# Tree stands can be dangerous



## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

So you wake up on opening mornong and sneak out to your treestand in the dark and start climbing the ladder.....


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## Mattuk (Oct 16, 2010)

Holy crap! That would wake you up!


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## showmeyote (Dec 12, 2010)

A camera man from Realtree outdoors fell from his stand last week and died. His name was Mike McKinsey. Very sad.


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

Wow, there would be a whole new type of scent dispersal coming from me if I found that in my stand !! Sucks to hear someone fell from a treestand though. I just bought the fall guy arrest system. Know way I want any more surgeries or worse.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Wow...now that is a good testomony for that stand !

Sorry to hear about Mike, truely sad. I feel out once and shattered my ancle and broke the two bones above it. Took 6 months before I was walking and a year till I could walk well. After that happened I have heard many stories of terrible accidents deaths, broken backs, broken spines, para and quadra paralized. Be carefull out there guys.

Nice photo Don...I wonder if this hunter was after bear


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Half of all hunting injuries involve a treestand. Anyone not using a safety harness is just asking for medical bills.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Or a wheel chair or worse a casket.

After my fall I take things much more safely.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

I'm not a fan of tree stands and I'll be darned if I got to start carrying take-out dinner's to it in case there is a Bear sitting in it.HA!!


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Actually I bet the guy though...wow my lucky day !!


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

Look at it this way, at least he has a nice new rug!!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

On a call said:


> Or a wheel chair or worse a casket.
> 
> After my fall I take things much more safely.


I'll bet... have you recovered completely yet ?


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

Many years ago one of the guys at work asked me if I had thought of hunting bears in a tree stand? I told him that any bear in a tree stand was too smart for me, I guess this is the first one for me.


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## Mattuk (Oct 16, 2010)

youngdon said:


> I'll bet... have you recovered completely yet ?


Doesn't seem to have recovered from the head injury.


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

I have hunted for years from Climbing Stands and Lock on Type stands, as of lately Lisa and I have decided to go with the ladder type stands as I am not getting anymore Limber in my joints the older I get. We feel like the ladder type stands will be a safer alternative for us!


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

Mattuk said:


> Doesn't seem to have recovered from the head injury.


Was thinking the same thing ! LOL


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Yeah I did recover however when the Dr. first viewed the xray he told me I would be lucky to walk well again, this was before the 4 hour surgery. The ancle joint was totally ripped apart emagine your foot off to the side of your ancle. Then the 2 bones above the ancle for about 4 inches were shattered. He had to screw it back together in pieces.

He did me right he was a young surgeon and knew his stuff.

As for my head..that is another story for another day.

I still use climbers and lock ons but have a couple ladder stands double seaters. They work really well for me and one of my kids or just me and being comfortable.


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

You're one of the lucky ones Brian. Just recently had a kid in town fall and broke his neck. He's now blind and still in the hospital after 3 weeks. Tragic and could have been prevented. One of about ten stories in town since I moved here. I used to do the same thing. I don't now.


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

I am getting more and more to the point that I just want to use ladder stands. Problem with them is moving them around.

After my accident I have met several who fell out of trees. The last guy I spoke with told me this story. He was hunting alond a 2 track up north with two other guys. They rode out together in the morning and they droped him off at his stand. He had made it and used plastic coated cable for the platform support. He tried it out at home and thought it was good to go. Any how that morning he climbed up into his stand, just after light a deer came in and he stepped on onto the edge of the stand for a shot with his bow. while standing there on the edge the cables slipped out of the plastic coating. And he fell.

While falling his he one of those screw in pegs you use. It ripped him open from his below his belly up to his chest. Major damage. He crawed to the two track thinking he was going to die because his partners were not going to return till night. He laid there for perhaps an hour, he told me he prayed, then some kids on dirt bikes came by and found him. They got him to the hospital and now he lives.

Another guy I met at a nursing home in Toledo. My company took care of the grounds and I was there on site. There was a guy sitting out in a wheel chair on the padio having a smoke. We got talking and he ended up telling me his story.

He was hunting in Ohio. Had a nice new stand. He fell out of it and broke his spine on a branch. Even if he did tell me I forget how he got out. But he is now a para.

There is one thing in common with both accidents....no safty harness.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

I bet they didn't wear seatbelts in the car either.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

youngdon said:


> I bet they didn't wear seatbelts in the car either.


 OH you're so right there, and the list goes on.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

OAC if you are having trouble moving ladder stands just hunt the area on the ground, besides you learn more about hunting then sitting in a tree stand!!!!!!!!!!


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

Hassel where I live you just about have to hunt from an elevated stand as the Brush is near Impenatrable in Most Places, unless you own a large peice of land which I dont. I do hunt from the ground in the National Forest. There are So Many Slob Hunters there you have to Hike in several miles to get away from them and then sometimes they will find you! When I hunt the forest with Lisa and Dallas Usually we get in Way Before Daylight and we Pick and Choose our Spots Very Carefully for this reason.

