Checked tree stands and blind for upcoming hunting season

[BowEd]

All stands look good to go for this hunting season.Always need to check them this time of year for cleaned up shooting lanes and security reasons also.
Funny I test them all climbing up in them checking attachments etc. without a vest and hunter safety system but during hunting season I use the vest and tie myself off.They really are over secured to the tree with chain and nylon straps.
PS....I have a friend and his daughter who has fallen from one not tying themselves off.Not a good deal at all.

[Pat B]

I hunted from tree stands for many years but a few years ago I climbed in one just to look around and see how it was positioned and started feeling very uncomfortable. I climbed down and haven't been back up. I'm OK in a ladder stand but for some reason the climbers and strap on stands make me uncomfortable...and I always wore a safety belt or later a harness.

[osage outlaw]

We haven't put our stands up yet.  I started wearing a harness after I fell while putting up a ladder stand.  I got lucky.

Good luck this season Ed and Pat.

[bjrogg]

Good Luck Ed, stay safe out there everyone. Just read a post on different site about a hunter who hung upside down for two days before someone found him. Doesn't sound very good for him. Got him in a medical induced coma and on a respirator.
Bjrogg

[Pat B]

Even hanging from a tree with a harness on can cause death if you don't recover quickly.
 Stay safe everyone and hook up as soon as you leave the ground. 
Good luck with your season Ed and everyone else.

[DC]

I climbed down and haven't been back up.

Old age and sound reasoning

[Pat B]

I think so, DC.

[ntvbowyer1969]

It always amazes me how you set your stand "in the perfect spot". well used trails,deer poop,plenty of food. you get set up and bam...they end up using a spot 50/100 yrds below your position. So on the weekend you decide to move down there. After hunting there a few days they are back up where you had you stand....lol.. darn those crazy deer..

[Hawkdancer]

Crazy?!  Hell, they're smart enough to stay out of range!, even if you are using a rifle!
Hawkdancer

[Eric Krewson]

Try this story on for size Ed, LIFELINE at all your stands and don't leave the ground without being tied off. These accidents happen in the blink of an eye and you will be out of a tree and headed to the ground before you can do anything about it.


So many of my my friends have fallen, three from equipment that failed and one who was too cocky to wear a harness and an icy lock-on got him.


This happened to me;

I fell about 30 years ago while putting up a lock-on. I was putting the stand in a cedar tree with a lot of limbs so I was unhooking my harness and passing the belt around the tree and rehooking as I passed a limb on my way up.

I was in a hurry, didn't look at my hook up, and leaned back against the climbing belt after I heard the safety catch snap. I leaned back about 12 feet up and my safety hook pulled loose, I think I pulled my shirttail in with hook and kept the safety snap open.
Out of the tree I went, backwards. I saw the limbs going by as I fell and thought "this is going to hurt". I rolled backwards in flight and hit on my shoulders and the back of my head, my back popped like a shotgun going off.

I knew it was going to hurt but wasn't prepared for the degree of pain I felt. It was so bad I passed out on the ground, then things got hazy, I would wake up looking at the sky, try to move, pass out again and come to with my face buried in the dirt. I also knew my wrist was broken.
I was finally able to get up to a standing fetal position. For some addled reason I thought I needed to take the lock on that was on the ground with me so I got back down on the ground, rolled into the straps and tried to walk out of the valley. No one knew where I was at, I was 45 miles from home and knew it was up to me to and me alone to get out.

I could only take 6" shuffling baby steps, my back felt like a bomb had exploded in it, then I started dry heaving. I knew I was going into shock, with each spasm from the dry heaving my pain doubled.
I finally got to my Ranger pick-up, got inside, belted myself in and pumped up the pneumatic lumbar support for my back. At this point I realized I hadn't locked my hubs in for 4 wheel drive and it was a rough road going out. I knew I couldn't out and in again so I floored the gas and hopped for the best.

I made it out to the locked gate, staggered out of my truck unlocked the gate, got back in and headed home driving with one hand. The pain was incredible.

I got home, honked the horn to get my wife's attention and told her I was in really bad shape and needed to get to the hospital.

At the hospital I had all the tests and was sent to an orthopedic surgeon. He set my wrist, looked at my xrays for about 2 seconds, said my back was OK and sent me home.

I was in bed and crawling to the bathroom for days, the pain was still out the roof. For the next year there was no way I could sit, stand or lay down for any length of time before the pain made me shift positions, then it got better and I recovered.

About 20 years later my back started bothering me again and I went to a chiropractor. He looked at my xrays and said "when did you break your back"? There it was, a huge jagged break in my vertebrae that was actually offset to the side.

[BowEd]

Eric....Good example of what can happen.You were lucky I would say.Always the worst happens when it's a surprise and your depending on something.That can make a difference in how you land.Most times accidents do happen when a person gets into a little bit of a hurry or tries to take a short cut.My friends daughter cracked her back when she fell.She's ok now luckily and had a cell phone with her.The consequences are life changing for sure.Many of us pay for our youthful accidents as we get older.Including me.Keeping a healthy respect for potential dangerous situations is needed here.
I'd hate to tell the scary stories I've encountered mostly by myself many miles from home coon hunting climbing trees fetching dogs and coon alike or piecing huge trees down for firewood with a chain saw as these things don't scare me too quick.Sometimes 30' up.It would sound insane but all true.I did fall once around 15' but with no injury.In the dark I might add.Try that once.It's different.The fall feels longer time wise.
I will still hunt from stands though and tie myself off in my stands and trust my judgement on my ladder and stand bindings to the tree.Constant rechecking during use is a must not taking things for granted.Most all my stands are around 15' tall.One is 18' maybe.The ladder stands are a bit more safe it seems of course and that's just in the climbing up department.All stands have a 300 pound limit.I weigh just a little over half of that.
When I buy a platform tree stand I revamp mine with chain/larger hooks and bigger bolts for that more secure type feeling also.

[BowEd]

Eric....I did'nt mean any at all to sound callus to your situation.I do understand your concern and the negligent experience you had with the paticular orthopedic doctor.I've experienced the same negligence in the past.I cracked my pelvis as an adult many years ago.It was a motor cycle accident though.
I should stress stand hunting is potentially dangerous if not done properly.I have quite a few set up myself for my standards on the amount of ground that I hunt.I think 11 platform with climbing stick stands and 4 ladder stands with a few ground blinds also.Set up for different wind directions/ambush points and changing of movements of local deer or when the temps get fairly cold later in the season.
Hunting with only primitive equipment is challenging.I think that's what brings me back to it.The rewards I feel are greater than any way I've hunted deer especially with equipment you've made for yourself.