Unread postby Country » Fri Oct 11, 2013 4:44 am
My scariest moment was in November 2012. I decided I was going to sit in a hang on that I hadn't yet sat in during the five or so years I'd hunted this particular property. When I got to the base of the tree, I remember looking all the way up and thinking, "Man, this is a high one." So, I climbed into the stand and instantly put my harness tether around the tree, as I always do. I remember it was raining that morning and my stand was overlooking a fairly steep ridge...making it feel like I was 40 feet up. I was probably around 20-25 feet up in reality. I got situated and sat down. Decided I wanted to stand up so I could be ready for anything approaching from behind me when I heard a loud "PING!" echo through the woods. I instantly wrapped my left arm over a big branch to my left to hang on, as it didn't sound good. I very slowly turned around to look at the stand only to see the chain swinging back and forth against the tree. Oh crap. After thinking, "What do I do??" I decided to attempt to somehow secure the chain, but it was no use as the bracket on the stand was bent backwards. The only thing holding the stand up was the fact that the chain had grown into the back of the tree over the years. After a brief moment of trying to figure out what to do and slightly wiggling the stand with my feet to test how "sturdy" the stand was, I decided to attempt to lower my bow to the ground. After successfully lowering my bow, I stepped off the stand onto a big branch below the platform. Only problem was I could not reach high enough to release my tether from the tree. Stupid as it may be, I climbed back onto the stand to lower the tether enough so I could reach it from the big branch. After stepping back onto the branch, I removed the tether and carefully climbed down the tree. What a relief when my feet finally touched the ground. I looked back up at the stand, chain dangling to the side and replayed what just happened over in my head. I had to thank my guardian angel for watching over me that day.
This story is a great example of why you should hunt mobile. You can more easily inspect your stand on a regular basis and you know each and every time you hunt that your stand is secure to the tree. Don't trust old stands that haven't been properly safety checked. Another huge factor in this story is the fact that I did have my safety harness on. Had I decided not to wear it, I think my pants would have had at least double the amount of soil in them and had the stand fell completely out of the tree, I could have been seriously injured or killed. However, had the chain broke as I was climbing onto the platform, the outcome of the story may not have been so great. I am pretty fortunate that didn't happen. I must say that knowing I had my harness on helped me stay calm, but I didn't want to find out how well the harness actually worked all the same.
Good luck and safe hunting to all of you. Please wear your safety harness. Thanks.