So I have never used a safety harness before this year ( I know, let the cries of digust begin....). But this year is the first year of bowhunting for my 14 year old so before season i bought him and myself vest harnesses to start using.Well , I had him start using it when we practiced this summer before season began to get used to it and comfortable and have had him wear it anytime he attaches his Summit to a tree. Sunday we went out for a morning hunt and he was climbing a poplar , it had rained the day before and the bark was wet, and there was a small bump he was trying to work around when his stand bottom slipped on him , but his harness did its job and held him tight in place, 15 feet up as I watched from below. Even tho in the 25 years or more I have been climbing trees I have never fell, I wont make excuses to not strap on a harness from here on out, and I know without a doubt he will be a harness user for life.
damn that's scary I went all last year in my climber without accident and still don't have a harness but that just inspired me.. Good luck be safe
Thats why I posted it... scared the hell outta me and him too but I think it happened for a reason. To teach me a lesson and make him think of it for the rest of his hunting days
Your a good man getting your son that safety harness you saved his life from the 15 foot fall i have the up most respect for you with your choice for getting safety harness
Glad to hear that he is alright and about time you got a harness. Good luck to both of you this season!
I went over 20yrs without wearing a safety device of any kind. I thought as long as I was careful I had nothing to worry about. My wife kept nagging me to get one and I told her I would but never did. She finally just up and buys me one. The very first year I hunted with it, I had two stands break. One was mine and the other was someone else'. It was a good thing I had began wearing the vest. Moral of the story: you can be as careful as you know how, I always was, but you can't do anything about equipment failure. I never climb without mine now. Blessings......Pastorjim
Glad to hear he's ok. And yes they are a one time use piece of equipment. As with any fall arrest device, look at you harness tether, the tag on mine says " failure to discard and remove this fas device from service after five (5) years from date of manufacture or after arresting a fall, could result in serious injury or death". And my backup says the same thing just about. So I say again, one time use.
I thought they were? Once the bungee part breaks away i thought you cant use them properly, because you wont have that cushion ? I may be wrong. I always thought that . In fact i think it says it on the harness... let me look
Ok I dont have one of them fancy bungee kinds lol. That one makes sense though. I have been proven wrong! Well partly because the old ones with just the straps and no bungee should be ok I would think.
It amazes me the people that don't wear harnesses. You can climb a tree perfect 1000 times and fall just once. In seconds you could be eating cheeseburgers through a straw or dead. Honestly I believe if you don't wear a harness this day in age with all the comfortable good ones out there you are a dumb ass. Sorry harsh words but wake up if you don't.
It's called a fall arrest harness because it does just that, arrests the fall, not a sudden stop. Even the old strap styles need replacing after a fall, or after 5 years. I feel like adding that I've never climbed a tree without one on and I couldn't imagine sitting in a stand without one on. Gives me that extra little bit of confidence.
Every harness I've ever seen has said to replace it if its been used to save you from a fall. The above quote from the Muddy Harness safety guide last page -> http://gomuddy.com/images/documents/042820104154926.pdf
