I' ve been hunting for 20 years and have had many close calls until last year. I was putting up a new stand in a huge oak tree. I put in all my tree steps and was standing on the very top one, huging the tree as best I could, and strapping the remington loc-on around the tree. I was finalizing the stand when the step " popped" out of the tree - it was in a dead spot. I tried to grab the tree but this did nothing except shred my hands/fingers. I ended up clipping a tree step half-way down, which tore right thru my scent-lok pants and snapped the step in two. I believe this saved me though as it spun my head around so that it did not hit the base of the tree or other tree steps on the way down. In all, I fell close to 30 feet and luckily landed on the ground and my legs landed on my bow. I thought for sure I had broken bones(tailbone especially) and was bleeding pretty good. I could barely walk for a week. Let' s just say I was very lucky and learned a valuable lesson. Not only do you need to where a safety harness while up in the tree, but even more importantly, you should wear one while putting up your stand and/or climbing. I escaped with a severe bruise on my tailbone, mangled hands/fingers, gash and severe bruise in my leg/butt, broken arrows, stabilizer on my bow. I consider myself lucky....