Please, don't be like this guy.  Wear your harness if you're in a tree stand.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130917/NJNEWS/309170027/Police-Bow-hunter-falls-dies-Budd-Lake

Such a shame, and a good reminder for everyone.

Falling out of a tree stand is no joke!  I knew a 36 yr old guy who fell and broke his ankle while in a stand.  No big deal right?  

 

Went to his wake and found-out he died of a blood clot that moved from his leg to his heart.  Left behind a wife and a newborn....

 

BE SAFE AND STAY ALIVE!

 

Dave

I fell from a stand when I was about 24 --  I was using screw in tree steps going up an oak that was about 36" diameter

 

I had a harness on around my body, but didn't tie it off to the tree yet as I was just setting up my tree stand and still climbing the tree

 

I was only 12 or 15 feet up, standing on a tree step, screwing in another when I felt the step move that I was on

 

Nothing I could do, tree was too big to hug --  the step let go -- I went down a couple of feet then decided to push away from the tree

 

Had too many 4" steel steps hanging out of the tree and didn't want to get torn open by one

 

I hit the ground on my feet but immediately collapsed to my ass from the rearward momentum

 

I still remember it clear like it was yesterday, I layed on the ground, alone wiggling my toes -- everything still worked but my back was in pain

 

People knew where I was but no one would even think I was missing for hours -- I was able to walk, but I couldn't carry anything so I left it all

 

Turns out I crushed vertebrae L1 and L2 -- No spinal cord injury --  I got a 1/2" shorter that day 

That was a very unfortunate accident! erI am pretty sure that every tree stand manufacturer nowadays provides some type of harness with their stands but there is no way to make people use them.I have been wearing a harness ever since they were first offered. Here is my offer to any member of this forum, I recently purchased a two man ladder stand and it came with two harnesses, I want to keep one as a spare but I will sell the other for $20. It is unused and unopen. I live in the Bridgewater area if any body is interested.

I'll pay the $20 for anyone who needs a harness.

There is a part to safety harness's that a lot of people don't know and it really bothers me. Everybody says how these full body harness or like the HSS vest is the best. I call BULL! What a lot of people do not know is that god forbid you do fall out of the treestand, your safety belt can kill you in as little as 5 MIN.! Lots of people while hunting or on the job in full harness have died due to the harness cutting off circulation of blood and oxygen to you vital organs. You hang there until you pass out and die if you can not get out of the harness. Now I'm not saying not to wear a harness. If you want to wear a full body harness you have to have it installed properly so that you can climb back on to your stand if you fall. I personally use a single strap belt. Now the key to the belt is wearing it high enough. If you wear it too low you'll flip right out of it. If it's too high you will not have full range of movement and possibility to suffocate yourself. I put mine just above the start of the ribs. The belt that I use, if I can not get to my stand then I have a better chance of falling then hanging. So with very little effort I can open up the belt and do a somewhat controlled fall. I put a link if you want to check it out. He's always at the Harrisburg show too. Be safe http://www.silentslide.com/index.html