Harness Setup Questions - First Timer

[randomguy]

Hey everyone:

Haven't posted in a while, but I've gotten some great advice from this forum and I'm back for more as I prepare for my first hunt...... A friend of mine helped me hang my stand a few weeks back. It's a two person ladder stand ("The Prestige" by Muddy). So it's up and that's great.

Anyway, I took my son (turning 11 soon) back up to the woods with me today so we could dry run some of the harnessing and getting in and out and stuff. He's got a youth harness and I've got an adult harness. I think they're all by Muddy, but I'm not certain. I think they all came with a tree belt, and I think maybe the stand did too since I've got three. When I went to put the tree belt up, I was a few inches short on length, as the tree I'm in is still pretty beefy up high. I had two of the same tree belt with the same buckle, so I had to daisy chain them together to get around the tree. Does this cause concern, or is it common to have to do this? On one hand, I don't like the idea of having to use two, but on the other hand, tension is tension and they're both rated the same with a buckle that's made to grip that belt. What do you think?

Similarly, I bought a life line with dual prusik knots on it for getting up and down. Since it's a big ladder stand, I can't really set it up as the instructions tell you by tying it around the tree at the above the stand. The tether(s) on the top of our harnesses aren't long enough to reach the tree when we're on the ladder because we're so far away.

So I looped the top of the life line through the platform rails (not the grating) at the top of the stand and ran it down along the ladder, then tied it off at the bottom. My son's harness tether is long enough that he can get the top prusik all the way up the life line and get onto the platform before he has to pull the tether to move it to the tree belt, so that's good. Mine is just a bit too short, so I'll have a small window of exposure when I move my tether, but it is what it is.

Anyway, am I headed the right direction here for our setup? Thanks for reading!

 

[DocHolladay]

We let the lifeline hang free at the base when in the stand and tie it up when we are not. It is right there when you walk up to get in the stand so you can hook up. Once in the stand, you can swing the life line around to one side to get it out of your way for hunting. When you climb down, pull it around to the front of the stand or at least on one side so it doesn't snag on anything at the top while you climb down.

If your life line has a loop at the top of it, wrap it around the tree and pull the rest of the line through it and then give it a tug. That will lock it on the tree. You can then use it to climb up and down and not have 2 belts together. Nothing against 2 belts tied together that are for the same job, but that is cause for one of them to mess up and come loose.

 

[randomguy]

Thx Doc. If you've got the bottom of the line loose when you're ascending, don't you have trouble sliding the prusik knots up as you go? We found on ours that if we got the prusik knot too loose so it would slide up easily, it would just slide down the rope and not stay where you left them. So we added a little tension to them so they'd at least stay in place. But we have to have our lifeline tied at the bottom so that we can slide them up otherwise you're just lifting the rope.

The other issue I've still got though is that the ladder is so far away from the tree because of the platform size. It's probably 30" out in front. So I could use a lifeline at the top (as a belt replacement) and you're right, it would eliminate the need for the two belts because it would be long enough to get around the trunk. But I can see it being a bit of a hassle to have enough slack in the lifeline to get it out in front of the ladder for use during ascension.

Maybe I'm crazy, but something about the bottom of the lifeline having that much slack or being loose makes me a little nervous about it getting hung up on a boot or wrapped around a leg or something.

What style of stand are you using?

 

[buckdeer1]

You are correct,I don't know how you would leave loose on bottom but I would do the top like he suggested and run rope through loop.You could add about any rope to the bottom if you used too much going around tree as it is only tied for sliding prussics up.I stay connected to my prussic and could see tying two might be more difficult.Another thing to think about is what if you do fall?Do you have a recovery plan?This is one reason alot of guys are looking at rock climbing harnesses.Hanging in a tree stand harness without taking pressure can kill you as dead as falling

 

[DocHolladay]

If you tie it to the base of a ladder stand, if you fall, you take the chance of pulling the feet out from under the stand and it breaking and falling or at least bending it and possibly hitting it. If you tie it to the tree, you have to have enough slack to reach out to the ladder so you can attach to it and climb and that can be to loose. I don't want ANY part of the life line running through the stand for fear of it yanking me back into it and possibly injuring myself worse than the sharp snatch of falling out and getting caught by the safety harness. I bring the lifeline to the off hand(the one holding the ladder) and use it to hold the life line long enough to adjust the prussic, release and keep climbing. If you want, you can bring the lifeline to your foot and stand on it while you adjust and keep on climbing. My goal is to get away from the tree stand if at all possible when falling, so I get hurt the least amount possible. You also have to think about getting back in the stand so you can get down, which can be the hardest part. We(lease members) weighed the options of tying it up or letting it go and letting it go was the one we chose. It has worked for several years now and I don't see us changing any time soon. We tie it to the ladder when we leave so it doesn't get blown around in storms and hung up on high limbs.

I have the HSS harness below and it has a strap that drives me crazy while wearing the harness, because I have to tuck it out of the way. It is there for me to stand in if I fall, to take the weight off my pelvic area and let blood flow. It also doubles as a deer drag. I can remove it, but I would probably keep it in my pack so I wouldn't lose it and that won't do may any good while Im dangling from a tether and can't reach it.

 

[buckdeer1]

If you fall more than a foot with a lifeline and harness something is not set up right,I don't see anyway that it would pull the legs out

 

[DocHolladay]

You ever watch a hunting show? Most of them have 3-5' of slack in their tether, plus the lifeline slack. Then all harnesses have a foot or so of shock absorption. Add it all together and it turns into a hard snatch that can pull the feet. I put my tether to where I can just sit down and have slack when I stand, but I try not to be a reason there are warning labels.

 

[buckdeer1]

Thats what the instructions say to do,just allow enough to sit,I usually have mine tied alittle over head high when standing