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Treestands – Safety Tips

Hunting Gear Review

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Treestands - Treestand hunting is more popular than ever, and gives a hunter several added advantages. With these advantages comes the danger of not using the tree stand properly and risking serious injury or death. Hunting & Fishing Gear Review has put together a list of some of the rules that must be followed in order to safely use a treestand. You might already follow all of these treestand safety rules and if you do great, but please take a moment to send this page to a youngster or fellow hunting buddy for them to review as well. You’ll be glad you did.

1. Practice putting your treestand up before you go hunting. Remember it’s a lot different putting up your treestand when you just left the comfort of your warm house in the daylight. When you’ve just walked half a mile in full gear, in the dark putting a tree stand together or climbing into your treestand can be challenging to say the least. If possible attach your climbing treestand the night before to the base of the tree. Carefully read all instruction that come with your treestand.

2. When you arrive at your tree stand attach your safety belt or harness before beginning to climb the tree.

3. Never use a home made tree stand you come across in the woods without knowing who built it and thoroughly inspecting it for structural integrity. Your best course of action is to walk right by a treestand you know nothing about.

4. Never haul your gun or bow up with you as you climb. Use a separate rope to haul your unloaded gun up to the treestand once you’ve climbed up to the desired level and have the stand firmly in place. Several manufacturers make devices to haul your weapon up to the sta

nd once you’re in place. 5. Make sure you tell someone you’re going hunting and at what time you plan on returning from your hunt. It’s important that someone familiar with your hunting area knows where you’ll be heading for the day as well. Telling your neighbor who has never left your neighborhood you’ll be in a treestand in anytown, USA won’t help near as much as someone familiar with where you hunt.

6. Take advantage of technology and take along your cell phone or walkie talkie anytime you go hunting, especially when using a tree stand. Let’s face it the best of plans go bad and if you suddenly find yourself in a bad spot having the phone or walkie talkie nearby could mean the difference between life and death.

7. When Mr. Big Rack walks past your treestand it’s easy to forget you’re thirty feet up in a tree. It’s very important you keep treestand safety as your number one priority.

8. When using screw-in tree stand steps never use the same holes you’ve use in the past. They may have held your treestand steps well in the past, but once the screw-in steps came out they may have lost their ability to hold your weight.

9. Make sure your treestand fits you. If you’re six foot, six inches and weigh 270 pounds the average platform on a climbing treestand probably won’t leave you a lot of room for movement. Many treestand manufacturers make larger platform treestands for bigger hunters or those who prefer to have some room to move around in their treestand.

10. Never use a climbing treestand in icing conditions.

11. Climbing treestands can be very physical. Make sure you’re in good shape when using a treestand, especially in some of the climbing tree stands. Know when the time comes that its best you switch to a ladder stand or the increasingly popular ground blinds over a climber.

12. A treestand should be comfortable. If you’re going to spend several hours in a stand you’d better be comfortable.

13. Fixed position and home made treestands floors have a tendency to ice up overnight. Many hunters will apply a piece of shag carpeting to the floor of their treestand to try to inhibit icing. In addition you may want to cover the floor of your stand in order to keep snow and ice off it before your arrival.

14. Knight & Hale just introduced a treestand beacon light that sends out a small strobe light when you activate the remote within 200 yards. It’s easy to get confused when it’s the first day of deer hunting season, you’re weighed down with gear and it’s an hour before daylight. The last thing you want when deer hunting is to spread your scent around anymore than you have to. The beacon treestand light will go a long way in guiding people to their deer stands this year.

15. Always choose a tree for hanging your stand that is straight and healthy. Sure that older tree might be in the perfect spot, but ask yourself is it really worth falling from this tree.

16. When using a climbing tree stand always make sure to attach the climber and platform together in order so the two don’t separate leaving you stranded.

17. The State of Ohio states that nearly 85% of all treestand accidents happen while climbing in or getting out of the stand. A New York State survey showed only 22% of hunters surveyed wore their safety harness when climbing.

18. Do not use wooden steps or wooden steps nailed into trees. They quickly rot with age.

19. Always expect your stand for stress points on your stand before using it even if you were just in it a couple of says earlier.

20. Watch out for dead limbs above you. Some people refer to these as “Widow makers”

21. Avoid hunting when overly tired. A common reason hunters fall from tree stands is they fall asleep when in them.

22. Choose a safety harness that will hold you right side up if you should fall and make sure it will not obstruct your breathing.

23. Never wear a ring or jewelry that can get caught on your equipment or tree when climbing or descending.

24. Always take a flashlight with you to check your treestand out thoroughly before getting up in it in the morning. This same flashlight can be used to signal other hunters who may not see you in your stand.

25. If you’re going to literally climb a tree never put all of your weight on a single branch.

26. If you have any doubts about the condition or safety of your treestand then buy a new one.

27. Many hunters don’t trust the straps provided with most treestands and use a separate chain to attach it to the tree as an added measure of safety.

Remember it might be a great day of hunting from your treestand, but if you don’t follow these simple safety procedures it could easily turn into your worst day of hunting. Please take a moment to send this article to a friend or youngster for them to review. Written by The Hunting & Fishing Gear Review Team.

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