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Safety practices before saddle?

B

beej32

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2017
Messages
279
I found the "how did you come into saddle hunting?" thread to be interesting. As a follow-up to that and based around some of the safety-related discussions that come up and what seem to be some common assumptions in those, I'm curious what folks' safety practices were like before they got into saddle hunting?

I hunted both hang-ons and ladder stands and always wore an HSS-style safety harness. For hang-ons, I always used a lineman's belt when hanging/removing my sticks and stands. Then once those were set, I rigged up an HSS lifeline and stayed attached to that the entire time I was off the ground. All the up-and-down and hassle with rigging these up was a big motivation for moving to a saddle.

For ladder stands, I'd rig up a tree strap and hook into it while on the stand, but I almost never used anything to protect against the fall when going up or down the ladder. The closest thing to a safety feature for that was having a hoist rope tied to the stand to keep both hands free, but it wasn't too atypical to climb with the bow in hand too.
 
beej32 said:
I found the "how did you come into saddle hunting?" thread to be interesting. As a follow-up to that and based around some of the safety-related discussions that come up and what seem to be some common assumptions in those, I'm curious what folks' safety practices were like before they got into saddle hunting?

I hunted both hang-ons and ladder stands and always wore an HSS-style safety harness. For hang-ons, I always used a lineman's belt when hanging/removing my sticks and stands. Then once those were set, I rigged up an HSS lifeline and stayed attached to that the entire time I was off the ground. All the up-and-down and hassle with rigging these up was a big motivation for moving to a saddle.

For ladder stands, I'd rig up a tree strap and hook into it while on the stand, but I almost never used anything to protect against the fall when going up or down the ladder. The closest thing to a safety feature for that was having a hoist rope tied to the stand to keep both hands free, but it wasn't too atypical to climb with the bow in hand too.
Click to expand...

I didn't start tree stand hunting until my early 20's. First few years were in a climber...no harness. A few more years of climber or hang-ons w/ no harness and no lineman belt. The four years or so prior to this last season I used a Gorilla harness in hangons and my climber, still no lineman's belt. I was never connected to the tree from ground to hunting height until converting to a saddle this last year. I'm a slow learner apparently...LOL!
 
Pre-saddle I mostly used a climber and I used a HSS harness when I got to height. Never used it while going up the tree which was dumb


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I’m seeing a theme here, me too! Early on growing up wood stands no safety system of any type. Then a climber, tether & strap in with the harness it came with (at hunting height). Then hang on & steps or sticks, no LB (looking back it’s crazy). Did have hss harness at height. Ladder stands hanging & hunted no harness. This past year, i started stand & sticks w/ LB all the way up & hss at height. Then transitioned to saddle & hooked all the way. I still can’t get over how much safer it feels ..........
 
When I was a kid we used to build stands by hanging off the tree with one hand and nailing with the other. Sometimes I would use an old seat belt from a car, sometimes I'd use nothing. Eventually the portable stands you could buy at cabelas would have cheap straps that you hook around the tree and then just over your head. I used that for a long time. I also used it to drag my deer out. For a year or so before I started saddle hunting I had a full HSS harness, but man that thing had a lot of noisy buckles on it. That was the first time I had a lineman's belt which was huge for setting up trees.
 
Nothing the first years of hang on stands. Got a harness and strap with a ladder stand and started using it. Upgraded my harness last year for ease of use and comfort and ascended an descended with climber, every time.
Nothing when hanging stands or climb/step off
By the sounds of it, I should fall in love with my new r/c and DIY sling, as well as lineman's belt , and won't be going back to those old ways!
 
20 years in a Summit Climber. I usually didn't hook up while climbing unless it was an exceptionally gnarly situation. Hooked up at the top. Used a vest style harness for about 12 years that probably would have killed me if I fell. Rock climbing harness for about 8 years. Never fell but fall factor is a bit of a concern in that system.

1 year using sticks/hang on with lineman's and RC harness. Stayed hooked up 100% but again fall factor is a concern whereas it isn't or shouldn't be with a properly used saddle. I still worry a little about falling with a lineman's belt while climbing. Not going to kill me but broken ribs seem likely.
 
I am much different than most. I only started deer hunting 3-4 years ago. Hunted mostly on the ground, tried a stand a couple of times but did not like it so went back to the ground. Both times had a harness that was attached after getting in the stand, once without any harness in a ladder stand. Then found out about the aero evolution through this site, bought it and now i i get all gitty around climbing gear.
Never will go back to a tree stand.
 
I started out standing on limbs. You only got to shoot one direction most times. Sometimes, we stood one wires strung between two trucks. Luxury was a boarded up stand. Your skill as a mobile hunter was often measured by your ability to free climb a tree. No steps. No sticks. Just your ability to shimmy to the first branch and pull yourself up. I don't miss those days but I smile when I think of them.

Then came portable hang on stands. Still no climbing method, but I got it up there. A couple years later I added a safety harness. Not for safety though. It was a simple waist loop that tethered to the tree. If I leaned on it, I could shoot 360 around the tree.

