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Safety of Saddle vs. Tree Stands

Why does everyone conflate climbing a tree with hanging from one in a saddle?

How did they preset the lifeline?

I used a linemans belt to climb a tree and set my hangon.

Using a rock climbing harness(which should really just be rebranded climbing harness - they’d make more money) or a saddle to climb a tree has the potential to be safer than climbing with a standard five point Harness if you’re hunting alone.

once hanging from a tree or sitting in a stand, the same thing applies. Potential.

you’ll burn a lot of brain juice crunching numbers to come up with a useful way to quantify the differences. Any good reason why you’d want to?
 
kyler1945 said:
Why does everyone conflate climbing a tree with hanging from one in a saddle?

How did they preset the lifeline?

I used a linemans belt to climb a tree and set my hangon.

Using a rock climbing harness(which should really just be rebranded climbing harness - they’d make more money) or a saddle to climb a tree has the potential to be safer than climbing with a standard five point Harness if you’re hunting alone.

once hanging from a tree or sitting in a stand, the same thing applies. Potential.

you’ll burn a lot of brain juice crunching numbers to come up with a useful way to quantify the differences. Any good reason why you’d want to?
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Maybe I'm in the minority here but personally, in 40+ years of hunting from trees prior to hunting from a saddle I almost never bothered to use any sort of safety harness. I tried . . . I even asked for a high end harness (and received it) for Christmas one year. I wore it maybe 5 times. Just never caught on with me. In the saddle I have no choice but to be tied in.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Maybe I'm in the minority here but personally, in 40+ years of hunting from trees prior to hunting from a saddle I almost never bothered to use any sort of safety harness. I tried . . . I even asked for a high end harness (and received it) for Christmas one year. I wore it maybe 5 times. Just never caught on with me. In the saddle I have no choice but to be tied in.
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Same here only difference 30+ years, I agree 100%
 
@boyne bowhunter & @Topdog really nailed it I wasn’t always reckless with my run & gun setup. But I know countless times I’d unhook & do a few things before transitioning to my sticks & rarely used my LB coming down. Looking back that was crazy! Like @kyler1945 said it’s probably not worth the mental energy as to which is actually safer. When I switched to saddle hunting I just read like crazy & did my best to adopt a safe repeatable system. Not sure it was the saddle or the study of the craft but something clicked & I have zero desire to hunt elevated another way & if someone feels the opposite that’s cool too!
 
I would say the potential for safety is equal. In the event you fall and are left hanging the saddle is much less likely to kill you from suspension trauma than a safety harness.
 
I think what hunters should consider is the self rescue aspect of their hunting style. I have moved to a saddle mainly for safety and self rescue. For many years 90% of my hunts were from a climber. Every year I stressed over how to self rescue if my stand broke twenty feet off the ground. Hanging from a safety harness and self rescue from a climber seemed quite impossible. I then moved to a rock climbing harness and that solved the hanging from your back and suspension relief. But, I was still faced with the dilemma on how to self rescue. I envisioned myself cutting myself from my tether and bear hugging the tree to the ground. Its been a long journey to a saddle, but I don't have that safety concern anymore. I have adopted a one stick climbing method with a rappel rope as my tether. At any point, during the climb or during the hunt I can just lower myself to the ground. I'm relatively slow with my new method, but I now can self rescue without the help of others. That is the most important aspect to someone who hunts alone at an advanced age.
 
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i was one of those knuckle headed potlickers that wouldn't use a safety harness. I think saddle hunting is safer from the 1yrs i have been doing it. I hunt private property and I SRT climb. and i climb 1.5-2xs higher than when i hunted out of my 15ft LS, and i feel 1000% more secure than the few time i had a harness on. Plus i am more comfortable. and the other BIG + is i bring my saddle home every night and inspect it. I know of a guy that always used his harness when he would get to hunting height. well one unfortunate morning of archery, he went to a different LS than he normal uses, the feet platform had broken bolt he didnt know about and laid paralyized from the waist down for 14hrs till he was found.
 
Hate to admit it but I climbed with climbers and used hang on’s up until I was 49 yrs old. I didn’t even know what a lineman’s belt was. Out of 1000’s of sits I'm sure you could count on one hand the amount of time I used a harness. Pure ignorance at its finest. My idea of safety equipment was making sure there was a rope or bungee between the top and bottom of the climber. Saddle hunting has truly helped me to become a safe hunter 200 fold.
 
