I am lucky.. CLIMB SAFELY!

[TradBrewSC]

With deer season upon us I wanted to tell my story and stress the importance of tree stand safety.

Three Sundays ago a friend and I were at our hunting lease checking stands and limbing as we always do prior to bow season. We put life lines on all of our stands and I typically always have a linemans belt with me for putting up new stands.

We came to a stand that had been up for about 3 years that the tree top had blown out of and had robbed the life line off of the year before. I stupidly decided to climb up and remove the lock on and strap on step sections even though I had forgotten my linemans belt.

Even though there were a lot of vines and the tree had grown into the millennium stand I was able to get it loose and lower it to my buddy. I then went to loosen the top 3ft ladder section.. As soon as I pressed on the buckle that had grown into the tree the strap snapped knocking the section and myself off the tree from 18' up.

I fell vertically (fortunately) from 18' landing on my feet and falling backwards after hitting the ground. The pain was instant and knew I was in trouble.. My friend was a surgical tech and fortunately knew not to try to move me. we accessed that the only thing in pain were my feet, and he hoisted me onto his four wheeler to get back to his truck as quickly/safely as possible.

We were about a mile from the truck and 20 miles from a hospital.

Once at the Hospital I was Xrayed to find that I had a broken left calcaneus (heel) and broken right talus (floating bone above the heel).

I am now on my 3rd week out of 6 in a wheelchair with a hard cast on either leg. Though this is truly a miserable experience I thank the good Lord that this is all that happened in this moment of ignorance. This could have been far worse and truly feel that God did this for a reason and to never take things for granted. After years of climbing too often we get so comfortable that we neglect to think of our safety. I just think of what would have happened if I were by myself without a friend and four wheeler as I often am, or to have fallen horizontally onto my back..

Please think of safety first this year everyone! Although many of us "live to hunt," please take every precaution to remain safe while doing so. A deer or whatever you are hunting isn't worth risking your life over when it can so easily be prevented by taking a few simple precautions! I will never climb without some sort of support again..

[MnFn]

Thanks for the cautionary reminder.  A friend of mine  fell while hunting alone.
 A farmer driving by saw something in the crop and went to investigate.  It was my friends hat as he dragged himself across the field.

[Bisch]

 

Glad you are gonna be ok! Heal up fast!

Bisch

[Slickhead]

yep
elevated hunting can be tricky.
Better to be over cautious.
when I first started hunting I never wore a harness.
almost fell a couple times

Now I hunt from the ground most the time.
at 58 its almost too much work hanging stands.
Not saying Ill never hunt from a tree again.

Heal fast!

[Charlie Lamb]

I had the support cables on my hang on break and drop me like a hot rock. I think the limbs of the pin oak I was in broke the fall somewhat. It changed my life. I'm in constant pain these days and it has slowed me way down.

The stand was set up with lifeline and a tie off spot for my harness, but I forgot the harness at the cabin when I went out. I realized my mistake and weighed the odds. What were the chances.

Don't be foolish. Take the precautions and don't tempt fate.

[Sam McMichael]

I'm glad that your injuries weren't worse, as they certainly could have been. What a safety reminder!

[Jayrod]

Man I hate to hear this brother glad your okay I will be in touch with you!..Prayers for a speedy recovery

[Roy from Pa]

Glad it wasn't worse.

Hope you heal quickly.

I've fallen twice. Broken ribs and both knees operated on.

Another time broken back and broken heel bone.

2 months in a wheelchair, 4 months off work.

Full body harness and climbing rope system for me now.

[kennyb]

Catkin-Sorry this fall happened to you but certainly glad you were not killed. As you could have very easily. Good luck healing fast and Godspeed to you!

Kenny 

[Eric Krewson]

So many of my my friends have fallen, three from equipment that failed and one who was too cocky to wear a harness and an icy lock-on got him.


This happened to me;

I fell about 30 years ago while putting up a lock-on. I was putting the stand in a cedar tree with a lot of limbs so I was unhooking my harness and passing the belt around the tree and rehooking as I passed a limb on my way up.

I was in a hurry, didn't look at my hook up, and leaned back against the climbing belt after I heard the safety catch snap. I leaned back about 12 feet up and my safety hook pulled loose, I think I pulled my shirttail in with hook and kept the safety snap open.
Out of the tree I went, backwards. I saw the limbs going by as I fell and thought "this is going to hurt". I rolled backwards in flight and hit on my shoulders and the back of my head, my back popped like a shotgun going off.

