• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Saddle Death… Stay safe out there.

elk yinzer said:
Dude died practicing it's a good reminder to know your capabilities imo. Not to be too harsh or make assumptions about this tragedy but I see way too much sketchy stuff.
Click to expand...
True. I should have said to practice safely. I am making an assumption that this was an avoidable mistake had he practiced low to the ground before climbing. Reasonable that that assumption may be false, but also reasonable it may be correct
 
Very sad for the family of this man. We should all take note and consider what we are able to do to remedy an inadvertent inversion. Some of us older hunters should do everything possible to avoid it in the first place. I've been on several rescue calls where an occupant of an overturned vehicle had no serious injuries but died from being suspended upside down and held by the seatbelt. Often from oxygen starvation, but also from ruptured blood vessels in the head and neck. Please use this tragedy in a positive instructional manner to honor this man.
 
Prayers and condolences for the family. This is a truly sad event. Not knowing the details but I almost have to believe he got tangled somehow.

I can say that I have been inverted a lot in my saddle. In fact I have some recurring sciatic nerve issues and I have a rope hanging in my basement I will sometimes hang from in my saddle and invert on purpose to stretch out my back and relieve the pressure. Its pretty easy for me to right myself as the bridge is still within reach at waist height and I can grasp it and "climb" up it to my tether. I'm an out of shape, overweight old guy and I have no problems righting myself. Now that said I have never banged my head or injured myself from the inversion.

I have however been embarrassingly hung up at low height twice with my feet caught in long aiders after a kickout. Bending the knee only drops the aider loop further onto the foot and stretching the leg tightens the aider to the bottom of the foot. Both times I barely managed to free myself but it took long enough that I considered yelling for assistance and had to fight the panic attack that goes along with being trapped. At height the scare factor would become even greater. This is the main reason I refuse to use multi-step aiders any more.
 
First. Very sad. Praying for his family and him.
My thoughts are his feet had to be tangled in something. I am going to try being up side down here at some point. Seems like up side down you would slide out of your saddle? Or did he slide out and get Tangled? Lots of questions. May never know the answer.
Let's all be safe out there.
 
MattMan81 said:
First. Very sad. Praying for his family and him.
My thoughts are his feet had to be tangled in something. I am going to try being up side down here at some point. Seems like up side down you would slide out of your saddle? Or did he slide out and get Tangled? Lots of questions. May never know the answer.
Let's all be safe out there.
Click to expand...

if your waist band is reasonably tight, you'll stay in the saddle if you go upside down

the bridge pulls in and grabs you a bit, still a good idea to keep your belt over your hip bones and tight enough to hold you.....this is tougher with multiple layers as you can slip inside your own clothes

i've hung in my saddle with the tether on a swing set and hung upside down just to see what it was like, i never thought i might come out
 
If it was JRB climbing and his top hitches were not tied correctly or slipped, they could have dropped him to the Garda foot loop which can not be moved whatsoever under any tension. This could have resulted In him flying backwards and his legs going up and tangling in the Garda since he would be standing in it in the first place. If his legs were tangled and he wasn’t able to get slack since everything was bunched at the Garda I could easily see that being a scenario that you could not get out of without cutting yourself down.

I have had a miniature version of this happen while testing out certain cord combos on JRB. I was able to get untangle but it wasn’t easy. If you can’t get your hitches to catch in between progressions and you sit down to weight then not knowing. You’re going fit a ride down unless you can quickly grace the rope.
 
raisins said:
if your waist band is reasonably tight, you'll stay in the saddle if you go upside down

the bridge pulls in and grabs you a bit, still a good idea to keep your belt over your hip bones and tight enough to hold you.....this is tougher with multiple layers as you can slip inside your own clothes
Click to expand...

This is what worries me about my Recon with a bungee belt mod. I have no illusions that it is going to hold me in the saddle if I end up inverted. For the record I still have the leg loops on it but just because they make me feel better about it.
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
This is what worries me about my Recon with a bungee belt mod. I have no illusions that it is going to hold me in the saddle if I end up inverted. For the record I still have the leg loops on it but just because they make me feel better about it.
Click to expand...
I think that is a legitimate concern about sling style saddles since the waist band for most (perhaps all) designs has to be loose.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
Truly sad, for his family my prayers go out to them! It’s tough to imagine a scenario where his saddle was in the correct position & he could alert someone but not right himself. But being tangled in his climbing method or saddle slid towards feet when inverted would achieve this. Stay safe people don’t over estimate your abilities or chase weight savings but sacrificing safety. Double check your gear & become intimately familiar with your system. Anytime you leave the ground there’s a lot of inherited risk.
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
This is what worries me about my Recon with a bungee belt mod. I have no illusions that it is going to hold me in the saddle if I end up inverted. For the record I still have the leg loops on it but just because they make me feel better about it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I never understood that mod. You’re replacing the main safety feature with a literal bungee cord.
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
Well the original belt doesn’t work so it’s either that or no belt at all. Try climbing a tree in a saddle with no waist belt, lol.
Click to expand...
Off topic, serious question, but what does “the original belt doesn’t work” mean… I hunted the Recon half a dozen times before I had heard of the bungee mod. Now what I do is loosen the belt just a tad and let the bungee guarantee everything stays snug.
 
Red Beard said:
Very sad. May God comfort Dane's family.

I wonder if wearing a backband would have helped him not go inverted.
Click to expand...
I think it would have helped as it works similar to a chest harness, but have you ever climbing or descended with your back band on? It’s a PIA
 
enkriss said:
View attachment 71336
Click to expand...
That s
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
Well the original belt doesn’t work so it’s either that or no belt at all. Try climbing a tree in a saddle with no waist belt, lol.
Click to expand...
I used the recon for several years with the original speed buckle, no problem. I eventually did put a cobra buckle on it though. It allowed me to loosen it when sitting and the bridge to spread without the worry that it would fall off...
 
sweats said:
I think that is a legitimate concern about sling style saddles since the waist band for most (perhaps all) designs has to be loose.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
My waist belt stays tight all the time and is designed to stay above my hips where it belongs. I can’t imagine not having a good tight waist belt. I watch videos where guys mention they loosen their waist belt and slide the saddle down some for sitting comfort and it makes me cringe.
 
neonomad said:
Off topic, serious question, but what does “the original belt doesn’t work” mean… I hunted the Recon half a dozen times before I had heard of the bungee mod. Now what I do is loosen the belt just a tad and let the bungee guarantee everything stays snug.
Click to expand...
I think we are talking about the scenario where you end up inverted. You have to loosen the stock belt on the Recon so the sling expands when you sit in it. If you were to invert, the loosened belt is not likely to stop you from sliding out. I will have to check mine, but I believe the plates on the stock belt are plastic so even if it was snug, it may not be strong enough anyway.

Obviously, the bungee belt wouldn't hold you inverted.

For climbing methods that alternate between being weighted and unweighted (2TC, one sticking, SRT, etc.), the stock belt won't hold the saddle up once loosened, so that's another scenario where the stock belt doesn't really work.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top