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Safety input needed- routing secondary bridge behind back when using saddle in a stand

thedutchtouch

thedutchtouch

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Ok, likely a huge can of worms here's but I have a question for the hybrid crowd and those with a good grasp of elevated safety- if hunting out of a stand while wearing a saddle, what are your thoughts on attaching a secondary bridge or using a lineman belt or something similar but having it go behind your back to attach to tether rather than using the primary bridge in front of you/tether over a shoulder.

I realize the best thing to do in a stand is likely to wear the traditional safety harness that attaches at your upper back, but any thoughts on why this might be a good or bad idea for the times you're saddle hunting from a stand? Use primary bridge when facing the tree, back bridge when seated/hunting from stand facing away from tree?

Perhaps there's an increased risk of going inverted when you fall and the tether is on the tree side rather than pinning you in between it and the tree, or some other factors that aren't coming to mind right away, but it seems like this might make it a heck of a lot easier to maneuver in the stand, at ?minimal? Safety compromise?
 
I personally just hunt out of the saddle normally, facing the tree, but I do put a little more slack in my tether which allows me to sit on the seat if I need to. But I don’t really need to. I flip the cushion to the bottom of the seat, flip the seat up, and rest my knees on the cushion if I want to sit.
I have used my LB behind my back in the stand before and I can’t say it felt the safest. I’m not the one to tell you it is or isn’t. I didn’t much like it though. A lower, looser tether worked just fine for me and I’ve killed two deer out of that setup (not that that means much).
Maybe check out the Tactisaddle TBW Treestand Saddle? Jason Samkowiak has many videos using his with a tether both in front and behind. Even if you don’t buy one you could brainstorm something.
 
Overcomplicated. As a hybrid guy, I did some of my own fall-factor calculations and ground-level testing getting comfortable with it. I spent a time in my life doing some climbing both trees and rocks. I'm not saying I'm an expert but I like to think I have enough common sense not to die doing this and I have no hesitation with the way I do hybrid mode.

First off I despise the rear-attachment fall restraint. The whole theory of that spans from OSHA standards predicated on being rescued by another party. I'm relying on no other parties out there, so that's out for me from the get-go and has been since circa 2006 when I started waking up about some of this stuff and doing my own research, at the same time I was being exposed to the superiority of climbing gear

Onto hybrid mode, I don't know how much you've tried it, but it doesn't take much slack to convert from saddle mode to treestand mode. 1-2 feet max. Keep your tether high, and stay tight to the tree. Dip your shoulder under the tether. If your tether is high enough where it should be, it's a non-factor imo. Even when I turn around and manuever into treestand mode, I still have tension on my tether, and if not much, it's close, and I can still access all the maneuverability into weakside shots which is a saddle mode downside. Maybe some guys are letting out 3-4 feet of slack, but it's not necessary. A little goes a long way here.
 
Makes sense. I haven't tried hybrid at all really, have stood backwards a bit on my mission platform but a reasonably priced .5 in the classifieds got me thinking, which led to this tangent. Good call on the self-rescue impacts, that's likely a bigger piece than I was giving it credit for, and negates and on-stand ease of use.
 
If you were connected by a secondary bridge running behind your back, I feel like you would tip forward like a tea kettle and all your weight would be on the waist belt, if you didn't tip forward than your leg straps would bear the brunt of the load. If those components aren't load rated you're probably taking a swan dive. If they are you are hanging with 1" straps cutting into your groin and lower abdomen, while facing away from anything solid to self rescue with.
 
The way I’ve been doing it is not putting the tether behind my back, but up over my shoulder if I sit down in the stand. Same principle as how the saddle guys turn around on the platform facing away from the tree for a shot and the tether is up over their shoulder tensioned holding them to the tree. Same thing, except I’m sitting down in the stand. In fact I even cinch up the prusik knot so it’s still a little tensioned up on me while sitting there. If I stand up I slide the prusik out a little so I’m still tensioned over my shoulder while standing. If I want to go back to traditional saddle mode, I just turn around and face the tree and cinch the tether up a bit until it’s comfortable. Works great for me.
 
krub6b said:
If you were connected by a secondary bridge running behind your back, I feel like you would tip forward like a tea kettle and all your weight would be on the waist belt, if you didn't tip forward than your leg straps would bear the brunt of the load. If those components aren't load rated you're probably taking a swan dive. If they are you are hanging with 1" straps cutting into your groin and lower abdomen, while facing away from anything solid to self rescue with.
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I agree with all of this. Running a secondary bridge behind your back is not the way saddles are designed to support weight and is not safe at all IMO due to the reasons you stated.

When I’ve done my saddle in the stand I connect my tether and bridge like normal, facing the tree. Then spin and sit so the tether goes up over my shoulder. You can keep slack out and if you fall then you should get spun to face the tree.
 
krub6b said:
If you were connected by a secondary bridge running behind your back, I feel like you would tip forward like a tea kettle and all your weight would be on the waist belt, if you didn't tip forward than your leg straps would bear the brunt of the load. If those components aren't load rated you're probably taking a swan dive. If they are you are hanging with 1" straps cutting into your groin and lower abdomen, while facing away from anything solid to self rescue with.
Click to expand...
Correct

Acceptable attachment points for life safety are ventral, dorsal or sternal. Nothing else.

Having redundant connections on the front of your body is 100% acceptable and how rope access techs operate. Hanging by your dorsal limits self rescue,

I personally use two bridges on my hunting saddle. My second bridge is used when doing rope to rope transfers. Like if I climb up on one line, but transfer over to a secondary (more permanent) line.
 
Btw. I think the traditional full body harness is great for ladder stands. It shouldn't be too difficult to access the ladder, should you fall off
 
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