No Safety Harness
 

A lesson learned to those of you who do not wear, nor believe in them. This man is very lucky he didn't lose his life!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqfkK3h2jqM

RE: No Safety Harness
 

I wish this could be posted at the top of each hunting forum! I didnt hunt with a harness last year and at this point, still dont own one. I have two kids, 5 and 1. If I were to be injured on a fall like this gentleman, the impact would be terrible! Instead of that newest broadhead or best arrow, my next purchase will be a safety harness. GREAT POST!!

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Great post that dude is very lucky. i took a fall once 25 feet an i am a bigger man an let me tell ya a man my size falling that hi an hiting the ground aint very fun then when the bottom of the stand falls an crush's ur ribcage if i would have had my harness on i would not of had a broken arm an leg an a crushed ribcage an had to set out the rest of the season

RE: No Safety Harness
 

I do not wear a harness nor have I in my 7 years of bowhunting but every year I contimplate starting to wear one. I have been thinking of that hunter's safety system (the harness deal). I REALLY NEED TO GET ONE!!!

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Theres a few people on here that may have a couple extra harnesses laying around, make a post about you needing a harness and one will probably be given to you, wed hate to see anyone end up hurt or worse, dead.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Everyone on here should read that post or it should be at the top.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

agree every season seems like ether a friend or a friend of a friend takes the fall, buckle up knuckleheads

RE: No Safety Harness
 

I agree... should be a sticky!!! Granted I have never hunted before, and this is my first year, but I try and do as much research as I can in order to keep myself, as well as others, safe.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Do it. If you don't have one PM me and I will get you one.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Now that just made my day. Thanks robbcayman

RE: No Safety Harness
 

I fell 35 ft out of a stand 3 yrs ago. Im one of those that though i was invincable and would never fall out of a stand but i'll tell you it happens in the blink of an eye and once you're falling there is no grabbing tree limbs or anything to brake your fall it just happens too fast.
I got banged up pretty good but was very fortunate, i had about 8 fractures throughout my body and was out of work for 3 months but im just thankful im not paralized or dead, i must have a meaning left in life i just haven't figured out what it is yet.
I was in a tree lounge climber which i thought was supposed to be the safest climber on the market [:'(] and i had just climbed up the tree and got to where i normally sit in the tree and bounced a couple times to lock the stand into the tree, then stood up on the foot climber getting ready to swing around like you have to do to get in the sitting position and the stand just slipped loose from the tree and hit the foot climber and just instantly threw me out of the stand before i could even realize what had happened. It's a bad, helpless feeling that i would never want anyone to experience so i would advise everyone to invest in a decent harness that is easy to put on so you won't get aggravated with them and not use it cause falling out of a tree sucks!!!!!

RE: No Safety Harness
 

I cannot really comprehend NOT using a safety harness. Even when I was young & invinceable I used one.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

How much $ do you want robby?

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Brownbow...I live in Champaign, IL....I have a extra full body harness you can have that came wit hmy Gorilla Climbing stand...OR BassPro shops has the Hunter Safety System Tree Stalker vest on sale on online purchase's for $59.00

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Guys, all of you who don't have safety harnesses because they are a little expensive, Im asking you to check EBay. People get these harnesses with their tress stands and most don't need them because they already have one. You can get a full body harness for around $15-$20 including shipping and handling. Please take a look if you need one. $15 is a drop in the bucket with what would happen if you fell.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Don't use one...........no trees in miles and it would really hinder my hunting. Hunting the wheat fields of the prairie I can't even imagine climbing up a tree to hunt...let alone a harness.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

After a bad accident a few years ago --i am believer.
The "funny" thing was i wore a safety religiously while in a tree but I took it off to descend with my climbing stand. --I got away with it houndreds of times .One evening while coming down the platform didnt bite and i lost hold of the handclimber/seat.The platform eventually dug back into the tree but when it did I was hanging upside down with my feet still strapped to it. That evening I broke all the rules--left my cell phone in the truck--was alone--and no one knew where i was hunting. One other hunted the other side but later i found he left early that day.
No matter how hard i tried i could not get myself right side up and the more i tried the more the pain in my ankles and knee increased.It was dark,cold,I was scaredand the pain was getting worse. Panic started to set in --i realized i was alone andwould hang there all night untill someone found me or i had to figure away out.After awhile the pain in my ankles and knee just became unbearable and I decided i couldnt hang there any longer. I tried to figure out how high i was and knowing there was no stumps/logs belowIfigured cutting my feet free was about the only thing I could do. I Thought it out --had fear of landing on my head,breaking my back or neckor on the knife. The pain became unbearable and I finnally got brave (or stupid) enough and cut the straps holding my feet to the stand.I tossed the knife and tried to stay kind of tucked up . I landed kind of on the back side of my shoulder. Hitting the ground was quite a thud but a relief in the same. I laid there abit and not believing what had happened and that i was not in worse shape.--my knee and ankles and shoulder hurt but nothing else. I sat up and decided to get out of there and after about an hour and 800 yrds of limping/crawling i was at my truck.
Final damage--2 broken ankels with ligament and tendon damage, severe bone bruise in knee joint and bruised shoulder/rotator cuff and 6 months off work.
Still all in all i feel i was extremly lucky .It could have been so much worse--guess someone was watching over me that evening.
Made me a believer . I will now not hunt without a full harness. I always make sure and I have my cell phone.
I did give up the climbing stands though(I really miss using them). Not that it was the stands fault or that I dont trust it but once was enoughan did it could happen twice it would happen to me.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

