Buckmasters Magazine

Try these safety precautions for hanging, and hunting from, treestands.

Anyone who has ever deer hunted knows the excitement and joy that accompanies a season opener. In Pennsylvania, emotions for the gun season opener run especially high. Going hunting on this day is a tradition with deep roots. Today, businesses and schools still close their doors on the first day of deer season.

Ron, a 49-year-old hunter, husband and father, undoubtedly went to the woods filled with anticipation. “This could be the day I bag the big one,” he probably thought.

Ron never returned from the woods that day. According to area authorities, he fell some 30 feet while trying to descend from his treestand. A section of ladder apparently broke, authorities said. Ron died as a result of the fall.

Unfortunately, this tragic story happens far too often when hunters take to the trees. There are statistics that say one of every three hunters who hunt from elevated stands will fall at some point during their hunting days. That’s a sobering statistic — one out of three.

Some fall because of carelessness. Some, like Ron, fall because of equipment failure. For others, it’s just an accident.

Why hunters fall is irrelevant. What’s important is to do everything you can to avoid falling. Even then, a fall can happen; anything is possible once your feet leave the ground. If you’re going to climb, you owe it to yourself and your family to take every precaution.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the way some people set fixed-position stands. Their sets open the door for falls. I’ve seen it in so many different places that it’s the inspiration for this article.

Based on real-world experience, and advice from treestand safety experts, I have developed a system I believe accounts for most safety issues that arise while hanging and hunting from fixed-position stands. I’m always improving this system as I learn new techniques, but what follows is what I do and why I do it.

The Right Tree

Keeping safe in the stand starts with picking the right tree. First, make sure you pick a tree that’s alive. Yes, I’ve seen stands hung in dead trees.

The straighter the tree, the safer and easier it will be for you to hang a stand and climb into it. But not all of us live in the Northeast, where tall, straight oaks and tulip poplars abound. In places like Missouri and Kansas, straight trees can be as rare as four-leaf clovers. At the very least, pick a tree that has a straight section where you can hang the stand.

With a few new exceptions, most stands need to be attached to a straight section of tree for all the contact points to be engaged. A stand’s stability depends on that. If one contact point is off the tree, the stand can shift. That’s one way hunters lose their balance.

Look for a tree that allows your stand to hang exactly perpendicular to the ground, or lean back slightly. You never want a stand that’s pitched downward. That’s asking for a fall.

Choosing the right tree for safety might mean you have to compromise when it comes to the best opportunity for a shot. Deal with it. No buck is worth risking your life for.

The Ladder

Statistics indicate most falls from treestands occur when a hunter is climbing into or out of the stand. Where they’re feasible, I like stick ladders. You can put as many sections together as you want to get to the perfect height. Because the sections are all connected, the ladder as a whole is more rigid than if the sections are hung separately.

Stick ladders come with a variety of connection straps. Rarely are they ratchets. A ladder that shifts left and right as you climb can cause you to lose your balance. You can use ratchet straps on every section, but I’ve found if I ratchet the very top connection and one toward the bottom, I can eliminate all play in the ladder.

Branches and twisting trunks can make stick ladders impossible to use on some trees. In such cases, I like the individual ladder sections that attach to the tree independently. I prefer these over screw-in or single strap-on steps because they’re more solid and secure.

Don’t use branches for steps. That’s living on borrowed time. Branches break — even big ones. They might not break today or tomorrow, but it’s likely to happen sometime, and especially when stressed with extra weight.

Regardless of what you use to get to your stand, it’s critical to hang your stand below the top of your ladder. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve climbed a friend’s stick ladder only to find the stand hanging level with the top of the ladder. To get up into the stand, I have to grab the stand or hug the tree. That’s not safe.

In a perfect scenario, you want your ladder to be high enough above your stand that you can hold onto the top rungs with your hands chest high or higher, and step down, or on a level plane, onto the platform.

Pay attention to the position of your foot pegs. You never want to cross one foot over the other to get into a stand. If the stand is on the right side of the ladder, you want your left foot securely set on a rung while you place your right foot onto the platform. Do the opposite for a stand on the left side of the ladder.

Transitioning to the stand in this fashion allows you to be solid and balanced. You’ll have both hands holding onto rungs, and one foot will be planted while you move the other foot to the platform. It’s ideal to have no less than three points of contact at all times.

The Stand

Bigger is better when it comes to safe treestands. I like having the biggest platform possible. Think about being 25 feet off the ground and only being able to move your feet a few inches before they reach the edge. It’s unsettling when you look down, which can bring on vertigo, possibly causing you to lose your balance. The more room you have under your feet, the more comfortable you’ll feel.

