Regular readers of this column will know that early every autumn I select three or four items of outdoor gear to review. Visit your local sporting goods store and neighborhood gun shop, walk the aisles and peruse the shelves and it’s quickly apparent there’s no lack of new or improved products on the market. For me the fun part of this annual article is the chance to buy and try some new toys for big boys. After all, it just wouldn’t be right to recommend a piece of equipment based on hearsay or slanted advertising, at least that’s the story I tell my wife – and I’m sticking to it.

Tree stand safety

Over the last 20 years, the No. 1 cause of personal injury to hunters is falling from tree stands. Of course during that same time period, the use of tree stands to aid in hunting big-game animals has skyrocketed. In 1985 there were approximately a dozen recognized companies manufacturing various styles of tree stands. Currently there are more than 125 name-brand businesses constructing an ever-growing array of tree stands.

Experts predict that 300 to 500 hunters in North America will die due to falls from trees this year. About 5,000 to 7,000 will be permanently disabled, many due to traumatic brain injury or spinal damage leading to paralysis, and 10,000 to 15,000 sportsmen will receive some type of minor to moderate injury requiring medical attention. Equipment failure accounts for a few accidents, but the bulk of the falls and resulting injuries are the result of human error. Inattention and complacency are the main causes, proven by the fact that 85 percent of hunter falls occur while ascending or descending the stand.

Consistent use of a fall-restraint device will eliminate the bulk of tree-stand tumbles leading to death or major injury. Belt restraints attached to a short tether around the tree trunk to which the stand is attached have been the most common style of restraint for many years. These wide web belts with pressure-cinch buckles are economical and simple to set up and use, but they have one major flaw. While they will certainly break a fall from a tree stand, the belt can slip from the waist, slide upward around the torso and constrict breathing. A number of people have suffocated because they couldn’t expand their chest to breathe while suspended in midair after a fall. Internal injuries have also occurred when the 3-inch wide belt snubs and tightens around the abdomen as it stops a hunter’s plunge.

Web harnesses were the next innovation in fall-restraint devices. Adjustable web straps encircle the shoulders and upper chest while a lower set of straps go around the waist, under the groin and around each upper thigh. Not unlike a rock climber’s repelling harness, these outfits distribute the pressure when a fall is snubbed to a stop but still can produce problems. Dislocation of joints, spinal injuries and internal organ damage are possible, and on top of all that, the rigs are a pain to get in and out of, uncomfortable to sit in for long periods and the buckles can be noisy when hunters shift position during long waits for game to appear.

Hunter Safety Systems’ full body harness offers a solution to every problem experienced by other fall restraint devices. HSS has enclosed its four-point restraint system in a vest. This unique outfit is easy to put on and take off, comfortable and quiet to wear for hours, and if a fall occurs, the strap system stops the descent with pressure on the hips and upper body, not the chest or waist. HSS vests come in a variety of sizes, even a special unit for young hunters or small-framed women; some are camo-colored and others are reversible – camo on one side and hunter orange on the other. Prices range from $74.95 for the Tree Stalker and Lil’ Tree Stalker up to $134.95 for the Pro Series.

Among the many features that make the Hunters Safety System so comfortable, durable and effective are heavy duty, wide straps with quiet, plastic, quick-snap buckles and no excess lengths of belt or strap to tangle or dangle. Each lightweight buckle and tightening device is not only simple to adjust, but fitting adjustments and release snaps can be worked while wearing gloves. Saddle-style leg straps distribute weight, offer easy-access fast snaps and fit comfortably but securely once in place.

Articles can be stored in two deep chest pockets with flapped and secure closures, all seams are ribbed as well as sewn with a close stitch using heavy thread. Lower pockets have corrosion-resistant, heavy-duty zippers that are quiet to open and moisture proof when closed. Support webbing is sewn into the vest, which is comprised of a soft, quiet poly/cotton blend in the solid material. My favorite is the HSS-6, a Pro Series model that uses a ventilated mesh to enclose the harness system, yielding a lightweight and cooler camo version for warm-weather outings.

Also included is a woven strap and stainless steel ring which can be attached to a receptacle in the back of the vest. On the ground this serves as a deer drag strap, while up in the stand it’s a suspension relief strap. If a sport should take a tumble and be left hanging, this rig makes sure leg circulation isn’t compromised before the man gets on the ground again. Another very important feature of the HSS vests is a four-section rip-stop strip that gives way a section at a time acting as a sort of shock absorber as a fall terminates at the end of the safety strap.

