Just a story and a reminder not to take anything for granted about tree stands. The weekend between Christmas and New Years,12/28,I decided to put in an afternoon hunt on my cousin's place about an hour from home. I got there about 10 am, took a look around and decided to hang a stand for an evening hunt on the edge of a hayfield. I put on my safety belt, a couple climbing sticks and then used existing branches on the pine tree to get to tree stand level at around 15'. Pulled up my stand and hung it. Then came my first and worst mistake. Instead of repositioning my safety strap before I stepped up on the stand I stepped on the stand first. Facing the tree to hook up my safety belt, the next thing I know, the stand drops from under my feet and I'm falling. I landed on my feet and immediately knew I had broken my left foot or ankle. I also had pain in my lower back like it was jammed. I layed back on the ground to get my head together and assess the damages.I looked over on the ground next to me and saw half the broken turnbuckle from the chain on my treestand. After a couple minutes I decided I could get to my feet and try to hobble back to my truck. I quickly found that if I put any pressure at all on my left foot it felt like it was on fire. Luckily since I had decided on the field, I had driven my truck within about 150 yards of the tree. I planned to hang the stand, grab some lunch, park my truck out by the road and return for the hunt until dark. I had no signal on my cell and I was alone. My wife wouldn't even expect me home until at least 2 hrs after dark and my cousin had no idea I was on the place. I crawled across the field to my truck, got in, drove myself to the gate which I had locked when I came in. I parked my truck as close as I could to the gate and hobbled around the fence and my truck to unlock the gate. Luckily, when I backed my truck up the gate swung open. By this time I had extreme pain in my back and my foot. I called my wife as soon as I got a signal and drove myself to the local hospital ER. After X-rays and a CT scan, I was told I had shattered the heel in my left foot and had a compression fracture in my lower back. The heel would require surgery but my back should heal after wearing a back brace for a few months. I've now had surgery on my foot complete with pins and a plate and spent a few days in the hospital. I have been wearing the back brace anytime I'm out of bed for the past 6 weeks. In another 3 weeks I should be able to start putting weight on my foot and begin physical therapy.
Bottom line of this story is to say that I've been hunting from trees for at least 20 years with no accidents, most of the time alone and even though I've heard all the stories, I felt like it could never happen to me. I'm extremely lucky my injuries were not worse and that I wasn't hunting a mile from my truck down in the woods and across the hollows as I very easily could have been. I could have broken my back and been laying outside for hours or worse. I thank God for my good fortune. I've had a lot of pain and realize I've taken a lot of things for granted, but I'm still with my family and will recover to roam the woods again. I'm also extremely blessed to have such a wonderful wife to support me and help me do all the trivial things I took for granted before my accident.
Be careful out there.
Topic: It CAN happen to you (Read 550 times)
