I have been fortunate enough to never fall from a tree stand. I always wear a full body harness. I how have a dilemma which I did not think about until reading this thread. 5 weeks ago I had a second total hip replacement. I am not sure what to do for a harness now. I'm assuming with my hunting harness there would be major pull on the hips if I were to fall. Is the rock climbing harness going to have that same pull on the hips or less? Maybe I should go back to a seat belt. LOL! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Little late on the answer. For a climbing stand I just use the 8' rope with the loop tied in one end and a prussic and carabiner included. For a ladder or lock on stand. I have a lifeline tied above the stand at head height or higher, then tied at the bottom of the tree. The tether can be the same 8' HSS rope tied into the prussic on the lifeline and adjusted to proper length by the prussic on the tether and attached by the carabiner. Better late than never. Anybody get a chance to try a R/C harness since this thread started a couple years ago.
This always intrigued me. I do remember several years ago, there was a small company that surfaced that made hunting rock climbing style harnesses. Basically it was a standard rock climbing harness, but it had a series of magnets at the waist to route the connection to your backside so it was out of the way, but easily pulled away in the event of a fall. Sadly it sounded like there wasn't enough interests and the business went under.
That was a company called 20' up. I met the two owners at the ATA show. They were not accepted very well by all the full body harness companies and other TMA members. They were a small company making them in America. The retail for them was over $100. Put this all together and they didn't last a year.
I continue to use my rock climbing harness and also purchased one for my day. I won't go back. I find all pro's and no cons for a couple years now. Light, comfortable, safe, and cheaper.
Interesting ideas presented here. I have been thinking about trying a tree saddle set up and getting away from tree stands. I am thinking about getting a rock climbing harness for in a tree stand to try as a go-between since tree saddle set ups are out of my price range right now. Has anyone gone from a rock climbing harness to tree saddle? Or used a rock climbing harness as a tree saddle set up?
I tried a couple tree saddles many years ago. I couldn't keep the saddle from pinching on my hips and couldn't get comfortable enough to sit still. To me, a good R/C harness has no padding. Sitting on padded straps on the stand is uncomfortable. No padding while hanging is too uncomfortable to be able to do it for hours without moving. Each harness serves its own purpose.
Don't do the rock climbing harness as a saddle, very uncomfortable. But a cheap way to get into saddle hunting is buy a sit drag off amazon and combine that with a rock climbing harness as a back up. Sent from my SM-G900V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I use all types of treestands so no saddles for me. My safety harness is the Black Diamond Vario, but there are a number of good basic climbing harnesses that will do the job. The reason I like the Vario is that there is no padding which makes it more comfortable sitting on the stand. The belay loop is above the belt. That lowers one's center of gravity slightly, but more importantly, it makes it easier for me to take a whizz. It doesn't come with gear loops that get in the way and could make unnecessary noise. It is only about $50.
I fell out of a tree back in Nov 2016 with a regular harness. I had a loc on fail but the ladder was fine. A little pain in the crotch area for sure but it goes away fairly quickly. I must have stiffened when I fell because it was the jerk in my back that lingered a while. I easily just spun around and got to the ladder. It was my very first time on public land and I thought I was alone. My back hurt so bad it was all I could do to carry my bow out. When I got to the parking area there was another guy leaving and he walked back with me and carried everything else out for me. I followed him to the restaurant of his choice and bought his meal and we've been buddies every since. LOL! I switched over to a climber with the Thirdhand straps etc and feel way more secure. One thing I thought of was if the climber somehow failed and was laying on the ground and i was hanging from a tree what would I do to get down regardless of the type harness. I invested in that Tree Stand buddy (I think that's the name) so I could just slowly land on the ground even if I passed out I would just softly lay on the ground. Now how I would get a ladder out into the woods to retrieve my climber if I just fell out I don't know, but I'd eat the cost of a climber to be alive. I set my lifeline really high. If I stand up to shoot there's absolutely plenty of slack to do whatever. If I'm sitting I can't fully bend over to pick something up off the deck. My thought is if I fall, I don't fall far.
