Lifelines for tree stands aren’t fancy and they aren’t new, but they are definitely important – especially when it comes to your life out in the woods. A tree stand lifeline a piece of rope that is attached above your tree stand. There is another piece of rope that slides up and down – and it is tied into a special prusik knot – so that the hunter is safe in the tree as soon as he or she leave the ground until the moment that he or she comes back down from hunting.

Despite the fact that lifelines are so important to a hunter’s safety while in the tree stand, and the fact that they are so widely available, easy to use and affordable to purchase, there are a large number of hunters that fail to use, and the ones that do use them are not using them properly.

In the below video, we specifically address the height at which a hunter should install his or her lifeline, whether you need a second tree strap while hunting, and how you can safely move the prusik knot while climbing up and/or descending down from the tree.