Saved by a Harness
Equipment
Who has fallen out of a tree while wearing a harness? Share your stories. What type of harness? How did the fall happen? What went through your mind? What type of treestand? How did you get down?
Somebody watched the Pa. Game commission webinar this afternoon!
I did not, Bill, but there has been a lot of disussion lately and got me thinking. It must be treestand safety week or something. Just wondering who can chip in some personal experience.
Bolt broke that holds the cable's to the platform. Platform was instantly out from under me. Was wearing my blackdiomond rock climbing harness correctly attached to the tree. All I did was sit down into the harness. No jerk or anything. Just swung around the tree and stepped back on the climbing stick.
Sure wished everyone could understand how much safer a rock climbing harness is. At least I hope everyone will wear and use any harness correctly.
I fell out of a stand without one on while attaching stand to tree about 20 yrs ago. I'm a pretty fast learner- last time I did that trick. I was very fortunate and only broke a leg bone. I'm a HSS poster child now for tree stand safety !!
I did a workshop with the Treestand Manufacturers Assc a while back. We had a lock on stand about 8' up. Each one of us stepped off while we were attached to the tree. Even with the stand and climbing stick attached to the tree, it's a bit of work to get back to the stand or ladder. Eye opening for sure.
I fell asleep the one and only time i ever sat in a treestand thank god the guy that lent it to me made me take the harness too! I ended up hanging a few moments trying to figure out how to get back up then realized the thing poking me in the side was my screw in step.....
Not hunting but taking down trees for a living had been free style climbing with tree hooks, first day on crane put choker on hook first then climbing rope, SAFTY LATCH BROKEN, got up about 100' hanging up side down, when I put choker cable around the limb told crane operator to pick up ,it flipped climbing rope off I free fell about 65' cut a flip and caught hold of a limb, pulled my self up climbed over tied in and repelled down, broke a few ribs and was climbing 1 hour later. wasn't my time to go. Forrest
I'm like Buffalo 1. Foot slipped off the top rung of the ladder and down I went. Lucky to only break part of the tibia and fibula where it meets the ankle. It was an expensive and painful lesson, but one I only had to learn once . I also have HSS vest and life lines ever since.
Some stats from a Pa. trauma center study. Covered 499 incidents .
46% of all hunting accidents are treestand falls.
81% of falls required surgery.
59% of those falls involved broken vertebrae.
8% involved death. And that Did not take into account those falls that had hunters die at the scene of the fall. Only involved those that made it to the trauma center.
56% involved hunters climbing in and out of their stand as the main cause.
Hang on stands were the type of stand most often used when a fall occurred.
Ladder stands were the second most common stand used in accidents.
Whether on the mountain or in a tree..........hunt safe guys !
Moved a stand to a nearby tree because the one I was in didn’t look safe. Several days later I climbed into that stand, tied off and settled in. After a few minutes I stood, drew my bow to check for obstructions. POW! The stand dropped out from under me. There I hung, bow in hand, and the stand hanging on the toe of my boot….WHAT THE HELL! Other than the obvious, everything appeared to be in order, so I managed to hang the bow off one of the climbing pole steps, get my hands on the stand and secure it to the tree, and get back on the climbing pole. Apparently when moving the stand one of the ratchet straps backed out to the end and went un-noticed. Love those safety harnesses. I cringe to think of day gone by when I didn’t ware any safety gear or just wrapped a small rope around my waist…..Ug.
I have. being a bow-ed instructor, I'm proud to say I practiced what I preached in the classes. I had the 30 foot safety rope. afternoon hunt, left work early. when I got in the stand I said to myself I probably need to replace the stand straps, looked them over and figured I would hunt that afternoon. 2 hour hunt, no problems. lowered my equipment down, stepped on the ladder, slid the prussic knot from arm's length overhead down to chest high to get ready to go down a couple of steps when the step I used for a hand hold broke causing me to loose my balance and fall backwards. that hand hold was at the top of the ladder and had never been used to stand on. the impact swinging back into the tree knocked my glasses off my head and one of my hearing aids out of my ear, and bruise the sh** out of my leg. since the rope ran down beside the ladder I was able to climb back on the ladder and get down. when I got down I texted my buddies to let them know what happened just in case I was hurt worse than it looked and I didn't come out. platform of the stand was at 15 foot. I was using a HSS vest. I wanted a Summit SOP but they don't make any to fit a 300# person.
The accidents that happen to me are really not accidents at all. Doing what I shouldn't do , usually does it.
Crossing from sticks to stand should be simple and safe .If it is not then one needs improvement on the setup. IE longer sticks (well above the stand to allow stepping down to the stand and a safety loop that you can clip onto (stays with the tree all season) around the tree to hold onto while crossing and until finished hunting and your on your sticks (one arm around the sticks up to your elbow , the other un-clipping) . Extra cables for stand and extra straps are worth the effort . I reinforce my stands with a wire cable loop. When setting up the sticks I wrap the top sections with extra straps or rope .
I don't really care if I am uncomfortable while hanging from a safety line . It's way better than that sudden stop at the bottom. I went down in my first year while trying to free a stand (stuck strap). I was so shocked that I involuntarily cried a few tears and voluntarily prayed my gratitude for not being hurt. It will Never happen again.
Just spent 450 on some good static line (13mm) and bought a bunch of 7-8mm to make prusik knots attachments. Figure I can do about 20 stands this year and 20 next year and the last 20 2 years from now. Shawn
I've sure fallen without one and I'm not going down that road again!