It would REALLY hinder your hunting if you were confined to a wheel chair:eek:

RE: No Safety Harness
 

I fell only 15' landing on my back. It was the worst. I was out of commisision for several weeks. I ALWAYS wear a harness now. My boys, 7 and 9 at the time, witnessed it. They prefer ground blinds!

RE: No Safety Harness
 

A kid at a camp near me fell 30 from a tree and died. This wasn't hunting related. He was just climbing. I got my HSS and I will use it with my climber all the time. Life is too important.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Only fall I ever had WHILE HUNTING was extremely minor...thanks to the harness. On the other hand, I was taking the top off of a pine tree. Was strapped in with the harness. Got done. Lowered the chain saw. Told my wife 'the hard part's done.' Unhooked and started down. Stopped on a branch about 6" diameter to step out and kick a hung-up chunk of trunk. Heard a crack, which was the branch I was standing on breaking off at the trunk (pine trees are a lot more brittle than you might imagine). Rode that branch down 23' feet (that was the height from the branch, where my feet were, to the ground). Miraculously unhurt. I think it was the years of pine straw combined with wet ground, combined with that branch slowing things down a bit. Scared the xxx outa my missus. It was all too fast for me to be scared. I was wearing the harness the whole time, but they don't do much good unless they're attached to something besides air.

Now, line up all the guys (and gals,Cupcake)who had accidents last week---any kind of accident---and ask 'em: "did ya think it was gonna happen to you?" What do you think the answer is? "Well, yeah. I had a schedule. Up at 0345. Arrive at the farm at 0425. Fall outta the tree at 0515..."

Be safe, not dumb.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Before i had my fall i talked about a few posts back i never thought it would happen to me. all I can say is that it can happen to anybody regardless of how safe they are.

On a further note--I was told of an accident VERY similar to mine where a guy fell with a climber,hung upside down and did the same as i did--cut himself lose and feel to the ground. He is paralyzed from the neck down.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

The full-body harness is designed to leave you hanging head-up. I have to admit, though, I don't use the full body for hunting.

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I never did either--i do now though

RE: No Safety Harness
 

Kind of like me getting pregnant at an early age. Didn't know it could happen to me until it did.



So say YES to "PROTECTION"!!!!!;)

RE: No Safety Harness
 

It is also a good idea to use a belt while climbing and when you get to the top to fasten your safety harness before you get in to your stand if it is a hang on. Use the belt while climbing with a climbing stand as well. Also make sure there is no wear and tear. It may take a little longer and you may feel like you are over doing it but it is way better to be safe!

Thanks to the guy for the courage to give us fair warningand I hope that he gets well soon.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

i have hunted for many years and i did not always were one. 7 years ago i was hunting out of a homemade stand and the bar around the back of the tree broke at the weld on the seat portion. trust me fellers no matter how agile you are there is no way to catch yourself. i had shot a buck and was climbing down the tree at the time, so i was lucky and was only about 7ft off the ground. i landed on top of the stand and the only injury i had was a lacerated right ear. it was hard to get out of bed the next day but i survived. i was very very lucky.when is was hunting that day i had been about 17 ft off the ground and by myself, there is no telling how long i would have laid there if i had really injured myself bad. im a ER nurse and have taken care of people from tree stand accidents. some of them are not pretty sights trust me. fractured arms and legs or worse yet spinal vertebre. so please for your and your families sake were one.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

just bought a brand new full body harness yesterday for my lady, and me.

RE: No Safety Harness
 

If you hunt long enough without a harness....you will become a statistic of some sort. I've seen guys fall out of ladder stands with a gun rail surrounding them. You spend how much a year on hunting clothes, ammo, firearms/bows, maps, food...jesus, where do I stop? Spend another 100 skins max and be safe. If not for your hard headed hind end...at least for your family's. You guys and galswith kids, especially.

2of the guns listed belowwere bought from an older woman (through a guy I work with) whose husbandfell from 20 feet. He's 53 and has been paralyzed from the waist down since his fall. She sold the rifles and everything else they had to pay his medical bills....Think a little.