My buddy was hunting last weekend on his property in upstate NY. He was descending down his ladder stand which is about 12 feet high. He got his backpack caught on the velcro material and it literally threw him off the ladder. Landing on his right shoulder, and his bow, he's lucky he was impaled with an arrow. Yes, they were in the quiver!. Tough young kid, his entire right side of his body black and blue from head to toe! Lucky he wasn't killed. He told me he will NEVER take for granted coming down ladder stand, and of course any stand!! God was on his side that evening!
I had to dig through all the new posts to find this thread again because after 14 years of hunting, I experienced my first tree stand fall last week. I was using my Lone Wolf hand climber and going up a tree that I haven't hunted out of in a few years, it was slow going because a bunch of new branches sprouted that I had to clear out. I got about 10-12' up in the tree and WHAM, the bottom dropped out from under me. I wear my harness and tether religiously and this time was no different, I stopped abruptly and became a "human piñata". I was lucky because the farmer was only about a 100 yards away from me and I was able to yell to him to get assistance in getting down...but I sat under that tree shaking for a good hour after I did get down. Just a couple of notes, nothing broke on my climber, it was human error on my part. The cable had been replaced last year and when I inspected everything after the fall, nothing was broken. I had failed to completely close the locking mechanism so it was just a matter of time before it let loose. I'm actually thankful that it held together until I was high enough on the tree to engage my tether/harness and not hit the ground. Also, I was an idiot and did not have a suspension relief strap with me. I was down within 20 minutes of the fall but I'm going to tell you, hanging in a harness is not comfortable. I invested in another piece of safety equipment called the wingman which lowers you to the ground after a fall. I only intend on using it when I'm using my climber, I can't see having to use it for my lock-on stands since there is always steps or a ladder that I can grab and climb. Where your safety gear! It can save your life!!!
