tree stand esacpe rope ladder
 

any of you guys ever make/buy/use emergency escape rope/prusik ladders for your climbing tree stands?? possibly with with 550 cord??
not to catch your weight if you fell. the safety harness will hopefully do that. just as a back up way down, an emergency exit.
do any of you leave rope ladders on your climbers or anything like that???

is there something obvious that im missing??? it seems like something like that would be standard issue with new climbing tree stands, you should get one 30 foot "free emergency exit" with the "free catch harness" they give you.

one more thing and i'll stop... whats with including catch harnesses with brand name, brand new, tree stands that cut blood flow and kill you just as dead as the fall would??? all "free catch harnesses" should be vest style, you can hang in one of those till you die of thirst. it's like having a seat belt that kills you 6 hours after you survive wrecking the car...

I carry a Summit Tree Descender with me. A rope like you are talking about would be a pretty good idea.

There are also a lot of "standard" harnesses that are much better than the vest style harnesses. There used to be a video comparing one of the HSS vest style harnesses to the Summit SOP harness. The HSS was a real pain to the ol' family jewels, if you get my drift!:s1:

thought i would share this and see what you guys think...

i made one. seems solid as a rock, didn't have any problems at all. just screws in. cost under $20, rolled up it's about the size of a six pack. :)


oh, i got 1 decent doe so far... 1 tag left. 2-1/2 weeks till closing day here.

have you ever tried climbing down a unteathered rope ladder? Not fun. find a tree trimmer (person) and have them show you how to make a rope saddle with a fall line, and come down like a rock climber. All you need is rope of suitable size and length.

Treestand safety harnesses should be properly hung so that you can reach your ladder, rungs, or tree stand even after a fall.

By design, these harnesses:

1) Cannot take a long fall. Really even a short fall. Your harness should be set up so your HEAD cannot go below the platform of your stand.

2) Should NEVER be adapted or altered to put them in a position where they would take a long drop if you did ever fall.

So really, the only guys that NEED an escape ladder are climbing stand hunters, where your platform falling away might be why you fell.

A 550cord LADDER would be very foolish. You might be able to get away with using 550 and a belaying devise, but no way a ladder works safely. Make a loop out of 550 at the end of a 4ft lead. Stick your hunting boot in the loop, then hold the lead in your hand straight up, as it would be as you climb out of a stand. Try to remove your foot from that "rung" as you would climbing down a rope ladder. Call me next winter when you finally get your foot out of the loop.

Then do a pull up hanging by a loop of 550. Your hands will F'ing hate you.

I have a Live Wire descender, if I fall, at least I know I'm not going to hit the ground at 20mph.

One of the most important things a hunter can use, however, is to add a "step rope" to their harness anchor. Snapped to the same anchor, and just long enough to reach about your knee when held above your head (as if you had fallen out of your stand) with a loop at the end, then tucked in the front of your harness. When/if you fall, you can un-tuck the end, pull your leg up and put your foot into the loop. You can then step up on the "step rope" to either take pressure off of your legs in the harness, or help you get back into your stand.