Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Friend's climber failed....

Man, a friend of mine has had some real bad luck with his climber the past couple years. He's a big traditional gear guy, he likes to hunt with a long bow and uses a climber. Last year his top piece broke off the tree and his foot wedged in the bottom piece, which broke his ankle. The stand company sent him a new top piece, so this year he was healed and back in the game. While he was climbing down a tree this weekend the bottom piece broke off the tree and his arm wedged in the top piece during the fall, which caused him to break his shoulder in 4 places. The only thing that saved his life was his safety harness. He was hanging off the tree in the harness with a broken shoulder and no bottom piece to stand on, so he slid the top piece down to his feet, stood on it while he lowered the harness line, hung from the harness, and lowered the top piece etc until he inched his way to the ground. They are talking a shoulder replacement now and he may be done with long bows all together, a true passion of his. It's a sad deal.

A good reminder to always wear a harness.

Be safe,

loder

AMEN!

I hope your friend will fully recover.

Ed

loder I hope your friend is OK.


Personally decided a few years back that I wanted nothing to do with climbers...no deer is worth that shidt. Might be time for him to consider a ground blind.

I just read on another site(Leatherwall)that a guys best friend was just killed from a fall from his stand. Sad deal. I think it was in Ohio.

I switched to ladder stands a few years ago. First, because they're safer and second because I hunt my own land and don't move them around much.

Always wear a harness.

I hear ya Bob. I have 6 of them and they are all collecting dust. Been more of a loc-on and lean-up guy the past few years. I may use my Summit at times, but the harness will be on for sure.

I switched to ladder stands3 years ago, and ground blinds, might limit me in some ways but alot safer! hope your buddie recovers fully!

At least tell us the maker of the climbing stand.

Hope your friend fully heels..

Lone Wolf, but it really doesn't matter IMO. A guy I worked with had an Ole Man cable snap on him. My cousin's dad fell from an API last year breaking his neck(Luckily he survived and recouped). The point to the story is be darn sure and wear a safety harness from the ground up with these things.

Out of my 6 climbers, the only one I really trust is the Summit, but I wont use it w/o the harness.

Have a good one,

loder

I love my summits.. but I wouldn't trust my life to one (or any stand for that matter). Harness connected to the tree, from the ground to the top and back again always.

Loder screw it....I'll stay on the ground where I still might fall but it's a shorter trip! It's more fun killing those deer at eye level anyway.....ya can stare them down before you shoot them LOL!!

Reading this thread is giving me the creeps!

The cost of the Hunter safety systems harness is a pittance to the benefits.

I absolutely hate Climbers, I use ladder and Millennium hang ons. I've just never felt like a climber is stable and secure, at least not after using the Millenniums.

I have fallen from a tree stand and had a harness on one time. However I have fallen asleep more times then I can count in my stands. No way I'm going up without a safety harness. I also hunt in a very remote area where nobody would find me, at least not the whole body. The wolves and bears would scatter my bits in 48 hours.

At my age i use nothing but Ladder Stands and i also use the Hunter Safety System. How much does your friend weight to break to stands in two years just climbing the tree?

That's what I was wondering too Bea, must be a BIG dude.

Gunner

JJ I agree....I think back to the horrible risks I took back before we knew better,tree stands were in their infancy and no one made safety harnesses at all....makes my skin crawl thinking about it..I don't know how I kept from being killed.

Might be that as a kid I was up and down trees constantly and never gave it a thought!

I still occasionly use a climber,Loggy Bayou,but the more of these stories I read; the more uncomfortable I get. When I do,I have a Tree Spider harness on when I leave the ground. I like the mobility,but am moving more and more toward ladders,bought 2 more yesterday at Dick's. They have some pretty good deals ,by the way.

I"m to the point these days I don't feel like I"m missing any opportunities while hunting out of a ground blind. I"ve shot my 2 largest bucks ever out of ground blinds....

Jeff ground blinds work good!

Ground Blinds are hard to shoot a long bow from

I went through the climber stand phase, and I still enjoy climbing a tree for fun now and then. But when it comes to bow hunting, I vastly prefer to be on the ground where I can be mobile, warmer, safer and have a more exciting experience as well.

PS. Your friend with the broken ankle and now shoulder, sure sounds like one tough hombre. My condolences to his situation and I hope he recovers well.

Not at all, 180 max.