I know most of y'all are starting your summer about now,and hunting safety may not be on your mind,but I feel led to share this anyway. Like a lot of you,I've been a hunter as long as I can remember,and have bowhunted most of my life.I started hunting elevated stands in the 70's,and continue to use them .Like a lot of youngsters,I had a lot of physical confidence,and,being 10 ft. tall and bullet proof,led me to do things without considering the consequences. One of these was hunting elevated without safety restraint. Until I started buiding my own hanging stands I usually just climbed a tree and I was hunting. I did this until the early 90's,when,all of a sudden ,(I gained enough wisdom) I realized I could get hurt. 25 years of starting and training horses for the public showed me I did'nt just bounce back like I used to. Anyway, that is when I begin to wear a safety belt every time I hunted off the ground. All those years went by without incident,until a couple of years ago. I was hunting a stand I called the "cedar tree stand".It has been a productive stand for many years,and I enjoy hunting it. I usually hang one of my homemade hang -ons in this tree,because they are very quiet. One particular morning I was hunting my stomach was hurting.I had a big doe under me,and I was careful not to scare her because we had 3 doe days coming up the next weekend(thanksgiving). I remember wishing she would leave as I felt I needed to stand up.Then it happened. I woke up.I was hanging by my safety belt 23 ft. off the ground with no idea where I was or how I got there. I don't know how long I was out,but I was no longer swinging. While looking down through the limbs I finally started to realize I was looking at my ball cap on the ground.I tried moving,but being held up by the belt,and down by the limb I was wedged under I felt I was stuck.It took a little while longer to come around enough to reach out find a limb then pull back up. It was funny in one respect because my first clear thought was,"dadgummit,I scared that doe off". I went to the doctor and it was nothing serious,but ,I want to share this experience with anyone who hunts from elevated stands. Who'd have thought of falling in that manner. I was mighty blessed to have been wearing that belt. At that height a fall can be mighty bad. Wear your safety belts friends. God Bless