I knew it was going to hurt but wasn't prepared for the degree of pain I felt. It was so bad I passed out on the ground, then things got hazy, I would wake up looking at the sky, try to move, pass out again and come to with my face buried in the dirt. I also knew my wrist was broken.
I was finally able to get up to a standing fetal position. For some addled reason I thought I needed to take the lock on that was on the ground with me so I got back down on the ground, rolled into the straps and tried to walk out of the valley. No one knew where I was at, I was 45 miles from home and knew it was up to me to and me alone to get out.

I could only take 6" shuffling baby steps, my back felt like a bomb had exploded in it, then I started dry heaving. I knew I was going into shock, with each spasm from the dry heaving my pain doubled.
I finally got to my Ranger pick-up, got inside, belted myself in and pumped up the pneumatic lumbar support for my back. At this point I realized I hadn't locked my hubs in for 4 wheel drive and it was a rough road going out. I knew I couldn't out and in again so I floored the gas and hopped for the best.

I made it out to the locked gate, staggered out of my truck unlocked the gate, got back in and headed home driving with one hand. The pain was incredible.

I got home, honked the horn to get my wife's attention and told her I was in really bad shape and needed to get to the hospital.

At the hospital I had all the tests and was sent to an orthopedic surgeon. He set my wrist, looked at my xrays for about 2 seconds, said my back was OK and sent me home.

I was in bed and crawling to the bathroom for days, the pain was still out the roof. For the next year there was no way I could sit, stand or lay down for any length of time before the pain made me shift positions, then it got better and I recovered.

About 20 years later my back started bothering me again and I went to a chiropractor. He looked at my xrays and said "when did you break your back"? There it was, a huge jagged break in my vertebrae that was actually offset to the side.

[TradBrewSC]

Thank you everyone!

Eric, what a crazy story! I am glad you are ok!

[Mint]

Glad you are ok and glad that you posted your story. I've read and heard so many these stories I don't go into a stand without a lifeline or climbing belt and a strap on my harness to go around limbs. I am always attached once my feet leave the ground. This year I bought a tree saddle and I'm going to give that a try.

[hitman]

I have been putting up stands the last couple of days and have sure taken every precaution to do it safely. Take your time and do not do it without safety harness or whatever it takes. I am 66 and I know a fall would probably be the end, hunting or life. Be careful everyone.

[MCNSC]

Yes , you were lucky!! I know it stinks but it could have been a lot worse. 
Thanks for the reminder.

[dragonheart]

I have decided to just hunt on the ground. 

[John3]

I have always had a love/hate relationship with treestands.  Anything metal can and will fail eventually.  Just a mater of time. I have been lucky and never had even a close call regarding falling.  Four years ago a guy I grew up with fell out of his stand and was killed during rifle season.  After that I switched to ladder stands most of the time.  I do hunt from a few Loc-On stands (with chains only) but use tree ladders to get up to them.  Hunt safe everyone.  No deer in the world is worth an injury or worse.

[Pointer]

Yes...you are lucky..could have been much worse. I'm glad it wasn't and that you are on the mend.
I use stands sometimes but they are never very high..14-15 feet usually and I always add my own safety stuff to whatever comes with the stand wheter it be a hang on or ladder stand.
If it's a hanging stand I always add an additional ratchet strap of my own...one that is rated for a lot more weight that what comes with the stand. I always think the cables that connect the platform to the seat post are too thin and I don't like that they are covered so I can't see the rust. I may leave the cables but I always add my own chains as well. The chains are rated to 800 lbs.

I do likewise with ladder stands.
Basically when I'm done my stands will be rated to hold 1000 lbs. I replace my ratchet straps every year, no exceptions and the chains every other. None of these things are expensive...all are well worth it.

Be careful out there guys. It's supposed to be fun...not life threatening lol

[wapiti792]

As said here I too am a victim of my own stupidity. In 2011 a lock on type stand broke as I was putting my safety rope around the tree. Since that time I've had 5 different surgeries including a ruptured bowel and multiple hand fractures. Today I have several areas of disk herniation from the trauma from the fall. I broke my sacrum, my ribs and punctured my gut with a rib. I impaled my left hand on a screw in step on the way down the tree and broke all the fingers in my right hand clawing at the tree on the way down. The only thing that saved my life was my ability at the last 2nd to relax and fall as if I had been thrown in judo. It is bothersome to me that at age 48 and due to my silly mistake it may actually hamper my ability to hunt mountainous terrain like I would like. Take our advice if you are reading this and have a safety harness from ground to tree and back. Good luck to you guys.

[Steve O]

Lots of guys will be climbing trees today in Michigan for the opener and many other states as well. No deer is worth not taking the extra time needed to ALWAYS be connected. This shows how the smallest lapse can have such serious consequences. Glad you are on the mend CB and it was not worse.

[black velvet]

As a side note, always loosen your stands and ladders from the tree at the end of the season to prevent exactly what happened here. Be safe guys and have a good season.....................Rocky