Guys, I know this has been said before but I just want to share this with you. This one hit close to home for me. I just found out a friend of mine, who I talk to regularly had a bad treestand accident the first week of our rifle season. He hunts a peice of property not far from ours with his dad and older brother. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that he is in hospital with a broken pelvis, punctured lung and a concussion.
He was not wearing a safety harness.
I have mixed feelings right now about this. One part of me feels bad for him, for being injured. The other side of me does not. I gave him a spare harness I got with one of my stands because I knew he didn't wear one.
Thankfully, he's still around. I can now give him a few lumps on his head and give him hell for not using it.
These types of accidents can be prevented. If you do not wear one, you're either an idiot, don't care about your family and ones that love you, or don't care if you will be able to hunt the following year or not. I don't care if you're in good shape, have hunted without one for 20 years etc., etc. All it takes is one little slip. No one looks macho or tough in a geri-chair being hand fed their dinner.
Sorry for being so brutally honest. I needed to share this.
I wear one at all times while on stand, but I am still concerned about the getting in & out of stands. With as many stands as what we hunt, I can't see having a tag line on all of them. I guess I will just have to make sure I keep a tight grip & am extra carefull in the transition. I am also going to ladder stands in alot of locations as they are much easier to get into & out of. I do feel more secure w/ them.
The only time I don't wear a harness, is when there's rails high enough on the stand that it will keep me in. Which usually only happens during gun season.
The only time I don't wear a harness, is when there's rails high enough on the stand that it will keep me in. Which usually only happens during gun season.
I get what you're saying Rory, but those high rails won't keep you from falling if the stand/strap/chain fails. You can still fall over or under rails too.
Sorry to hear this, I hope he recovers fully enough to get back out there with a HARNESS next time. And don't ask if I wear one, I've not yet learned my lesson, but I always wore one doing tree service and such years ago when I got into that fun stuff.
The only time I don't wear a harness, is when there's rails high enough on the stand that it will keep me in. Which usually only happens during gun season.
I get what you're saying Rory, but those high rails won't keep you from falling if the stand/strap/chain fails. You can still fall over or under rails too.
Never really thought about if the straps fail. Even though we check them every season, you can never be too careful. There'd be no way to fall out of these rails unless you jumped out. But since a strap or platform can fail, I think I'm going to start wearing one full time. Thanks
Guys, I know this has been said before but I just want to share this with you. This one hit close to home for me. I just found out a friend of mine, who I talk to regularly had a bad treestand accident the first week of our rifle season. He hunts a peice of property not far from ours with his dad and older brother. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that he is in hospital with a broken pelvis, punctured lung and a concussion.
He was not wearing a safety harness.
I have mixed feelings right now about this. One part of me feels bad for him, for being injured. The other side of me does not. I gave him a spare harness I got with one of my stands because I knew he didn't wear one.
Thankfully, he's still around. I can now give him a few lumps on his head and give him hell for not using it.
These types of accidents can be prevented. If you do not wear one, you're either an idiot, don't care about your family and ones that love you, or don't care if you will be able to hunt the following year or not. I don't care if you're in good shape, have hunted without one for 20 years etc., etc. All it takes is one little slip. No one looks macho or tough in a geri-chair being hand fed their dinner.
Sorry for being so brutally honest. I needed to share this.
I am ready to get flamed once again for this. It is unfortutnate that you friend is seriously injured, especially since a harness would most likely helped. However, your story is typical of all the other treestand horror stories when you said "I don't know the specfics". In most of these stories, the injured hunter (harnessed or not) is hunting in a tree or in conditions vastly unfavorable to tree stand hunting. I realize that it could have truly been an accident where everything was 99.999% perfect and he suffered a fall. But the vast majority of tree stabnd accidents happen because of situations were the person should have never been in the tree in the 1st place. I am tired of hearing how the #1 thing you can do to ensure your safety is to wear a harness. Honestly, that is #2. The #1 safety precaution is your sound judgement in whether you should get in the tree in the 1st placeto even warrant putting a harness on.I am just of the opinion thatharnesses give hunters afalse sense of security to hunt stands and conditions that say you should be on the ground in the 1st place.
But I fully expect everyone toread this post and somehow find those invisible words thatimply that I said wearing a harness is dumb and pointless.
teedub, I completely understand your point and agree with you about conditions not being favorable. However, I know this family rather well and I know what the conditions were like that day. I was in my tree and heard the ambulance on the highway that morning, however I didn't know what was going on then.
I have a good idea that he was in a ladder stand when this occured. He, his dad and older brother bought a few new ladder stands this fall and used them throughout archery season.
Failed stand? I don't know. Bad conditions? I doubt that, the weather conditions were cold, but very good.
Bottom line is, a harness would have prevented this. I don't care what type of stand you are in or the conditions.It is going to arrest your fall if you have it on.
Bad judgement and a safety harness is better than bad judgement without.
ANOTHER treestand accident
, but I always wore one doing tree service and such years ago when I got into that fun stuff. 
