Well there have been a few times when I left my rope in my other stand or my son had used mine and didn’t put the rope back, and I didn’t find out till I was ready to climb. I climbed anyway but I bet I wasn’t 15 feet off the ground. Never do I intentionally not tie off.

The only thing that scares me about climbing a tree nowadays is when I do it within sight of one of the homemade death traps I climbed as a kid. We all climbed stuff back in the day that none of us would set foot in today, but we didn’t know any better back then. And we did it without safety belts. Not to mention the old baker stands or knockoffs that we made in the welding shop. Staying sharp is the key to mental toughness and once you stop climbing it quickly becomes impossible. Just be safe, use a safety belt and lifeline if you want to, but remember once you stop doing something out of fear that chapter of your life is closed forever. Hell, you drive to your hunting land meeting cars at 55 MPH passing a few feet from yours head on and then you worry about climbing a tree. Like my Grandpaw told me, you can choke to death on a Dorito, go live your life.

Prior to about 6 years ago I never used a harness. I went back to hunt public land (by myself 90% of the time) and started using one. 1st year it was kind of a pain to get used to it. Now it's like 2nd nature and adds very little time to climbing or descending the tree with the rope style tether. I won't climb if I don't have it. This year I bought some better tension relief straps and have them with me at all times. I try to only climb pine trees as the treewalker bites damn good in them but I will climb a oak if necessary. Also, I rarely get higher than about 20 feet, sometimes higher and sometimes lower, just depends. Few years ago I killed a 6pt and I was only about 10 feet off the ground but had really good cover. I simply choose better trees with some type of cover. Bottom line is, if your in a climber, lock on or even a ladder YOU SHOULD BE WEARING A HARNESS. Unforseen things happen while hunting and climbing trees especially in the dark.

I am going to try saddle hunting this year. A lot safer from my understanding!

If it is something that I need a harness to use, I do not get in it.

For those that use one. Can any of you tell me the difference in safety in a saddle and a climber. Not being a smart ass. Just really dont know. Thanks

Got rid of my ole man climbers after a guy I know died from a fall when the pin came out.

I fell in 2011. It was before I knew what life lines were. We had I-bolts in the tree that we would strap into once up the ladders for our lok ons. I had already hunted the stand that season and others had including my larger brother. I was at the top of the stick ladder when the top strap popped and down I went from 25ft. On the way down one of the rungs tore through 3 layers and got my inner thigh but missed my giblets. I was knocked out and when I woke I slowly discovered what happened. I tied off my leg with my belt because it was the most blood I’d seen. I can text a pic if someone wants to post it

Good grief man that's a bad fall ! For the love of goodness please don't post a picture of it ....

I vote to post a pic.

Can't be worse then the pics posted in the past where someone shot their foot off with a shotgun and another where they
shot a rifle bullet through their boot and foot.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I was always sure to show my daughter pictures of bad traffic accidents in the years before she got her driver's license.

Dang poor fella shot both of his feet lol ....

Damnitson, that overgrown brother of yours put too much pressure on those straps!

That reminds me of a time I was coming down from a lock on. I was probably 16-17 years old and was not wearing any fall restraint. My ladder was the screw in tree hooks. I was wearing oversized rubber Lacross boots. On the way down, about 8' off of the ground, my foot slipped off of one of the hooks. The hook caught me in my crotch and missed the twins by mere inches. I was literally hanging by my crotch. I crawled off of it and to the ground. I instantly pulled off my pants to make sure no parts were missing. There was blood everywhere. I was very lucky, although I didn't feel that way at the time. I have a 2-1/2" scar to remind me. I am 41 years old and that was probably the last tree I climbed without a harness.

Think I posted it here before, but I fell out of a climber when I was 16. I was about 20ft up when I lost the bottom platform (my fault). I swung to the tree next to me and the tree was dead and broke off. My ribs missed a 1ft tall and 6” wide pine stump I cut to improve visibility the week prior by about 8”. Worn a harness ever since.

Almost taken a tumble out of a climber a time or two again by just being disoriented in the dark while setting up. Haven’t talked, but I sure was glad I had the harness.

I started using the saddle and I feel more secure on that than I do with the climber with a full body harness. The saddle is always on tension and if you do slip, you can get right back up and climb down. It’s better than dangling 15’ up for hours. If you don’t trust the rope with a fairly static load of climbing, not sure how you’ll trust one with the load of a 5’ fall before it catches.

Back years ago when we built wooden stands in the trees, we used cotton picker spindles for the steps to climb up on. I never ever heard of anyone having a spindle break, or having a stand they built give way. I guarantee there were some stands that collapsed, but I have never heard about them. I spent many an hour sitting in the V of a tree on wooden 2 x 4's. Those days are over now!

Yep, that straight up climb and pulling yourself up and over into the stand was wild wearing thick coveralls and a rifle strapped to your back.

https://imgur.com/eMojc0E[img]http://https://imgur.com/eMojc0E[/img]

[img]http://imgur.com/eMojc0E[/img]

[img]http://https://imgur.com/eMojc0E[/img]

I have apparently completely lost the ability to post a pic lol

General, that's nicer than what we used to sit on! We never put a chair in ours. We either stood or sat on it with our feet dangling off the side. It was a booger getting in those things, and I was even young then. No way I would even try it these days.

Thanks for posting that pic. It was the best we had back in the day.
B

General, now that brings back some memories right there.

Jklep that remind you of some of our old ones. Ha