I've been hunting for nearly 30 years now and have climbed in and out of a tree hundreds of times and have never had a close call - until last night. There's been numerous threads on this subject, but I thought I'd post this out here to possibly help others. A member of this board, VC1111, posted a thread on tree stand safety a couple years ago in which I followed his advice. Last night it paid off.

Rather than climbing in and out of a tree untethered and attaching a safety harness once in the stand, I switched to a system that is inexpensive yet extremely effective. The system is a long large diameter rope (1") attached to the base of the tree running up the tree and attached above the stand. Before climbing the tree you attach your harness to this ascending/descending rope via either a smaller diameter rope with a prusik knot or a more expensive climbing device called a climbing ascender. I chose the prusik knot for economy.

Prusik knot:
http://www.survivaltopics.com/surviv...a-prusik-knot/

This knot easily slides along the rope but once pressure is applied, it grabs the larger rope. By keeping the prusik knot above your head at all times during ascending/descending, if a fall occurs, it grabs you promptly.

Yesterday afternoon we had a snow storm which dumped a bunch of wet heavy snow. I hunted last night in this mess which left the steps rather slippery. I was on my way down the tree when my right foot slipped off the peg. At the time my left hand was reaching for the next peg down. I tried to hold on with my right hand but it also slipped off the peg. Gravity promptly took over and I was on my down. The prusik knot (kept above my head) instantly grabbed and I was held securely as I got myself back onto the steps. This occurred at about 15 feet up. Falling from that height would not have been cool.

So, for just a few bucks, you can easily make your hunting experience far more secure by always being attached rather than ascending/descending without being attached to a safety system.

Glad your OK. I too use the prusic system.

Great read. Maybe just saved someone.

Glad you're ok.

BSB,
Wow, that must have been scary. I am glad you are ok.
VC1111 may have just saved your life or at least serious injury. I hope your story will save someone down the line.

Glad youre OK, and interesting about the knot. Might have to try that one!

Thanks for the info!

I'm glad your alright.

I'm glad you are OK and sharing the experience with us.

We should all take a small lesson from this.

Yep. That's why I posted this - for the very same reason I started using the safest possible way to get in and out of a tree short of levitation.


Think about it folks - how easy it is to have your life change in a fraction of a second? I know there must be hunters out there that think "Yeah, but that would never happen to me.". Or hunters that do not think climbing a tree is a difficult task requiring added safety measures. We all become confident and complacent with tasks we perform often, however things can and will go wrong in a flash of a second.

If you are securely fastened to a fall restraint system at all times - from standing at the base of the tree on up to your stand, you have just eliminated nearly all chance of injury from slipping or loosing your balance. The beauty of this system is that you never having to worry about fumbling a harness strap around the tree once you're in it - you are always connected.

One more thing to keep in mind - screw in tree stand steps will break. A few years ago I started my climb into a rather old set up. The first screw in step broke. That wasn't a big deal as I was only 18" off the ground so I didn't consider it an incident. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that I was fortunate I wasn't at the LAST step stepping into the stand.

Bottom line is that accidents can and will happen. Keep yourself safe and take care of the people that love you by making your hunting set up safer.

Ok, I'm done soap-boxing.

For those that have a lot of hang on stands in the woods, this would be a neat set up. It can easily just be hooked to your safety vest and you're tied in from ground to ground. I have these in throw bags to use as rescue thingys while ice fishing. Good quality ropes.
http://www.summitstands.com/productdetail.aspx?id=329148

OH, here's the single version I use while ice fishing also. LOL

http://www.summitstands.com/productdetail.aspx?id=329141