The MOST Important Treestand Accessory for Deer Hunters!

Hi, I'm Chris with Afflicted Broadheads, and today we're gonna talk a little bit about an intro to tree stand safety and safety harnesses. Stay tuned. So we just wanted to shoot a video and talk a little bit about the extreme importance of safety harness and being safe in a tree stand. We have such an awesome influx of new hunters over the last year and a half that it's really important to give some tips and pointers to those people so they are well-informed and know how to use the harnesses, where to use them, and why it's truly important. Now, I'll be the first to admit, when I was a young hunter, I didn't care anything about harnesses. I was invincible. I would climb. I'd even have some close calls, maybe some small short falls, and still nothing was gonna stop me. There was no reason for me to wear a harness. I just didn't need it. And then about 10 years ago, I had a really close call where a ladder stand collapsed on me. By God's grace, I was able to ride the stand all the way to the base of the tree as it broke. I had no harness. And that was the changing point for me that I had to have a harness on. Now, it's a shame that it took something like that because it really shouldn't. So there's a little bit of stupidity that plays in part of this. And there's a lot of selfishness because look, if you don't care about yourself, you need to at least care about your family and your friends and your relatives and the people that care about you enough to put a harness on. Now, I don't care if it's that harness that comes in a plastic bag with your tree stand purchase and it looks like a total pain in the neck. It may take you a minute or two to figure it out, but trust me, it is worth putting on. There are so many different vest styles and harnesses and all kinds of stuff across the board that you can use that are going to keep you safe. And it's important. If you are going to invest money in bows, arrows, trips, bait, however you feel like hunting, if you're gonna put all that money into it, at least put some money into your own safety and buy a harness. Now, I like this muddy because it fits my fat. And there's not a whole lot of harnesses that do that really well. It's comfortable, it's light. I can wear it under my clothes, but it's big enough that I can still wear it over a lot of light layers and still be very comfortable. Now, you want a harness that's got good comfortability, that's really easy on the inside of your thighs with plenty of room and adjustability. For you bigger guys, you want something that's gonna go around your waist and still have room for some clothing underneath there if you do end up wearing it outside of your clothes. So you wanna make sure that you're trying these on if you can, or you're able to return it if it doesn't fit. But you really need something that's comfortable and easy for you that you don't mind wearing because it's important. Now, most of all, these harnesses have some features to them where you have bino straps and different clips for accessories and all that. This is nice, I don't care about it. I care about being safe, having something light and comfortable that I feel secure in. So if I'm going up 20, 25 feet and I'm strapped in, I'm not worried. I can stand up, I can lean out of my tree. I feel like I have great maneuverability. Doesn't matter. I can draw with nothing back here in my way. I have plenty of room to pivot and move. Now, there's two ways you can secure your harness to the tree. You can use the web strap or you can use a lineman's belt. But either way, the first thing you need to do when you get in your tree is hook up. So on all of my tree stands that I use a lot, I have this web strap that's there all the time. So the second I get in, I'm clipped in, I'm ready to go. And I can do anything that I want. There's a ton of maneuverability in all of these. You don't have to worry about anything getting in your way. If you're worried about drawing, like say you're set up in an area where the deer or whatever you're hunting could come through on this side, you wanna make sure that your strap is in an adjustable position out of the way so you can draw safely and securely without hitting that strap. And with all the accessories available and different tie-ins, you shouldn't have any problem doing that. So let's take a look at some of the options on tying into the lineman's belt or the nylon strap. Okay, so this is the web style belt that attaches to the tree. You can see here's where you hook your carabiner. Now, the important thing to remember here, if you have these slide pieces like this, this only goes in one way to be effective. So as you come around the tree and you insert your belt, you wanna make sure that you're going into the side closest to where you're going to attach your carabiner. And then you wanna go out the side that has this tab because this tab is your release tab. If you do it the other way, your belt is just gonna slip. So you can see if you go in this way, bring it out that side, you have this very secure fit. And then as you grab this, you'll be able to release the tension and unloosen it. If you go the other way, accidentally, everything looks good, but as soon as you put tension, it slips right back out. So there's only one way for that to go. So make sure you're doing it right. And if you pull on it and it slips, you know you got it the wrong way. Now, most of the time with this, if there's a tree that I'm gonna be hunting frequently, I do go ahead and leave this in the tree. And you can adjust this height for where you like it. Typically, I like when I'm using this belt, I use them a little bit lower than I do when I'm using the lineman's rope. Just, it's back out of the way. I'm hooked in here like this. It's low to the tree. It's totally out of my way as I do stuff. And I'm good with that. But you may find that you like it higher and that is totally fine too. When I do use the lineman's, I do like to put that about nose height. The difference between using this and the belt is with the belt, you have no adjustability. You're attached right here on the tree, which again is totally fine. But if you're gonna find yourself leaning out or really doing some awkward positioning where you think this might be in your way and you wanna give yourself a little bit more room, you can go ahead and with the Prusik nut, you can adjust up and down to give yourself a little more length here. I usually still keep it pretty close to the tree, but if I do wanna move around, this gives me a little bit more leeway. So as you hook in here, you're hooked in, it's behind you, you're totally safe and free. And I like again, a little bit closer to the tree, but enough room that if I have to turn and I'm drawing, I have plenty of room to do that because now this is well under my arm. I don't have to worry about my cam here or above, everything is out of the way and I can do that on both sides and have plenty of room. So whichever you decide to use to your circumstances, either the nylon web belt style or the lineman's belt will do exactly what you need it to do to be safe in the tree.