Many stands today use coated, steel cables to connect the platform to the backbone of the stand. Over time, that coating will crack or wear off, allowing the elements to get to the cables and cause rust. Inspect those cables religiously each season to make sure no strands are starting to fray.

Consider how the stand connects to the tree when you are preparing a ladder/stand combination. Most stands employ a strap or chain that is fixed on one side of the stand, wraps around the tree and connects into place on the other side of the stand by a buckle or hook. Plan on having that connection on the same side of the tree as your ladder. Doing so will allow you to work on it right in front of your body as you hang the stand or take it down.

Something I’ve started doing is adding a ratchet strap to my hanging stands. Basically, the stand is connected to the tree by the strap(s) that are part of the stand, and then I add a ratchet strap for extra security. Should something happen to cause one anchor to fail, there’s a backup in place to keep the stand from falling.

A deer can approach your stand from any direction. But if there’s a direction that’s most likely to produce a shot, then hang your stand with that in mind. That is, right-handed hunters have the easiest shooting to their left, and vice versa for lefties. In either case, the tree is behind you, which means neither it, nor your tree tether will impede a shot.

If you have to turn across your body to shoot, then the tree and your tether can cause problems.

The Harness

We’ll keep this short and sweet. Wear a TMA-certified full-body safety harness every time you hunt from a treestand or hang or pull a stand. Period. No exceptions.

The Lifeline

The lifeline is a safety tool that was virtually unheard of 10 years ago but is becoming increasingly popular. It’s a heavy-duty rope that stretches from above the stand down to the ground, where it anchored at the base of the tree. When I say heavy duty, I mean it should be able to handle well more than your total weight while climbing. Ropes used by rock climbers are perfectly suited for lifelines.

Before leaving the ground, a fixed-stand hunter can hook a safety harness tether to the previously installed lifeline, and slide the tether connection up and down to climb and descend to and from the stand. This eliminates the chance of falling since the hunter is always connected to the tree.

The lifeline affords the same protection for hunters using climbing stands, provided the hunter returns to the same three where the lifeline has been installed.

Attached to the lifeline is a connection called the Prusik knot. It’s a climber’s knot that slides up and down the rope when it’s not under stress, but grips the rope tight when weight is applied. Should you fall, the knot will grip the rope, keeping you from hitting the ground.

There are other products on the market similar to the lifeline that will actually lower you to the ground in the event of a fall. Whatever device you prefer, use one.

Hanging It Safely

Hunting isn’t the only time you need to think about treestand safety. Many falls occur when hunters are hanging or retrieving stands.

In August of 2014, a Pennsylvania bowhunter in Lancaster County fell 20 feet to the ground while hanging a stand for the upcoming season. The hunter survived, but he had to be flown by helicopter to a trauma center for treatment.

Wear a safety harness to hang and pull stands, just like you would when hunting. But add a lineman’s belt.

What’s that? It’s a belt that connects your torso to the tree at waist level. It’s what utility linemen wear when they’re up on poles working on wires. If you’ve been wondering why your harness has a D-loop on either side near of the waist, they’re for use of a lineman’s belt.

The lineman’s belt acts like a third hand, holding your weight so you can work with both of your hands. Plant your feet on ladder pegs and lean back into the belt. Now you can work with ladder sections or your stand with two hands.

Nothing is worse for your balance than trying to set a ladder section or stand in place with one hand while holding on for dear life with the other. For maximum safety, also attach your normal tree tether above you so that, should your feet slip, your fall will be lessened.

Another safety practice is to use a pulley to haul your stand up and down the tree. Using a pulley or an eye-bolt, you can lift the stand to, and lower it from, the correct height while standing on the ground. There’s no safer place than that. Trying to pull up or lower the stand while you are standing at the top of your ladder is asking for trouble. And I know you didn’t climb while carrying your stand, right?

Another solid rule is to take a buddy. Having someone to help you set a treestand is in-valuable. It keeps you from taking unnecessary chances and also guarantees someone can get help if something goes wrong.
No hunter enters the woods to hunt or work on a stand thinking they might not return home. But what precautions do you take to ensure your safe return?

No amount of effort can guarantee nothing will ever go haywire, but there are plenty of things you can do to cut the odds of an accident. You owe it to your friends and family to take as many precautions as possible. Remember, gravity is a constant force that none of us can defeat.

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