Deer Stands there just get Stolen if you Leave them at All, its like they hide in the bushes and wait for you to get out of the stand!! So I take a cushion and sit on a stump on top of the hills.

The USFS does controlled burns there but even then the brush takes over in a couple of years again. But you can usually find some fairly open spots.

Fall Restraint Systems are the way to go when Hunting from an elevated position though!


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

ReidRH said:


> Hassel where I live you just about have to hunt from an elevated stand as the Brush is near Impenatrable in Most Places, unless you own a large peice of land which I dont. I do hunt from the ground in the National Forest. There are So Many Slob Hunters there you have to Hike in several miles to get away from them and then sometimes they will find you! When I hunt the forest with Lisa and Dallas Usually we get in Way Before Daylight and we Pick and Choose our Spots Very Carefully for this reason.
> 
> Deer Stands there just get Stolen if you Leave them at All, its like they hide in the bushes and wait for you to get out of the stand!! So I take a cushion and sit on a stump on top of the hills.
> 
> ...


You must set your stands over or by game trails, definitely sounds like more hunters then areas to hunt.!!


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Rick I enjoy hunting on the ground in fact stalking deer is by far my most favorable way to hunt. I have been successfull more that a few time.

The problem is catching sight of them, when you do then the stalk happens. I took a really nice 8 that way.

Tonight on the way home I spotted a 9 point scoring about 145. I watched off the highway for 30 minutes...I was sooo temped, but do not have permission and it is owned by some large company. Anyhow it would have been a great stalk he thought he was hidden in amoung a bunch of saplings. Great cover for me.

If I could just drop some pounds I would be back at the stalk.

Our rut is on !!!!!


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

Is ya Neck Swellin OAC LOL!! I have also stalked many deer on the ground, Nothing like a good successful stalk! I would find out Who Owns that land a lot of companies will allow hunting free of charge but require a letter to that effect and prolly a Release from Liability, but it can be done!


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

I should you are right. Every morning and or evening I catch sight of deer in this field except when crops are tall. They had beans in this year. Actually I have been watching this buck for two years. I saw him as a button, then a light 6, and now a 9. Actually I would like to see where he goes from here. I am guessing a perhaps a 10 but with more mass.

After you stalk a deer with a bow and you score...few hunts compare.


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## JTKillough (May 4, 2010)

Dirty Bugger! Looks real comfee too! Guess who shows up in the ground blind? Looks like he's snicker'n about too!


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

JTKillough said:


> Dirty Bugger! Looks real comfee too! Guess who shows up in the ground blind? Looks like he's snicker'n about too!


 Great picture JT.


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

What a cool picture !! Brian, don't go makin DTE mad at you. They'll shut off your gas and electric !! LMAO


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

Tom, I think you are right about DTE it may just be thier land ! they however cannot touch my gas







He is a shooter for sure. You most likely know the field. It is south of that big sledding hill you see off 75 on the west side of the road. This field I am making referance to is on the east side of 75 south of that hill/park


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## On a call (Mar 3, 2010)

JTKillough said:


> Dirty Bugger! Looks real comfee too! Guess who shows up in the ground blind? Looks like he's snicker'n about too!


That is one black black bear ! muzzel and all ! they are rare.


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## ReidRH (Feb 1, 2010)

Holy Moly I would FREAK, I would whole lot rather see him in my tree stand!!! At this point I would sure be wanting my 12 guage and buckshot with me!!


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

Actually Brian that is Ford's property I believe. My brother-in -law is a cop in Woodhaven. There's no hunting and those guys keep a close watch. That's why you've been able to watch him grow !! LOL I know it kills him to have to protect those deer as he's a diehard deer hunter.


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## Mattuk (Oct 16, 2010)

On a call said:


> That is one black black bear ! muzzel and all ! they are rare.


I can't find anything about black muzzled black bears, can someone enlighten me?


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Most black bears have a lighter, almost blond many times, muzzle.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Just read on the net, first day of deer hunting in Minn. an 84 yr, old caught fire and fell out of his tree stand, the result was fatal.


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## Mattuk (Oct 16, 2010)

Thats a terrible thing to happen. What the hell was he doing?


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Mattuk said:


> Thats a terrible thing to happen. What the hell was he doing?


 He had a propane heater up with him, probably leaked.


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

Wow, that is a horrible way to go. I met a young man last night who had just been let out of the hospital after three weeks who had fallen out of his tree stand. He had his head shaved exposing a 6" cross shaped scar from putting his skull back together. He land on a rock with his head. He's now permanently disabled. Horrible story. He then admitted to me that he had more safety harnesses than he could count. I told him that he should have played the lottery because he'll never be that lucky again. Very stupid. We all do things like that. No matter the age. Guys be careful out there !!


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## Mattuk (Oct 16, 2010)

They are both terrible accidents that did not need to happen. As Tom said look after yourselves out there boys and girls.


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