Tree stand safety and a bowhunter down

[varmint101]

Wow, sure could have been worse!  Thanks to the good Lord that you made it out okay!

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Wow Mike, I got scared when I saw that the thread was started by you. Thank God you got away as lucky as you did! I'll be extra careful this season, I promise!

For those of you that don't know Mike.... mark my words, He'll be killin' something yet this fall regardless of handedness or if he uses his feet (and you should see those things)

I'll be prayin' for ya buddy!....Ryan

[59Alaskan]

prayers sent for you.  Glad you made it out.  I am pretty conservative in mine...but I am starting to like the ground more and more anyway.

[57HOP]

Your story makes me stop and think...
(I havent been usinfg the safety teather to climb)
Thank you for sharing

[huntmaster80]

WOW. hope you get well soon!!

[Peckerwood]

Mike, Glad your ok! Hope you heal fast and can still get in a little woods time.

Bill

[owlbait]

Mike, that's pretty gruesome. I'm glad you have some training to think and react quickly enough to lessen the damages! What do you use to install those stands and ropes BEFORE the steps and stands are set? Stay positive, heal quickly, and THANKS for sharing the most pertinent information for us!

[razorback]

Glad to hear you are alive and will recover. I had similar injuries a few years ago. dance with a radial arm saw, and the worst part is zipping your fly and wiping your butt, good luck and keep smiling.

[Ken Taylor]

Like everyone else here, I say thank goodness you can tell us about it yourself! I sincerely wish you a full and speedy recovery.

In a week or more I'll be leaving for the only hunt I use a treestand for nowadays... white tails... and I'll be thinking about you.

From years of setting up tree stands for hunters, I've been told that I seem to be very much at ease climbing and working up there... and I agree... I'm most likely too confident and too comfortable at any height.

I'll be making a conscious effort to be a little more wary.

[hawk22]

Ukemi waza is a good thing to practice.  You probably would have been hurt a lot worse if you didn't know how to protect the vital parts of your body.  good luck with your recovery from a fellow Judoka

[K.S.TRAPPER]

I am speechless my friend, I have started to type a response 3 times today and just don't have the words. I was really worried when I got the text and thank you for taking the time to call me back.

After talking to you I feel much better and I know it won't be long and you will be right back out there. Sorry for your injury's and we will be praying for a fast recovery buddy.

I will talk to you soon    

Tracy

[NoCams]

Glad you are as well off as you are bud ! Could have been much worse. Get well soon and prayers sent for your speedy recovery from TN.  

[longbowben]

Hope you heal quick.It will make the rest of us pay a little more attention.As i get older i think about falling more often, so at the beginning of the year i retired my old harness and bought a rescue one.Last year i was climbing in my stand and heard a pop i looked down and one of the cables broke    Then we checked other stands and more broken cables we all need to check our equipment more often.

[Autumnarcher]

Glad your injuries are of the nature that will heal. you mentioned you impaled your hand on a tree step. I'll assume that was the srew-in variety? I quit using those years ago, they are so dangerous if you fall. There have een guys eviscerated by them when they fall. I switched over to the strap on climbing sticks for hang on stands, and lately all I use is my climber, and ladder stands. You can get plenty high enough with those, and no steps or platforms to break.

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Bill Kissner]

Man oh man Mike,I am sure sorry to hear this. I am on my way home from AZ and available to help any way I can. Please let me know if you need anything.

[Barry Wensel]

I have no intentions of hijacking this thread so best wishes for a speedy recovery Mike. I wanted to mention you don't just have to worry about treestand safety. I took a bad tumble this morning on the way into stand before light. I was sneaking in the long way which caused me to cross a dry creekbed. The banks are really steep and maybe 30' from top to bottom. When I need to negotiate a steep angle and there are trees or brush to hold onto a lot of times I'll
face the bank and back down digging in my toes. There wasn't anything to grasp so I decided to sit on my butt and dig my heels in gradually sliding a little at a time. When I squatted to start my descent the bank went out from under my feet and I went head over heels twice and then rolled the rest of the way to the bottom. I really lucked out. I had my backpack on with camera gear, etc., two arm straps and a belt buckled, and somehow it still came off. I ended up chipping a bottom front tooth, cutting my hand, breaking my reading glasses in my shirt pocket, breaking my beautiful snakeskin bowquiver and severely smashing the muscle in my left thigh. I assume I rolled over the bow breaking the quiver (which is scarey); my flashlight somehow got turned off too. The bow landed 20 feet away. I crawled over to my pack and got my spare light out and found everything. I limped the rest of the way into my stand, set the camera up, etc. About fifteen minutes after pink light I heard something coming. Went to stand up to get ready and found I couldn't stand up because the muscle in my leg apparently seized up. I pulled myself up via a nearby limb, packed up and headed home. I couldn't make it up the steep bank so walked the dry creekbed 1/4 mile until I found a gradual incline. It took me over two hours to walk out. Everything is fine now except my leg and I'm sure I'll be pretty sore in the AM. Likely will have to take a couple days off from hunting to heal. This is a pretty good commercial for my Tall Tines recurve. So far this year I've thrown it in the face of two charging hogs and tossed it off a 30' cliff with nothing but "character" marks. Good job Brian! Ha. The whole point of this post is we need to think ahead. I WAS being careful, the bank gave way. My wife is back east visiting her sister, Gene is 100 miles away and I doubt my cell phone would have worked down in the hole. I leave a note with what stand I'm hunting on my desk, plus Gene and I make it a point to call or email each other each night. But it could make for a long day if you get hurt before light in the morning. Be careful out there guys. Best of luck to all. BW

[bolong]

I don't know anything to say that hasn't already been said.

Just take care and praying for a speedy and full recovery.

[xtrema312]

Well I can send a prayer your way for sure.  Take it easy and follow doctor's orders.  I hope you and Barry both get healed up soon.  

The two things I like the least in a tree stand set-up are straps on stands and screw in steps. I like chains and stick ladders.

[gonzoso]

I appreciate you posting your story here and I'm sure quite a few can learn from it.

Personally I use a climbing stand and pack it in so I don't know much about steps and never thought much about the dangers of them.  Plus I can't really use them on trees here in PA legally on game lands and wouldn't install them on the private land that I hunt.

But having read your post I will probably not use them, you may have saved me and others some pain and injury.

I wish you a speedy recovery and many years of hunting.  When considering a fall like this one must thank god and good reflexes for escaping serious injury.  I knew a fellow who fell from his motorcycle moving it in the driveway and suffered a serious brain injury on the pavement from just a few feet up.

[steadman]

Buddy, I am so glad things were not worse. I had the breath knocked out when you sent the text. Your in my prayers for a speedy recovery. I think the hat looks good     Take care Bud!!