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Featured Hunting Tips
Tie a Safety Line
by Dan Buckley
Each year thousands of hunters spend many hours searching for the perfect spot and
hanging their tree stands. Yet too few hunters go the extra step which could be the most important.
Tieing a safety line can save your life and keep you visiting those stands for years to come.
It's easy to do if you're prepared, so here's how.
In order to tie the line, you'll need the following items:
- 35 feet of half inch nylon utility rope rated plenty above your weight in the field
- 2 feet of quarter inch nylon utility rope
- 1 heavy duty locking carabiner
- 1 heavy duty latching carabiner
The way this works is you'll basically have a line which runs the same path that you climb up the tree (main line). One end
tied at chest height in the stand, the other at the base of the tree. One carabiner is tied using a movable knot to
that main line. It is slid up and down the tree as you climb. The other carabiner is attached to your safety harness
which usually comes with the stand. This way you simply clip one carabiner to the other as you start your way up or down.
You're never disconnected to the tree.
This is not a knot tying article so I won't get into the how-to's of that. The most important knot to know for this
endeavor is the Prusik knot.
It is really very easy once you learn it. This is the knot that connects the tree carabiner to the main line. The Prusik
knot is easy to slide easily up and down the main line as you climb, but will tighten around the main line in case of a fall.
Its been used and tested by climbers for years.
At the top of the tree we tie a Double Bowline backed by a Fisherman's knot. Just a strong climbing knot
with a loop where you can lead the main line through after rounding the tree. It is best to find a large branch to anchor it on
just as you do when you hang your stand.
Finally just secure the bottom of the main line so it stays stationary and makes climbing
easier. Any knot will do at the bottom because it will not be load bearing.
Last year was the first year we put safety lines up on all of our stands. Late in bow hunting season one of my brothers
got the chance to see just how secure they were when he slipped climbing down, about twenty feet in the air. The majority of
accidents happen not while standing, but while climbing in and out. I'll never put up a stand again without adding a safety line.
Give it a try. My wife rests much easier when I'm out knowing that ours are there.
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