Posted: 8/19/2011 5:20:14 AM EDT
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Just a heads up guys - as we approach another deer season. For God's sake
wear a harness. Learn from an idiot like me. I have fallen not once, but twice and come really close to a third time. First fall was as I was entering a new fixed stand. Slipped off the top peg, fell forward was able to grab onto another tree after I heard my shoulder pop. Crash and burned all the way down like a lineman - hugging said tree. Splinters in my face, scratches and "tree burn". Dislocated my left shoulder and broke my arm. I wasnt so lucky the second time. Bow season, climbed into a fixed stand. Was sitting on the platform and reached for the uphaul rope to get my bow when the "joist" support of the stand sheared off the tree. The platform dumped me out like a dumptruck. I tried to grab the "joist" but it spun me 90 degrees and I fell horizontal to the ground. This stand was built on the edge of a swampy area that had dried up, so I landed on my left side on a big rootball. 5 seconds later as I'm on all fours, snot coming out my nose with the wind knocked out of me, the seat falls and wails me in the back of the head smashing my face into said rootball again. Broke 4 posterior ribs, tore the cartiladge from my sternum and had a bruise that covered my entire torso. As well as looking like I went 3 rounds with Mike Tyson. Dr. said it was the worst bruising he had ever seen. I couldnt breathe for a month without agony. The 3rd time was a close call. Loggy Bayou climber. Got 3/4 of the way up when I leaned to far in making the stand free fall/slide down the tree about 15 feet. When I leaned my heels back, the stand locked on hard and almost sent me right off the back. I hunt from ground blinds mostly now...  . When I do go up I am harnessed in and will only use
a ladder stand. While I consider it the best recreation in the world, and hunting whitetails makes my soul complete for another year, remember it's not worth dying over. Please be careful. Do it for your wife, kids and yourself. |
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I had a climbing tree stand fail on me once too. It was a rainy day and I was hunting the edge of a swampy area where I really didn't have a lot of choices of what tree to climb and I knew a big buck was coming and going from this swamp through this area. The problem was the tree I had climbed was an ASH tree with it's very shallow bark and the tree stand I had at the time was one of the old Baker stands with the metal blade that bit into the tree to hold. Well, being young and foolish, I was only about 17 or 18, I climbed up this tree and got up about 25 to 30 feet which was the height I needed to be to see down into the thicket and I got out my safety belt to attach it to the tree. When I leaned forward to wrap the belt around the tree I got too much weight on my toes and the back of the tree stand (blade side) kicked loose. I had this sickening reality that I was falling straight down and had enough time to think I need to grab that tree going up in front of me. I scraped up the side of my face, my chest, arms, and thighs and hit the bottom so hard I rolled backwards about 15-feet through the brush. It knocked the wind out of me and smashed my binoculars that were around my neck. I had a long walk back to the truck and had lots of fun driving my old 1977 F250 with its manual 4-speed transmission to get back home. I didn't break any bones but I have never used one of these tree biting tree stands again nor have I climbed a tree without a safety harness already attached to the tree. I got very lucky and it scared the hell out of me. That tree is still in the woods too, it's been 21-years and I can still find that tree although next time they timber that tree is sure to be taken down. |
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Wow, glad you guys are ok now. I don't start my climb up without attaching to the tree first. Using a climber, I've found that once and a while she doesn't always want to bite and may slide a little so I don't even fuck with it. It only takes a min to strap in and move the tree belt up as you climb. If the bottom ever comes off, I'm at least tied off. I also keep 2 screw steps in my pocket in case I have to "hang" for a while. I can screw them into the tree and avoid suspension trauma. My harness came with a strap to help prevent that, but having a foothold would make it easier to climb down. Everyone be safe now! |
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Last year I went exclusively to a roped system with a rope tied from top to bottom and then you use a prusic knot with carabiner to move up and down.
It has me tied in from first step off the ground until first step on the ground. I bought the $40 system and then just bought extra rope for my other stands. It works well and is quiet. |
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Quoted:
Last year I went exclusively to a roped system with a rope tied from top to bottom and then you use a prusic knot with carabiner to move up and down. It has me tied in from first step off the ground until first step on the ground. I bought the $40 system and then just bought extra rope for my other stands. It works well and is quiet. It's strange to me to hear folks having these issues because from my first hunt in a tree, 10 or 11 years ago, I've been strapped to the tree with a body harness and the same system Mach described. Harness and climbing rope system made by Summit Stands. I've always been strapped in from the monent I leave the ground to the moment I step back. I'm glad you guys are ok but DANG... this safety equipment has been around for a long time now. You WE have too much to live for NOT to use this stuff. Please find a comfortable harness system, use it, and be around season after season to see your families and friends. 
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Quoted:
An uncle of mine fell from a stand in late December. He got caught in the rungs of the ladder and basically cartwheeled down it, breaking both legs and one arm. He dragged himself 100 yards to the road with his good arm. I usually hunt 2.5 miles off the nearest road. If I get hurt I am coyote bait. |
| I had two near disasters, so now I wear a Hunter Safety System vest. I usually hunt from a climbing stand, and tie off once I reach hunting height. This year, for the first time, I've hung a bunch of lock-on treestands with screw-in steps. With money being tight right now, I doubt I'll be purchasing set-ups for each stand to tie into from the ground up. But, I will figure out someway of climbing into those stands safely. |