Hanging a portable deer stand is risky business

Most of what I've read about tree stand safety is incomplete, bogus or both. Here's the bogus part: Many safety instructions suggest that if a deer hunter has the correct gear and sufficient knowledge, he or she can climb trees without worry. But hunting from a deer stand is inherently risky, and while much of the risk can be eliminated or mitigated, not all can.

Today's subject is tree stand safety -- specifically pertaining to portable hang-on stands. Manufactured "ladder" or tripod stands, or "climbing'' stands, present different challenges, as do homemade platform stands. Each comes with its own risks as well as risks that apply to all stands.

The largest, most secure platform stand ever made, for example, still require a ladder or similar device leading to it. And on cold mornings, frost on a ladder's steps can cause a hunter to slip and fall. Additionally, some ladder stands are, in my view, designed so poorly they almost invite accidents. This is particularly true of those with small sitting platforms.

But challenges that attend placement of portable hang-on stands in trees, and that accompany climbing into and out of those stands, as well as hunting from them, are a bigger deal still.

Specifically:

• Most hunters work without safety ropes, belts or straps while initially securing climbing sticks, screw-in steps or ladders to trees, and while hanging stands. Generally, these ropes (employing Prussic knots), belts and/or straps are poorly understood or, simply, not used. They should be, because most falls occur while a hunter is climbing into or out of a stand. (For information on lineman's belts, etc., go to www.huntersafetysystem.com or www.summitstands.com.) (See also below my use of the "Fall Guy.'')

• Many hunters wrongly hang portable stands at or above the highest step of their climbing sticks or ladders. This endangers hunters who attempt to step or crawl up into stands, possibly dislodging the stands from trees and/or otherwise causing them to slip and fall.

• Many hunters don't wear safety harnesses or vests, which, when connected to a strap secured to the tree, are designed to spread a hunter's weight evenly should a fall occur. Some hunters instead use nothing or antiquated safety belts when in trees, some of which when deployed in accidents squeeze hunters against trees, causing suffocation. (For more tree stand safety information, go to www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/treestand.)

In the accompanying photos, I explain key elements of what I consider to be safe hanging of portable stands. A few important things don't appear in the photos: the aforementioned lineman's belt to aid in the initial climb, and the hanging of a rope from the placed stand to pull up bows or firearms.

You'll note I used three climbing sticks; a Hunter Safety brand safety vest; a Chippewa Tru-Loc portable hanging stand; and a 20-foot-long Fall Guy retractable harness.

You might agree with these equipment choices. Or perhaps you have other, better ideas about how to climb trees to hang stands. If so, log on to www.startribune.com/cluboutdoors and attach your comments to the end of this column.