Not wanting to hijack the other thread, but some things you need to think about. This is a long post, but read it like your life depends on it, because it may!
A good friend got permission to hunt some property that had been logged very recently. As he was walking the property with his son and the property owner, he spotted a white oak with lot of big limbs that would make great cover. As he was mentally picking out the perfect spot in the tree for his stand, his son noticed the tree had been cut halfway thru just a few inches above the ground!! They got to looking around and found a few other trees that were partially cut thru!! The owner called the logger and asked him WTH was going on and he stated "Yeah, there are few like that. We're gonna come back and get 'em later."
Now some of these trees were near a pond where the property owners kids played and the family had weekend picnics!! The logger came back the next day and dropped the cut trees with the property owner being right there with him. Could have been a disaster!
On a late October evening a few years back I was hunting from a ladder stand. I was looking around the area to the east of my stand with binoculars at a stand of mature oaks that was getting a lot of activity. One old oak in particular caught my eye as a potential stand site. rather than move my ladder stand, I saw some huge limbs that I could stand on with other limbs that I could tie off to. "A couple of strap on ladder sections, a strap on seat and I will be good to go" I thought to myself. A few days later, the wind was forecast to be right for the big oak, so I grabbed my gear and headed in an hour early to get set up. I got to the big oak and the limb I had picked out was laying on the ground! No major storms or even a stiff breeze since I had viewed the tree a few days earlier. The limb wasn't noticeably dead and still held it's leaves. But by the grace of God the wind diretion kept me from doing something stupid that could have gotten me killed.
Several years ago (20+) I used the tri-fold screw in steps on most every stand that I hung. I was hunting across the state line in Illinois and I hung all my stands in early August planning to stay out of the area until the time was right. In early November I started climbing into my stand for an afternoon hunt. I stretched out the distance between my steps back in those days and I found I couldn't climb as easily with my bulky winter clothes on like I did in August with jeans and a t-shirt. I had to really stretch out and push off to reach the next step up. Luckily, I was young and in great shape back then because the lower step I just pushed off of with my left leg snapped off at the folding joint. I had a good hold of the step that was above my head and as my right foot slipped from the step I was trying to reach, I managed to catch my weight with my right arm. My body swung full force into the tree and I thought that I had "racked" myself and caught my heavy fleece bibs on the step I was trying to reach. I got my left hand onto the upper step with my right hand and pulled myself up enough to reach down with my right hand and free myself from the step. I lowered myself down with my arms and luckily was able to reach the step below the one that had broken off.
Once I made it to the ground, I was sick to my stomach and couldn't catch my breath. After a few minutes, my heart rate went down and my stomach settled a bit. I checked the tear in my bibs and found blood. I dropped my bibs to check what was bleeding and was sick to my stomach again! The tree step that I had "racked" myself on had actually penetrated my scrotum and pulled out my left testicle. Nausea, cold sweat, fear swept over me. It was 3 hours until dark and if I didn't come out at dark, my buddy (the property owner) wouldn't even think to look for me for a couple of more hours.
I tried to walk and found it too painful. Nothing to do but put "things" back where they belonged and it was excruciating! I pulled my long underwear bottoms up as high and tight as I could stand, trying to keep things in place and started walking slowing toward my friends house. Not really sure how long it took to cover the roughly 1/2 mile, but it seemed like hours. A trip to the ER, some very painful exams and cleaning, 11 stitches and I was on my way home. Besides the obvious injury, I had bruised ribs and a strained right bicep. It took a several weeks before I was healed up enough to even think about hunting again and by then, the season was over.
The point of all of this is to show that things happen in a split second. If the last incident I related had happened to me in the last ten years, I would not have came out as well as I did. No longer have that kind of strength or reaction time. I always tie off now and I use nothing but the very best ladder stands that I can afford. I think that a good climber is very safe as long as you tie off with a quality fall restraint system while both ascending an descending. As I mentioned in the other post, anything mechanical can and will eventually fail. Take an extra few minutes to look over your stands and gear and the tree you plan to climb. Dead limbs, partial cut through on a tree, dead trees near your chosen tree, check it all out before you climb!!
Mike
Topic: Please read...it can happen in a split second! (Read 859 times)