To view HSS vests online, check out www.huntersafetsystem.com or call 1-877-296-3528 with any questions or to order a product. If you think you don’t need such an advanced style of fall restraint, consider this fact: a 225-pound hunter falling 25 feet from a tree stand suffers the same impact damage as being hit by a bus going 40 miles per hour. I’ll be wearing my Hunter Safety System vest and climbing Life Line every time I sit in my stand as well as when I climb up and down the 18-foot ladder!

A real hard case

It’s nothing nowadays to pay more than $1,000 for a good standard-grade shotgun or rifle. If you purchase top-of-the-line, that price triples, and to own a vintage collectible or handmade import, it takes a second mortgage on the house. Since most of us don’t buy guns just to look at, it’s imperative that favorite long guns be well protected during transport to a hunting site. If air travel is involved, a high quality hard gun case is a must, and even driving across the state, across the country, or an hour into the deep woods over rough roads, don’t settle for a soft gun case or worse yet, just a lightweight cloth gun sleeve.

I’ve used heavily padded, semi-rigid cases, strong plastic hard cases, and even an expensive, reinforced aluminum gun case with only marginal success. Often the rifles had to be resighted after travel, and frequently there was notable damage to the hard cases during handling and packing by airline workers or during travel in overloaded baggage compartments. Twice, I had to file claims for repair of a gun or replacement of a case. Storm cases manufactured by Hardigg Industries of Massachusetts took care of all my gun transport worries and woes in one fell swoop.

One of my friends uses a smaller Hardigg case to transport his expensive and delicate cameras and lenses, and a cursory examination of this rugged unit sent me searching online. Sure enough, they build a number of sizes and shapes of gun cases for handguns and long guns and that’s where I first glimpsed the iM 3220. Most hard cases are fairly thin, allowing one or two rifles or shotguns to be laid side by side, but the 3220 is a deep case offering the option of packing three guns side by side vertically. A solid foam core can be hand cut to fit around, protect and stabilize each specific firearm in the upright position, even scoped rifles.

Storm gun cases feature six press and pull-molded latches, four along the front and one on each end. These unique fasteners are all but impossible to open by error due to impact or stress since a pushbutton must be depressed while the latch is lifted to disengage the locking mechanism. A large, double-layered, soft-grip handle is located on the end and on the front of the case. Rugged inline wheels offer easy rolling instead of lifting during transport, two hefty hasps allow for double padlocks, and a Vortex valve automatically adjusts air pressure in the case to prevent damage to optics due to altitude changes.

The three-point hinge used on the 3220 is far stronger than the usual two-point or piano hinges on many gun cases. The back side of the case is designed with integrated feet to protect the hinge mechanism, yet also offers a flat stable surface so the case can stand upright. Storm cases are injection molded using a new HPX high-performance resin that is amazingly impact resistant. Each case is completely water tight and, best of all, guaranteed for life regardless of the problem.

Hardigg’s iM 3220 measures 44 by 14 by 8.5 inches deep and weighs 20.4 pounds, while its twin two-gun horizontal layout case, the iM 3200, weighs 17.7 pounds and is 21/2 inches thinner. Current prices on these last-a-lifetime gun cases are $225 for the 3220 and $175 for the 3200. Visit www.stormcase.com for the full line of Hardigg cases or call 1-800-542-7344 with questions.

Hevi-Shot Classic

Hevi-Shot, what I consider to be the best steel-alternative waterfowl loads on the market today, just got even better. Environ Metal, producers of Hevi-Shot, has come up with a new load for old guns. Called Classic Doubles, these innovative nontoxic pellets are being loaded into shells for vintage shotguns that until now could no longer be used for fear of severe barrel damage from steel and other mixed metal loads.

Classic Doubles shells are optimized for use with older, fixed-choke scatterguns and classic models passed down from your grandfather. I’ve got a two-generation old Browning Superposed, 3-inch waterfowl special that has sat idle way too long, and now it can do what it was built for on regional duck marshes and goose fields. Currently available in all gauges from 410 through 12 in shot sizes 4, 5, and 6, Classic Doubles 3-inch shells are the largest thus far, but Hevi-Shot is already anticipating adding at least size No. 2 pellets and 31/2-inch shells by next fall.

Hevi-Shot has proven under extensive testing to put 45 percent more pellets on target than regular steel shot and this heavier than Bismuth shot yields deeper, more lethal penetration and therefore fewer wounded and lost birds. Boxes of 10 shells range from $27 to $35 depending on gauge and shell length. Check out www.hevishot.com for more detailed info.

Any one of this trio of new outdoor products is sure to make every sportsman’s hunting trip safer, more successful and very satisfying. Leave this article where the wife and kids can see it with certain items highlighted and perhaps you’ll get a birthday, anniversary or even an early Christmas present before hunting season ends.

bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com