In 2002 I had 2 friends fall from treestands and both had serious injuries 1 his life has changed forever he will never walk again .
He;s a 42 yr old and has a young family ,it's not only impacted his life but everyone around him.
The other fella was hunting in a bush behind his house and the step to his treestand broke at about 15ft and he come down hitting the ground at full force on his feet . The drop broke his leg in 6 place's and it took him 3 hr's to crawl his way out .
I never used to use a harness but after this I'll never hunt a treestand without one now.
I have fallen out of a tree.I broke a step climbing up but luckily I was only about 6 to 8 feet up and landed on my back,even at that I never learned my lesson .It took 2 good friends to seriously hurt themselves before I realized that you know it can happen to me it's happened to my friends . I certainly wouldn't want my family to have to go through all this because of my foolishness and stupidity. Please use common sense when hunting from treestand's they can and will cripple you or even kill you if you don't use your head. Tree's with 2x4's nailed to them are the worst

[Deleted by Admins]

i never wear one either cant stand it. i have not falling yet and i hunt about 20 feet you just have to be careful

IF YOU HUNT FOR LONG WITHOUT A SAFTEY HARNESS OF SOME KIND WE WONT BE TALKING TO YOU MUCH LONGER.

oldelk,,i sure remember baker , used one for 10 year, it's a wonder i survived. got an elevater ride many times. now its a full body harness every time i go up. [i take my climber up 30 feet+]

About 18 years ago I was hunting with my 12 year old son and was in the process of relocating a Bakers Ladder stand. It was a warm winter day with about 6 inches of snow on the ground but the ground was not yet frozen. My son was holding the ladder section of the stand and I removed the chain that secured it to the tree. The ladder section sunk into the soft earth and twisted causing the stand to shift way to the right. I had already disconnected my safety belt, no harness back then, and as the stand twisted I fell to the gound. I struck my head on a rock pile a few feet from the base of the tree.
According to my son, I was out cold for about 40 minutes. He stood by be ensuring that I still had a heart beat and was breathing. He tried to wake me but could not. I came to on my own. My son kept asking me if I was OK and I told him my head hurt a bit but no big thing.
I only felt a little dazed and finished relocating the stand to another location. It wasn't until we had finished that did I realize how much time had passed.

I was lucky.
And no I do not always wear a harness today. I just don't like them and it doesn't work with the way I use my climber. I do wear one in the lock on style stands that I have. The are extremely dangerous. The funny thing is I will not put my motor vehicle in gear until every one has a seat belt on in the vehicle. Strange how we think.

I used to wear a belt only even after getting two SOP harnesses with stands I bought. The SOP was too complacated to unravel in the dark. We now wear full body harnesses at work and after a short time it becomes second nature to slip into one so I do now wear the SOP. To show what even a 3 foot fall can do My wife was changeing the lights above the bathroom mirror just two days ago and was standing on the sink counter. She stepped back to put her foot on the toilet seat to get down and missed it falling backwards striking her head on the tub. Result from this 3 foot backward fall was a concussion, a fractured tail bone, a dislocated finger, a twisted knee and a cut nose. Now I know you can't wear a safty devise standing on a counter top but this shows it doesn't take much of a fall to severely injure yourself but more on the way you land.

Last year '02, I fell 12' while climbing up to a stand. Luckily I fell perfectly flat on my back in some really tall grass. When I realized I was ok, I kind of chuckled. It was just like the "Nestea Plunge". Up till then I had never hunted with a safety belt.

I now own a Seat-of -the Pants full harness!

The only way to go!

Good Luck!

A fellow from my bow club fell from a tree while putting up a stand. He landed on an old log....he will never walk again....wear your harness, nuff said.
Chris

Ummm... I know that I should be wearing a harness, and I am very carefull, but I know accidents happen. I feel very confident while in stand. Its hanging them that gets me worried. Last time I hunted archery, I did so entirely out of my climber, Summit Viper. With the bar, I am not worried about falling out. With hang-ons, I know it is possibe to do so, but haven't had any close calls.

I have a SOP that I got with my summit, but im small, and the thing is too big for me to wear. Does anyone make a harness that only goes around the waist? Not the chest like the SOP?

I will probably start hunting with a harness, no reason not to, but I am not wearing a full harness. I dont' wear a full harness when I am rock climbing 1000 feet, yes 3 zeros, above the ground. I don't need a full harness when I am in a tree stand.