climbing stand mishap

[hanshi]

I quit using climbing stands many years ago. But for decades I used a couple of climbers I made myself and did well with them. Fifteen or twenty years ago I started using nothing but the ladder stands with only occasional use of a climber. On the property where I hunted in GA there were several ladder stands already up so I used them for years.

A tyro hunting partner - who didn't know how to use a climber - had an accident with one of mine but came out with only a skinned belly. Another hunter near where I lived at the time came down from his stand and was bitten by one of those big canebrake rattlers so common down there. His son called 911 but he died before they got him out of the woods; he was dead within 15 minutes of being bitten.

Nowadays I just sit in a folding seat on the ground. It is light, comfy and works just fine.

 

[Mark Sluka]

the stands today are much better than they used to be. The old baker stands would slip sometimes while you were climbing, dropping a few feet and then suddenly catch and stop :shocked2: :shocked2: Years ago, before climbing stands were popular we used to see treestands built out of 2x4 that may have been ok for a year or two, but after that they were unsafe due to rot etc and i'm surprised more people did not get hurt falling from these stands.There is risk in just about anything you do, buy a tma certified stand and do not leave the ground without a safety harness on .

 

[flyfisher76544]

:surrender: First Rule when using ANY TREE STAND "SAFETY HARNESS"! Glad that he is ok

I am glad to hear that your friend is ok.

 

[Spikebuck]

A safety tip for those of you putting up or taking down taller ladder stands. Check out a product called "Treestand Up." It is a pair of hinged devices that push into the ground and couple to the bottom of the ladder. This holds the bottom of the ladder to the ground as you lift or let down the stand. Great product. You take it off after the stand is up, so only need one pair.
www.treestandup.com

 

[sidelock]

One of the things that confound me is---- why would anyone who would go to the trouble of limiting themselves to one shot with a primitive BP fire arm and imitate the old time ways in shooting want to improve their chances by using contraptions such as tree stands,camo,and range finders to name just a few.

 

[roundball]

You're wasting our time trying to hijack the OP's thread. Go start your own thread on your own issues.

 

[stinkyfeet]

Hmmm well I am quite certain the indians and whiteman both ventured up into the trees and were noted for sitting on the braches or in crotches of the trees. Its nothing new or uncommon and was used many times by scouts from all sides of the enemy as well as for hunting and a perferred tactic by the indians while using the longbow.

 

[stinkyfeet]

The 2 Best things about ladder stands they are easy and quiet to get into overall. But by far the best part of ladder stands is the damn tree stand thiefs are generally to lazy to steal one because its alotta work to get them in and outta the woods.

 

[nchawkeye]

One of the things that confound me is---- why would anyone who would go to the trouble of limiting themselves to one shot with a primitive BP fire arm and imitate the old time ways in shooting want to improve their chances by using contraptions such as tree stands,camo,and range finders to name just a few.

Because I CAN!!!!

Sorry to confound you...

 

[sidelock]

Had a young man come by my place last summer and ask if he could set up a ladder stand on my place to try for deer. You bet I said and he got a doe not over 200 yards from my back door. He also passed up a shot at a wolf because he had no permit. You see, I am not apposed to tree stands. I just don't understand why one would want to use one. But I can understand that I got under your skin for your not being as PC as you claim.

 

[50cal.cliff]

Today's tree stands and climbing stands are a modern twist on man realizing that elevating himself gave him the advantage over game and other men! That advantage is not a modern thing it has been going on for a long time!

Your friend is lucky to be alive and that a broken ankle is all he had happen to him. Never climb into a tree stand or with a climbing tree stand without a harness.

I haven't used a climber in a while but I had to adapt to a different way of hunting when I moved to Florida in the mid 70"s!.

I am originally from Nebraska and usually you spot and stock up there. In deep cover they often do deer drives with strategically placed shooters.
I never cared for the deer drives because if the shooters don't fully identify their target, you can easily get killed.

I learned that most of the area I hunt here in Florida is dense and even if you can make your way into it, the deer are long gone before you can get to them.
I don't hunt with dogs even though it is legal here. But even dog hunting boils down to letting the dogs drive the deer to you.

I found that elevation in a dense area allowed me the advantage of seeing the deer before it saw me! It also allowed for me too be able to use wind currents much to my advantage!

 

[Mad Professor]

I've hunted in more trees without a stand than with one.

One of my favorites was a 250 year old maple whose branches were wide enough to take a knap on. Another white oak of the same shape.

Others have been pines/hemlocks that you could free climb to the top.

Also some huge old apple trees. Had deer directly below me eating drops.

 

[crockett]

This is a good safety issue to discuss because to my knowledge the use of tree stands has now put that as the number one cause of hunter injury/death and..dead is dead- doesn't really matter if you die from gunshot or a fall.
In thick woods with close range hunting a tree stand is a big advantage- I have had deer walk right underneath me, 20 feet straight down- and had no idea I was there.
Climbing a ladder type tree stand AND using a safety belt at the same time can be cumbersome. To be honest, I do the same thing everyone else does- just climb up and then ASAP put on the safety harness. As I think about this it seems to me that when the stand is set up it would be easy to dangle a safety rope and somehow attach to that before climbing up and take up the slack about every 5 feet. (loops in the rope every five feet and an S hook on your person?)I have to think about that one a bit more.
I use both ladders and climbers and on my climber it's the old two blade style. I didn't know cables had problems- glad I was too cheap to trade in the two blade.

