MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is offering safety tips to hunters who use tree stands.
The department advises choosing a live, straight tree and to only use stands certified by the Treestand Manufacturer’s Association.
It also urges hunters using such stands to wear full-body safety harnesses and to never carry firearms up and down trees. It says to use a haul line to raise and lower all gear.
The department recommends inspecting the tree stand each time it’s used and to know the rules: it’s illegal to place nails or other hardware into trees or to build permanent structures on state lands.
On private land, hunters must have the landowner permission to erect a tree stand or to cut tree limbs.
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