Half of tree stand falls were fatal, 100% were preventable

[Jdubs]

Sobering stats noted in this year's NY Hunting & Trapping Guide.  Last year 6 of 12 tree stand incidents were fatal due to no harness (5) or harness not attached to the tree (1).  There were (3) non-fatal injuries without a harness and (3) non-fatal injuries with unattached harness.

I'd hate to see anyone here have a fall.  Please use a lifeline and/or a lineman's belt when hunting from a tree stand this season.  All of these accidents are preventable. 

[BizCT]

Sobering stats noted in this year's NY Hunting & Trapping Guide.  Last year 6 of 12 tree stand incidents were fatal due to no harness (5) or harness not attached to the tree (1).  There were (3) non-fatal injuries without a harness and (3) non-fatal injuries with unattached harness.
I'd hate to see anyone here have a fall.  Please use a lifeline and/or a lineman's belt when hunting from a tree stand this season.  All of these accidents are preventable. 

A lot less can go wrong hunting on the ground. Move mobile too.


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[Hunter007]

Unless you have to , Just use a ground blind there safer and so much more comfortable.

I dont think deer even notice them once they been in a spot  for a few days or weeks 

Edited August 18, 2018 by Storm914

[Jdubs]

No question, there are plenty of tactics for deer hunting.  As much as I enjoy a comfy ground blind (and harvested both of last year's deer during rifle season from one), I also appreciate the advantages of hunting from above during xbow.  And despite carrying a decent amount of life insurance, I'm in no rush to have my daughter cash those checks or see me eating meals through a straw.  YMMV.

[Bigfoot 327]

It's been pretty much proven that gravity works every time!

[ny hunter]

I stay on the ground.....We have 2 stands that are only 10 feet high,,,Maybe I can use one but I never feel at ease..

[DirtTime]

I've tree surfed many times, always used my safety belt or harness. Fear of heights keeps me on the ground these days.
Bonus to hunting from the ground, if I drop something there's no metal clanking noise and I can just lean forward and pick it up.

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[sodfather]

I must admit I’ve only been using a harness for about 5 or 6 years now. I know very stupid of me not to and I guess I’m lucky also, but now I’m always wearing one. And I am just as mobile with my sticks and hang on as the guy who hunts on the ground. After doing it so many times it’s a breeze 

[sodfather]

5 hours ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

A lot less can go wrong hunting on the ground. Move mobile too.


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A stay bullet can get you on the ground more than in a tree. 

[Pygmy]

When I started bowhunting, most guys who hunted from trees found a limb that they could stand on..Then came hang on stands, most of which were homemade...One of those gave out on me and I DAMN near suffered a gravity attack, but was lucky..

Over the course of quite  a few years, most of my friends suffered at least ONE gravity attack, although none of them were injured seriously...SEVERAL OF THEM WERE very LUCKY..

I quit using hang ons and climbers quite a few years back.. I now only hunt out of ladder stands with safety lines, or, more often, out of an enclosed tower blind with a stairway and handrail...

[Nomad]

Ya i used tree steps made out of a pieces of 2x4 with a hole,drilled through and closeline to tie them to the tree . Hauled a 30 pound stand up by a chain , and tied a rope around my waist .

Sold my climber and all but one LW hang on, all ladders now and big ones, building my second shooting shack soon too !

I Always wear a harness , and always used a life line, tied off on the ground ,slide Prusik up as I go .

I also don’t believe there were only 12 falls last year , I always know of a couple around me each year , and anyone who,works in an ER can tell you each hospital gets a few each year .

 

[DirtTime]

Ya i used tree steps made out of a pieces of 2x4 with a hole,drilled through and closeline to tie them to the tree . Hauled a 30 pound stand up by a chain , and tied a rope around my waist .
Sold my climber and all but one LW hang on, all ladders now and big ones, building my second shooting shack soon too !
I Always wear a harness , and always used a life line, tied off on the ground ,slide Prusik up as I go .
I also don’t believe there were only 12 falls last year , I always know of a couple around me each year , and anyone who,works in an ER can tell you each hospital gets a few each year .
 

I did the rope and 2×4 for a few years. Got the idea from a book about bow hunting I borrowed from the library. Hug the tree on the way up. Still had my ( at that time safety belt ) attached.

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[philoshop]

I once perched in the tops of trees with a chainsaw tied to me for a living. For money. I was always tethered to the tree. Always. I never saw any reason to mess with that just because I was hunting rather than taking down a tree. As comfortable as I was climbing trees on a daily basis, I never forgot exactly where I was and the hazards of not being aware at all times.

