ORIGINAL: sproulman
been up trees for 40 years and no problems..
i dont use my waist belt until i get set in tree.
i always use it as you can lean out from tree more..
i dont use harness, i think its to much to have on,waist belt in my opinion is all you need..
i see hunters with nothing on it their stands,they are taking big risk..
i pull my waist belt tight against tree when sitting and i take nap sometimes,then after waking up, i loosen it up so i can move around..
never fell out and slept many times..
goint to 30 ft is crazy..
i hunt no higher than 15 ft and most times, around 12 ft..
why hunters would get that high is beyond me.
i killed my buck this year on ladder stand at 12 ft,he walked 10 yds from me and that stand was put up 3 days before regular gun season..
he did not smell me or notice stand,so why get that high in air..........
I pretty much thought the same way you do until I saw the summit video. Believe me it is worth seeing just to open your mind about the inherent dangers of a waist belt. It doesn't matter how high you are. If you did fall with the right conditions you could have a difficult time with the waist belt.