I have fallen once - coming down from a permanent stand and one of the 2x4's that made up the steps of gave way from the tree and I fell backwards about 6 feet. It only knocked the wind out of me but it did scare the heck out of me. My dad fixed the stand but when I came back to hunt it a week later I could not get myself to climb up in it. I got up about 3 steps and got a very strange feeling and just decided it wasn't worth it.

I have a seat-o-pants climbing harness that I use with my climbing stand and when I'm up in a stand that I have to climb a ladder to but I haven't figure out a good way to use it when actually climbing the ladders. This frightens me quite a bit because I want to be safe from the time my feet leave the ground. Can anyone give me some help on this?

To those who don't wear a harness for one reason or the other - a deer is simply not worth your life or permanent injury. I relate it to wearing a seatbelt in your car- sure, it can be a tad bit uncomfortable (although I don't find the SOP to do this at all) and such but after a while you get used to it and the benefits so outweigh the drawbacks it's not even close.