Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Tree stand harness

Last year when I was looking for our first tree stand got some great advice and bought a Big Game Prestige stand. Very happy with the stand but the safety harness's that came with it suck.

Looking for advice for buying a harness that we can switch out between my wife and I.

I don't know about the switching out thing but I use the Muddy harness and like it.

+1 on the Muddy harness.

IMO, the main thing is how easy the legs are to get in/out of. I'd think most any thing with a good, quick connect buckle on the leg would be fine. Mine's a Hunter Safety System.

Muddy, and get your wife her own harness.

+1 on her getting her own

I use one I got from cabela's. I forget the brand but it is WAY better than the ones that come with the stands. now'a days I think they send what might pass as a harness just to appease the lawyers.

IMO lots of truth to that last sentence.

That is the sole reason for the harness that comes with tree stands.

I've had several versions of the Hunter's Safety System harness over the years and all worked quite well.

This year I decided to give the Muddy Diamondback and Tree Spider Speed Harness a whirl. I've not spent serious time with either but will report findings in the future.

FWIW, the binocular strap/hooks on the Muddy Diamondback is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. If I keep it, they'll be getting cut off.

OP, I say this with all due respect - don't be a tightss - get your wife her own harness.

Been looking at the Muddy's and Hunters Safety system. Hunter seems to be our choice at the moment. Keep the comments coming as we have a couple of months before we buy.

I live in the trees during bear and deer archery hunting. We have used several different safety harness models.

The one We like best ( my wife and I) is the Hunter safety system with the integrated vest because it has so many pockets.

It's great to fill one pocket with snacks, smoke in a bottle, phone, her video camera, rangefinder,

In the early fall bear season I use the hunter safety system that is just the straps without the vest. That is much cooler to sit in then the full vest model.

One thing that I should share, they have a rope that uses a one way slide so when you connect up on the ground, you slide up the knot and stay connected from the ground until you go up and then all the way down again.


This past week callie and I hunted bears from the tree stands as usual. She is deathly afraid of heights, but sees the safety engineered into the whole system. She is nervous in the stand for about 20-30 minutes but that eases up after a while. Then her discomfort of course climbing back down, usually at or after dark! I shot a nice big bear this particular night. It ran a short way and gave the death moan. Probably 40-50 yards away.

I have done everything possible to create a great safe tree stand environment for her. So we get down to the ground, and collect our things. She walks about 6 feet from the tree down the trail and the earth gives way on the edge. It's 5-7' down to the now dry and rocky creek bed.

BAM, she lands head and shoulder first into the rocks and brush. Dislocated shoulder, separated and disconnected collar bone, sliced open leg bleeding like all get out. It's about an hour plus to the ER but first we have to walk out about 2/3 mile. Then the ATV about another mile to the gate where the truck is at. The bouncing on the ATV was brutal for her loose hanging shoulder.

Sitting in the ER after she had an IV with some pleasant fluids being introduced I said " do I need to have a safety rope now from the base of the tree to the truck?"

They pushed and twisted all her bits back in place put her in a sling and we went home. Next morning I say, I've gotta go get that bear early. I'm up and getting ready to leave when I see she is also dressed and ready to go! WHAT? She is in a sling and leg bandaged with blood seeping through it. WHAT?

" I wanna go too"
"I"m not sitting here waiting on you to get back, I can walk slow and make it there too"

So off we go, although she walked over much of the rough places instead of the ATV ride. I did the work myself to skin and pack everything out, but she was quite the trooper to even go back and provide moral support!

I'm not much of a fan of the HSS harness mainly because it's so hot here when I hunt from tree stands. For that reason I like the light weight slimmer type such as the SOP by Summit. I'm on my second SOP and never had an issue thus far. Easy to put on and easy to adjust between hunter sizes. Light and cool as well.

There are better harnesses no doubt about it, it's just whatever meets your needs best.

Remember to store your harness indoors to keep them from rotting. A sealed plastic bag will help keep the indoor odors at bay.

Tree Spider

DBI/SALA