Tree stand saftey

[LPM]

Hey guys, this is my first time on the site.

Well it happened.  After 33 years of hunting from trees I finaly fell.

I'm a safe guy too.
Aviation background.....High voltage work enviornment...Working from heights....etc

I've sent myself and my daughter back out of the woods when one of us forgot our saftey harness.

Yet this time, I never thought about my harness until shortly after I hit the ground.  

I had just hung a stand and was trimming a handline....I used a dead branch for a "cutting block".  Sounds stupid, excempt for the fact that this same 3" dia branch had resisted every attempt to break it off.  I had planned to saw it off before I left.  I was kneeling on the platform facing the tree.  One light tap with a small hatchet to cut the hand line broke the bratch with the weight of my left hand on it.  It pitched me off head first. I grabbed the bottom of the stand as I went over with my left hand.  I held on for dear life but momentum and my body weight combined, tore me loose as I swung through.  It seemed like a long time before I hit the ground.

Twenty plus feet is a long way...........

I couldn't belive I had let it happen.  I checked myself for obvious signs of damage, noteing what I thought to be a foot sprain, and a couple of small cuts and a big bruise on my left elbw. My left fingers all had broken blood vessels.  Remarkably I felt pretty good.  I noticed the hatchet had fallen on the opposite side of the tree.  I sat for a while before I got up.  I made sure to thank God...My foot hurt a bit but I could walk.  

I went to see my doctor the next day to confirm that my left foot was broken.

Guys,  I lost one of my best friends 16 years ago because his tree stand failed.  An hour does not pass that I don't think of him.  His picture sits by my easy chair.  I never climb a tree without thinking about him.  I held his dad while he cried like a baby over the loss of his only son.  How on earth could I have forgot my saftey harness????  I'm having a tough time with this one.  Sure I,ve got "back on the horse" all right.  I'm climbing and bowhunting same as ever.
The sobering thing is that I know what went through "Scooter's" mind in his last second of life..

We're humans, we're going to make mistakes. Lets remind each other to stay safe.

[Jack Denbow]

Duane you are very lucky. I fell once and as the surgeon put it she had to reattach my arm. I know when I do something stupid and forget I ask myself what in the hell am I doing. I am glad you were not too worst for wear.

[Doc Nock]

Somebody was watchin over you, Hoss!

Whenever I do something dumb like that, I constantly mull over what I was thinking..usually, it comes up, "just wasn't thinkin".

Things we do often, it's easy to get to the point where we start to relax and 'assume' that what always was, always will be. Tain't so , McGee!

I echo the gratitude that you were not worse hurt! Thanks for sharing and reminding the rest of us to never get complacent! Hunting takes vigilance constantly. Shoot...living takes vigilance!

[5deer]

Wow - thanks for reminding us,good luck and God bless

[MI_Bowhunter]

Gad you're OK.  Could have been a lot worse.  Just goes to show how fast something like that can happen.

[Fletcher]

Thanks for sharing this, LPM.  We've lost two in Illinois already this season.  Be careful out there and WEAR YOUR HARNESS!!

[razorsharptokill]

I put mine on before I leave the truck and never take it out of the truck during hunting season. That way I always have it. Glad you weren't seriously hurt!

[Curveman]

LPM, you may have saved someone the same fate with your story, thank you! I went a long ways the other day with my climber only to realize that I forgot my safety rope. Needless to say, I hunted on the ground. Had not someone posted that story not too long ago about that poor soul who was paralyzed from that treestand that broke apart when he wasn't wearing a safety harness, I may have been tempted to risk it. My friend Herb broke his neck by not tying his rope securely. He lived fortunately to become my hunting mentor!    It's the most dangerous thing we do as hunters I suspect and I always hook in with my carabiner before I make that swing on or off the stand.
Thank you again!
Steve

[J-dog]

Work as a Firefighter/EMT and I can say that I have never gone to a treestand/fall related call. BUT most everyone I have picked up in an accident thought that it would never happen to them.

