Treestand falls

[heydeerman]

Anybody ever or know of someone who has been in a treestand and the tree falls you have the stand in???

[paleFace]

can't say that i have, but 2 years ago i was up in a tree one afternoon in my climber and the storm rolled through unexpected so i decided to just sit it out. the wind picked up and the next thing i know the tree off to my right about 10 yards fell just missing me. it sounded like a cannon going off when it hit. scared the $#!* out of me  

[Murph From The Bay]

Heydeerman, you wouldn't by chance have some experience in the subject would you?  I don't even like to think of such things.

         Geoff

[SouthMDShooter]

no but ive had a similar experince as paleface, i was walkin to my tree stand one mornin wheni heard a like crack noise and tree fell about 12 yards from me. that will wake ya up in the morning  :eek:

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

Had one fall when I wasn't in it, good thing as it didn't fall ont he stand and I was able to retrieve it.. For What ever it's worth, I have seen two trees struck by lightning, which had ladder stands leaning on them and the lightning went to ground through it.. "Don't ride a storm out in a tree stand"

[threeundr]

Paleface, now we know how you got your name!    Just kidding. Glad you were not hurt! Leonard.

[VTer]

One of my favorite trees to put a stand in fell during the off season once. I've been in my tree on more than one occasion during a big wind when I've wondered the same exact thing.

[Jason Lester]

I had a big limb fall out of the tree I was in above me once. It was mid day and I was relaxing a bit. I heard it let loose and grabed my bow and leaned the other way. It brushed the left side of my stand but nothing big enough to knock me out or anything. Got me thinking about what your talking about. Wouldn't have time to get the harness off would ya. Would be a scary ride. If you could survive it.

[Shawn Leonard]

Yup, my dad about 20 years ago. He was about 15 ft. up and the tree was a leaner as it was. It was on the edge of a creek and the roots finally gave in with his weight in the tree. He was very lucky as the roots pulled slowly free and he did not come down hard and landed in the creek when he jumped. He was pissed he got soaked and ended his hunt for the evening, even more mad when we all laughed like hell when we saw him!! Shawn

[JEFF B]

see it pays to keep ya feet on the ground.    man thats way scarey

[ChuckC]

A friend of mine was up a smaller tree (no stand) and the whole thing fell over.  He broke several arrows and was really lucky he didn't get hurt.
ChuckC

[Numitokayo]

I remember that too well, I was up 10 feet when I shot my first bear, was so excited, I completely forgot that I was up in a tree stand and walked off......that hurt!!!!!

DQ

[wingnut]

Not the tree, but I did have an 8" limb fall off of a big oak I was in that barely missed me on the way down.  James was about 70 yds down the hill and saw the whole thing.  He gave me a "What the He!!" look.  LOL

Mike

[Tom Leemans]

I was in a stand one year when a freak storm blew in. I didn't know whether to get down or stay in the tree. Big trees were going down everywhere and my tree was swaying like a sapling! We did make it out o.k. but not without having to go over and around several trees that fell on the trail, including one that fell right where I had parked my truck the day before, at the trailhead. We lost a huge cottonwood in camp that night. The park rangers stopped by to check on us in the morning. Asked if we saw any of the tornados...

[Wary Buck]

I love stands in big cedars for two main reasons:  the deer don't pick you out and you don't need tree steps (or very many).  But you have to be careful of dry rot on a tree that otherwise looks healthy.  I went to climb a tree a couple falls ago and when I got to my tree, the wind had sheared it off about 3' above where my stand was.  The otherwise healthy tree was nearly hollow.  That would've been exciting to say the least.

Also have had a couple others go down with my stand in them when I was not there.  Usually overly wet years seem to make it easier for the trees to be blown over by high winds.

As others have said, the sound of a tree going down, especially in the pre-dawn, can be very unnerving.

[McGeeM]

I haven't fallen from a treestand, but fall about two feet in a pine tree whe my treestep pulled out. That is about as far as I want to go. Cut myself all over grabbing for limbs and hitting a couple.

I do know a guy that fall that lives in SC. He doesn't remember anything about that morning.

[CJ5]

I've never had a tree fall while I was in it, or fell from a stand either (luckily). I do remember hunting in Georgia, and looking at all the pines lying around that were the same size or bigger than the one I was in. It made you ponder things, especially when it was windy....lol.

[Sharpster]

Not me personally but, I have a cousin who fell 20 feet out of a permanent stand a few years ago.

He was(is) a pretty heavy guy and was hunting alone after work one evening. He fell out shortly after getting in the stand, broke one leg and layed there for several hours before some friends found him. All the time that he layed there his broken leg was bent around under him with the bloodflow pretty much cut off.

After several surgeries and do to the complications from the lack of circulation, they eventually had to amputate his leg. Now he's in a wheelchair and treestands are obviously out of the question for him anymore. He barely gets to hunt at all and he's only in his early thirties now.

Moral- always wear a safty harness!!!

-Sharps

[Recurve50LBS]

I've seen anti's cut trees down with chain saws that had tree stands in them. I'd like to know where the Co's were since this was on public land paid for with taxes from hunting equipment.

[Rich LaBombard]

I picked up a new Lone Wolf stand on Saturday.
I dutifully watched the "tree stand safety video" and it just about convinced me to not use a treestand!
They had a number of mock falls set up, and even when it's fake you realize that when you slip, it's happens so fast, not much else you can do, and then, god forbid, you got the "suspension trauma" of hanging in a harness, and the blood
is pooling in your legs (thanks to that harness), and THAT can kill you...
Imagine the tree falls, and you are strapped to it?!