Treestand falls

[heydeerman]

Boys, I have been up in a tree and think " where am I gonna go if this thing falls after I have strapped my self to it?" I see new trees on the ground every year when I hit the woods. It gets me to thinkin. Never would have imagined there is folks out there that have experienced it.

[Shawn Leonard]

Rich, I had a step break and I was 23ft. up. The Dr. said I hit the ground in less than a half second. Shawn

[Drew]

I've never had the tree fall...but like shawn I've had a folding step break and ended up on the ground my head just missed a rock.

One of my good friends left his hang on stand up for a few seasons (a serious no no) in the tree...well the chain broke last season and almost cost him his life!

[pintail_drake2004]

i had someone cut 3/4 the way through my ladder one time, i got almost to the top when i fell. luckly i grabbed a limb by the ladder. I now use mostly climbers, lot harder to fall out of one of them.

[Problem Child]

My climber slipped about a 1/16" one time and it felt like 10 feet. Pucker factor was really high  

[B-DOG]

i spent 10 days in the hospital in 1988. i was checking old stands with a friend of mine when we got to the stand i was there first so up i went. steped on the top board and it cracked. i looked down and told my friend that we had to rebuid and when i looked up all i saw were wasps. thats all i remember. he said it look like i was going to jump and decided not to at the last minute. cracked 3 vertibra in my kneck and tore muscles from by neck to shoulder. about 6 months laid up and good as new. although the last year or so my kneck hurts more and more. gets stiff pretty quick. i do still hunt from tree stands.  you all be careful they will hurt you.

     benji

[Rich LaBombard]

YIKES.  Hopefully, guys that still don't use a harness, etc., read some of these stories.

[ArrowAtomik]

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I was gearing up next to my truck for a walk in the woods on a dead calm day when I heard a strange noise.  I looked over and literally watched a 1.5' wide tree trunk spontaneously splinter at the base.  In slow motion I watched the 40 foot tree slowly lean towards me.

I stood there in awe and disbelief that this was really happening.  I had a thought go through my head to push it away but my rational side told me better and I dove away at the last moment and saw my truck crimple like a pop can.

I found my bow (Hoyt compound in those days) 10 yards away with broken arrows.  Miraculously it still shoots... though the limbs have some scary looking scars.  

I'd suggest taking 2 seconds to glance around where you park and where you put your stand.  Eventually gravity always wins its battles.

[Larry247]

Yeah well, I built a nice stand in a sassafrass tree when i was 15. I hunted out of it for three years. I was sitting in it one morning when i felt it start going bakwards. I looked around to see if the wind was blowing the other trees and it wasn't. I looked down and i could see the roots starting to come up out of the soaking wet ground, because it was a wet summer that year i guess the tree couldn't take the extra weight and started to fall. As the tree fell i sorta held on and straightend up as the tree went down. It didn't fall all the way to the ground, but i just hopped off onto the ground as i was only 5ft from it when it stopped.

I walk by that stump now and think about that all the time. This will be the first time i've mentioned that incedent in years!

If it had went fast i wouldn't be here today! The tree was 25"or30" in diameter. And yes, i hunted off the ground for several years after that!