Properly put on and secured, a fall arrest system will stop a hunter's fall and keep the hunter upright and uninjured until he can recover and either get back into the stand or onto the ground safely. Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

No matter how careful we are, spending time in trees can be a risky business. The purpose of this article is simple: to examine some tools and practices that will reduce your risk to reasonable levels.

Stand Purchase And Inspection
Stand safety starts well before you hit the woods. If your stand isn't in proper working order and suited to your needs, nothing else matters.

That begins with selecting the right stand. Most hunters' first criterion is that the stand fits their wants, such as platform size, seat size and general design. Granted, this is important -- you'll tend to be safer if comfortable. Of course, price is also a big factor for many, but a number of safe stands have low sticker prices.

Several manufacturers, such as Summit Treestands, make full lines of portable tree stands of various types. Each is rigorously tested for safety and warranted against defect.

Equally important is checking the weight rating for a stand. Granted, for hunters less than 220 pounds, this really isn't an issue. However, if your weight -- including all of your gear -- is over that, weight ratings must be checked and never exceeded.

Once a stand has been purchased, it should be inspected every time before it's brought to the woods or climbed into. Cables, straps, chains, welds, nuts and any other weight-bearing components need to be looked at for signs of failing. If such signs are present, the faulty piece must be replaced before the stand is used again.

Though we'll address them in more detail later, your fall arrest system/full-body harness also must be inspected before hitting the woods. Look for ripped stitching, tears in straps, a fray in the rope or buckle damage. If there are any potential issues, the unit must be replaced. It's just not worth risking your life over.

Treestand Manufacturers Association Approval
Finally, and every bit as important as any other factor, be sure that the stand you buy comes from a manufacturer that belongs to the Treestand Manufacturers Association (TMA). TMA's purpose is to promote and improve tree stand safety. TMA uses its resources to improve safety through education, safety testing and the establishment of safety and manufacturing standards its members conform to. The group also promotes the proper use of fall arrest and safety harness devices.

In a nutshell, TMA pushes its members to seek certification of conformance to association standards on all tree stand products and develop industry standards for safety that are based on testing and studies. As a result, TMA members tend to make safer stands. Look for signs of TMA membership right on the box.

Setting Your Stands
In my opinion, the single most dangerous part of hunting from any kind of an elevated stand is putting it up. For as much ink as in-stand safety gets, the risks of putting up stands are too often ignored.

Selecting the right kind of tree is a big part of safely getting stands up. Pick a healthy, live tree; never climb one that is sickly or, worse yet, dead.