Tree Stand safety

[boatman]

I am not posting this to make the manufacturer look bad, but more as a safety issue.

I recently decided to purchase a climbing stand, I had never used on before so I wasnt to enthiused (sp) about spending $200 or more on something I may not like, so I opted to go out to Wal Mart and bought a Hunters View for $100.

Other than being a pain in the butt to assemble it looked good and is easy to use.

The problem I found with it that concerned me the most was the weld quality. Some of the welds were not complete, some were terrible and it's hard for me to imagine they passed any kind of quality inspection. Two of the welds on a main stress point had holes where the "welder" blew through the thin wall steel.

I work in a fab shop so I took it in and touched up the weak spots so mine will be fine.

Just a word of warning, if any of you guys/gals purchase or have purchased this stand, please inspect the welds!!!! If they look weak or have holes blown through the steel, take it back and get another.

Not trying to disrespect any company, just a simple heads up.

 

[Limb Chicken]

Thanks for the heads up boatman!

Sounds like maybe the manufacturer deserves to look bad...

 

[ReleaseHunter]

I will tell you that those tree stands that Wal Mart is selling are not the quality they say they are. You could have spent $200 on a tree stand with Cabela's, Eder's, or Eagle Archery and gotten a name brand, quality stand. I used to be an Assistant Manager for Wal Mart and every hunting season I would run to the hunting section to look at various items and their quality. What I would suggest is not using that product, disassemble it, put it back in the original box, take it back to Wal Mart along with your receipt and get your money back. If anything, show them what the problems are and ask them if they would trust their own life or the life of a loved one in this poor quality stand! They should not even try selling those cheap immitation stands.

 

[moosehunter]

On another note with stand safety:

Everyone should use some common sense and take your time putting up stands.


I think putting stands up are the most risky part of being in a tree so don't take any chances, it's not worth falling and getting hurt, or worse. If you need help.........go get some help. Just my 2 cents......

 

[Guest]

I had a family friend strensthen a couple of welds on mine that he thought were questionable.With the stand having blow throughs I myself would have taken it back to Wally World and either gotten the money back or a new one.Working in a fab shop is a definite plus.I work on the iron but my welding skills are not all that great,especially to weld on aluminum.

 

[Shredder]

I'll throw in a couple of pennies as well, Make sure you use a saftey harness this fall while setting and sitting in stands. Cheap insurance for saftey. All you need to do is ask Muddy what a fall is like...happened to him last fall and only a few feet up but still put the hurtings to him (like that would be hard anyway) Just kidding Mudboy

 

[boatman]

Ok guys/gals

I hope I did the right thing. After reading your replies, I decided to call Wal Mart not to complain, but as a safety issue. The sporting goods manager is going to pull ALL the HAWK stands off the shelf and personally inspect them. He said he would call Hunters View if needed and thanked me for the info.

Like I said, I just went ahead and put some better quality welds on mine, but I then realized that not everyone has that option or for that matter would even notice a bad weld.

Hope I saved someone from a potential problem!


Thanks all!
Boat

 

[Guest]

That is pretty cool of that manager.Some people just ignore stuff like that and the buyer to call the company that manufactued them.Got Api Grandslams and I had a problem with one and they replaced it with a new one.

 

[Kat]

I bought a Hunters View stand a few years ago from Cabelas. About a week after it arrived and a few days before we were going to put it up, Cabelas called me and franticly said Dont let him sit in it!! I said it was for me, and she said Oh...Dont sit in it!! She said they were sending replacement cables for the platform as the ones that were on it could break. Ill never buy another hunters view. You really get what you pay for with them.

 

[ReleaseHunter]

It is nice that the manager of sporting goods was going to do that, but, I agree with the other post about the blow through welds. I would not even hook it to a tree, much less climb onto it. I am a huge advocate of tree stand safety. In fact, I teach tree stand safety in Hunters Education. I wear my belt from the minnute that I climb onto my stand and start climbing until I get back down. I also wear a full body harness and not one of those cheap wrap around your waist ones. It is too bad that you welded on it or I would say take it back. Good luck.

 

[muddy]

nothing beats a quality made stand and a quality made safety belt. i may have only fell a few feat but that belt kept me from ending up as a bloody stain 25 feet further down at the base of the tree.

SAFETY FIRST, DON'T HURRY AND USE YOUR HEAD.

 

[blake]

Even though I already had several quality hang on stands and a climber I wanted to add to the number of deer stands to hunt from this fall. So I purchased 6 Hunter's View hang on stands in January of this year.

When my step son and I pulled them of the box just this last weekend to check them out we found 4 of the stands had incomplete welds at the seams.

Now I am the first to admit that one usually gets what they pay for, and I didn't pay all that much for these stands ($32.00) each shipped.

Since it will cost me more pay the return shipping I will have them inspected and repaired by a local welding shop.

As I have no previous experience with Hunter’s View I am not at this time totally trashing there stands……..but they need to improve their quality assurance program for sure.

For safety sake gals and guys, please check out each and everyone of your stands, no matter what you paid for them…….new or used.

 

[Guest]

Amen to that Blake.Muddy had a great point too.Make sure that you wear your harness.I fell two years ago in a work accident.I slipped while moving and you get exactly what Muddy said,a bloody stain.A broken neck went with it.Thankfully a week before I was tied off and slipped and if it had not been for that harness I would have fell alot further.Those harnesses save lives.Everyone be safe this season.I have made some good friends on this site and hope to continue to have those friendships for along time to come.God Bless Ya All.