Tree Stand Falls....Are You or I Next - Added a Lifeline

[foxbo]

I used nothing but a belt for years. In the last couple of weeks I bought one of those light weight Spider harnesses and wonder why I waited so long. It goes on easy, is light, has hang glider buckles for the thighs and doesn't get in the way. Now, I'm strapped in from the ground up when I use my climber. I did it basically due to this thread.

[Bowwild]

On Friday afternoon my son and I hung this Lone Wolf in an oak. From this first photo you see the stand (only about 15' high). If you look close, hanging to the right, is my haul line.

The 2nd photo shows the rails and lifeline. There is a fourth rail that extends above the stand so I can step DOWN into it.  

I've never hunted this spot in the nearly 16 years I've been hunting this farm.  It is equidistant, 200 yards or so from stands I have hunted.  We had hoped to put a ladder Hawk Denali buddy stand in this tree but the seat portion is way to wide for this spot.

I'll take a new ratchet strap with me and  put in the right front corner of this stand attaching it to the other tree stem (right front as you look at the stand from below). I often do this to provide additional stabilization. This stand will have 3 points of contact.

I know, I have the rails pretty close together but my inseam is the same length as my arrows (27").

I have several sets of stick steps, the kind that fold down. Some of the posts on this thread make me reluctant to use them. I'd hate to be gored by one of these steps if I did fall.  


 

 

[Red Beastmaster]

I talked to a guy at work the other day who fell several years ago. The stand kicked sideways when he stepped onto it. He was banged up pretty good with a broken jaw and even a cut ear from a broadhead. No harness, no nothing.

He has a harness now but rarely uses it because it's too much hassle.

Really?!!

The Darwin Awards come to mind.

[Jerry Russell]

We leave some stands from one year to the next but we carry extra straps in out packs and they are put on at the beginning of each season.   Really though, all stands should be pulled at the end of each season.  Rot, rust, ice expansion can really damage stands.  Strain on straps and chains from rapid tree growth is the biggest factor for damage.  

I run about 25 lock on stands on my deer and hog hunts and we just throw them away at 4-5 years old.  

Stay safe everyone.

[BrownA5]

I have been away from Trad Gang for the past three months; reason:  Fall from a treestand!  Actually I was checking stands and as I stepped off the lock-on platform onto the climbing stick, the strap broken and I fell 16 feet into a ravine.  God was good.... I should have been killed.  Instead I torn three muscles in my left shoulder and shredded the fourth.  After surgery and three months of physical therapy I am still a long way off from being able to draw a bow.  I have always used harnesses while in stands, but never going up and down the ladders.  I believe the remainder of my days bowhunting (if I am able) will be at ground level!  For those of you who continue to hunt from tree stands, listen to all the advice that has been given in this thread.  You can't be too careful!!!

[Archie]

I just got a call a few days ago from a very experienced trad bowhunter friend.  He said he fell out of a stand two seasons ago and got hurt pretty bad.  Happened while he was climbing up... his strap-on climbing stick failed and he fell 16 feet straight down, severely injuring his ankles.  He is still recovering, and moving very slowly.

[Ground Hunter]

Please be sure you tell someone where you are going, and when to expect you back....

[Bowwild]

Update on Jim:
I talk to him at least weekly.  He is using no walker or crutches now. He is even to get back to light carpentry, painting, and repair work in apartments at Purdue University.  His bow arm shoulder is his biggest problem now.  He is drawing his grand daughter's youth bow from time to time.

He'll have to have 2 of the 7 screws in his pelvis removed pretty soon.

His biggest regret is that he knows the fall was entirely preventable.

These ladder strap posts concern me.  That is the part of my stand set-up that I'm the most comfortable with but I have some that have been in trees more than 5-6 years.  Even with lifelines I don't want to those to fail.  Going to replace them all this summer.

I have a year's worth of gathered screw in and strap on steps as well.  Do to some of the puncture posts here I'm going to further limit my use of these. I'll use them (maybe) for the very top and bottom to help me get into my stand from above and low to help me get to the first rung of my ladder rails.  I'll put those lows one to the side, out of the fall trajectory, just in case.

I like the climbing rails on some trees that don't lend themselves to a single line vertical approach because of limbs.

[Mint]

Glad he is recovering well. Keep telling these stories and people will take heed. My friend never wore a harness but reading stories like this finally woke him up. He now wears a full body harness and uses lifelines. Don't be lazy or cheap.

What keeps me using the lifelines or two safety ropes every time is thinking what my wife will go thru seeing me hurt. Even on my florida hog hunts in ladder stands I bring a full body safety harness with me.

