Saturday morning on my way out of the woods I decided to climb up into a new stand that I just hung about a week ago to do a little trimming so the stand would be ready to hunt. I had on my HSS vest and I had already installed a lifeline in the stand. Since this was just going to be a quick trip up to trim and come right down I didn't hook my vest up to my lifeline. Well, I got up there and started trimming and soon after I lost my balance. I felt myself start to fall backwards but luckily I was able to catch myself and prevent about a 20 foot fall backwards. It was really stupid of me to not hook up to the lifeline. I was fortunate that I didn't fall but it just goes to show you that it only takes one trip up a stand and if you fall it could all be over in a split second. I won't ever climb up again assuming that everything will be fine and I wont fall. From now on, no matter what, I will always hook up to a safety line before I ever climb up. Don't take one single climb for granted that you'll be fine. I almost paid for that mistake.
