Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Be careful guys, I fell out of a tree stand this evening.

Glad you are OK RH. God was watching out for you. Lessons learned.

Never, never,never, never, EVER, EVER use webbing straps. My wife didn't listen to me and wound up hanging upside down from her climber with two broken ankles.

I don't know why my ankles weren't broken too. My head was all cut up from some brier vines I went through on the way down. They must have slowed me down enough that I only wound up with a sprain on my left ankle.

Glad to hear you're OK. My wife's hand climber opened up because she didn't secure it properly and she fell backwards with her feet strapped to the platform.

Honestly don't know how she was able to swing her body upwards and cut the strap with her knife. Fell about ten feet and then crawled with her elbows up a steep clear cut about 600 yards back to the house. Neighbor found her in the middle of the road.

Tough girl.

Glad you're okay RH. Climber stands can be dangerous. A loc-on is safer, IMO. The Loc-on is a better choice if you plan to hunt to same location intermittently. If you use strap-on climbing sticks just take the bottom two with you will deter all but determined thieves, leave the cabled/locked stand in place. The prussik tied into a fall harness is a non-negotiable. Take a buddy with you when place the stand as that first time you will have to place the sticks/stand and the rope for the prussik/fall harness and the potential for a fall will be higher.

Having said that, all serious whitetail buck chasers know the first set up in a stand is likely the best ambush, and a portable climber makes this possible. Make sure you develop a thorough check to ensure all is well with your stand and climbing technique.

Just wanted to say I hate to hear that about your wife. It sounds horrible but I'm glad she survived.

I'm fine but thinking about how bad it could have been if it had happened when I was 20 feet up and it had broken my legs makes me very grateful.

R_H_Clark: Thankfully you were not seriously hurt!
And thanks for the tips.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yes I don't get in tree stands either. If you do wear a DAMN GOOD HARNESS. A friend of the family didn't tell anyone where he was going to be hunting. Laid in the woods for almost 2 days before his brother remembered an old spot they used to go to. He fell out and broke his pelvis.

My new deer stand , I just got it today



and painted it



It don't climb trees


Mike

Can you really get 'em to stand on it?

I do the same. Not usually 90 feet up, but often 30 or 40. I am damn careful about how I do it. Three points of contact at all times.....That's what you gotta do to hunt moose effectively where I hunt.

Glad you weren't hurt RH, maybe build a permanent stand with a ladder up to it?

Thank you for sharing that RH. I just read that Larry Kelm, who played linebacker for Texas A&M and the LA Rams fell from a tree stand last week and died. He was only 49. Another warning for all of us.

Quite a story, and glad you're around to tell it...unfortunately, the scenario is too often recounted.

Glad to hear you're ok.