 

[roundball]

This is a good safety issue to discuss because to my knowledge the use of tree stands has now put that as the number one cause of hunter injury/death and.

Be interesting to see a source link for this to get all the supporting details.

Compared to the vastly greater number of homeowners across the country who routinely go up and down ladders doing odds and ends on their house / yard with relatively little impact...my thinking is that by and large people don't just fall off ladders when they're climbing up them.

IMO, many of the tree stand accidents talked about are while already up in the stand, or as often written, making the transition from something like climbing steps INTO the stand.
Otherwise, accidents happen as a result of stand failures due to things like poor equipment conditions (rusted bolts, rotten straps), poor inspections of the equipment, poor installation planning, insufficient attachments to a tree, etc.

I personally think that once a properly sized, good condition ladder stand is properly fastened to a big enough tree, going up and down its ladder is actually safer than going up and down a ladder simply propped against your house while cleaning gutters, etc.

Others mileage may vary...

 

[Mark Sluka]

This is a good safety issue to discuss because to my knowledge the use of tree stands has now put that as the number one cause of hunter injury/death and.

Be interesting to see a source link for this to get all the supporting details.

Compared to the vastly greater number of homeowners across the country who routinely go up and down ladders doing odds and ends on their house / yard with relatively little impact...my thinking is that by and large people don't just fall off ladders when they're climbing up them.

IMO, many of the tree stand accidents talked about are while already up in the stand, or as often written, making the transition from something like climbing steps INTO the stand.
Otherwise, accidents happen as a result of stand failures due to things like poor equipment conditions (rusted bolts, rotten straps), poor inspections of the equipment, poor installation planning, insufficient attachments to a tree, etc.

I personally think that once a properly sized, good condition ladder stand is properly fastened to a big enough tree, going up and down its ladder is actually safer than going up and down a ladder simply propped against your house while cleaning gutters, etc.

Others mileage may vary...

Here is a survey from Penn state university https://onlinecourses.science.psu....les/lesson04/hunting_injuries_Smith_et_al.pdf

 

[Mark Sluka]

This is a good safety issue to discuss because to my knowledge the use of tree stands has now put that as the number one cause of hunter injury/death and..dead is dead- doesn't really matter if you die from gunshot or a fall.
In thick woods with close range hunting a tree stand is a big advantage- I have had deer walk right underneath me, 20 feet straight down- and had no idea I was there.
Climbing a ladder type tree stand AND using a safety belt at the same time can be cumbersome. To be honest, I do the same thing everyone else does- just climb up and then ASAP put on the safety harness.

As I think about this it seems to me that when the stand is set up it would be easy to dangle a safety rope and somehow attach to that before climbing up and take up the slack about every 5 feet. (loops in the rope every five feet and an S hook on your person?)I have to think about that one a bit more.

I use both ladders and climbers and on my climber it's the old two blade style. I didn't know cables had problems- glad I was too cheap to trade in the two blade.

just use one of these.goto the link and watch the video, it will show you how it works. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hun...fety+harness&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products
This is a more detailed video on how it works http://www.huntersafetysystem.com/lifeline/

 

[roundball]

Thanks...studies are often interesting to some extent or another, but other than gathering stats, age groups, etc...this particular study really does very little to illuminate the "root cause" of the accidents...other than 6 people were shot out of their stands and fell, and some had high levels of drugs or alcohol in their systems and fell.

But unless I missed it I didn't see any real analysis about the stands...which types of stands were most prone to accidents, what were the conditions of the stands, what the act was that led to the accident.

I already don't use any alcohol or drugs...and getting shot out of a stand is pretty much beyond my control. While the notion of safety belts is certainly a good one and I'd never allow myself to be untethered from a tree while climbing up or down from Loc-On's that I used for about 20 years, safety belts are after-the-fact measures and even with them there can still be significant injuries, if not the occasional death.

Hence my interest in a focus on "prevention" from a study that included a root cause analysis showing the common denominator(s) of the actual cause of falls...ie: something broke, something came loose, slipped on icy steps, lost their balance, and so on...

 

[Mark Sluka]

Of all the studies that i have read on treestand accidents,none of them have suggested that one type of stand "hangon,climber or ladder" was safer than the other.Although, they do say to avoid homebuit stands.
The link to the survey below does not rate the safest type of tree stands but it does give percentage figures as to how the falls happened
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/deer-and-deer-hunting-magazine/how-to-stop-tree-stand-falls

 

[roundball]

Yes, have seen similar which usually peg the highest accidents happening during transition from or to a hang-on type stand, from or to the climbing steps.
I used a pair of linesmen climbing ropes with a wide/sturdy tree climbers belt & D rings...as I would come up to the bottom of the hang-on, I'd unhook only one rope, flip it up over the foot platform and re-snap it, then unhook the other and do the same...refused to be untethered from the tree using those little Loc-On's.
Now, a single strong, good quality ladder stand is the only stand I use...solid as a rock, and only out in the elements for 3 months, then back in dry storage at the house...rest of the time I use a couple natural ground blinds.

 

[Archer 756]

:v As far as using a harness goes the TMA (Treestand Manufactors Assa) one should never leave the ground without using a harness. Mark S. the use of a life line is what one should use with harness for ladder stands. There are UTUBE articales on what and how to use life lines. Being a NYS Hunter Education Instructor we must teach the above mention safty rules.