The key to staying safe in a tree stand is wearing a safety harness.
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Is it about protecting hunters from themselves? Or protecting the Pennsylvania Game Commission?
When it comes to tree stand falls, the answer is apparently both.
On Tuesday, Game Commissioners are scheduled to vote on a proposed regulation that would require hunters installing, using or occupying a tree stand on state game lands to wear “a full-body safety harness and tether system” while off the ground. The regulation defines an acceptable harness as one “capable of fully supporting a person’s body weight during a fall event.”
Consideration of the idea is being driven by statistics showing that increasing numbers of hunters are falling from tree stands, with serious health consequences.
If the board adopts the regulation, it will go out for public comment. The board would then have to approve the idea a second time, presumably at their next meeting in April.
The rule could then go into effect this fall.
As of right now, it’s not entirely clear which way the board is leaning.
Wes Waldron, spokesman for the United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania, said the group’s members support the regulation. They’ve always advocated using safety devices, he noted.
Commissioner Tim Layton of Somerset County asked if the commission should mandate that others act that way, though.
“Do we have to regulate everyone who doesn’t think safety minded-wise?” he asked.
“On the state game lands. I see no reason why not,” Waldron said.
At least two commissioners agree.
Commissioner Jim Daley of Butler County, a long-time hunter education instructor, is one.
“Statistics show that one third of all archers will fall out of a tree stand. So we know that it’s dangerous,” he said.
The commission should address that where it can, he added.
“I think that if we can set the example on state game lands … I think that’s good for us as an agency to do.”
Commission president Brian Hoover of Chester County agreed.
Every tree stand sold these days comes with a harness of some sort, he said. Manufacturers advocate their use.
The commission likewise has a vested interest in seeing hunters wear them, he added. That’s not only about their safety, but about protecting the commission from liability, too. He doesn’t want sued by a hunter who fell from a stand on state land.
“Mandating (harness use) on state game lands is only an intelligent thing to do,” Hoover said.
Commissioner Stanley Knick of Luzerne County disagreed. He said he’s a “negative” vote on the issue, and that the decision on whether to wear a harness is personal preference.
“There are some pros and cons. But I think we should look at this further before deciding what to do,” Knick said.
If the regulation is adopted, game wardens will check hunters, Hoover said. Law enforcement staff would decide how and when to do enforcement, he added.
But either way, fines are possible.
Randy Shoup, chief of the bureau of wildlife protection, said this rule – like any regulation – will carry fines of $100 to $200, plus court costs, for violators.
Officers won’t be looking to write many tickets early on, though, he said.
“With any new regulation, we generally take a soft approach the first year it’s implemented,” Shoup said.
Commissioner Charlie Fox of Bradford County said that’s the way to go.
“If we’re going to move in this direction, I’d like to see us start a really vigorous education program,” Fox said.
There’s another issue, Layton suggested. Game wardens don’t routinely investigate falls from tree stands. This wouldn’t change that.
But if commissioners put this rule in place, wardens will effectively have to start following up on them, he said.
So while he doesn’t necessarily oppose the regulation, Layton said adopting it will carry consequences.
“I think if we go this route, it sorts of puts the ball back in our court,” he said.
