Willie said:
Any particular rope you should or shouldn't use when making your own?
You should never attempt to make your own safety harness. These harnesses are built for up to a specific weight of pull and are sewn in a specific manner. When sewn together, there is a certain length that is accordion folded and sewn together in such a way that when you fall, the threads holding the accordion portion together tears at a specific rate and speed to take the sudden jolt out of a fall and lessen the chance of injury. Also, if you fall with one of these systems, whether the threads break or not, it is junk and needs to be replaced. Check out my story below!
I use the Hunters Safety Pro Model as well and let me tell you a little bit about how serious this company is about their harnesses. My treestand broke (Summit) two years ago. I was 20' up in the tree and alone. My wife knew where I was and when I promised to be home. Never-the-less...I was late. I was wearing my Hunters Safety Pro Harness and it worked to perfection. Keep in mind and am 6'1" and 280 pounds!
I struggled and struggled to repair the stand enough to get it back around the tree and secure to climb down. I fought for 45 minutes, fixed the stand, but became tired and exhausted...too exhausted to get the platform back around the tree. I hung there for nearly two hours. As darkness started to set in, my cell phone rang. It was my wife and I barely had a signal. She asked if I was ok and I told her my circumstance. I am also a Hunters Safety Instructor for the State of Iowa. I gave her the phone number of a couple of DNR friends, whom she called. I told her I needed a ladder and would need help getting down. Plenty of help arrived, including several of my hunting friends who had heard. Once a ladder was erected, I was helped to the ground and checked by emergency personnel while a friend retrieved everything from the tree and packed it up for me.
It was a flaw in this particular model of Summit Tree Stand that caused my platform to break and fall from beneath my weight. I called Summit and spoke to their customer service department and offered an idea to prevent this from happening in the future. They sent me a new tree stand and now make every one of their stands with my idea. I also called Hunters Safety and told them my story and thanked them for a wonderful product. They advised me to send my harness in so they could inspect it and perhaps improve it, along with my height and weight for testing purposes. The company sent me two new harnesses...FREE! One to replace the one that saved my life and one for sending it in for testing.
My fellow hunters...I am a disabled veteran. I will not go into my disability on here, but know that a fall from that height may have at least paralyzed me, yet possibly killed me! Was I sore the next few days? You bet I was. But consider the alternative...there is no alternative! Wear a safety harness! Don't try to be a tough guy and not wear one. Your family depends on you to return home safe from each and every hunt. Not wearing a safety harness is plain stupid and foolish! Is this a harsh statement? Yes! But I do not beat around the bush. I still enjoy hunting, being in a tree stand, and teaching Hunters Safety and can enjoy it because I took two minutes to put a harness on!
The other thing I want to reiterate is if you use a two piece climbing stand, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, have the top and bottom tied together with a rope of some sort. If your bottom platform breaks like mine did, it will still be within arms reach for you to try to repair it and get it back around the tree! One last thought...always let someone know where you will be hunting and what time you will be home or out of the woods and contacting them! I love my wife and kids! Each of them know where I will be and when I will call or be home. Each of them know to contact me either by phone or by coming out to my location with some friends in case I need help. Please do the same and don't become another statistic! I too lost a friend two years ago because he was "too good" to wear a harness. For those of you that don't wear one...shame on you!
http://www.huntersafetysystem.com/