After that, many years of stands and a TL saddle. All had positives and negatives. Blew a lot of chances on good bucks with a ring of steps. I eventually sold the saddle and went to a stand and rock harness to shoot 360 from a tree stand. Big change in this period was having a mechanical climbing method.

Today, tree saddle and small platforms.

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I never used a safety harness until after I had a near fall in a climber that was “impossible” to fall out of. That was about 2000 and at the time I bought a belt with a d ring that had a funny adjustable clasp on the end. Then a few years later I had a full harness that came with a tree stand. A few years ago I bought a full body harness from muddy. I am much safer now but I’m not sure how anyone made it through screw in steps and hang on stands without anything.
 
I started out using a summit climber with summit seat of the pants harness and rope tether all the way up the tree. Then I transitioned to a rock climbing harness with climber once again rope tether all the way up the tree. About 2 years ago I started using a run and gun hangon/ sticks combo using the rock climbing harness and lineman's belt. I've been using the saddle and lineman's belt for almost a year now and I don't see myself going back. I have always tried to be as safe as I can be.
 
I started with 10' ladder stands and did nothing, No seat so I would stand.
My first climber was a Loggy Bayou I used nothing on the up and down but would do a tether to a belt.
Same with my summit climb on except with the bar all around I would often forget my harness.
I got the lone wolf with the hand climber seat and it was the same until I upgraded to the sit in climb - then I started to forget my safety harness and just pull the bar tight to my chest when I wanted to sleep.... all very stupid I know.
Turning over a new leaf now and putting safety first with the saddle, this style of hunting forces safety on to you, I think.
So much can happen if you forget something or forget a step in the system.
 
flinginairos said:
Pre-saddle I mostly used a climber and I used a HSS harness when I got to height. Never used it while going up the tree which was dumb


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Click to expand...
The only time I fell was in my climber. I was, at hunting height and hadn't put my hss strap on yet. I feel backwards off of my stand. Thankfully I was in a crotch and managed to catch myself on the other side of the crotch.

Always tied in now..... that scared the daylights out of me.



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I like this thread. It's brought back a lot of memories.
I started climbing trees as a little kid, years before I even hunted. We had large apple trees and we spent most of the summer climbing for apples and ate until our bellies ached. Our only fear was not being able to reach the next branch to climb higher. But we never even heard of safety in those days. No seatbelts, steel dashboards and we sat on our parent's lap, Childseats weren't even invented yet, no bicycle helmets, we played with knives, we had grape-vine Tarzan swings that flew out over cliffs. We all lived and seldom got injured.

When I started hunting with a bow in 1974, we just climbed a tree somewhere and stood on a branch. Hunting locations were dictated by wherever there was a tree that was climbable. If there was an abandoned wooden stand somewhere that nobody was using, we'd occasionally hunt from it but it was rare. Hunting from old wood stands was probably more dangerous than standing on a branch...trusting non-treated 2x4s nailed into growing trees is like a death wish.
My 1st decent buck was shot in 1983 while standing on a large white oak branch 8 feet off the ground...my 1st hunt from that tree. I'd just found that spot and I knew it was gold! I couldn't wait until the next season to hunt there. Over the winter, a storm blew down that oak. I was heart broken. I found another tree a few yards away and lashed a piece of plywood in a "Y". I shot my first P&Y buck that year from that piece of plywood.
I've pretty much been conditioned all my life to have no fear when it comes to climbing or heights.

I started using a Fox Squirrel climber around 1978 because I started realizing that I wanted to have more options than trying to stand on an available branch. I didn't own a harness and I never came close to falling in those days. And I spent a lot of hours in that stand.

Around 1980 we added those homemade wedge stands to our bag of tricks. We jammed them in "Y"s and lashed them in. I didn't own screw in steps so with the wedge stands, we were still limited to trees we could climb. Still no thought whatsoever of safety.
In the mid 80's I finally got my 1st hang on stand. A Screaming Eagle and screw-in EZ Climb steps. Wow, what a difference! I could now hunt just about anywhere that I chose to. Still, no harness or worries about falling.

Then in 1990, I was climbing into a nailed-in observation stand on my property to do some pruning, and when I got to 15 feet a step pulled out and I went hurling toward the ground...with loping shears in my hand. It was like slow motion. Every thought went through my mind simultaneously. I knew I was gonna get hurt but how bad?? Sprained ankle? Broken leg? Paralyzed? Dead? Would the loping shears end up in my lungs? All those thoughts happened in the time it took to hit the ground.
At the base of that tree was a spring. Soft mud, that I hit, feet 1st, at break-neck speed. I ended up almost knee deep in the muck. It held me from even being able to fall over. I expected the pain to start any second. But the pain never came. Not even the next day. No pain, not even a scratch. Talk about guardian angles!
The next day, I bought a harness and I don't hunt or hang stands without it. I do usually climb without it connected. Yeah, yeah I know...not the safest thing to do.

