Have you fallen from a treestand ?

[DevinJD2007]

Hate to admit it but I rarely wear a harness even though i know i need to. I feel for the first time two years ago from about 15 feet up while climbing up on a set of L/W climbing sticks i guess i didn't have the loop fully around the button and it broke free the second i stepped on to it feel about 15 feet to the ground luckly nothing happend to me besides some pretty good scratches on my ribs and some bruising. The second time was this year i was climbing up and the L/W climbing sticks again and it was real dark out that morning as i got to about 20 feet up i am not sure if i just missed the step or what but away i went and some how i managed to land on my feet/foot since my left ankle took my entire body weight from 20 feet up. broke a couple bones im my feet and did something to my ankle i still can't figure out what it is it hurts when im playing basketball or trying to cut on it, it will just lock up and give me quite a bit of pain. But i guess i have been pretty lucky considering.

[Singing Bridge]

When I first started bowhunting, treestands really weren't available in my area. Some of the guys made their own. Probably the first 6 years I bowhunted I climbed trees and their limbs with no steps/sticks/stand. I killed deer every year usually by leaning against the tree for support, or wrapping one leg around the tree while I leaned for the shot (no harness, sometimes I'd tie a small rope around my waist and the tree in later years). The only time I fell I had been standing on a 2 inch diameter maple limb for a couple of hours. No warning, just "going down" from about 15 feet. Wind knocked out, no damage.

[Lookin 4 Pny]

My dad and I headed out to hang a stand for him prior to gun season. He labored the entire way as he had a bad back. I carried the stand for him as we climbed the steep ridge where we were headed. When we got to the tree he insisted on hanging the stand himself. Who am I to argue with dad. As he is climbing the giant white pine he stepped on a pretty good size branch when it broke. The next few seconds seemed like an hour as he bounced from limb to limb on his way down. I had enough time to get the stand away from the bottom of the tree before he landed flat on his back. He sort of layed motion less for a while. I knew he was alive because his eyes were wide open. He slowly stood up and said his back felt much better. To this day his back has been great. I guess the chiropractor is not needed anymore. We called the stand the Plinko stand because he looked like a plinko chip bouncing off the limbs on his way to the ground. Scary as heck but a funny story now. I have fallen but managed to catch myself on some limbs. Ribs were sore, actually everything was sore, but I managed to hit just right so as not to fall all the way down. Where a safety belt now most of the time. Find a lightweight easy to put on safety belt and you will use more often.

[dan]

Alot of you know Dan Keppin, he is a good friend of mine and helped us out every year for the last few years at the Lone Wolf tree stand booth selling treestands. (The big soft spoken Guy who was always really friendly) Dan went hunting opening day in Wisconsin. He was a hardcore dedicated L/W user, but opening day, his brother in law suggested he try his "other brand" treestand because of the amount of deer activity that was going on around the stand. Dans son, Dusty, climbed up in the stand 1st and cleared the new growth branches that grew in over the last year then headed for his own stand.... Dan climbed in the stand and as he turned to attach his safety belt he heard a pop.. And instantly became airborn. An "S" hook attaching the wratchett to the stand had straitened out. He fell 15 feet straight down landing on his heels, and cracking two vertibre in his lower back.. He yelled for his son who came running, then ran back for help and a truck. They had to drive the truck thru the woods and a cornfield to get him. They packed him into the back seat of the truck and took him straight to the hostpital... He got released after over a month stay. He was out of work for 8 more weeks, and was not be able to bowhunt the remainder of the year.. When Dan called me his spirets were high. It was not the "guess what I shot" call I was expecting when I saw the name on the caller ID.. But a rather tough wake up call... We all need to stay safe out there!

[dan]

Some of you guys that hunted with me met Bernie He is my Mom's 77 (I think) year old neighbor, who is always hanging around at Ma's asking questions about hunting. I took him hunting a few times in the last couple years... He is a pretty cool dude. Well he came over before rut in 07 and said he was going up to Black river to bowhunt and was asking some advice as well as just wanting to talk hunting. I asked him about his safety harness cause he uses one of those old one strap deals that will kill ya if you fall... I told him about the vest that lone wolf gave me and took him out by the truck and showed it to him... After hearing they were over $100. he said he could not afford it on his retirement budget... I asked him what his life was worth... That was the last thing I said to him... I was notified he fell out of his stand and his harness failed. He broke 7 ribs and punctured one lung. He said he was not that high up. Said he remembers falling but not much after that till he woke up on the ground. He took a hard impact to the side of his head that apparently knocked him unconscience. When he came too, he was able to get his son and grandson on the radio and they came looking for him. .. He was in the hospital in Black river, he was in Intensive care for about 3 weeks... Those words I last told him keep ringing in my ears....
This is the second good friend who was severly injured that year from a treestand fall. That was in 2007. Bernie is still feeling the effects of that fall. I took him hunting last season, gave him one of my best spots hoping he could get a shot at a nice deer. He could not get far from the road. He would not hunt out of a tree. He said he don't think he ever will again. He did not get his buck that day, but he had a chance, and missed one at close range.
PLEASE be safe out there!

[Zap]

Twice while climbing/setting.
I had a lineman belt attached.

marty

[ramblinman]

Never have fallen. Hope I didn't jinx myself by answering this post.