[jperch]

Up until about 4 years ago we always used well made, large, home made hang on stands.  They are not that easy to move but were extremely comfortable.  We had people in our group who could bend and weld conduit pipe.  We used home made ladders made with 2 by 4s with 12 inch sections of conduit as rungs.  No tree steps for us.  Now we mostly use ladder stands with a safety line and harness.  A safety line with prussic knot costs $30 and a decent harness around $100.  Probably the best money I ever spent on hunting equipment.

I almost had an accident last year.  Near the end of gun season I went to a stand that had not been used in a couple of years.  It was a commercial hang on stand, secured to the tree with the provided chain.  I climbed the home made ladder and examined the stand before stepping onto it.  It seemed ok, the securing chain was tight, the cables that attach to the platform appeared fine.  Before I put my weight fully on the platform I bear hugged the tree.  When I stepped on the platform it gave way and I was hanging onto the tree with all my might.  Did I mention, I am 64?  I was barely able to get back on the ladder.  After calming down I examined the tree stand.  What had happened was that the chain had broken but was imbedded in the bark of the ash tree.  When I stepped on the platform the broken chain ripped out of the bark.  It was a stupid mistake on my part to not have checked the tree stand carefully before the season started.  I relay this as a warning to others.  Oh, there was no safety line in the tree yet as it had not been used recently.  Lesson learned.

[Hunter007]

2 hours ago, sodfather said:

A stay bullet can get you on the ground more than in a tree. 

I try and put the ground blind in a spot that is backed up by large trees or rocks or hills so at least I dont have to worry about getting shot from the back. 

Bonus about hunting on the ground at least if you fall asleep you dont have to worry about falling out of a tree. And I can garinty you that you will almost always take more accurate shots from the ground then hanging from a tree .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Storm914

[BizCT]

A stay bullet can get you on the ground more than in a tree. 

That’s why I was orange head to toe and use a flashlight even when I don’t need it. Rather be safe than sorry.


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[BizCT]

I try and put the ground blind in a spot that is backed up by large trees or rocks or hills so at least I dont have to worry about getting shot from the back. 
Bonus about hunting on the ground at least if you fall asleep you dont have to worry about falling out of a tree. And I can garinty you that you will almost always take more accurate shots from the ground then hanging from a tree .
 
 
 
 
 

I do the same and hunting in shotgun county where you can’t see more than 50-60 yards helps the odds with all the trees.


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[Hunter007]

9 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

That’s why I was orange head to toe and use a flashlight even when I don’t need it. Rather be safe than sorry.


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I actually thinking about putting a little  orange cloth on top of my blind when I am in it just to warm other hunters 

[wolc123]

I have never used a safety harness, but all of my stands have shooting rails, which double as safety rails.  All but one are less than 10 feet up.  Hunting from the ground, or from a low tree-stand, is much safer and it increases your odds of a quick, clean kill due to the lower shot angle and better chance of a "double lung" hit. This is especially important with archery tackle.  

The older I get, the less fond I am of heights.  I have never struggled to secure plenty of venison for our family and more and more lately, it has been from the ground or very close to it. This year, I am going to remove the lower section of my last high ladder stand, and drop it down to about 8 feet.  I was not feeling very comfortable  way up there, the one time I used it last year.  Last year, both of my deer were killed from 8 feet up.  The year prior, (3) were from the ground and the 4th from 8 feet up.  I see no need to go higher than that.  

My biggest fear from tree-stands has always been structural failure and collapse.  More than half of the trees on my home farm are ash, and it was getting pretty scary up in some old wood stands as the emerald ash borer started ravaging those trees.   I finally replaced the last couple ash tree stands last year.  Now all the stands are free-standing, on treated lumber posts, or attached to oaks, maples or poplars. 

It was sad seeing them old ash-tree stands go, thinking about all the deer they have provided, but I was very thankful to have never fell out of any of them.  The saddest was the one I killed my first antlered buck out of, and that my cousin first built about 40 years ago.  Some of the original white-oak steps were still servicable until the end, last year.  I always have checked all the stands carefully, just before hunting season each year, and that probably prevented a fall or two.   

Edited August 19, 2018 by wolc123

[Jdubs]

2 hours ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

Ya i used tree steps made out of a pieces of 2x4 with a hole,drilled through and closeline to tie them to the tree . Hauled a 30 pound stand up by a chain , and tied a rope around my waist .

Sold my climber and all but one LW hang on, all ladders now and big ones, building my second shooting shack soon too !

I Always wear a harness , and always used a life line, tied off on the ground ,slide Prusik up as I go .

I also don’t believe there were only 12 falls last year , I always know of a couple around me each year , and anyone who,works in an ER can tell you each hospital gets a few each year .

 

12 seemed like a low number when I read the article.  

