It's a wonderful time to be a saddle hunter. New toys, new ideas, and a lot of new blood. Lots of people are getting those spiffy new mantises (manti?) and kestrels.
Any time you up the user base of a product, you increase the likelihood that somebody is going to get hurt. What we do is intrinsically dangerous. Gravity never takes a break, and the whole point of choosing to hunt the way we do is to get off the beaten path. Cell providers and first responders have a hard time getting in those places.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not the most safety-conscious individual, and believe in a caveat-emptor world. But every time you hang you are putting yourself in a life-or-death scenario. That should give you pause.
I've seen a few posts that give me anxiety this week. Folks hanging from stuff that isn't safe to hang from. I dont want to call anybody out, and there's no need to since we've got good-hearted members that let the "offenders" know that what they were doing wasn't kosher.
I just want to urge everybody to be safe. Buy good gear. Use it within its design parameters. Ask questions. Try everything at ground level. Inspect your gear. Inspect your tree. Let folks know where you're hunting. Don't buy gear that "should" work to save a buck.
And if you see something, say something! No need to be a jerk about it. Just let folks know if you see something that's outside SOP, and give them the rationale behind it.
I hate to be the Grim Reaper, but somebody is going to die. It's just a fact. If enough people start saddle hunting, somebody is going to take a fall. Maybe it'll be negligence on their part. Maybe it'll be a manufacturer's defect. Maybe it'll be an act of God.
I know that nobody wants to log in one day and read that one of their buddies isn't going to posting anymore, and have to live with the thought that maybe we could have prevented it.
Be safe.
Any time you up the user base of a product, you increase the likelihood that somebody is going to get hurt. What we do is intrinsically dangerous. Gravity never takes a break, and the whole point of choosing to hunt the way we do is to get off the beaten path. Cell providers and first responders have a hard time getting in those places.
I'll be the first to admit that I am not the most safety-conscious individual, and believe in a caveat-emptor world. But every time you hang you are putting yourself in a life-or-death scenario. That should give you pause.
I've seen a few posts that give me anxiety this week. Folks hanging from stuff that isn't safe to hang from. I dont want to call anybody out, and there's no need to since we've got good-hearted members that let the "offenders" know that what they were doing wasn't kosher.
I just want to urge everybody to be safe. Buy good gear. Use it within its design parameters. Ask questions. Try everything at ground level. Inspect your gear. Inspect your tree. Let folks know where you're hunting. Don't buy gear that "should" work to save a buck.
And if you see something, say something! No need to be a jerk about it. Just let folks know if you see something that's outside SOP, and give them the rationale behind it.
I hate to be the Grim Reaper, but somebody is going to die. It's just a fact. If enough people start saddle hunting, somebody is going to take a fall. Maybe it'll be negligence on their part. Maybe it'll be a manufacturer's defect. Maybe it'll be an act of God.
I know that nobody wants to log in one day and read that one of their buddies isn't going to posting anymore, and have to live with the thought that maybe we could have prevented it.
Be safe.