To the first poster, you're lucky all you did was break your pelvis? 24 feet? Wow, are you lucky.
I stopped hunting from tree stands a while back and I'll never hunt from one again, nor will my kids. The risk/reward ratio isn't worth it, on several levels. The main one being that you can kill as many deer from the ground as you can from a tree.
Having killed a couple 100 deer and been around many 100's more deer shot by others, I'm of the opinion that your best chance at a lethal arrow hit is from the ground, resulting in a double organ passthru, be it lung/lung/, heart/lung or lung/liver. The higher you get, the smaller the vitals become, when trying to maximize damage. One major hit for lost deer is a high, single lung hit due to tree stand angle.
I've mentioned it before, but a close family friend works on a medevac copter and my good hunting buddy is a cop in an area with lots of hunters. There are so many tree stand related injuries that it's really stunning. We typically read about the fatalities, but we don't see nearly as much about all the broken bones, shattered this and that's, wheelchairs, rehabs, etc.
I personally know too many guys that have had "incidents", and they came from all aspects of tree stand hunting, putting stands up, taking stands down, climbing in, climbing out, pivoting to get a shot and having something "give way".
While a tree stand can expand the view, it rarely increases the shot possibility cone. It's like playing with explosives.
According to the National Bowhunter Education Foundation, researchers estimate about 10 percent of hunters who use tree stands are injured while using the platforms. Investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, looked at hunting accidents across the U.S. from 2000 to 2007. During that time, there were about 46,860 (reported) injuries to hunters associated with tree stands (Note: This averages to be 5,875 tree stand related injuries per year) mostly from falls. Male hunters were twice as likely to suffer a tree stand injury as females.
Here's a real eye opener (from a search)...
Richard McQuillen is a Master Volunteer Instructor with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. I attended a seminar on tree stand safety and some of the statistics are eye-opening, plus he has some tips for deer hunters using stands to obey.
Three to five hundred hunters are killed annually in North America due to an accident involving treestands. Another 5000-7000 are permanently disabled, while 10,000-15,000 receive some type of lesser injury.
75 to 80% of falls occur going up or down the tree
Some other interesting tibits...
The researchers found injury rates to be highest among hunters 15 to 24 and lowest among those 65 and older. Gerald McGwin, M.S., Ph.D., Injury Epidemiologist, says the reasons for the highest rates of injury among younger hunters aren't clear. However, he believes younger hunters are not aware of, or may not take appropriate safety precautions while using tree stands (like wearing a safety harness). Younger hunters may be more apt to take risks than older, seasoned hunters. Alcohol may also play a role in the risk for tree stand-related injuries. One study found 17 to 18 percent of hunters injured during use of a tree stand had been drinking at some point prior to the accident.
Ohio State University Medical Center published a 10-year study last year showing "tree stands are the leading cause of hunting injuries in Ohio."
The study examined 130 hunting accident cases at two central Ohio hospitals. Half were because of falls and 92 percent of those falls were from tree stands. Only 29 percent were injuries from gunshot wounds.
Topic: Treestand Accident (Read 2999 times)