I climbed into a stand in the dark while I was attached by a lanyard. I started pulling up my pack with a rope and I stepped to the front edge of the stand so that the pack would not rub anywhere and make noise. While leaning over the front edge the stand strap broke and I was falling and then hanging from my belt is an instant. Amazing how fast it happens. I was easily able to get turned around so that I was facing the tree and then use my legs to walk around to the climbing sticks. The strap looked like brand new and the stitching had let loose.
I've never fallen, but remember the days when all I used was the waist belt (makes me shudder). I've got a few stands that are admittedly a stretch from sticks to stand that need moved down a bit or longer sticks, as noted above. We use ladder stands a lot as well. Changed several stands from cable to chains and also replaced to grade 8 bolts.
One thing to be careful of as well is your wedding ring... I had mine get caught on a tree step years back and I had just taken my foot off of the last step to touch the ground. Basically my ring was holding me on the step. I had to step back up to release my hand from the step. It wasn't pretty digging my ring from under my blood soaked skin and off of my finger.
Always have your top and bottom with climbers connected too. Rope got chewed by a squirrel and I didn't re-connect it. Climbed a hard barked red oak and when I sat down the first time, my bottom platform shimmied down to the base of the tree. There I was 18-20 ft up sitting on the seat portion. Fortunately I had a bow hanger with me and rope... hooked the bottom and pulled it up. I also used some of that rope and re-connected the top to the bottom. :)
Fell out years ago when I was young and using home made crotch boards. Got really lucky.
Came real close twice with just the old waist belt while working derrick on a rig.
I was once handing up a tree stand to a friend of mine. I stood on the first step and swung the tree stand when the step I was standing on , about 2' up the tree, let go. I fell on the ground, landing on the tree stand. I broke two ribs and hurt like heck for a couple of weeks. That was only 2', wear your safety belts.
TMBB
"56% involved hunters climbing in and out of their stand as the main cause.
Hang on stands were the type of stand most often used when a fall occurred.
Ladder stands were the second most common stand used in accidents."
This does not surprise me. Switched to LW climbers ten years ago and never looked back. I'm always attached to my tree.
EmbryO - Ya I did the waist belt thing as well, for maybe four years! Very lucky I didn't fall with that choker on.
While climbing tree steps, that had been in for years, the one I was standing on broke off. Luckily my hand had already grabbed the one above, which left me hanging on for a few seconds until I recovered. I was able to get myself down by hugging the tree and stretching to the next lower step. Worse part was that my young son and his buddy were on the ground underneath me as they were helping me hang stands. On inspection I found that as the tree grew out over the years it actual cracked the step right were it 90's into the tree. Don't trust screw ins if they've been in over time, or at least check them carefully.
For people who keep stands attached to trees year round, I wonder how many annually check the straps attaching the stand to the tree?
Two years ago, slipped on a strap on step when it shifted and fell. The lineman's belt on my harness caught me about the same time the next step was caught in my crotch. Oh the pain. After a few minutes I was able to lift myself off by kneeling on another step. I hate them damn strap on steps but they were required on this special state park hunt. I use leg irons as they don't leave anything behind to snag yourself on.
That same season my hunting partner fell asleep on his stand. He fell and his harness caught him after he broke a few branches loose. We were hunting together and within eyesight. I heard him go down and watched him hang, as I was ready to get down he came to and got back on stand. Shaken but unhurt. That was two close calls in one year. Yes falling a sleep being caught by your harness still qualifies as a fall and a close call. He certainly could have been hurt when breaking off branches before the system arrested his fall. Reminded him to get rid of the harness buy a new one as it could fail if he falls again.
I'm probably from the tail end of an era where a treestand consisted of a couple 2x4s, possibly some ply wood (well used of course) and we never used any safety precautions, and some of these stands were pretty high. The first deer I ever shot I was actually about 15' up in a tree and just sitting on a branch.....those were LONG sits and treestands have come a long way since. Safety of course has come a long way too. I have no idea why anyone why anyone wouldn't embrace that; I am also dismayed that people don't use rock climbing equipment (they pioneered fall protection and continue to lead in that space). I'd use a harness that came in a package with a $50 Chinese treestand over nothing, but it's Black Diamond for me. I haven't fallen out of a tree in a climbing harness, but I have taken some pretty big "whippers" climbing or canyoneering using them. I wouldn't use any equipment at 20-30', that I wouldn't use at 1,000'.
Just remembered a tripod stand that collapsed as I was climbing down. I moved it from another property and lost a brace along the way. No injury, but it happened fast. Use all of the cross braces.
Scrappy, sent you a PM but would you please describe how the Black Diamond rock climbing harness works better and is as safe or safer than a full body harness? I'm not saying it's not just wish to know more about it. I use full body harnesses weekly at work and using a harness that attaches only at the waist concerns me that if I some how end up hanging upside down I will fall out of it. Also does your type of harness work well with a lineman's rope attached to it for hanging stands? I would love to use the type of harness you describe as it would be a much better fit for bow hunting.
Scrappy is SOOOOO correct
I fell back in the late 90s. Muzzleloader hunting way back in a huge swamp on Christmas Eve. I was WAY up a tree (30'), climbing with gaffs. Tree had a lot of branches, so it took me a while to get that high using two lineman's belts. As I was hanging my stand, one of my gaffs ripped out of the tree. I only fell a foot or so, got my gaffs back in the tree, and killed a doe that morning. If I had fallen, I would have most likely been killed by hitting all the branches on the way down. If not, I would have died from hypothermia while laying at the bottom of the tree. No cell phone, and no one knew where I was.
Stay tied to the tree!!!!!
