Scouting is hard!

Take a look at rock climbing harnesses. Rock climbers use them everyday for falls and slips. God forbid, but if you have a fall in one you will end up facing the tree and not hung by there by the scruff of your neck like you would with a traditional tree harness.

Ever what you decide to use, I would recommend that you suspend yourself in it and try getting back in your stand or getting to the ground.
Personally I use a climbing harness with a Tree stand Wingman. The Wingman is a belay device that slows your rate of fall.

Actually you don't take pressure off of your neck, the tension relief straps take the pressure off your legs.
I go back to my previous post, try it all out, it ain't that easy.

I may go back to using the cheap ones that come with our stands.
They’re light and zero chance of making any artificial noise
Zero chance of me not fully latching any buckle or snap

I know they don’t have pockets but how much stuff do you need to put in them when you’re hunting?

Reading this makes me think I should start carrying the rope thing I have that allows me to take the strap pressure off my legs were I to fall

not a myth on wmas i hunt, archery blackpowder and gun normally hot as hell and if i see a pig its very early in the morning or after suns gone down. last month or so the few really chilly mornings ive seen hogs up till noon. cooler temps do increase hog movement in my opinion. good luck

Second cycle. First rut is Christmas to New Year's.

I've run cams in there for years. It's definitely happening in late-Dec. Not trying to be argumentative here at all BTW. I wish you the best of luck, and hope they're running around stupid for you.

I'm not sure how the biologist would know when conception occurred last year unless they did doe harvests last spring/summer. But, yes, the rut map does suggest a Feb conception date.

There are few issues with the rut map, however:

1. It was formulated from a rather small sample size. I've seen some of the data they used. It's understandable, however, because it's not like they wanted to go out and shoot 100 does.
2. It was made before the APRs went into effect.
3. It is an average of conception dates. If you take into account does bred in their second, third, or later estrous cycles, it's going to skew the average later. This means the first phase should be a bit earlier on all locations on that map.

Every part of the state I've hunted has an earlier rut than what is on that map. When you factor in the fact that buck movement peaks before conception, some of the best times to kill a buck in parts of the state is a month before the dates listed on the map. FL is a weird place for sure.

I'm probably putting to much faith into their forecasting abilities too.

Good point

Exactly. That's why I suggested you could see "rut" behavior a month before the dates on the chart.

To add to it, and if I'm not mistaken, about 28 days before does are ready to breed they start their cycle - and you can bet that bucks can smell it in the air.

Went to one of my New spots today just to see if my climber rode out the Cat 4 we had.
It's fine and the spot is really tight and thick..or was..
Now I can see and shoot quite nicely as the hurricane really opened up the spot.
Pulled a Cam card I had there expecting nothing but falling trees and branches on it.
Surprise , Suprise...At least 6 bucks and 4 hogs on the cam.
I'll be there tomm. at zero dark thirty.

Feeders = Rookies...just sayin

That’s a nice suprise right there! So far I’ve only gotten a bunch of does, one small rack buck and a small cluster of hogs. It’s only been a week maybe my luck will change. I’m planning to move the cameras again a week before the hunt to a new area, encase I need a back up plan.