My Kestrel arrived the other day. I can't say that I'll never hunt from a hang-on stands again but I hope to convert mostly to saddle hunting.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
I like this thread. It's brought back a lot of memories.
I started climbing trees as a little kid, years before I even hunted. We had large apple trees and we spent most of the summer climbing for apples and ate until our bellies ached. Our only fear was not being able to reach the next branch to climb higher. But we never even heard of safety in those days. No seatbelts, steel dashboards and we sat on our parent's lap, Childseats weren't even invented yet, no bicycle helmets, we played with knives, we had grape-vine Tarzan swings that flew out over cliffs. We all lived and seldom got injured.

When I started hunting with a bow in 1974, we just climbed a tree somewhere and stood on a branch. Hunting locations were dictated by wherever there was a tree that was climbable. If there was an abandoned wooden stand somewhere that nobody was using, we'd occasionally hunt from it but it was rare. Hunting from old wood stands was probably more dangerous than standing on a branch...trusting non-treated 2x4s nailed into growing trees is like a death wish.
My 1st decent buck was shot in 1983 while standing on a large white oak branch 8 feet off the ground...my 1st hunt from that tree. I'd just found that spot and I knew it was gold! I couldn't wait until the next season to hunt there. Over the winter, a storm blew down that oak. I was heart broken. I found another tree a few yards away and lashed a piece of plywood in a "Y". I shot my first P&Y buck that year from that piece of plywood.
I've pretty much been conditioned all my life to have no fear when it comes to climbing or heights.

I started using a Fox Squirrel climber around 1978 because I started realizing that I wanted to have more options than trying to stand on an available branch. I didn't own a harness and I never came close to falling in those days. And I spent a lot of hours in that stand.

Around 1980 we added those homemade wedge stands to our bag of tricks. We jammed them in "Y"s and lashed them in. I didn't own screw in steps so with the wedge stands, we were still limited to trees we could climb. Still no thought whatsoever of safety.
In the mid 80's I finally got my 1st hang on stand. A Screaming Eagle and screw-in EZ Climb steps. Wow, what a difference! I could now hunt just about anywhere that I chose to. Still, no harness or worries about falling.

Then in 1990, I was climbing into a nailed-in observation stand on my property to do some pruning, and when I got to 15 feet a step pulled out and I went hurling toward the ground...with loping shears in my hand. It was like slow motion. Every thought went through my mind simultaneously. I knew I was gonna get hurt but how bad?? Sprained ankle? Broken leg? Paralyzed? Dead? Would the loping shears end up in my lungs? All those thoughts happened in the time it took to hit the ground.
At the base of that tree was a spring. Soft mud, that I hit, feet 1st, at break-neck speed. I ended up almost knee deep in the muck. It held me from even being able to fall over. I expected the pain to start any second. But the pain never came. Not even the next day. No pain, not even a scratch. Talk about guardian angles!
The next day, I bought a harness and I don't hunt or hang stands without it. I do usually climb without it connected. Yeah, yeah I know...not the safest thing to do.

My Kestrel arrived the other day. I can't say that I'll never hunt from a hang-on stands again but I hope to convert mostly to saddle hunting.
Click to expand...
Wow, reading that I felt like I was re-living my own history. Started bowhunting in the mid 70's. No such thing as a treestand in those days, at least not that I was aware of. In fact, here in Michigan, hunting from an elevated stand hadn't been legal very long even for bowhunters. As you said, we just found a climbable tree and stood on a branch. No thought of any type of safety device. Sit times were limited to about 1-2 hours because that was about as long as you could stand on a branch with your foot wedged into the base of it. Shot one of my first bucks actually leaning out from the tree bracing myself from falling with my forehead pressed against another branch at head height.

I also have never had much of a fear of heights even though I've taken several significant falls, luckily I was never seriously injured. I remember when I was around 19 I fell from high in a white pine when the branch I was standing on gave way about 30 minutes into the hunt. I fell along the trunk clearing the branches off that side of the tree as I fell. As you described it seems to take forever to hit the ground. as that adrenaline kicks in the world seems to come to a stop. I distinctly remember thinking "this is really gonna hurt" about 5 times before I actually hit the ground. I was right . . . it did hurt but I was not really injured. The worst part was, after finally getting to my feet, discovering that my bow was still hanging in the tree. I had to climb back up to retrieve it.

In the early 80's I saw a Baker treestand and decided to make a DIY version. It was rickety and unstable but better than standing on a branch and I hunted standing on it for many years before moving to commercial lock-on style stands. Still no safety devices until probably around the 2000-2005 time frame. When I'm sitting in lock-on style stands I feel like I am naturally being pitched away from the tree so i started wearing a harness for those. Around 2005 I started hunting from Summit climbers and I must admit I'm still guilty of not using a safety harness from my Summit climber when I use it but I feel pretty secure in it, even though I have had a couple of close calls in them as well. Been hunting primarily from a saddle, first the Aero Evo and now the Kestrel for 3 years and have never felt more secure in the tree.
 
In the climber, tether once about 10’ up and till hunting height.

Hang on and ladders, usually nothing till actually up at the stand because I was dumb like that. I would tether in before climbing into the stand though since that’s when most falls happen. Don’t mean I shouldn’t of had a lifeline going up.

Sometimes I still chance where I probably shouldn’t but I’m a lot more careful since becoming a dad. The saddle is a huge step in the right direction as far as safety is concerned.


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