Hunter fell last week from a stand in Tippecanoe county. Fire Dept and an ambulance called to get him out with a broken leg.

Happens every year and is preventable with relatively low-cost safety gear. Stay safe guys!

http://www.journalreview.com/news/local/article_36c9e4c6-d940-11e8-a362-6f29396387c4.html

Wow, the article seems to be saying he was using a ladder stand. I wonder how many people use a safety rope while climbing a ladder stand?

Even today not many use the safety lines. I’m scared to death of heights, takes everything I have to hang stands, take them down and even climb up and hunt them. I suck it up and do it because I love to hunt, so it’s easy for me to take every precaution and I pretty much hug the sap outta trees on my way up and down anyhow, my son isn’t afraid of the heights so I make sure to stress the safety lines and harness as much as I can. Seems like a no brainer these days.

We only have two ladder stands on the farm, but both are equipped with lifelines.
Initially, those two seemed a bit overkill, but it only takes one time.....

No doubt tree-stand accidents can happen to any of us, at any time. Speaking of which, I have to share that, for the first time, my use of safety harness did in fact save me this year. This was while using a Lone Wolf climber on a tree I'd never climbed before. I got up to about 18 feet in a Silver Maple, where there was a slight "elbow" in the tree that landed between the upper and lower sections of the climber. But I could go no higher due to limbs. With the stand in this final position, I cinched down the safety harness lanyard to the tree just above my head. I noticed a knot in the tree where my back would be resting, so I took out a folding saw and started cutting on the knot. In a flash the bottom section of the stand broke loose, fell 3-4 feet, and left me hanging in the Muddy full-body harness. The upper section of the climber remained in position but was then at shoulder level. Luckily the bottom section stopped on the tree within reach, even though it was free to fall all the way to the ground, since both of the inter-connecting straps had been sheared off at the buckles. I was able to grab the upper stand and pull myself up, while hauling the bottom stand back up with my feet. My guess for why the bottom section fell is that the tree strap was too high in the elbow part of the tree trunk, allowing the stand to give way with a shift in weight while I was cutting. The striking part was how FAST the fall happened. There was absolutely NO time to react in any way. What a huge relief to realize that the safety harness had just saved me from death or injury.

I think he was using strap on tree ladder sticks (similiar to Lone wolf, Muddy, and some others make)

I know we do. Millenium includes 30 foot lifelines with their stands now, all models, ladders and hang ons. Others should too.

A fall can happen in a heart beat. These accidents don't need to happen. I have a co-worker that fell out of a stand earlier this year, 20 or so feet. No harness. He was lucky and escaped with a torn achilles tendon.

I've told my story before. I was saved by a harness in 2005 when the bottom of my climber shifted and fell out from under me, similar to sticksender. I owe my life to that Summit S.O.P. harness. Then in 2016, I was working on hanging a double stand set when I went to adjust one stand and the one that I was standing on dropped. Thankfully I had taken all of the precautions and was tied off while wearing my rock climbing harness.

I refuse to climb a tree without being tied off in either a linesman's loop when hanging stands or to a static lifeline setup when hunting. I even use multiple short ropes with prusik knots at times when I am hanging stands so that I am never disconnected. No treestand setup or deer is worth the chance of not walking out safely to my wife or kids.

Rock climbing harness is the way to go IMO. I got a couple of the black diamond Vario ones this year and really like them. Easy to use, can shoot a bow easily with them on ( no strap to get in the way) and you are much more comfortable in a fall situation and can recover from a fall easier.

For those not wearing a harness. Is this how you want your deer season to end?

https://www.facebook.com/WashtenawCountyTRT/videos/1881905331908571

NO way I would be climbing that slick maple either....

Ran into a guy (a kid) about 25 years old yesterday - he held the door open for me, both of us wearing camo. He was limping and stated that he just fell out of his ladder stand. I don't mess around anymore. I have a good harness and I put that think around the tree no matter what I'm climbing. But I'm getting old (smart).

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