Do you use a Safety Harness ?

[gutpile]

Screw in steps are all well and good; IF you're on your own property. Or with landowners permission. As they will destroy valuable timber. Most property owners don't care if you put them in a Maple tree but put them in say a cherry tree now you're in trouble as its a high dollar tree. And forget using them on State Lands strictly verboten.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I agree gutpile but I have cut timber for and run it through for lumber and trees I know were tapped for maple syrup healed pretty fast. Me......I usually use climbing sticks if not a ladder stand. most of the trees I use steps in have no timber value because of their shape anyway. If they are straight I like the sticks better.

[fasteddie]

My sons both use the screw in steps where they have chain-on stands . I will use either a ladder or ladderstand . I don't like the screw in steps !

[wztirem]

Burmjohn---screw in steps are very safe...the one peice ones...NEVER use the folding steps. I have had 2 break at the rivits. one solid peice of steel isn't gonna break. they are a bit tougher to carry but well worth it..

my 2 cents

I guess you never have the misfortune of one breaking. I have the the scar on my leg to prove it!

[burmjohn]

How did it break? I mean these things are rated at 1000 to 3000 lbs.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Were they left in over years? I have never heard of a one piece step breaking. All that I know of are rated at least 1000 pounds

[Big D]

Yes, I always wear one when on any stand.  It started out with the old "chest strap" a few years back, then a harness, and now the Hunter's Safety System.  Climber, ladder, hang on, or old permanent stands (in PA), it does not matter. 

I had an incident in 2008 that solidified my reason for using it.  My lower portion of my climber gave way during the PA rifle season when I was standing up to check some does running behind me.  The stand did not fail, but my shifting weight caused some rough bark to tear off the tree (no weight jokes please).  The low portion of the stand dropped and turned.  I fell a short distance, rifle in hand.  The harness saved me from serious injury or worse as I was hunting high up.  Thankfully I tether the upper and lower parts of the climber together.  I wrapped my feet around the lower part and pulled it back up with me. 

[BIGHUNTER2700537]

Never were one

[SteveB]

Never were one

Don't hunt from trees or no family?

[nyslowhand]

Read/heard too many treestand horror stories over the years to not use one.

When I was using a climber I was lashed to the tree going up, in the stand and descending.

Always kept a couple of screw-in steps in my pocket just in case I was left hanging.

Use ladder stands now and a majority of the time I have my HSS vest on.

I'm also very particular about my stands and their construction.

Never used anything other than Summit climbers and ladder stands.

Hang-on stands and those strap on steps make me cringe.

I apparently have no scense of adventure!! lol

Guess it's not the type/mfg of the stand but carelessness of the hunter?

On the other hand I see $75 (Sniper) treestands. How safe can they be….?

Yeah, they probably support the required weight as prescribed by the Treestand Assoc.

[fasteddie]

Dicks has the HSS Treestalker Harness Vest on sale this week for $60 ....

[wztirem]

The screw in step foot rest snapped off  from the vertical riser forming a point which gouged the inside of my right calf which required nearly 20 stitches to close the wound. I was lucky that it was only the first step!  In any event, screw in steps are only as god as the wood they are screwed into. Other than the remote possibility of them breaking, there is always a chance that they can pull out.

On rare occasions, the only stands which I will hunt from are ladder stands equipped with a tether line to a HSS which allow for seemingly safe accent and decent.

Good luck!

[Doc]

The screw in step foot rest snapped off  from the vertical riser forming a point which gouged the inside of my right calf which required nearly 20 stitches to close the wound. I was lucky that it was only the first step!  In any event, screw in steps are only as god as the wood they are screwed into. Other than the remote possibility of them breaking, there is always a chance that they can pull out.

On rare occasions, the only stands which I will hunt from are ladder stands equipped with a tether line to a HSS which allow for seemingly safe accent and decent.

Good luck!

Yuck!!!! That's nasty! ..... 20 stitches, that's gross.

Any metal forming manufacturing methods can have faults, void and stress points that can snap. Having spent my entire working life in engineering and closely related to industrial processes, I have seen some very unusual and unexpected failures that I would have thought were impossible. There's always a good metalurgical and/or design reason, but it's not always immediately obvious.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Read/heard too many treestand horror stories over the years to not use one.

When I was using a climber I was lashed to the tree going up, in the stand and descending.

Always kept a couple of screw-in steps in my pocket just in case I was left hanging.

Use ladder stands now and a majority of the time I have my HSS vest on.

I'm also very particular about my stands and their construction.

Never used anything other than Summit climbers and ladder stands.

Hang-on stands and those strap on steps make me cringe.

I apparently have no scense of adventure!! lol

Guess it's not the type/mfg of the stand but carelessness of the hunter?

