Anybody ever or know of someone who has been in a treestand and the tree falls you have the stand in???
can't say that i have, but 2 years ago i was up in a tree one afternoon in my climber and the storm rolled through unexpected so i decided to just sit it out. the wind picked up and the next thing i know the tree off to my right about 10 yards fell just missing me. it sounded like a cannon going off when it hit. scared the $#!* out of me :scared:
Heydeerman, you wouldn't by chance have some experience in the subject would you? I don't even like to think of such things.
Geoff
no but ive had a similar experince as paleface, i was walkin to my tree stand one mornin wheni heard a like crack noise and tree fell about 12 yards from me. that will wake ya up in the morning :eek:
Had one fall when I wasn't in it, good thing as it didn't fall ont he stand and I was able to retrieve it.. For What ever it's worth, I have seen two trees struck by lightning, which had ladder stands leaning on them and the lightning went to ground through it.. "Don't ride a storm out in a tree stand"
Paleface, now we know how you got your name! :biglaugh: Just kidding. Glad you were not hurt! Leonard.
One of my favorite trees to put a stand in fell during the off season once. I've been in my tree on more than one occasion during a big wind when I've wondered the same exact thing.
I had a big limb fall out of the tree I was in above me once. It was mid day and I was relaxing a bit. I heard it let loose and grabed my bow and leaned the other way. It brushed the left side of my stand but nothing big enough to knock me out or anything. Got me thinking about what your talking about. Wouldn't have time to get the harness off would ya. Would be a scary ride. If you could survive it.
Yup, my dad about 20 years ago. He was about 15 ft. up and the tree was a leaner as it was. It was on the edge of a creek and the roots finally gave in with his weight in the tree. He was very lucky as the roots pulled slowly free and he did not come down hard and landed in the creek when he jumped. He was pissed he got soaked and ended his hunt for the evening, even more mad when we all laughed like hell when we saw him!! Shawn
see it pays to keep ya feet on the ground. :biglaugh: man thats way scarey
A friend of mine was up a smaller tree (no stand) and the whole thing fell over. He broke several arrows and was really lucky he didn't get hurt.
ChuckC
I remember that too well, I was up 10 feet when I shot my first bear, was so excited, I completely forgot that I was up in a tree stand and walked off......that hurt!!!!!
DQ
Not the tree, but I did have an 8" limb fall off of a big oak I was in that barely missed me on the way down. James was about 70 yds down the hill and saw the whole thing. He gave me a "What the He!!" look. LOL
Mike
I was in a stand one year when a freak storm blew in. I didn't know whether to get down or stay in the tree. Big trees were going down everywhere and my tree was swaying like a sapling! We did make it out o.k. but not without having to go over and around several trees that fell on the trail, including one that fell right where I had parked my truck the day before, at the trailhead. We lost a huge cottonwood in camp that night. The park rangers stopped by to check on us in the morning. Asked if we saw any of the tornados...
I love stands in big cedars for two main reasons: the deer don't pick you out and you don't need tree steps (or very many). But you have to be careful of dry rot on a tree that otherwise looks healthy. I went to climb a tree a couple falls ago and when I got to my tree, the wind had sheared it off about 3' above where my stand was. The otherwise healthy tree was nearly hollow. That would've been exciting to say the least.
Also have had a couple others go down with my stand in them when I was not there. Usually overly wet years seem to make it easier for the trees to be blown over by high winds.
As others have said, the sound of a tree going down, especially in the pre-dawn, can be very unnerving.
I haven't fallen from a treestand, but fall about two feet in a pine tree whe my treestep pulled out. That is about as far as I want to go. Cut myself all over grabbing for limbs and hitting a couple.
I do know a guy that fall that lives in SC. He doesn't remember anything about that morning.
I've never had a tree fall while I was in it, or fell from a stand either (luckily). I do remember hunting in Georgia, and looking at all the pines lying around that were the same size or bigger than the one I was in. It made you ponder things, especially when it was windy....lol.
Not me personally but, I have a cousin who fell 20 feet out of a permanent stand a few years ago.
