An Indiana hunter who fell 16 feet out of a tree, and was paralyzed from the shoulders down, took himself off of life support and passed away 5 hours later.  His C3, C4, and C5 vertebrae were crushed.  He was brought out of an unconscious state and asked what he wanted to do.  

Please take this to heart and be CAREFUL.  WEAR YOUR FULL BODY HARNESSES.  You have loved ones who care deeply about you.  We all take for granted scaling a tree, we've done hundreds of times right?  But just once, and tragedy can strike.  

Prayers for this man and his family.

I read about this recently Al here in Indiana.   What a horrifying situation for a family to go through.  

Stay safe everybody!

This happened very close to me and a guy I work with knew the hunter. It doesn't take but one second for something like this to happen to any of us. Wear a safety harness if you're in a stand.

Horrible, horrible story.

My hunting buddy is a cop and my neighbor is a nurse on a medevac helicopter. After hearing all the similar horror stories from events they were involved with that never made the TV news, I'll never hunt from a treestand again, nor will my kids.

Basically, hunting is a very, very safe activity, even with rifles, until you start climbing trees. The amount of people that fall getting in or out or setting up or taking down, whom have broken bones, punctured lungs, blown knees, paralyzed from waist down, etc, is pretty shocking, once you start asking people if they know anybody that has had a treestand accident.

I can't imagine the pain this family is going thru.

Be uber careful and please keep in mind that you don't have to use a treestand to be a successful deer hunter. But if you do, use a harness that has full contact from the ground to the stand.

Prayers for all involved.

Prayers for all involved.  Sad indeed.

What a sad story, I read about it earlier. I have mixed feelings about him choosing to end his life(he had at least one child from what I remember).
WEAR A SAFETY HARNESS!

Climbing in and out of frosty tree's at dark thirty AM/PM often cold, stiff and tired is a prime opportunity for a slip up. It makes a fellow really question if it's worth the risk?
If you climb tree's long enough they say you'll eventually have a fall, only question is how bad it'll be.
I have a ghillie suit and have had some close encounters,  saw my biggest buck while wearing it, at 5 yards I couldn't get drawn on him. He blew me away and was gone like a ghost. So no deer kills from the ground to date, granted I haven't given it a fair chance yet.
I think I'll dedicate fri,sat,sun to ground hunting this weekend  and see how it goes.
You all be safe!  prayers to all the loved ones of those that have had and will have bad falls this season

Crazy and sad.  Makes me glad Ive never enjoyed hunting from a tree!

I do most of my hunting from the ground now a days,still have 2 stands I like to hunt but always think if I fall it's only 18 inches not feet

This mans story on aol.com now if someone knows how to transfer to TradGang.

Very sad story, very timely advice. Thanks for the reminder, Al. Please everyone, be safe.

Once is too many.

Very sad. This is why I almost never hunt from trees, when I do it's no more than 10feet ... check the stand before each season, and always be strapped into a harness.

I stopped hunting from trees one day when I was in my ground blind, i stood up to stretch and when I got to standing, I fell asleep ... literally just starting tipping over like a little tree .... woke up falling just in time to catch my fall. If this was in a tree it would have been alot more insane.

It is tragedy for the individual but more so for the ones left behind.  Consider this system & search in PowWow for:

Tippit's Tree Stand Safety System.  

Keep safe to hunt another day...tippit

QuoteOriginally posted by nineworlds9:
Crazy and sad.  Makes me glad Ive never enjoyed hunting from a tree!

Yep, sold all my stands 7 years ago. Been tempted to buy another stand but I have never cared for heights or the hassle of dealing with treestands.
I've never been one to worry a lot about what COULD happen, but I figure I dont need to increase the odds of an accident.

wear your full body harness and inspect all equipment, sometimes it isn't exactly the same as you left it. Or stick to the ground.

You can't beat the ground ... I get a nice foldout camo chair with armrests .... it's like tailgating in th ewoods .... except no beer ... or girls ... or football

I read this today as well. Very sad. I didn't read details to know if he was using restraints or not so I don't know how it happened. Doesn't matter, still just as sad no matter what the circumstances.

I love the trees though and God willing I'll be in em as long as I'm breathing.

There is no reason not to be connected to the tree at all times with the safety equipment they have nowdays. I use a full body harness and the HSS lifeline system. When i am doing the intial set up i use two safety belts.  

I went out a bought a bunch of lifelines since I realized I didn't like hunting the stands i had up without them.

BE SAFE EVERYBODY!

Such a sad story and a loss. After a close call a few years ago I decided to stop climbing trees. You just cant be safe enough.