I think the difference is that with a saddle it's a necessity to be tethered in. Otherwise you'd just be balancing on a tiny platform. That's assuming you're using a platform and not a ROS or something. You could still technically get up the tree without a lineman's belt but you are already wearing the saddle that has lineman's loops. Compared to climbing into a treestand, where someone not wearing a harness obviously isn't going to be using a lineman's belt either. I would argue that a ladder stand with a lifeline and harnesses is probably the safest setup.
 
To me the safety difference is when you are set up. In a traditional stand once you stand up there is likely slack in the line. If you fall to the off side of your sticks and you're too low to get in the stand you're stuck. Also in the heat of the moment you lean just a little too far and suddenly you're hanging. The other thing is the harness is attached from the back so now you're hanging facing away from the tree. Now with a saddle once you are tethered in you really can't fall. Sure you might lean around the tree too far but you can just face the tree and swing back to the platform.
Like others have said I also feel much safer in the saddle. I will admit, I have a reasonable dislike of heights. In a tree stand when I didn't feel something holding me in, my heart would start thumping. Worst part is that was at 10'. Now in the saddle I'm up at 20' swinging around like a chubby monkey without a care in the world :laughing:
 
larasea said:
30 feet of rope girth hitched around the tree at hunting height. Prusik knot and carabiner on the lifeline and attached to your safety harness.
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i know what a lifeline is.

I’m asking how you hang a lifeline.

It’s a rhetorical question...
 
Ive got a lifeline and a ladder stick still in a black oak that I preset last summer (pre-saddle) I climbed that tree with nothing, hanging the ladder stick sections and trimming limbs as I went, wrapping one leg around the tree to hold on. Yesterday I discovered that the tree had the top blown out at some point since then and is brown crunchy dead. It’s about 8 inches in diameter at the base. It puckered me up standing at the bottom looking up figuring out how to get my stuff down. I’m thinking I’m just going to wait for it to fall and get everything that survives then. Thanks SH, now I’m scared to climb dead trees, lol. Seriously though I have a 3 yr old that will be glad that I now think about this kind of stuff.
 
kyler1945 said:
i know what a lifeline is.

I’m asking how you hang a lifeline.

It’s a rhetorical question...
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You can wrap it around the base of the tree and move it up as you climb (sort of like one-sticking), or you can climb up with a linemen’s belt and hang it at height. Both are no less safe than climbing with a saddle, Mr. Smarty Britches.
 
DB4x4 said:
In my opinion, saddles and RCHs give you a better chance to self rescue, whereas with a typical treestand style safety harness, it is much more difficult. You are essentially a kitten being held by the scruff of its neck. If self rescue is not possible, you are then relying on others to help. Will there be adequate cell service? Will you even have your phone on you? If not, you are relying on someone realizing you are missing AND knowing where to find you.

Oh, and if self rescue in a treestand style harness is not possible, you had better have some sort of suspension relief on hand and know how to use it properly. If not, you have 20-30 minutes before you succumb to suspension trauma. If you don't know what that is, look it up ASAP.
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I have a harness at work.....suspension relief is attached. I'm trained on the use of my harness and what 20 minutes in a harness without relief will cause. Safe saddle use.....a must of course....is absolutely safe when it comes to self rescue if a slip or fall happens and hanging from your rear cause less body stress in such an event. Yes saddles are safer in alot of climbing and hunting scenarios.
 
I am exactly the same I was with saddle as I was with a lock on. And too me I don’t consider a lineman belt being attached to the tree. It’s a point of contact but if my feet come out from under me, it will not he fun. I want die but I will he scratched up pretty good and may even break a bone. And I don’t attach to the tree till I have set the top stick and I am standing on it with a teether.
 
bj139 said:
Maybe because of the rise in one sticking and SRT and DRT.
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I one stick climbed with my rock climbing harness before I found saddles.

and if I were hunting out of a hangon, and wanted to do srt I’d use the rock harness I was using before I found saddles.

two separate pieces of a hunt. It’s what will get saddle companies sued in my opinion.
 
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