Be careful in the tree stand ...

[aspeck]

Got a call at 7:15 this morning from my neighbor/friends wife. She needed help getting him into the car. What???? Got there and he was laying along side the road??? Okay, so here is the story. He left the house at 6am to climb his across the road and about 75 yards into the woods. At 6:30 the buck came up behind him. He leaned out, against his harness, to get a look/shot when the harness gave way (not securely fastened). The stand was 20 feet above the forest floor.

He crawled back to the road and wanted his wife, an ER RN, to transport him to her hospital. That wasn't going to happen as he began complaining of more pain than just his arm. Long story short, both heels are crushed and the swelling must go down before they can be operated on in 2 weeks. His sternum is broken, and he has right arm is broken and will be operated on and pins and plates installed tomorrow morning. He will not be allowed to put any weight on his feet for 6 months! There goes hunting season ...

The moral of the story ... When in a tree stand, be careful! Do you hear that, Musky?

 

[WIMUSKY]

I hear ya! Heading to the MN opener tomorrow...... I did fall out once. I was climbing down the "stick"using one hand, gun in the other...I know...... Went to grab the next wrung down and missed. Only fell 8' in the snow. Head just missed a log. You could see the impression of my arm and the gun. I never let go of the gun..... I think I just didn't feel like putting the gun over my shoulders with the strap. That will never happen again. At least not the same scenario......

 

[GA_Boater]

Your friend was lucky. It could have been worse, but not by much.

He won't be shoveling any snow this winter or very much else..

 

[WIMUSKY]

Yep, it's going to be a long winter for the guy. He's going to have a tough time not only physically, but potentially psychologically.... Sometimes the head games are worse than the physical pain.....

 

[boatman37]

yikes. i hunted for years but never from a stand. not afraid of heights but too much can go wrong

 

[GA_Boater]

No spinal injuries, 'speck? Coming down hard enough to crush both heels must have put tremendous strain on his spine.

It's a good thing he won't be walking for 6 months. With a busted wing and busted heels, he'd be crutching around in circles.

 

[aspeck]

No spinal injuries, but it will be tough on him mentally. His wife told me last night she was counting on me to tie him to the bed with good knots that he couldn't undo. This is a guy who has his own painting business along with trapping for a living. He is either on the lake fishing, or in the woods hunting/trapping about 300 days per year!

And as far as fortunate ... A fall a little to the left or right and he would have been impaled by the trees he shortened for his shooting lanes ...

 

[gm280]

I never fell from any stand while hunting when I was still hunting. But I have help a few hunters out of the woods with broken bones before. And in those cases, the person tripped over something and broke legs. So falling from tree stand is bad, but there are many dangers in the woods. You never go hunting alone and always inform others where you are just in case. JMHO!

 

[WIMUSKY]

Being such active guy, he is going to struggle mentally for 6 months. That will be the toughest part of his recovery. Do you guys know how to play cribbage? Anything to give his mind a rest every now and then.....

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you hit the deer with the truck, you do not need the tree stand.

sorry about your neighbor.

 

[muskyfins]

if you hit the deer with the truck, you do not need the tree stand.

sorry about your neighbor.

just missed a big 6 pointer with this method last week

Also-sorry about your neighbor. Us big fellas stay away from stand hunting for this reason.

 

[aspeck]

Just got back from the hospital ... arm surgery went well, everything was repaired internally ... all pins and plates are under the skin. His feet are giving him such pain, that was difficult to watch. We were laughing about the 8 point that was dealing with the sight of a human falling from the sky right in front of him. We told Bill the deer took pictures of him and is showing it around the herd, "Look at the big human that I got!" That made Bill laugh, which sent his legs into spasms, which brought on pain. After that I tried to behave myself ... as best I could, anyway ...

 

[gm280]

aspect, really sorry to hear about your friend. And since he does enjoy hunting and such, what about a realistic hunting video game so he can occupy his mind instead of living the pain, both physically and mentally? Sad that he will absolutely miss the entire season now. I know how I would feel if that were to happen to me when I was an avid hunter. Deer hunting was such a huge issue for me as well. I am well past that stage now. Fishing is the replacement for me, if I ever get my boat project finished. :facepalm:

 

[64osby]

After being up at the rehab hospital and hearing stories, seeing a couple guys that had fallen and seeing the other spinal cord injuries, I had already decided that my climbing stand or the sticks and hanging stand were not going to get used this year.

Will either buy or make a ladder platform for next year.

 

[Jeep Man]

Oh I am very familiar with this type of injury. First dealing with the pain and then the frustration of not being able to do what you did before. After 8 months I am still not back doing the job I did before, and they are telling me I likely never will. I hope your neighbor fares better.

 

[aspeck]

Wow, sorry to hear that, Jeep. He is certainly in a lot of pain. His wife is stressed out. Some of the family is still dumping their kids off for her to watch ... it is tough on the whole family. Been doing my best to keep them all sane ...

 

[WIMUSKY]

After being up at the rehab hospital and hearing stories, seeing a couple guys that had fallen and seeing the other spinal cord injuries, I had already decided that my climbing stand or the sticks and hanging stand were not going to get used this year.

Will either buy or make a ladder platform for next year.

Same here. Portable hanging stand will probably never get used again, along with the sticks and screw in steps. Ladder stands are great, or a well hidden ground blind......

 

[JRJ]

Sorry for your friend, but happy for the deer. I never did tree stands when I hunted, but I have fallen out of trees. Wore a silver front cap for a long time.

 

[gm280]

I use to build some very nice platform stands in my hunting days. There were 16' high 2 by 6 ladders with a 1" thick plywood 4' by 4' platform base with three plywood walls outlined with treated 2 by 4's. And the front was a camo material Velcroed to the top wood bracket. I even had outside paint customed mixed for the camo cloths that was available at the time and painted the entire stand in the same pattern. They were amazingly comfortable and camo-ed in the trees as well. But setting them up was a huge pain. They had to be carried in lots of pieces to the tree and then assembled with levels and screws drilled into the trees. I can't do that anymore and glad I stopped hunting over a decade ago now. Some of them stands are still being used by other hunters being treated and painted wood and all. And I won't even get into the guns I still own. I'll just say I have a lot of them!

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Harnesses are a piece of safety equipment that leads some hunters to think they have way more security than they really do. Think of it this way if the guy had not had a harness on he would not have fallen. Trusting a harness to hold you in place as it supports you is a recipe for disaster.