after an evening hunt. I’m posting this so maybe it will slap some sense into somebody who is like me who hasn’t gotten the point yet.
Wednesday evening around 5 I was using my climber to get into position to hunt a spot I’d been up to many times before. 20’ up a sweetgum I had finished my climb and while facing the tree I sat back on the top portion of the climber to make sure it was locked into the tree...CRACK! I was falling backwards before I even knew what happened. Somehow the two tiny toe straps held and I was hanging upside down with my legs twisted up and boots locked into the bottom platform of the stand. The top portion was 20’ on the ground below. I’m alive but now it hits me that I’m in a fight for my life. I try to pull myself back up to the stand and up to the tree. I tried and tried but the way my legs were twisted I just couldn’t do it. At this point the worst feeling I’ve ever felt comes over me...my life would depend on someone else coming to save me. I had on loose fitting khaki work pants where I keep my cell phone in my front pocket. I reach UP to get it and I have no clue how it was still there. If it wasn’t I doubt I’m here today.
I was hunting alone, no safety harness and no one knew exactly where I was other than I was somewhere on 200 acres of land behind my mom’s hunting. Everything they tell you not to do right? But I’m young, dumb and something like this would never happen to me. Anyway, I frantically call my mom and tell her where I am and to call 911. I can tell she has no clue where the stand is. I next call my brother-in-law. He doesn’t answer. Keep in mind I’m making these calls upside down while hanging onto the bottom of the stand with the other hand to hold my head up so too much blood isn’t getting to my head causing me the pass out. I make one final call to my sister and scream to her my situation and where I was at. She said it sounded nothing like me and at first thought it was a prank call. Once she gets the seriousness of the situation I can hear her freaking out and she hangs up the phone. At this point I focus on holding on and keeping my head up so I don’t pass out. I didn’t know who was coming or if they could find me. After only 5 minutes of hanging I could already tell my blood flow was greatly restricted and if help didn’t arrive soon I was in big trouble. My hands and legs were going numb and I couldn’t keep my head up much longer. At that point I hear my mom blowing the horn on the truck and I look back across the field to see her driving back and forth 300 yards away. She can hear me yelling but can’t pinpoint where I am on the edge of the woods. At this point my hands are totally numb and I can no longer hold onto the bottom of the stand. I just lay back hanging completely upside down from my twisted legs yelling at the top of my lungs hoping someone would find me. After maybe 2 minutes of this I see another truck come into the field and it heads straight towards me. Out jumps a family friend and his hunting partner who were just about to get into their own stands 5 minutes down the road. My sister called him at my brother in laws urging and told him the location info I had given her and he knew the area because he had hunted back there before. Him and his buddy walked under the stand and looked up at me and knew I was in bad shape. They brainstormed for a minute and the family friend saw a cedar tree next to the one I was on he thought he could climb to get to my stand so he could try to pull me back upright. He did this risking his own life during the climb and standing on the bottom portion of my stand that we didn’t know would hold with his weight and mine, the top portion is already at the bottom of the tree. Luckily everything held and he’s able to grab my hand and pull me up. I’ve never felt so much relief or been so thankful but we’re not down yet and are both on a suspect stand at 20’ waiting on someone to get us down. My blood flow is coming back and I start regaining feeling in my arms and legs. My buddy said he thought my legs were broken judging by how they looked when he got up there. The fire rescue team shows up a few minutes later and my buddy helps them rig up a rope system to get us down. It took maybe 30 minutes for them to get me down. No way I could have hung upside down with my legs twisted up for that much longer.
We both are down safely and both my legs are already really sore but I don’t think anything is broken. I go over to the top portion of the stand to see the cable had broken at the loop where the pin connects it to the arm.
I’ve spent the last few days thinking about how dumb I’ve been, how lucky I was, all the mistakes I made before and after the stand broke and all the things that could have happened differently that would have led to me not being here today. If I had taken my feet out of the bottom straps before trying to set the top climber...if I didn’t have on steel toe boots that locked the straps in...if the toe straps didn’t hold...if my phone didn’t somehow stay in my pocket while hanging upside down...if the suspect stand didn’t hold with me and my buddy both on it...all that was by chance and I’m dead or a vegetable if it all didn’t happen.
A HARNESS COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS. Don’t get in a stand without a harness, inspect your stand, don’t hunt alone from a stand, make sure someone knows exactly where you are hunting each and every time. Don’t be like me, you may not be as lucky.
Thankfully all I have is a bruised calf on one leg and a badly sprained ankle on the other. I missed two days of work and am able to walk today with a limp and take my 2 year old trick or treating this evening. For the mistakes I made and situation I put myself in I don’t think I could have come out any better. This has changed my perspective on a lot of things. I hope this post reaches someone else who has been like me.
