Im sure most of yall who hunt are familier but here is an excerp from an article in Outdoor Life. Its a good reminder to check our gear and stay safe.
Take care of your tree stands now and they'll take care of you later.
4. FIX THEM
Last December, my buddy Freeman and I decided to pull a treestand set that we hadn’t hunted in a couple of seasons. The stands had been in place for about four years. We always said we were going to get them down but never did. Sound familiar?
with a mild winter weekend on tap, we headed for the woods to finally retrieve them. As expected, the tree had grown a bit since the stands were placed and removing the straps from the stand wasn’t possible.
So I tossed my pocketknife up to Freeman (who had volunteered to do the dirty work of pulling the stands down) and told him to just cut the straps.
The moment that blade touched the strap—POP! The tension created by the growing tree trunk combined with UV exposure had made those straps a brittle ticking bomb.
We were both stunned. Not because the tree had grown or because we were foolish for leaving the stands out—that was a given. No, it was the intensity with which that strap blew and just how small of a nick in the strap it took for it to fail. Needless to say, we made a long day of removing every single treestand we had left out.
Each stand will be getting a thorough inspection, the bolts and cables replaced as needed, and adding new ratchet straps for the fall.
Take care of your tree stands now and they'll take care of you later.
4. FIX THEM
Last December, my buddy Freeman and I decided to pull a treestand set that we hadn’t hunted in a couple of seasons. The stands had been in place for about four years. We always said we were going to get them down but never did. Sound familiar?
with a mild winter weekend on tap, we headed for the woods to finally retrieve them. As expected, the tree had grown a bit since the stands were placed and removing the straps from the stand wasn’t possible.
So I tossed my pocketknife up to Freeman (who had volunteered to do the dirty work of pulling the stands down) and told him to just cut the straps.
The moment that blade touched the strap—POP! The tension created by the growing tree trunk combined with UV exposure had made those straps a brittle ticking bomb.
We were both stunned. Not because the tree had grown or because we were foolish for leaving the stands out—that was a given. No, it was the intensity with which that strap blew and just how small of a nick in the strap it took for it to fail. Needless to say, we made a long day of removing every single treestand we had left out.
Each stand will be getting a thorough inspection, the bolts and cables replaced as needed, and adding new ratchet straps for the fall.