint system. To my total and compleat horror he passed out so quickly that it would have been near impossable for him to have gotten himself out of trouble and the worst part, according to the Doctor on hand DEATH FROM SUFFICATION caused by his own body weight compressing and stoping his diaphram from letting him breath would fallow shortly. Thay then had a extreamly well padded, helmit whereing man fall out of a actual tree stand whereing a full body harness. Let me tell you it was a extreamly violent episode and I doubt you could not avoid some level of injury and even possably a broken bone in the prosess. That is why once I am in my tree stand I adjust my FBH so as to only have just enough length on the connection webbing so as to barely allow me to sit down, there by hopefully preventing me from falling compleatly out of my stand.

This was one of the most dramtic eye openers I ever experienced in relation to hunting in my life. I instantly went on the web to find out what was the best FULL BODY HARNESS on the market and subsiquintly bought it and still use it religiously. It was called the Summit Seat-of-the-pants full body harness. It has since been eclipsed by others and i plan on replacing it before next season.

On a down note, my life long best friend and hunting partner still will not invest in a full body harness, even though he is married with to young children. I have talked to him untill it became a bad situation, but he still only uses a waist only fall restriant system,(home made no less!!) even after I told him what I posted here about them. The worst and potentially most ironic aspect of all this is when he bought a Summit climbing stand it CAME WITH a Seat-of-the-pants full body harness and he has NVER USED IT!!!. He actually could not give it away as no one else we knew wanted to be that safe.

I feel it is also well worth listing that according to OSHA data for overy foot above 10 feet you fall it is a near expidential reduction in the chances you will servive and above 20" you are looking at a less than 25% chance you will sevive such a fall and if you do, there is at least a 95%+ chance you will suffer PERMINENT LIFE ALTERNING INJURIES almost certianly some level of paralisis.

Bottom line, only compleat fools tree stand hunt with out a FULL BODY haness.

Again my heart felt sympathies to your friends family. A harness on your back is faaaaar less hassle than dipers on your a$$

Arthur.

A sad event for certain. Our condolences for your loss.

Good to remind us that safety is our responsibility!

Sorry for your loss.I have friends who have fallen
I have started useing a fall restraint device consisting of a good quality rope attached the first time I put the stand up. Tie it good about 7 ft or so above the platform. Go to the ground and tie it chest high. I attach my fall restraint device to the rope and am good to go. The only time I place myself at risk is putting the stand up or taking it down . They sell fall restraint devices at the mountain climbing places . They are a little spendy so I utilize a special knot called a prusic knot and they work fine . The knot must be slid by hand ascending or decending. Hope this helps someone . Its a pain but it will save you. Look up knots on the web , the pictures are very clear how to tie the prussic.
Wayles

Again, very sorry for you loss. And like most the others have said, get the best system you can. As I get older I am more and more careful. I can't believe in my younger days I could dance and sing in a tree stand like the old Baker. Hard to believe I'm still alive!
Goose

Out here in Oregon where we have mostly blacktail and mule deer, almost no one uses a tree stand because of the differences in these species' behavior compared to the whitetail. Most of us have never even seen a tree stand except at Sportsman's Warehouse and in the catalogs. I have always hoped some day to hunt whitetails in tree stand country. Thanks to this thread, I will be sure to spend more time seeing to the design and quality of the harness system than any other part of the stand. Really appreciate it.
Very sorry to hear of the loss of a fine hunter.

I have never understood why so many cling to this method of hunting so hard.

In Germany I hunted out of perminant high seats that were placed through out the forrest. They were safe and secure.

I can't see using a self climbing tree stand for any reason. It looks like something used during the middle ages to torture christians.

Sorry for your loss.

quote:

In Germany I hunted out of perminant high seats that were placed through out the forrest. They were safe and secure.

I can't see using a self climbing tree stand for any reason.

The reason is in many places you cannot use permanent tree stands. Especially on public lands (state/Fed, etc). Many private land owners don't allow permanent stands either as they may damage valuable trees.

Many people like non permanent stands because they are easily portable and thus allow you to move around with ease.

That said, some of my outfitters do have permanent high stands, we use them in Quebec for moose (miradors) and in New Brunswick for black bear and moose.

Ann,

Maybe we could start a highseat culture in the US!