Nearly every hunter I know, myself included, knows of at least one hunter that has fallen from a treestand. Hunting accidents such as accidental shootings, rank high, but still, treestand accidents are among the top reported accidents during hunting season. But you don’t have to become a statistic; keeping safe when hunting from an elevated stand is simple. It just requires a little pre-hunt planning.

One of the most critical aspects of keeping safe while shooting from an elevated shooting stand is the use of a full-body safety harness. A full-body harness is the universal type of harness that has straps that wrap around both of your legs, both of your shoulders and around your waist.  During the early years of hunting from a treestand, a simple chest or waist type of harness was common, but thanks to technology and the ongoing commitment of educators, treestand manufactures, in addition to the demand of hunters who wanted companies to “build a better product,” the hunting industry has taken notice, thus designing better safety harnesses.

If you’re still using a traditional chest/waist type of harness, I recommend you throw it out. Don’t bother giving it to someone else as these types of harnesses have proven to be dangerous. For example; an old-style chest or waist harness that offers one strap that secures snug around your chest or waist, while tethered to a tree, may indeed keep you from hitting the ground should you fall out of your treestand. But statistics and gravity prove that these types of harnesses are extremely dangerous. Imagine falling while using one of these types of harnesses; the hunter has only a few seconds to get themselves free. Demonstrations prove that even the most physically fit of hunters are at risk of losing their lives in a matter of seconds if they choose to use these types of outdated harnesses. A strap around the stomach area will cause the fallen hunter to flip upside down, while the entire weight of the hunter puts the tension on the strap, often so tight that severe injury or death occurs. Traditional chest harnesses act the same way, however, the hunter may or may not flip over, instead after a sudden fall and quick jerk (all of which the body’s weight is used and multiplied) the chest strap instantly puts a choke hold around the hunter’s chest, causing almost immediate suffocation. Moral of the story of these two types of harnesses is that they may indeed keep you from hitting the ground during a fall, but can cause injury or death within a matter of minutes as your chest cavity or stomach is constricted from the tension of your entire weight.

Wearing a full-body harness that wraps around your waist, under and around both legs, and over the shoulders is the safest option when choosing a harness. Full-body harness like Hunter Safety Systems (HSS) vest harness is one of the best and safest systems on the market today. Gone are the days of fighting the tangle mess of harness that sits in the back of your pick up truck. HSS has made safety harnesses so easy a “caveman can do it.” There is simply no excuse to not wear a full–body harness while hunting.

Using a full-body safety harness is highly recommended; still these types of harnesses do come with a warning label telling of the tell-tale dangers of being suspended for any length of time. Take into consideration the dangers of falling and being suspended unable to get back on your stand. Assuming you survived the initial shock of the fall, your body may now be in serious jeopardy of the silent killer, blood clots. A blood clot can form in as little as 6 seconds. Even with the best safety harnesses on the market you are still at serious risk with even the slightest fall from your stand. An ounce of prevention goes a long way. Avoiding a fall to begin with is much wiser.

Research tells us that nearly 75% of falls happen while the hunter is climbing the tree. Securing yourself to the tree and keeping at least three points of contact on the ladder or steps at all times are crucial to keeping safe.

Climbing ropes designed with special Prussic knots that allow the hunter to tether themselves to the tree at all times, is quickly become the norm at outfitters across the country. Again HSS offers a great product called the Life Line System (LLS) that adds in the effectiveness of its safety harness. As more and more hunters realize these additional safety systems can provide an extra sense of security without much fuss, many are opting to never climb into a treestand again without such systems in place. Additionally, many outfitters are now adding climbing rope systems to their treestands, as this simple system which provides dramatic increase in safety while significantly decreasing climbing accidents, is becoming the norm.

Just like the bow is just as important as the arrows and broadhead, so is the type of treestand and climbing sticks or steps that you choose. Every piece of equipment should be inspected each year before using them. Keeping safe while hunting from an elevated stand is much easier when you choose quality equipment that has received the Treestand Manufacturers Association (TMA) stamp of approval. Regardless of the quality of equipment, it is only as good as the user, and using common sense, reading the instructions and following the guidelines will help you avoid treestand accidents, hopefully, keeping you safe to hunt another season. Regardless, any safety system is only good if it is used properly every time.

Photos and Text by Lisa Metheny