easton400
09-05-2011, 06:50 PM
For your own safety I reccomend everyone read this and TEST YOUR SAFETY HARNESS
I have been bow hunting out of tree stands for 41 years and just got a rude awakening. I have always been extremely cautious while using tree stands as I am a bit afraid of heights. I have worked my way thru all the different safety straps and harnesses. This past weekend I tested a new safety harness which I just rcvd. I never really tested any of these harnesses and assumed they all work until now. So myself and my hunting partner climbed a tree and set the harness up and simulated a fall from the tree stand. 1st thing I noticed is although I am a between a size med and a large the harness was a size large. According to the manufactures specs my hgt and wgt and size indicated I should purchase a large so I did. When I left the stand the harness immediately rode up and cut off my wind pipe if it weren't for my buddy I would have hung myself. I am intentionally not mentioning the name of the harness because I beleive I need the smaller size and once I rcv it may stop the wind pipe RESTRICTION problem. It would be unfair to the manufacturer until I determine that. I climbed down the tree and readjusted the harness to its smallest possible size and tested it again, the same results occured. So I went back and tried my old harness and here is What I found. ALthough it did not cut off my wind pipe it did not permit me to get back into the stand if I fell below the plATFORM. Most harnesses have a lot of slack betweed the tree strap and the harness, If your tree stand breaks or you fall below the stand it is practically impossible for you to get back into the stand If it hasn't fell to the ground. Something else I learned from a doctor is that your legs contain a large amount of blood. These harnesses will put all the wgt onto the straps that hold your legs thus cutting off that blood to your heart. You cannot stay in that position hanging from that harness with that blood flow being conStricted for long. THE PROBLEM IS IT"S NOT EASY TO GET BACK INTO THE STAND IF YOU ARE BELOW IT. SO YOU WILL HAVE THE BLOOD FLOW PROBLEM AND EVENTUALLY IT WILL DEHABILITATE YOU AND YOUR FINSIHED. WE ALL ASSUME THE HARNESS WILL SAVE US. IT WILL NOT UNLESS YOU CAN GET THE BLOOD FLOWING FROM YOUR LEGS. PLEASE PLEASE TRY GETTING BACK INTO YOUR STAND WHILE HANGING FROM THE HARNESS I THINK YOU WILL BE AS GREATLY SURPISED AS I WAS! ONLY 1 HARNESS MANUFACTURER THAT I KNOW TO DATE GIVES YOU A MECHANISM TO GET THE BLOOD FLOW BACK INTO YOUR LEGS BUT YOU BETTER HAVE IT USABLE AND AVAILABLE. PLEASE TEST YOUR HARNESS BY HANGING BELOW THE STAND AND TRYING TO GET BACK INTO IT. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE ACCIDENT TO HAPPEN. I AM ONLY TAKLING ABOUT CLIMBIMBING STANDS HERE NOT PEGS OR LADDERS AS YOU CAN USUALLY STEP ON THE PEG OR LADDER TO RELIEVE THE TENSION ON THE LEG STRAPS.
Test your harness do not wait until you're hanging from your tree.
I have been bow hunting out of tree stands for 41 years and just got a rude awakening. I have always been extremely cautious while using tree stands as I am a bit afraid of heights. I have worked my way thru all the different safety straps and harnesses. This past weekend I tested a new safety harness which I just rcvd. I never really tested any of these harnesses and assumed they all work until now. So myself and my hunting partner climbed a tree and set the harness up and simulated a fall from the tree stand. 1st thing I noticed is although I am a between a size med and a large the harness was a size large. According to the manufactures specs my hgt and wgt and size indicated I should purchase a large so I did. When I left the stand the harness immediately rode up and cut off my wind pipe if it weren't for my buddy I would have hung myself. I am intentionally not mentioning the name of the harness because I beleive I need the smaller size and once I rcv it may stop the wind pipe RESTRICTION problem. It would be unfair to the manufacturer until I determine that. I climbed down the tree and readjusted the harness to its smallest possible size and tested it again, the same results occured. So I went back and tried my old harness and here is What I found. ALthough it did not cut off my wind pipe it did not permit me to get back into the stand if I fell below the plATFORM. Most harnesses have a lot of slack betweed the tree strap and the harness, If your tree stand breaks or you fall below the stand it is practically impossible for you to get back into the stand If it hasn't fell to the ground. Something else I learned from a doctor is that your legs contain a large amount of blood. These harnesses will put all the wgt onto the straps that hold your legs thus cutting off that blood to your heart. You cannot stay in that position hanging from that harness with that blood flow being conStricted for long. THE PROBLEM IS IT"S NOT EASY TO GET BACK INTO THE STAND IF YOU ARE BELOW IT. SO YOU WILL HAVE THE BLOOD FLOW PROBLEM AND EVENTUALLY IT WILL DEHABILITATE YOU AND YOUR FINSIHED. WE ALL ASSUME THE HARNESS WILL SAVE US. IT WILL NOT UNLESS YOU CAN GET THE BLOOD FLOWING FROM YOUR LEGS. PLEASE PLEASE TRY GETTING BACK INTO YOUR STAND WHILE HANGING FROM THE HARNESS I THINK YOU WILL BE AS GREATLY SURPISED AS I WAS! ONLY 1 HARNESS MANUFACTURER THAT I KNOW TO DATE GIVES YOU A MECHANISM TO GET THE BLOOD FLOW BACK INTO YOUR LEGS BUT YOU BETTER HAVE IT USABLE AND AVAILABLE. PLEASE TEST YOUR HARNESS BY HANGING BELOW THE STAND AND TRYING TO GET BACK INTO IT. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE ACCIDENT TO HAPPEN. I AM ONLY TAKLING ABOUT CLIMBIMBING STANDS HERE NOT PEGS OR LADDERS AS YOU CAN USUALLY STEP ON THE PEG OR LADDER TO RELIEVE THE TENSION ON THE LEG STRAPS.
Test your harness do not wait until you're hanging from your tree.