i was wearing a full body harness, it's the ONLY way to go if you're tree stand hunting. they are a slight pain to get untangled sometimes but you gotta ask yourself: is getting to the stand 3-5 minutes earlier worth it if you fall and decided not to put your harness on?? when i worked at scheels i was one of the only guys who really, REALLY pushed full body harnesses. the one strap harnesses that go around under your arms are widowmakers. as soon as you fall they tighten up under your armpits and begin to stop blood flow and make it EXTREMELY difficult to breathe. it's been timed in controlled testing situations and people have been incapacitated in under 30 seconds with these type of "safety" harnesses. technically you'd be safer to go without than with one of these because more often than not your buddy will find you hung to death with a under the arm style of harness. the full chest harnesses are step above the others but still pieces of crap. the first then a full chest style harness does is constrict in the worst place on your body...directly on the diaphraghm area near your lowest ribs. in testing situations people would be almsot unconscious & in EXTREME pain after a minute. the biggest danger with these harnesses is that they can break your lower ribs and puncture your diaphraghm and lungs when you hit "the end of the rope". now, a full body harness is a full chest harness with leg straps. when you fall your legs take the brunt of it. the good thing here is that it could take up to 5 minutes before you begin to lose circulation in your legs...and if that happens you can still flail them about. if you lose circulation to your brain like with the under the arm style one you're screwed. and we won't even discuss what happens if your lungs get punctured and the pressure on them from your body weight is so great, you black out and die. ANYWAY, a full body harness is a pain to put on sometimes and i'll stand right up and say that. of course i'll also say i'm glad that i take 5 minute of hunting time to situate that body harness and put it on.
Bowman asked me in a PM, "how did it happen muddy"? like in most accidents it happens rather quickly. i was just lowering my bow when BAM! i was superman. i kind've lost my balance, there was a breeze moving the tree, and there ya go. i didn't plan it, i didn't expect it to happen, but it did and i'm glad i wore my harness.
in re-reading through my post i see that i neglected to touch on something. 1) no one expects to fall. of course you dont', but no one expects to get in a car crash or catch the flu either, it just sometimes happens. 2) people would tell me "if i fall i would only be dangling for 5- 10 seconds before i could grab the tree, i don't need no stinking harness. true enough, if you're lucky you can grabthe tree and turn yourself around. of course the surprise of falling, combine it with the shock of hitting the end of the rope and 10 seconds can pass by rather quickly. with the first 2 safety straps pain is an issue immediately and then breathing and loss of blood flow can cut that time down rather quickly.
ok, i've gone on long enough but i've had enough private messages to give me justification on my preaching, i'll go away now!!
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