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Friendly Reminder...

Cabin Fever

By Cabin Fever,
in General Hunting

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Cabin Fever Mentor

Cabin Fever

Posted
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Please be smart and wear safety harnasses. If you don't do it for yourself, do it for your family!

Sept 16, '09 I made an unexpected stop at camp to check trailcams. While I was there, figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and check treestands. Climbed 20', shook the stand, it was nice and secure, went to transfer my weight from the steps to the stand, grabbed a large limb like I usually did, heard a "snap", and fell straight down! When I heard the "snap", I knew I was REALLY screwed and just said my wifes name, not knowing if I would even be alive when I hit the ground. I only remember rolling on the ground. I opened my eyes and wiggled my hands and legs. I was amazed that everything seemed to work and I kind of chuckled to myself that I had fallen 20' and not only survived, but didn't appear hurt!

I stood up and immediately fell over. THAT's when the pain kicked in! I knew my foot must have been broke. Luckily, I had my phone on my side, so I called my wife to give her an idea of where I was. I didn't know if the adreneline was also covering up other internal injuries that might cause me to pass out somewhere on my way back to camp. I was ~1/2 mile from camp. I tried crawling, but everytime my foot hit a root, sapling, or anything, I screamed in pain! I ended up grabbing a limb that I could use as a crutch and managed to hobble back to camp.

To make a LONG story short, I missed out on my beloved bowhunting last fall and was very limited on where and how I hunted during gun season. I have spent ~$2000 on medical expenses, on disability for ~12 weeks, still have terrible pain in my foot on a daily basis (especially walking in the woods on uneven ground!), limp pretty bad, and can't find a doctor that can tell me what is causing all the pain OR if it will ever get any better! (VERY frustrating!!!)

I have always worn a safety harness while "IN" the stand. I have since purchased the HSS Linemans rope (for hanging steps/stands) and Lifeline that you tie above the stand down to the bottom of the tree. You clip your harness onto the prusset knot and slide it up and down with you. If you fall, it locks up, and you from falling far. I am hooked up from the time my feet leaves the ground until they are back on the ground (by my choice!).

I know I am VERY lucky that I only broke my foot with a 20' fall and things could have been MUCH worse! I always felt I was safe and cautious, but accidents happen! Things break, you may slip or mis-step while watching that big buck approach, medical conditions happen, climbing up to your stand you may become startled by mice or squirrels that have made a nest in your stand seat, etc...

If you don't wear a safety harness, PLEASE reconsider! Think of the consequeces, it is NOT worth it! When I hear someone have lame excuses as to why they don't wear a safety harness, I really feel sad for them, knowing what I've been through, and I can't help but feel that their time is coming....

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bushnell Newbie

bushnell

Posted
Posted

Glad to hear that you made it through pretty much unharmed. I do not hunt from a tree stand. I hunt from the ground. I am sure there is a doctor out there who could probably tell you what is wrong with your foot but most of the time those type of specialists are usually hundreds of miles away. Best of luck to you and hopefully you can find someone to heal that foot.

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nyslowhand Enthusiast

nyslowhand

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Posted

Thanks for the reminder and I will wear my safety vest.

I tried hang-on stands with the strap-on ladder sections twice. Sold them!

If God wanted me to climb trees like that, I'd have been born with bear claws.

That's not for me!! ???

Eventually everything will heal!!

BTW - You were lucky!

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Doc Experienced

Doc

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Man, I hate to hear these stories. When I think about all the years that I spent climbing around in the trees like a monkey, with absolutely no protection, it really is a wonder that I never had an incident. I do know of a couple of guys that weren't so lucky, and one of them payed dearly with some pretty serious long-term crippling. But, you know, we honestly didn't know any better. There were no commercial harnesses or anything back then, and not a lot of guys were talking much about falling. And then when some level of consciousness about tree-stand safety started to emerge, the stuff that guys were using was probably more dangerous than using nothing. My first restraint was made from the lap-belt of an old VW Beetle. I suspect that had I fallen, I probably would have been found there hanging upside down, maybe alive, but probably not.

Well hopefully this thread will remind everyone that hunts from the trees, that just when you are convinced that nothing bad can ever happen to you, it usually does.

Doc

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sweet old bill Newbie

sweet old bill

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Posted

about 12 years ago I fell just 12 feet or less and broke my leg in 9 places, knee cap in 3 places. I had sevra hours of repair, 7 months of rehab and was able to hunt that year. I was using a walking stick to help me get to a plastic walmart green car. Just about 15o yards from a road in the state hunting lands. The 2nd of Nov, I got to the chair and about a hour later I had a 7 point buck come to a scrape that was 25 yards down hill from me. I was able to take him. That was my first deer after the accident. I no longer can hunt from tree stand. My right leg was a 18 bar in the leg, with a total of set screws still holding everthing together. The knee cap healed but hurts with any weather change as well as the leg. I can tell you when the weather front is coming thru, when it stop hurting I lknow I should be hunting as the deer will be out feeding.  Lets all of you that still use tree stands have a safe hunting season, make sure you are tied in.

Bill

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Cabin Fever Mentor

Cabin Fever

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The pain feels like I'm being stabbed in the foot with a butcher knife! Walking through the woods on uneven ground causes so much pain that I blurt out obsenities, like someone with Turrets Syndrome, that would even make a trucker blush! It gets unbearable, but I'm too stubborn to take pain medication. I like the "happy place" that I go to, but worry about the side effects, so I don't take anything for pain control. 

I had a busy weekend. Finished up checking and hanging treestands, walking around at the Naples grape festival, and stacked 11 facecords of wood. I had so much pain in the foot this morning that I could hardly walk on it.

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Fletch Mentor

Fletch

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Posted

I have had a few mishaps over the years and was lucky enough to be young and a lot less brakeable. Like someone said back 20 years ago there was no big thoughts about safety harnesses. I put my hand in a bees nest one time when I was a teenager close to 20 feet up a tree, I hate bees and I hit the ground running. I still do not know how! Now I use a linesman strap when hanging and checking stands and always have a harness in while in a stand. And my setups and stands are way safer than we used back then.

Glad you came out not worse than you did and hope they get that foot fixed.

I have had kidney stones a few times and I always worry about having one of those hit me in the stand. They can come on fast and I have had a couple that just floor me and imobilize me for hours. That would not be fun in the air!

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