Just a reminder that even when we are tied off anything can happen. Visual inspection of your harness should be done every hunt, just as you would your bow, stand, and arrows. This guy's harness broke sending him on a 22 ft ride straight down. Ohio hunter falls 22ft while hanging tree stand - YouTube
Without a doubt! You hear so many stories of people who did not tie off falling, but this guy was doing everything right. I thought about it and realized I don't look at my stuff like I should. I check my bow, arrows, make sure my tree stand straps or cables look good, but all too often I just get my harness out of the tote and throw it on like its just another layer of clothing. Well it's alot more than that! I'll be keeping a closer eye on my harness, treestraps, and lineman belt.
That's good advice to check your harness. I bet I am one of a few that actually replaces their harness every 3 years. They have an expiration. I say that because I don't think a lot of people know that or think about it. I also kind of cringe when I hear people donating or selling used harness. Talk about a liability!
I've had mine for four years. I'll be trashing it and buying new. Thanks for that info. I wasn't aware of that.
Good reminder. I know I've always been good at checking my bow and treestands, but never paid as much attention to my harness. Its a good idea to "test" your harness to make sure all is up to par and ready if needed.
I keep my Rock Climbing harness for 5 years. I put a date on the harness with a permanent marker. At five years use its about 15 dollars a year. Pretty cheep if you ask me
Is the 3 year expiration an industry standard or varies by manufacturer? I've never thought about or heard of that.
I believe 3-5 years is standard. Your mileage may very. I run two harness. One for pre-setting stands and tear down. This means my oldest harness is almost 6 years old before its trashed. It really depends how much you use it and how you use it. I do a lot of run and gun setups and heavily rely on the linesmen loops which puts a lot of stress on them. A person that uses a climber doesn't stress those same points. Obviously the occasional hunter doesn't need to replace it as often if he takes care of it. Store it in a dark, dry place in the off season.
I use my "work" equipment to hang stands. I use a harness to hunt out of. The items we have to buy for work are designed for climbing. Most of my distrust comes from knowing the harness was made in China.
Also another thing to think about is replacing a harness if you had a full blown fall in it. With the stress it takes from the fall, I would consider replacing it. It could tare stitching that you cant see and fail alot faster next time.
This is a MUST!! You can subject in the neighborhood of 1000 lbs of force on your harness in a fall. It also extends your suspension tether out. This is another good reason to keep your tether as close to the tree as possible. It don't take a fall from very far to put over 2000 lbs of force on your harness not to mention what it does to your body if you don't have the suspension tether as part of your harness system.