Wednesday evening around 5 I was using my climber to get into position to hunt a spot I’d been up to many times before. 20’ up a sweetgum I had finished my climb and while facing the tree I sat back on the top portion of the climber to make sure it was locked into the tree...CRACK! I was falling backwards before I even knew what happened. Somehow the two tiny toe straps held and I was hanging upside down with my legs twisted up and boots locked into the bottom platform of the stand. The top portion was 20’ on the ground below. I’m alive but now it hits me that I’m in a fight for my life. I try to pull myself back up to the stand and up to the tree. I tried and tried but the way my legs were twisted I just couldn’t do it. At this point the worst feeling I’ve ever felt comes over me...my life would depend on someone else coming to save me. I had on loose fitting khaki work pants where I keep my cell phone in my front pocket. I reach UP to get it and I have no clue how it was still there. If it wasn’t I doubt I’m here today.
I was hunting alone, no safety harness and no one knew exactly where I was other than I was somewhere on 200 acres of land behind my mom’s hunting. Everything they tell you not to do right? But I’m young, dumb and something like this would never happen to me. Anyway, I frantically call my mom and tell her where I am and to call 911. I can tell she has no clue where the stand is. I next call my brother-in-law. He doesn’t answer. Keep in mind I’m making these calls upside down while hanging onto the bottom of the stand with the other hand to hold my head up so too much blood isn’t getting to my head causing me the pass out. I make one final call to my sister and scream to her my situation and where I was at. She said it sounded nothing like me and at first thought it was a prank call. Once she gets the seriousness of the situation I can hear her freaking out and she hangs up the phone. At this point I focus on holding on and keeping my head up so I don’t pass out. I didn’t know who was coming or if they could find me. After only 5 minutes of hanging I could already tell my blood flow was greatly restricted and if help didn’t arrive soon I was in big trouble. My hands and legs were going numb and I couldn’t keep my head up much longer. At that point I hear my mom blowing the horn on the truck and I look back across the field to see her driving back and forth 300 yards away. She can hear me yelling but can’t pinpoint where I am on the edge of the woods. At this point my hands are totally numb and I can no longer hold onto the bottom of the stand. I just lay back hanging completely upside down from my twisted legs yelling at the top of my lungs hoping someone would find me. After maybe 2 minutes of this I see another truck come into the field and it heads straight towards me. Out jumps a family friend and his hunting partner who were just about to get into their own stands 5 minutes down the road. My sister called him at my brother in laws urging and told him the location info I had given her and he knew the area because he had hunted back there before. Him and his buddy walked under the stand and looked up at me and knew I was in bad shape. They brainstormed for a minute and the family friend saw a cedar tree next to the one I was on he thought he could climb to get to my stand so he could try to pull me back upright. He did this risking his own life during the climb and standing on the bottom portion of my stand that we didn’t know would hold with his weight and mine, the top portion is already at the bottom of the tree. Luckily everything held and he’s able to grab my hand and pull me up. I’ve never felt so much relief or been so thankful but we’re not down yet and are both on a suspect stand at 20’ waiting on someone to get us down. My blood flow is coming back and I start regaining feeling in my arms and legs. My buddy said he thought my legs were broken judging by how they looked when he got up there. The fire rescue team shows up a few minutes later and my buddy helps them rig up a rope system to get us down. It took maybe 30 minutes for them to get me down. No way I could have hung upside down with my legs twisted up for that much longer.
We both are down safely and both my legs are already really sore but I don’t think anything is broken. I go over to the top portion of the stand to see the cable had broken at the loop where the pin connects it to the arm.
I’ve spent the last few days thinking about how dumb I’ve been, how lucky I was, all the mistakes I made before and after the stand broke and all the things that could have happened differently that would have led to me not being here today. If I had taken my feet out of the bottom straps before trying to set the top climber...if I didn’t have on steel toe boots that locked the straps in...if the toe straps didn’t hold...if my phone didn’t somehow stay in my pocket while hanging upside down...if the suspect stand didn’t hold with me and my buddy both on it...all that was by chance and I’m dead or a vegetable if it all didn’t happen.
A HARNESS COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS. Don’t get in a stand without a harness, inspect your stand, don’t hunt alone from a stand, make sure someone knows exactly where you are hunting each and every time. Don’t be like me, you may not be as lucky.
Thankfully all I have is a bruised calf on one leg and a badly sprained ankle on the other. I missed two days of work and am able to walk today with a limp and take my 2 year old trick or treating this evening. For the mistakes I made and situation I put myself in I don’t think I could have come out any better. This has changed my perspective on a lot of things. I hope this post reaches someone else who has been like me.
You just can't stress the importance of a safety harness enough. 