Glad to hear you are OK. Hope the foot doesn't stop your hunting!!!!!

J

[Shaun]

Glad you are not hurt worse. I have started using a safety line and prussic knot and hooking on at the ground and unhooking when I am back standing on the ground. Sometimes feel like a sissy till I read a post like this. Thanks.

[SoNevada Archer]

Sounds like you were VERY lucky...I'm sure God was watching over you and didn't want you home yet.
Thanks for the reminder...
Ron

[D. Key]

I'm soooo glad you are ok.  I did a similar fall while hunting some 8 years ago and I think of it often.  Like you, I only had damage (sprain) to my left foot but had a back quiver on with broadheads and was very fortunate.

This is a dangerous sport so please be careful.

[Lost Arra]

Two weeks ago a hunter was brought to the local hospital after a treestand fall. He is now a quadriplegic.

Be careful.

[caleb7mm]

LPM, great post! I also have fallen before and NEVER go up without a harness or vest now. Its not worth it.

thanks!

--c--

[Blackhawk]

Just two days before deer season last year, this happened to me while putting up a stand.  I always use a safety harness, but foolishly I seldom use one for climbing in and out of the stand.  

I placed a foot on a limb instead of the step and then grasped a branch with my hand.  The limb on which I was standing snapped, causing my entire body weight to shift to the limb in the hand... which also broke.  

Yes, it did seem like a long time until I landed hard with my right foot twisting inward.  The pain was sharp, but I figured it was not broken after I got to my feet and tried to walk.  Luckily, I missed the screw-in steps on the way down.  My hands and arms were scratched and bleeding, but nothing too serious.  

Next day I could hardly walk on the badly swollen foot.  Unfortunately, it was 6 days of ice packs, ibuprofen, and taking it easy before I could do hiking and hunting.

It took several weeks before the foot completely healed.

   

[leatherneck]

Perfect timing of this thread. Thanks for the reminder. Glad to see you were not seriousely hurt.

[Whip]

This thread could very well save someones life if they pay attention!  Thank you for posting it.

Years ago I was struck when I read that at some point in there lives one out of every three treestand hunters will fall.  Those aren't very good odds in my book.  I vowed not to become a statistic, and have become extremely careful about climbing trees.  

I have 14 stands in trees this year.  Every one of them has a safety line on it that I attach to with a prusic knot before I ever step foot off the ground.  Full body harness is required gear by anyone who hunts with me.  

I love hunting from trees, but I am terrified of falling.  Do everything you can to make sure it doesn't happen to you!

[JEFF B]

now i know why i dont hunt from trees. i love my feet on the ground. stay safe  once bitten twice shy

[Tom]

Climbing down a tree three years ago during a rain storm my climbing strap hung up on a step and while untangling I unhooked it from the harness, bad move.Foot slipped off the step I was on and down I went-only 9 feet-landed on my shoulder on a rock. Too this day in cold weather a heavy bow causes that shoulder to make ungodly sounds. Walked 3/4 mile to truck and went home saying nothing to the wife. Three weeks of agony persisted and even with physical therapy still have remnants of my stupidity.
 Don't ever get compacent when hunting, it means too much to me ever to be that foolish again.
 This is an excellent reminder that the outdoors can be a harsh mistress.

[stringstretcher]

Tuesday of this week, went in and used a climber to go up about 14 feet.  Something told me to not go high.  Hunted all evening, stood up on a shot that I did not take. When coming down, made one move to come down and was using the top of the stand as a hand climber.  Down went the bottom of the stand to the ground, and I came down throug the top of the stand hanging on with both hands.  Only way down was to jump.  Luckly my feet was only about 8 or so feet off the ground.  This is the first time I have been in a climber in 5 years, since my best friend fell and got messed up pretty bad on a hunt in West Va.  Needless to say, it is either ground blinds or strictly on the ground.  No more climbing trees for this old boy.