[rraming]

I had a Lone Wolf Strap fail on me, I replace them every two years now. I think the one that failed was four years old - I just got scuffed up as I grabbed the tree as I slid down, scary knowing 2 more stick were under me as I slid. Ripped my jacket off as it got hung up on a rail, helped slow me down I guess.
I now use the Hunter Safety system as well, easy to spend the money after something goes wrong

I had a ladder stand set up in my back yard, for a couple of kids that wanted to practice from a tree stand.  I no longer hunt off the ground myself.  One day I came home to see a kid with a compound standing on the stand with no harness and shooting in a direction where there was no back stop at one my deer targets.  I do not allow unsupervised shooting and I never allow compounds.  I kicked him off my yard and took the tree stand down. Considering how many falls that have happened over the years with the local group, it is remarkable that none of them were ever seriously injured.  My favorite story was about a large permanent stand in a maple tree. That we all used. Over the years it got more and more elaborate. It had everything except air conditioning.  It even had a padded safety rail in case the occupant fell asleep and rolled over.  One day the master builder himself was in it and thought that he was getting sick and woosey,  so he lay down on the stand.  He thought something very bad was happening while he lay with his eyes closed, the whole earth was moving, and it was.  His maple tree was falling over.  It had a hard life holding that tree stand up that was probably strangling it.  Amazingly, he did not get so much as a scratch from the crash, he said it just rolled him across the ground.

[vintage-bears]

Sorry to read this.
I pray he recovers well.

[Trenton G.]

I've always used one of the Hunter Safety System harnesses. It fits well and is comfortable. The only complaint that I have is that a few times when putting it on in the dark, I've clunked my head with metal clip. I'll take that as opposed to what could happen if I fall out though.

[Captain*Kirk]

After spending a number of nerve-wracking seasons in swaying trees, on claustrophobic platforms, with two near-misses, one that resulted in a severe "barking" and the other that SHOULD have resulted in a broken ankle but by the grace of God was only a severe sprain but required crutches, and a limp for months, I decided to join "Ground Pounders International" and have never been more comfortable, or more at ease. Many of us become brainwashed to the idea that we MUST hunt from trees to be successful. Not true. While hunting from elevated stands does decrease your odds of being detected, it is entirely possible to conduct a successful hunt from eyeball level. And if it were all about bringing home the meat, we would not likely be hunting with trad gear, would we?

[longbow fanatic 1]

Prayers for your buddy. I began using a lifeline years ago and have them on each of my stands. Thanks for the reminder of tree stand safety.

[Valkyrie]

I have fallen twice.  Well not actually fallen.  Both incidents were using climbing tree stands.  I was young and had little money and bought the cheapest stand I could find.  It worked out OK for a little bit but I didn't know what I was doing really.  I was 20' up a slick barked maple and the stand lost grip and I slid down the tree pretty quick.  I fell backward when it stopped about three feet from the ground and knocked myself out cold  Other than that I was ok.  A few weeks later, I was climbing with the same stand and it again lost its grip and the bottom half fell all the way down the tree, I was pretty high up 25' or so and I never thought to tie both pieces together to prevent something like this.  So I'm 25' up sitting on the top half of my stand, no safety belt and no idea how to get down. I figured I might as well go for broke and slide down the tree.  Did I mention it was a cherry tree and my skills at tree sliding are not good at all.  I nudged forward to wrap my arms around the tree and the stand lost grip and I went down fast.  My chest was torn up pretty bad.  The palms on my hand were shredded up as well as the inside of my arms.  I hit the bottom of the tree and what was there?  The stand.  Twisted up both my ankles, fell freely about 4 feet, landed on my back but wasn't knocked out.  All of my clothing was ripped and pulled up to my neck.  I knew I was hurt but not how bad.  My feet and toes moved and so did my hands and arms.  Aside from bad tree bark rash, no major bleeding.  My feet and ankles hurt but I was able to stand up.  The walk back to the house was about 400 yards or so. I crawled a little bit of that.  Turns out I tore the ligaments in both ankles, compressed my spine a little, and had a concussion.  

I got off lucky.  I cut the stand up into pieces with a hack saw and put it in the garbage.  I saved up and bought a Loggy Bayou.  That worked out pretty good for a lot years, then retired that and I now use a Summit and ladder stands with a harness as soon as I am on the stand.

[Fletcher]

As you can tell by reading this thread, most falls happen going up and down and when getting in and out for the stand.  Get a long tether that attaches you from the ground up and back down.  That harness isn't nearly as inconvenient as a wheelchair or pine box.

[sightsee]

So what is your recommendations for lifelines and harnesses?
I fell hanging a cheap, old design stand that was poorly designed to say the least. Recommend newer designs for stands.

[Fletcher]

I'm currently using a HSS Lightweight harness, Muddy, Treespider and Summit SOP are also good choices.  I recommend Safe Tree Hunt for the lifeline.   http://safetreehunt.com/

I have been looking for a picture I took, I cannot find it, but anyway.  It is a strap on tree stand with screw in tree steps, which are illegal on public land,  it has been there for years.  this past year I noticed that someone has added some new lower steps, to make it possible to climb to the stand.   This tree has been stone dead for over five years, the branches are falling off.    A short distance from that one is another that has been on the tree so long that the strap has the bark swelling around it.   That one also had some lower steps added.   I do not know who is using them, but they are playing a very dangerous game, both of these stands are at least 20 feet high.