I have always worn safety straps,but prior to the last couple years I never used a climbing belt and never attached myself until I was on the platform of the tree stand.I have made a couple alterations to what I do now.Even though I am reasonably good condition I am not as flexible as I used to be and I also think about my family and the burden that would be placed on them if I had a disabling accident.So now I always wear a climbing belt and I have started as of last year to use prusic hitches.For about $10 bucks from Summit you can buy one,I have a bunch of them and I put the ropes in every stand I set.You are climbing the tree once with a climbing belt to set the rope up and every time there after you hook up to the hitch from the ground and slide it up as you go.attached the whole time.yes I am concerned about any human scent contact with the rope,I have washed them all thoroughly with scent free detergent and I wear gloves when I climb.I highly recommend them!You can make them yourself if you can find climbers rope inexpensively.Summits pricing for the amount of rope provided was very good,the hitch has to be of rope of a smaller diameter or it wont bite as you tug down on it.
Safety first!!

I climb trees for a living but I still secure myself with a safty harness ounce I'm up.

I always use a strap,
I hunt alone in backwoods and dont take chances,
I also put the harness on before i head out, even drive with it on,
rather put it on at home than out in the field,
and has never been a problem or inconvenience for me

Man............some of you guys are nuts. There is absolutely no reason good enough not to strap in as soon as your feet leave the ground. The excuse that it slows you down is just pure BS. It doesn't slow me down at all........it's just part of the routine. Has it hooked a branch or two or some loose bark sometimes??....Of course........who cares? My bow has hooked on crap on the way up sometimes too.....so what? Even if a strap doubled your climb time it is still a no brainer........all it takes is one wet boot, one loose piece of bark, one missed step, or 100 other little stupid things and your life could change forever.........or end.

It amazes me how many people climb trees dangerously.........especially when so many guys get hurt or killed every year doing that exact same thing. I bet you each and every one of them never thought it would happen to him either.

Do you guys hoist up loaded guns to your stands too?

Let's see..........the benefit is getting setup 30 seconds to 1 minute faster..........the downside is getting seriously hurt or killed. Seems pretty simple to me.


My brother works with many, many hunters at his job as a prison guard........he also works with many half crippled ex-hunters that didn't think they needed a safety harness. One guy broke his leg, ankle, 4 ribs, upper arm, forearm, 3 fingers, clavicle and jaw when he fell and landed on his side.........his brother was afraid he would die if he left him so he carried him out of the woods with all those broken bones.......imagine the pain he went through...........wow. He now limps around and swallows pain pills all day just to try and numb his constant pain.

No thanks.


Good luck guys.

Yeah, you guys that wont wear it are crazy. Do you realize how many people think the same way, and end up dead or so bad off they may as well be dead?

I understand its a minor nuisance to climb all the way up and all the way down with attached to the tree. But its better than the alternative. Like the others have said, its a few extra minutes at most, and much better than years of pain or no more years.

My experience today left me re-thinking everything I do when hunting from stands. I always thought I was extra safe, and cautious, and thought "it will probably never happen to me because I am careful". Well, it happened in the blink of an eye, and caught me so off guard that I would have been seriously injured or killed because ofthe awkward way it slipped. GUARANTEED death or serious injury had my belt not been hooked up! Infact, had I been wearing just a safety belt and not a full body harness, I probably would have flipped upside down because the stand slipped and pitched out to one side.

I preached about harness's before, but now I owe my life to one. Dont count on agility and being used to heights to save you. They wont cushion the ground when a stand breaks, or something goes wrong.

WEAR a HARNESS! And wear it from the time you leave the ground (or a few feet up) to when your feet touch the ground. If you are honestly worried about the extra few minutes, get to your stand location a few minutes earlier. Heck most times I climb up in the morning, I have to sit waiting in the dark anyway. Whats the difference between 29 minutes of sitting in the dark and 27 minutes? Could be life or death!

BUCKLE UP!

Me too!!! Safety comes first even if you feel it's a lil inconvient. I've had two close calls and since then i'm not climbing without mine.

With my climber it takes about 3 minutes longer(like 11min rather than 8)to climb 23 feet pushing my safety strap up as I climb. I've been experimenting with Summit Bucksteps and use a lineman type tethergoing up and down. When I reach my stand, I clip my harness' back strap to the tree before unhooking and getting in the stand.

$45 safety harness included with stand, 7000lb test climbing rope $0.70/ft, real carabiners $11 each,

living to hunt another day...............priceless

I used a standard webbed waist belt for years until I read a study that Deer & Deep Hunting magazineon treestand falls and harness systems. Luckily I never had a slip where I had to test the belt system, or I may not be here writing this!
Last year I purchased my first really good treestand, a summit and it came with a free 5-point harness system, and amountain climber strengthclimbing rope, that uses a nifty knot system called a "prusic knot", that clips to my harness and allows it to slide easily up and down but grip when any weight is placed on it. It's so easy to hook up and use, I use it all the time.
Now climbing with my harness on, and properly attached to the tree gives me the piece of mind to enjoy the experience of being in the woods.
As a result of the article, I also carrymy GPS and cell phone in my pockets at all time in the event of a disaster I can phone in my position to someone.

I've heard guys use the excuse that the harnesses are to hard to figure out and put on, especially in the dark. I solved that problem with my harness by taking a Sharpie pen and marking the straps (L)Shoulder, Leg and so on, and even when it's all tangled up it onl takes a few seconds to figure out.
I also cut the straps so they aren't so long, and sewed velcro to the ends of them so I can secure them and they don't hang and flap around. It's a nice secure feeling to know that you're not going to get crippled or killed when your a miles from the nearest human!

my harness is hooked before i go one inch up that tree, while on stand, and all the way down. even a fall from only a few feet can cause injury if you aren't prepared for the landing. i fell from a tree when i was about 12, only about 6 feet up and shattered my left elbow. spent about 10 weeks in casts, etc. now i'm 31 and every time i hold mybow to shoot, oruse my climber, i'm reminded of it cuz itbends and works a little differently than normal. so i have a constant reminder to use my harness.besides the fact that i have a wife, kids, and much more to life to think about losing or ruining over the sake ofa few minutes of my time. i already have one lifelong reminder, i don't want any more.