Looking for input, Tree stands

G

Gbro

New member
Will be doing a tree stand safety station at our annual MN Deer Hunters Assoc. Youth Day on Aug 11th.
I have some Manufacture safety video's, and access to most popular portable stands.
I am in contact with a local victim of a deer stand accident (paraplegic).
I have been involved in Hunters education for over 20 years.

I would like to hear "Your" story's and suggestions on stand safety.
I will have 8 groups of 12-14 youngsters 10-18 years old and lots of parents listening in. i will have 50-55 min. with each group.
I am also hoping to get the key note address, as the stand safety station is new to this youth day.

Thank you
 
Treestand safety

Remind people that if they remove the tether between the two climbing halves of their treestand to replace it with a longer one. personally have done this to get larger steps up and down the tree, but if they only remove the short tether rope you could possibly lose the standing platform. I would tell them to be sure to replace it with a longer one. also add a bungee cord to footstraps so the standing platform is secure enough to stay on feet even fully disingaged from the tree. IMO
 
Safety harnesses are your friend!

Once I got my climbing stand to the 20 foot mark and turned around to sit down. When I did the top half of the stand skidded down the tree (wasn't seated good in the slick bark) I almost fell and may have had I not been harnessed. The top half of the stand got stopped by the bottom half and I got stopped by the harness. Took a bit of creative gymnastics to get everything back where it was supposed to be.



(almost took a change of underwear for me to complete the hunt too)
 
Also when climbing screw in steps or ladder type steps they should keep three points of contact to the tree at all times and should have a climbing type harness on.
 
Harness has saved my bacon before. Also in that incident, I would have been screwed without the string (tether) tying the top of a climbing stand to the bottom part, as the bottom part was left hanging when the cotter pin came out: So, to summarize, these are important/imperative:

1. Use a harness, use a harness, use a harness - always, with a climbing or strap-on stand. And obviously, use the harness on the way up and the way down as well - not just when you're up in the stand. The time most prone to falling is moving up or down, or getting into out out of the stand, in the case of a strap-on stand. Once you get above 5-6 feet off the ground, the harness needs to be around the tree.

2. With a climber, tie top to bottom.

3. Carry a spare cotter pin (of course, with a locking mechanism of some sort) in your fanny pack or pocket (I didn't have a spare, but I made my field repair by substituting a little screw-in tree gear hanger hook as my "cotter pin" for securing the cable on the bottom of the climbing stand, to get down).

4. Carry a cell phone on you if you have a signal at all where you hunt.

5. Wouldn't hurt to carry a whistle too, preferably around your neck.

6. Let your buddies know at least approximately where you are going to be hunting with your climber (and when).

7. Carry a knife so that you can cut yourself out of the harness if necessary. Falling to the ground and risking injury that way is better than hanging there freezing to death. Knife needs to be accessible, so something like a kneck knife or sheathed belt fixed blade is preferred.

8. If you're clumsy and/or out of shape, you might want to just use a blind and forget about the tree stand. Safety first.

9. Replace all nylon straps at LEAST every 2 years (every other year), but if you have a lot of wind and rain, then every year is preferable.

As tragic as it is, if you could get your parapalegic victim acquaintance on video to present to the kids, that would help drive the point home a lot - something like a recorded video statement if possible. If not, then a picture of him in his wheelchair along with a written statement from him would help. May his suffering help others avoid suffering.
 
Thank you for the input;
I would never suggest hanging anything around the neck. I put a couple of knots in the compass lanyard just so it cannot be put around neck. A belt loop or a button hole is a much safer place to secure a lanyard.

The experience's from those that have been there are so good to get, after all most of the safety rules/ideas come from correcting our ignorant behavior. What a powerful, repulsive word "ignorant" is, when all it means is we haven’t learned.

Carelessness is far worse as there is knowledge and it is ignored, Now that is repulsive!
 
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