Tree Stand Hunters Please Read

[Stu Farish]

Getting time to hunt. Already is in a few places, hunters all over will be climbing trees again soon.

This is your SAFETY WAKE-UP CALL!!!

Please read this article and bear it mind every time you go up. We need each and every one of you to come back safely (I didn't write it, I found it while doing a search):


Tree Stand Safety

By Pat Cardin

Richard McQuillen is a Master Volunteer Instructor with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. I attended a seminar on tree stand safety and some of the statistics are eye-opening, plus he has some tips for deer hunters using stands to obey.

Three to five hundred hunters are killed annually in North America due to an accident involving treestands. Another 5000-7000 are permanently disabled, while 10,000-15,000 receive some type of lesser injury.

Back 15 years ago, I never wore a safety belt in my stand. Hunters back then didn't have any on the market and we all took our chances in our stands.

Today, a safety belt is pretty much standard issue for stand hunters. There is a variety of belts on the market and you might be surprised to learn even those can cost you your life, if not used properly.

First, let me say that any safety belt is better than no safety belt and I urge every hunter using a treestand to use some type of commercial safety belt or harness.

The most common type of safety belt is the waist belt. One belt goes around your waist and is usually attached to another belt that is secured around the tree. If you do fall with this belt, you have 30 seconds to one minute to get back in your stand before suffocation becomes a factor and you expire. The problem with a waist belt is your fall could be in such a manner that you land upside down.

No matter what type of belt or harness you use, it is key that you immediately try to get back in your stand. Suffocation will occur even with the best belt after a certain amount of time.

The next belt is really a harness that connects to your shoulder or the middle of your back. With this harness, you have one to five minutes to get back in your stand. This harness is safer than the belt, but McQuillen says that sometimes the harness can be connected to low down or not be worn right and cause problems.

The best type of belt/harness on the market is the Seat-of-Your Pants model. It is a belt and harness combined.

This type of safety apparatus has straps that come over your shoulders, a belt that goes around your waist and straps that connect to the waist belt that run between your legs. The harness also attaches high on the back, just below the neck and distributes your weight more evenly after a fall. You will always land upright with this type of harness.

You increase your odds dramatically with this type of safety harness. You now have from 5 minutes to 30 minutes to get back in your stand or call for help. Prices vary, but the Seat-of-Your Pants will cost you around $85, but is well worth the money.

McQuillen has some safety tips for deer hunters hunting out of stand should follow.

First, 75 to 80% of falls occur going up or down the tree. Always wear a safety belt while climbing up and down the tree. The belt you choose should be at least 3 inches wide to insure it will hold a sufficient amount of weight.

After you are in your stand, make sure the belt or harness is connected to the tree middle ways of your body. If done properly, you should only be able to barely stand up and also set down. This will allow you to only fall about 6 to 8 inches.

Make sure you use a tow rope or hauling string to pull your equipment up to your stand. Don't try and carry equipment up the tree with you. You will need both hands incase a step or limb were to break or your feet slip off a step.

Remember to always unload your firearm before pulling it up the tree. If a live round is in the chamber and the rope slips off and the gun falls, while pointing up, the impact when it hits could cause the gun to discharge and with the muzzle pointing up, the shot will shoot the hunter in the stand.

McQuillen suggests you use your soft gun case to haul your gun up the tree. Unload your rifle and place it in a soft case, tying the rope around the handle of the case. The case helps keep the gun from getting scratched and you won't get your scope or trigger hung in the branches.

One last tip, McQuillen says to make sure your last two steps are even. This allows you to hang your stand and take your stand down with both legs receiving the same amount of pressure.

Follow these safety tips so that you don't become one of the statistics of death or injury when it comes to treestands.

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Copyrights Deer Hunters Net 2002

 

[coyotebuster]

Thank you Stu for posting this, it is very important! i bought a summit last year because i wanted a climber, it was comfortable, and it was very safe. I used to use a safety belt but i got a full body harness free with my summit. I believe it is made by seat of the pants but im not sure. It is very comfortable to wear and well worth having on. They even went a step further and it doubles as a linemans belt when your hanging stands or putting on steps. I would say that anybody that falls out of a tree and hits the ground probly had it coming for not wearing a safty restraint sytem of some sort. I also would offer this advice, if at all possible use the tie on ladders rather than tree pegs, they are not much more than a dozen pegs and are certainly better. they are easy to put up and a lot safer to climb. Also if you fall you are less likely to hit a peg and really hurt yourself. I hunt at a heighth of ussually 30 to 35 feet and i feel safer that high with my full harness than i would at 12 with a waist belt. Always make sure your stands are safe well before season and make sure there strapped to the tree good. No deer is worth a life or parlizing your self.

 

[jeffo]

Wow! Those numbers are extreme! Stu, sorry if I sound skeptical, but are you sure of those stats? Whether entirely accurate or not, I know tree stands can be very dangerous. I had never thought about the suffocation aspect. Have you heard of anyone suggesting keeping a knife handy in case you can't climb back up? Cutting the harness and falling is risky, but it's better than knowing you're going to die. Or not? I think I'd chance a 15 ft. drop rather than pass out and die. Just a couple thoughts, not meant to start any heat.

 

[Stu Farish]

Sure? Nope. As I said, I didn't write it.

Wouldn't surprise me at all to find they're accurate, though. Consider how many treestands are already in use, and they're coming off the assembly lines every day.

I witnessed a hunter slip while climbing down last january. he dropped about 15 feet in a split second. He did not have a safety harness of any kind attached to the tree. Nor have I while climbing in the past.

That's changing, starting now. I bought a Seat of the pants harness yesterday, after having a rep demo and explain it to me. Then this morning I decided to do a search on the net and see what people were saying about this harness, and found the article. I decided that a wakeup call was in order, as I think (my opinion only) that the people most likely to have an accident, with stands, guns or most anything else, are either the extreem newbie who is just starting out and may make a mistake through ignorance, or the old-timer who has been doing it so long without mishap that he considers himslef the safest person in the world. This level of confidence may make him careless.

I'm a treestand hunter, been using them for over 20 years. But they can kill you, or worse.

If wondering how accurate those numbers are makes someone pay more attention to details while climbing, it may just make a difference.

 

[coyotebuster]

Well I would not be surprised if they are right on the money. As for the suffocation I heard from a summit prostaffer that they can kill in 7 seconds but I dont know about that, it may be right too?

 

[jeffo]

Here's another piece of advice I thought was useful. Always keep 3 contact points when climbing up or down. That means both hands and a foot on a rung or both feet and a hand. When I can I prefer a ladder stand. They make me feel a lot more comfortable, plus I can't contort the way I used to, which is probably a good thing safety-wise anyway.