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Citation for saddle not meeting full body harness requirements.

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Kenbama

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Has anyone ever been issued a citation for saddle not meeting full body harness requirement? Does any state have any amendments or exceptions for saddle hunters? Due to the increasing numbers of saddle hunters we may see legislation addressing saddle hunting. Hunter Safety training in Alabama addressed tree stands there is no mention of saddles at this time.
 
Some states require full body harness which would require shoulder straps on saddles. I know a few guys that talked about using regular suspenders for the appearance of full body harness. I have never heard of anyone getting an actual citation for it though


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I don’t think it’ll be too much of an issue as long as some of these extreme DIY guys don’t hurt themselves. Laws will change in time with the growing popularity. I would take it or court and argue that it meets a similar safety level of arborists. If a lot of guys hurt or kill themselves using DIY equipment then I could see future laws that require whatever harness and equipment used is commercially made and tested to a certain standard.

I say this as a DIY guy myself, but I’m a rope ops tech certified and trained with my fire department. There are plenty of smart guys on this site and plenty more knowledgeable than me. But I think we’ve all seen some guys that are downright scary, don’t even know any basic knots and seem to have little common sense or hunting experience. I don’t want to see anyone hurt but I think it’s inevitable. I don’t think this style of hunting is well suited for certain people, until they build some experience and knowledge.


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Take a video upside down trying to fall out of the saddle. Use it as evidence. I tried in my diy saddle and was unable to.

I feel way safer in my saddle than any other safety harness I have ever owned.

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Sadly I am not surprised. I'm amazed at the anti-hunting approach the game commissions seem to have. Examples being all the excessive laws and more and more antler restrictions and additional licenses/tags/stamps etc. It is as if their unofficial objective is to actually prevent hunting.
 
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Harnesses are recommended gear, not required in DE. We’re pretty into letting people do what they want with their safety lol. That said, it’s illegal (and probably not hyper smart anyway) to wear red, white, or blue while turkey hunting, so anything is possible.
 
Wasp said:
Sadly I am not surprised. I'm amazed at the anti-hunting approach the game commissions seem to have. Examples being all the excessive laws and more and more antler restrictions and additional licenses/tags/stamps etc. It is as if their unofficial objective is to actually prevent hunting.
Click to expand...

They removed antler/point restrictions here. Now if you see a 6ptr its a miracle.


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It’s coming. Rules state full body harness on national forest and maybe state land. With the popularity of saddles they are gonna have to get more specific if they allow it. Think I even read tma approved harnesses. So you can count on specific rules coming. It’s up the law enforcement how they will execute the tma approved harnesses if you are questioned today. I predict quite a few accidents this year. It will put the spot light on us. Good luck. Be safe and set a good example for saddle hunters.
 
The game commission looks to TMA as the be all authority on fall protection. Not arborists or rock climbers...nah what do those folks know about fall prevention. Matter of fact, if I were one of these descender/fall arrest systems, my first call would be to a game commission and offer up a few speaking fees at local hunting shows and sponsored events. Couple of these fees and boom your product just got written into the legal requirements.
 
My Flex saddle weights less than the HSS harness I use with a tree stand. Many times I had on my harness but was not tied off 100% of the time. With the saddle it's not a option not to be tied off. The accidents that get reported will be mostly likely be during the climb to hunting height. If not clearly reported the saddle will get the blame.
 
Never heard of such a thing!
Tree saddle hunting us the safest way Ive ever hunted frim an elevated position. When i first started 2nd season saddlehunting i had 2 screw in steps pull out of a rotten spot in the tree on a preset and i dropped aprox4 feet but my linesman belt did its job and i just screwed in 2 more steps and kept on with my hunt. I haven't ever had any worries in a saddle. The first time climbing at the beginning of the season ( yesterday) is always the sketchiest but once tied off it's all good for the rest of the season.. The lawmakers are sure to be ignorant about treesaddles ( like most everyone else) and making restrictions to be "tied off" in a harness really shouldnt apply to us saddle hunters. We hunt with the safest tree system out there!! Id fight any ticket they tried to give in court!
On a side note: my T.L saddle has an lanyard loop in the back so it can be used as an harness lol.
 
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This was one of my concerns before I made my purchase of my saddle. I talked to a couple different officers about it here in north Alabama, and was told from both of them it would be fine. One was for Swan Creek WMA and the other was from Wheeler Wildlife Refuge.
 
Good gracious our forefathers would be pulling their hair out if they saw the amount of current government oversight/intrusion into our personal freedoms and liberties, this being one small possibility (hypothetically speaking of course). What a mess we are in that we even have to consider this conversation...
 
tree_ghost said:
Good gracious our forefathers would be pulling their hair out if they saw the amount of current government oversight/intrusion into our personal freedoms and liberties, this being one small possibility (hypothetically speaking of course). What a mess we are in that we even have to consider this conversation...
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I am of the opinion that wearing a seatbelt in an automobile should be an Individual Safety Right. If I am foolish enough to risk doing a Superman through the windshield it should my business. When Insurance Companies get their Lobbies involved we have seatbelts, airbags, and sensors all around the automobile. Now a vehicle that should cost 18,000 is now 35K+. As long as the Headlines don’t read “Suicide by Saddle” we may stay under their radar.
 
Kenbama said:
I am of the opinion that wearing a seatbelt in an automobile should be an Individual Safety Right. If I am foolish enough to risk doing a Superman through the windshield it should my business. When Insurance Companies get their Lobbies involved we have seatbelts, airbags, and sensors all around the automobile. Now a vehicle that should cost 18,000 is now 35K+. As long as the Headlines don’t read “Suicide by Saddle” we may stay under their radar.
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It's probably because paramedics got sick of picking up dead people(children also) off the road that smashed through windshields when they could have easily been saved by a strap. There's a reason why you can't put an outlet in your bathtub and build a porch off your house without an inspection. There's a reason you can't build treehouse blinds on public land anymore, because dummies will leave them and they'll collapse on someone. It's like why they put the "careful hot" thing on your McDonald's coffee, someone burned themselves on it and sued. Just the world we live in.
 
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