On the other hand I see $75 (Sniper) treestands. How safe can they be….?

Yeah, they probably support the required weight as prescribed by the Treestand Assoc.

Ive always kept it to ladder stands and climbers, but this year I am going to give a hang on and strap on steps a try. Its the only way Im going to get a stand in one particular spot. I plan on using a rope with a prussic knot with that stand so I am attached on the way up and down.

[SteveB]

Use a linesmans belt for installing the stand and sticks - safe and like having a 3rd hand.

[nyslowhand]

"Ive always kept it to ladder stands and climbers, but this year I am going to give a hang on and strap on steps a try. Its the only way Im going to get a stand in one particular spot. I plan on using a rope with a prussic knot with that stand so I am attached on the way up and down."

I'm in the same situation and just got a used Summit Viper.

Not real thriller about using a climber again, but gotta go where they are.

Like you, I can't pick-up the ladder stand & move it every time I need to.

Once in the summer is my limit for doing that.

[rutstrut]

yes i do. it saved my life.hunters safety system

[burmjohn]

I never have, but one is due to be delivered on Friday @ work just in time for hunting season.  I got it off ebay, been trying to snipe one for 3 months, finally got a good deal.  Its the HSS-400 - > http://www.huntersafetysystem.com/store/realtree-reversible.html  -  I liked it because its reversible, and my jacket is camo'd, so it will be perfect for rifle season.  It comes with the "life line" strap as well.  I guess it comes with some strap to attach to the tree too? No idea how these things work.

[Cabin Fever]

Yes, I always wear one when on any stand.  It started out with the old "chest strap" a few years back, then a harness, and now the Hunter's Safety System.  Climber, ladder, hang on, or old permanent stands (in PA), it does not matter. 

I had an incident in 2008 that solidified my reason for using it.  My lower portion of my climber gave way during the PA rifle season when I was standing up to check some does running behind me.  The stand did not fail, but my shifting weight caused some rough bark to tear off the tree (no weight jokes please).  The low portion of the stand dropped and turned.  I fell a short distance, rifle in hand.  The harness saved me from serious injury or worse as I was hunting high up.  Thankfully I tether the upper and lower parts of the climber together.  I wrapped my feet around the lower part and pulled it back up with me.

I cringed reading that, knowing what was coming! Glad you had that harness on and that you weren't hurt!

[gutpile]

My cousin fell last year no harness cracked three vertebrae. Not so funny part he only fell 5-6 feet. Guy down the street fell while stacking firewood he'll never walk again. The height of the fall isn't as important as how you hit or what you hit. Remember its not the fall that hurts/kills you its the stop at the bottom.

My cousin and I went out yesterday to put up his stand. Before we left the house I made sure he had a safety harness and knew how to use it. I think he's spooked that's why he asked if he could hunt with me this year. I told him if I catch him in the stand without using his harness I'll take a hacksaw to his stand and a willow branch to him. I don't detach from the tree until both feet are on the ground. But that won't keep you from tripping over a branch in the woods and breaking your neck.

OH one other thing a safety harness is useless if you climb a dead tree. Read about a guy who did that. ONCE!!!!

[covert]

Never used to, but last season I started.  I really got to thinking about it because my wife was pregnant with our first.  Our son was due in the end of November and I was sitting in a stand I had just put up before bow season opened and started thinking about what would happen if I fell and got killed before I even got to see him.    I have the HSS setup. 

[Cabin Fever]

Never used to, but last season I started.  I really got to thinking about it because my wife was pregnant with our first.  Our son was due in the end of November and I was sitting in a stand I had just put up before bow season opened and started thinking about what would happen if I fell and got killed before I even got to see him.    I have the HSS setup.

Smart man!! As you get older, you realize you have other people depending on you to come home safely. 

[gutpile]

Want to hear a good one. And I swear its true. Fella I know is a safety nut!!!! Never climbs without the proper safety gear. Two years ago mid bowseason he goes up on a new spot with his climber. Finds a nice spot in the dark near corn and alfalfa fields. Sets his climber attaches his harness and up he goes. Just after sunup the wind picked up and he discovers he's setup in a DEAD F__ING tree. Tree starts to go over and he tries to jump for an old hay bale. Unfortunately he's hooked to the tree. Took a pretty good lick but ended up with only minor cuts and some dandy bruises. Now he checks the tree first.

[Core_Lokt]

When I'm in a single ladder stand or climber, I use one without a doubt.  If I'm in a double stand, It depends on the situation.  If Im in a platform stand of some kind, I don't generally use one.....

Hunters Safety Systems are the best!! ;D

Core_Lokt

[gutpile]

Hate to say this but I'm gonna anyway. Only a COMPLETE IDIOT would get up in any kind of stand without a safety harness.