Indiana hunter's death puts tree stand safety in spotlight
 

Has anyone heard of this?

Indiana hunter's death
puts tree stand safety in spotlight

My uncle always wants a treestand for bowhunting, I gotta warn him about this.

Any advice which treestand is reliable and how to choose one?

Any input will be welcomed, thanks.

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CalHunter
Moderator

I can't remember hearing or reading about someone falling from a treestand while wearing a full-body harness. It just confuses the heck out of me why hunters still decide to hunt from a treestand without a harness. The risk is too great not to.

With that said, I recommend a ladder stand where their is a system available to protect the hunter during ascent and descent in addition to while up in the tree.

I didn't read details...but it sounded like he wasn't wearing a harness..

A climbing stand also allows you to be attached to the tree from the time you leave the ground, plus they are much easier to move when hunting conditions change.

Was that the poor guy in his 30s who fell and was on a respirator, and asked if he wanted to continue living on it?

This is true, however, should the stand be faulty for any reason then down you go. Also, it is easier to be mobile with a climber. I much prefer climbers myself for that reason. Nevertheless, in the context of safety, ladder stands are safer due to the fact you can use the safety harness system of being attached to a rope while getting up and down the latter stand.

Don't sleep in your stand. If you're in the least bit groggy in that pre-dawn of opening day, you're not like me. If you are, though, just take a little nap.

But other times I have been groggy - - and I've taken a nap at the bottom of the tree for a while.

Naps are pleasant....

Not to be rude but it sounds like you need to read the instruction manual/dvd provided with your climbing stand. You can climb up and climb down with a climber and stay attached to the tree. Most safety harnesses have a tree strap that wraps around the tree and you then hook your harness tether to the tree strap. You simply move the tree strap up or down the tree as you move and you stay attached from the time you start your climb, till the time you climb back down. This method has been described in every instruction manual of every climber I've ever owned from Summit, Lone Wolf, and API.

Here is a short youtube video on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sMr-nMHxPk


In addition to this, every tree stand safety harness I have used in the last several years has the tree strap that allows you to maintain connection to the tree included. The harnesses I have used include: Seat O The Pants, Muddy Safeguard(current harness), HSS, and the harnesses included with new treestands. These include harnesses from API, Summit, and Lone Wolf.

Thank you for the reminder. I probably saw this on the instructional video when I first bought my harness and thought that would slow me down and hence never made it into my routine. The youtube video was excellent and I am now going to include this in my ascending and descending routine with climber.