ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

I found this thread on another board. It just goes to show you that you should ALWAYS wear your FULL Body harness while climbing as well as when you are hunting. I don't blame the stand so much as the hunter, any product can fail and we all have loved ones that need us around. Do 5 shot a favor and wear your harness!

My Buddy met me after work on Saturday to hunt the Nonquota Bow Hunt at AEDC this past weekend. We got back to the area we planned to hunt (Sinking Pond Area) about 2:45 PM. We left the vehicles shortly later and I told him I would see him at dark. I was still walking around looking for fresh sign and a tree to climg about 3:15, when I heard someone yelling. I first thought it might be someone at a nearby farm. I immediately started walking toward the yelling, when I caught the word help. It was in the general direction of where I thought my partner was, so I started running toward the general direction yelling back. My worst imagination was realized, My buddy was laying flat on his back at the base of a tree in extreme pain and unable to move. I looked up to see his seat climber about 30 feet up the tree, but the base (platform) was lying about 5 or 6 feet from the tree on the ground. The cable or belt that held the stand to the tree had come out of one side of the platfom, plunging my partner 30 feet to the ground. He hadn't had time to put his safety belt on when the incident occured. His tow rope was still tied to his bow. This was a brand new treestand (Lone Wolf) and this was only the third time he had used it. Needless to say, it will be his last. I got emergency personnel to him and he was transported to Harton Hospital in Tullhoma, and then to Vanderbilt Hospital where he is today. He has two broken legs, two broken ankles, broken bones in his feet and back. I ask for prayers for him, his name is Richard Moffat, and has been hunting exclusively with a bow for over thirty years. He has taken large bucks over the years, his biggest being a 12 pointer killed at AEDC. I finally went back hunting again myself this morning and took a doe. He couldn't be with me to enjoy it, but I was able to call him on the phone and tell him about it. TWRA Official' have been investigating the accident, and have ruled the accident as a tree stand failure. Does not look good for "Lone Wolf Treestands". For those of you that might have one, be careful and know that the rachet mechanism that holds the cable can let go. Thanks again and we will appreciate your prayers!

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

Sorry to hear about your friends misfortune. Hope he gets better soon. I knew a richard moffat, used to live in Oneida New York. Wouldn't happen to be the same person would it? Just wondering.

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

I'm very sorry to hear about this 5shot. Our thoughts and prayers are with Richard and his famil & friends. :(

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

this is terrible, but you are right 5 shot, there is no excuse for not having your harness on. we all have people who depend on us, and saying someone didn't have time to put it on at 30 feet is completely ridiculous. mine goes on before i get in and is attached as soon as i'm in and ready to climb. i've fallen off a roof and shattered my heels at 14 ft, i know how hard the ground is.

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

How do you use your harness when climbing???? I don't have a climbing treestand but i've thought about using it when climbing but i don't know how you could. I have a friend of mine fell while climbing in his stand and he ripped one of his boys off if you know what i mean so i am kinda skiddish when climbing up into my stand

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

5shot,Good advice as always thanks

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

Sorry to hear about such an accident. Safety should always come first before anything else. If the investigation proved that it was a defect from Lone Wolf treestands, it sure marks them off my list of possible climbing stands to purchase.

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

Tragic. This type story repeats itself so many times each year. Another thing to remember is to tie the two pieces of the treestand together so if you loose the bottom it will only fall a foot or so and you can retrieve it.

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

I hope Richard makes a full recovery.

I use a climber every hunt and it's easy to develop a false sense of security. I fight it and attatch my harness to the tree when I step up on to the platform. I figure it takes me about 60 seconds longer to climb 20ft when attatched. Tying the parts to each other should be a no- brainer.

Gravity never sleeps, always use a harness.

RE: ALWAYS USE YOUR FULL BODY HARNESS, EVEN WHEN CLIMBING!!
 

Good advice about using a climber-type stand. Here's some good advice for your fixed-position stands:

For the last 3 years I've written and posted information on this board about a very simple system of safety for any fixed-position stand. It involves the use of a device called an "ascender" and a piece of rope tied above your treestand and again at the base of the tree about waist high.

It is a remarkable system (and extremely simple to use) which my son showed me one day as I was precariously climbing down after hanging a tree stand. My son is an experienced rock climbing fanatic and a devout gadget freak like me. He immediately explained how to eliminate the risk of falling while using fixed position stands.

I have this device on all my fixed-position stands...ALL of them. When used properly it is impossible to fall to the ground from a treestand, while climbing up, hunting, or climbing down...let me say that again...it is IMPOSSIBLE to fall to the ground. You are tethered from the moment you start up the tree until you have both feet back on the ground once again.

As you might imagine, most falls occur while climbing into or down from your fixed-position stand. The used of a piece of climbing rope (which stretches just a little if you fall...absorbs the shock) and an ascender are something that every fixed-position tree stand hunter should use.

ALL of my buddies that have seen this system are now using it for their fixed-position stands.