I was on my way up at about 18 feet this afternoon in a spot where my neighbor saw a 10 pointer late last night. My climbing stand slipped, I slipped and I was hanging with both feet under the bar I use to pull the stand up with hanging backwards with my harness on me but not around the tree. I managed to pull my self up a little hanging from the end of the stand furthest from the tree. I managed to get one boot out from under the bar but I couldn't get my other boot out it was in to far. My angle was killing me and after what seemed longer than about 5 minutes I had lost all my strength and now was real scared. I finally got the idea to attach my saftey harness around the end of the stand. I then with all my strength freed my left boot and fell down from the stand. The harness worked, thank God. I just wished I had it around the tree from the start.. I freed myself from the harness and fell to the ground. I'm ok but this could have been my last hunt...Please don't be stupid as I was, "wear your harness and put it around the tree before you go up"...