Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dont be stupid...like me!

I switched over to ladder stands a few years ago. Way safer.

Glad you are getting better, I'm scared of heights.

Safer, but not foolproof. Buckle up.

bea175


I'll be 62 next week.

RWE


I dont know enough to know if its repairable or not. Let me talk to someone that might know and I'll get back to you. Thanks!


Thanks to all for your well wishes, advice, and smart azz remarks...

What do you think would have been the outcome if you did not have your cell phone? Just wondering.

Glad you're on the mend.

Glad you're on the mend.
+ 1000 on the harness!

I hope you recover 100%. Glad your still upright, that could have ended very differently.

OO



I'm pretty sure I know part of what would have happened. Some time after dark, my wife would have called friends and family, and a search would have started.

Whether they would have found me that night, I dont know!

I'm sure they would have found me the next day, what shape I would have been in, who knows?

To find me as quick as they did, I had to use the rescue helicopter and guide them to me. They got the coordinates and radioed them to rescuers on the ground and they got to within 150-200 yds of me, close enough I could hear them calling my name. The rescue fellows started IV and got me in a clam shell, rode me out on a 4 wheeler for about a mile, transferred to a pickup for a couple of miles, then on the helicopter for the trip to the hospital.

I know I was stupid and lucky. That's why I encourage everyone to use a safety harness.

After all that, I think you should do something nice and get a pre-64 94.

whew gives me pause, hunting out of trees where I hunt now is about the only way to get er done

but also got me thinking of ways to do it safer. no cell service where we hunt and my pard was 2 miles upstream, if I'd have taken a spill that bad I'd have laid there all night till he came to look for me next a.m. after no radio contact.


brrr I ain't relishing that thought, it was chilly this year.

so far I climb and saw limbs, no harness, clear me out a place to place my board(s) and always just free handing it, though I do try and be slow, methodical and careful when messing around that high up

2 seasons ago I was afraid to try and come down outa the big spruce I was 30-40 feet up as the wind was howling something fierce, tree I was in was swaying back and forth, trees crashing down around me.

you've given me pause to come up with a better plan.

am certainly hoping you heal up well.

I got a pre-64 model 70, does that count?


2L2Q

I'm like you, I like to hunt out of trees, but from now on, I will wear a safety harness.

What an ordeal.

Glad you are still among the living.

Glad you are healing.

Oldman,

Glad you are better! sounds like your sense of humor is intact as well! take care buddy!

Sycamore

Glad you are back home and on the mend.

Oldman,

I admire your cander and really appreciate a man that can "tell" on themselves in order to help another [possibly] avoid the experience.

I certainly wish you to be "back in the saddle" soon. May you have a speedy recovery!

bhtr

several years ago i was reading a thread about safety harnesses on a traditional bow hunting forum. one guy posted something like this, "my stand gave way and i fell 20 feet to the ground. as soon as i hit i immediately knew i was paralyzed". and he was (and is today), paralyzed from the shoulders down. the tip regarding using a proper safety harness can't be repeated enough.

You can fall from a 4 legged one with a seat or a tripod also. Even if railed things can happen...

Oldman, glad to hear you are still with us. We had a local friend of ours fall from a tree stand some years ago. He did not survive the fall.

I think the rule on wearing the harness should be repeated as often as we can. Its no different than a seat belt in many ways. You never need it until you do, but you can't put it on fast enough at that time... has to be on first.