[Jdubs]

1 hour ago, jperch said:

Up until about 4 years ago we always used well made, large, home made hang on stands.  They are not that easy to move but were extremely comfortable.  We had people in our group who could bend and weld conduit pipe.  We used home made ladders made with 2 by 4s with 12 inch sections of conduit as rungs.  No tree steps for us.  Now we mostly use ladder stands with a safety line and harness.  A safety line with prussic knot costs $30 and a decent harness around $100.  Probably the best money I ever spent on hunting equipment.

I almost had an accident last year.  Near the end of gun season I went to a stand that had not been used in a couple of years.  It was a commercial hang on stand, secured to the tree with the provided chain.  I climbed the home made ladder and examined the stand before stepping onto it.  It seemed ok, the securing chain was tight, the cables that attach to the platform appeared fine.  Before I put my weight fully on the platform I bear hugged the tree.  When I stepped on the platform it gave way and I was hanging onto the tree with all my might.  Did I mention, I am 64?  I was barely able to get back on the ladder.  After calming down I examined the tree stand.  What had happened was that the chain had broken but was imbedded in the bark of the ash tree.  When I stepped on the platform the broken chain ripped out of the bark.  It was a stupid mistake on my part to not have checked the tree stand carefully before the season started.  I relay this as a warning to others.  Oh, there was no safety line in the tree yet as it had not been used recently.  Lesson learned.

Holy crap, that was a close call!  Thanks for sharing that story.  Things can happen in the blink of an eye to any of us.

[Jeremy K]

44 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I have never used a safety harness, but all of my stands have shooting rails, which double as safety rails.  All but one are less than 10 feet up.  Hunting from the ground, or from a low tree-stand, is much safer and it increases your odds of a quick, clean kill due to the lower shot angle and better chance of a "double lung" hit. This is especially important with archery tackle.  

The older I get, the less fond I am of heights.  I have never struggled to secure plenty of venison for our family and more and more lately, it has been from the ground or very close to it. This year, I am going to remove the lower section of my last high ladder stand, and drop it down to about 8 feet.  I was not feeling very comfortable  way up there, the one time I used it last year.  Last year, both of my deer were killed from 8 feet up.  The year prior, (3) were from the ground and the 4th from 8 feet up.  I see no need to go higher than that.  

My biggest fear from tree-stands has always been structural failure and collapse.  More than half of the trees on my home farm are ash, and it was getting pretty scary up in some old wood stands as the emerald ash borer started ravaging those trees.   I finally replaced the last couple ash tree stands last year.  Now all the stands are free-standing, on treated lumber posts, or attached to oaks, maples or poplars. 

It was sad seeing them old ash-tree stands go, thinking about all the deer they have provided, but I was very thankful to have never fell out of any of them.  The saddest was the one I killed my first antlered buck out of, and that my cousin first built about 40 years ago.  Some of the original white-oak steps were still servicable until the end, last year.  I always have checked all the stands carefully, just before hunting season each year, and that probably prevented a fall or two.   

The shooting rail is attached to the treestand , let that sink in for a minute.

[First-light]

Back in the day was huge nails as steps and a couple of 2x6's as the platform. I don't know how we didn't have more accidents. Be safe folks it just takes one moment and your life could change forever. Good post! 

[Jeremy K]

13 minutes ago, First-light said:

Back in the day was huge nails as steps and a couple of 2x6's as the platform. I don't know how we didn't have more accidents. Be safe folks it just takes one moment and your life could change forever. Good post! 

Seriously  , I remember standing on a spike and wrapping my leg around the tree to pound the next spike in ,all the way up a tree .

[grampy]

My first "tree stand", was a 2x10 wedged into the crotch of a white pine tree, about 15 feet off the ground. We never thought about fall restraint stuff back then. Was lucky.

But I did suffer a fall coming down out of a home built 12 foot high platform, with 2x4s for steps. Started freezing rain shortly after I got up there. After a few hours decided to get down. My foot slipped off the first step, and thats all I remembered until I came to. Hit my head on the tree or an exposed root, at the base of the tree? Cracked a couple ribs, and the whites of my eyes were blood red for a couple weeks. This was 20 or so years ago. Was lucky.

Never again! I need to be here to take care of my family. So do all of you!

Now days, I feel much more comfortable on the ground. Very seldom do I hunt from a treestand anymore.  I really enjoy being on the deers level, when hunting them. I think it adds a bit more challenge to the hunt, and gives me more control of the hunt. As a ground stalk has put me in position to kill more than a few deer. Deer I would not have had a chance at, had I been stuck in a tree.

Always strap in! Always strap in! ALWAYS STRAP IN!!!

It's worth repeating.