He was(is) a pretty heavy guy and was hunting alone after work one evening. He fell out shortly after getting in the stand, broke one leg and layed there for several hours before some friends found him. All the time that he layed there his broken leg was bent around under him with the bloodflow pretty much cut off.
After several surgeries and do to the complications from the lack of circulation, they eventually had to amputate his leg. Now he's in a wheelchair and treestands are obviously out of the question for him anymore. He barely gets to hunt at all and he's only in his early thirties now.
Moral- always wear a safty harness!!!
-Sharps
I've seen anti's cut trees down with chain saws that had tree stands in them. I'd like to know where the Co's were since this was on public land paid for with taxes from hunting equipment.
I picked up a new Lone Wolf stand on Saturday.
I dutifully watched the "tree stand safety video" and it just about convinced me to not use a treestand!
They had a number of mock falls set up, and even when it's fake you realize that when you slip, it's happens so fast, not much else you can do, and then, god forbid, you got the "suspension trauma" of hanging in a harness, and the blood
is pooling in your legs (thanks to that harness), and THAT can kill you...
Imagine the tree falls, and you are strapped to it?!
Boys, I have been up in a tree and think " where am I gonna go if this thing falls after I have strapped my self to it?" I see new trees on the ground every year when I hit the woods. It gets me to thinkin. Never would have imagined there is folks out there that have experienced it.
Rich, I had a step break and I was 23ft. up. The Dr. said I hit the ground in less than a half second. Shawn
I've never had the tree fall...but like shawn I've had a folding step break and ended up on the ground my head just missed a rock.
One of my good friends left his hang on stand up for a few seasons (a serious no no) in the tree...well the chain broke last season and almost cost him his life!
i had someone cut 3/4 the way through my ladder one time, i got almost to the top when i fell. luckly i grabbed a limb by the ladder. I now use mostly climbers, lot harder to fall out of one of them.
My climber slipped about a 1/16" one time and it felt like 10 feet. Pucker factor was really high :scared:
i spent 10 days in the hospital in 1988. i was checking old stands with a friend of mine when we got to the stand i was there first so up i went. steped on the top board and it cracked. i looked down and told my friend that we had to rebuid and when i looked up all i saw were wasps. thats all i remember. he said it look like i was going to jump and decided not to at the last minute. cracked 3 vertibra in my kneck and tore muscles from by neck to shoulder. about 6 months laid up and good as new. although the last year or so my kneck hurts more and more. gets stiff pretty quick. i do still hunt from tree stands. you all be careful they will hurt you.
benji
YIKES. Hopefully, guys that still don't use a harness, etc., read some of these stories.
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I was gearing up next to my truck for a walk in the woods on a dead calm day when I heard a strange noise. I looked over and literally watched a 1.5' wide tree trunk spontaneously splinter at the base. In slow motion I watched the 40 foot tree slowly lean towards me.
I stood there in awe and disbelief that this was really happening. I had a thought go through my head to push it away but my rational side told me better and I dove away at the last moment and saw my truck crimple like a pop can.
I found my bow (Hoyt compound in those days) 10 yards away with broken arrows. Miraculously it still shoots... though the limbs have some scary looking scars.
I'd suggest taking 2 seconds to glance around where you park and where you put your stand. Eventually gravity always wins its battles.
Yeah well, I built a nice stand in a sassafrass tree when i was 15. I hunted out of it for three years. I was sitting in it one morning when i felt it start going bakwards. I looked around to see if the wind was blowing the other trees and it wasn't. I looked down and i could see the roots starting to come up out of the soaking wet ground, because it was a wet summer that year i guess the tree couldn't take the extra weight and started to fall. As the tree fell i sorta held on and straightend up as the tree went down. It didn't fall all the way to the ground, but i just hopped off onto the ground as i was only 5ft from it when it stopped.
I walk by that stump now and think about that all the time. This will be the first time i've mentioned that incedent in years!
If it had went fast i wouldn't be here today! The tree was 25"or30" in diameter. And yes, i hunted off the ground for several years after that! :knothead: