Dont worry about animals eating you just be safe EXAMPLE of NOT being safe!


Mid November in South Carolina is a great time for a bow hunter, the morning air has chilled from the north winds, but the mid-day temperatures still climb to the mid seventies. Flying insects are down to almost zero, and most important the bucks are working the does hard.

This week I happened to have Monday and Tuesday off and I was excited knowing not many bow hunters would be in the local public area. I awoke that Monday morning to a calm wind and a temperature of forty-five degrees. The weather forecast for the day was calm wind and a high temperature of sixty-nine degrees, a fantastic day for hunting.


The day before my girlfriend at the time had went to spend a few days with her mother and would not return until the following Friday. I knew in my mind I should have called my brother or hunting partner and let them know where I was going and for them to call the house and check with me at dark. As I dialed the phone I could hear myself saying; "It's only five miles away, and you have been there before," like a dummy I hung up the phone and started gathering my gear.

I got to the area around 5 AM the sky was just starting to lighten a bit and to my joy I saw no other vehicles along the roadside. I loaded up my gear and started the two-mile walk to the swamp, where a week before I watched two huge eight points battle it out. I knew if I could get into the tree and still before seven a.m. I would have a good chance at a nice deer.

I got to the tree, as it just was light enough to see well, I bolted on my climber then attached my bow and pack to my rope hoist. The tree I chose was a tall pine, I estimated the height to the first limb to be about forty feet, I decided to climb up to where when I stood up in the stand I would be about thirty five feet high. I elected to just put my safety belt around my waist and not the tree; pine bark is really difficult to maneuver a safety belt over while climbing. This was to be my biggest mistake of the day.

I started my climb with no problems, I stopped about mid way up to rest a bit and watch two squirrels battle over a nut. After a few minutes I resumed my climb, I got to the point where I knew I could see down to the bank of the swamp. I stood up facing the tree and like an idiot did not take the time to wrap the safety belt (which was around my waist!) to the tree.

I turned around and stepped out from the tree, as I started to bend to get the rope hoist I got this sick feeling in my stomach, I could feel the stands platform shift to the forward right. The sick feeling came as I realized it would not stop, as my upper torso passed through the hand climber I tried to grab it to no avail. I was going to the ground and there was nothing I could do to prevent it! Have you ever been witness to a car accident and noticed how things appear to be going in slow motion? This is how I perceived my fall, I knew it was happening and that it was going to hurt, but it seemed as if it took forever to hit the ground!

I felt the most unbelievable searing pain as I finally did hit the ground; I landed feet first on pretty solid ground and lost consciousness for maybe a minute? I came too with my legs in a pain I have never known, I was laying on my right side with my face firmly in the ground. All I wanted to do was be VERY still each breath I took seemed to increase the pain I was in. After about fifteen minutes I became extremely thirsty, I did have a frozen water bottle in my pack, but as I raised my head to look, I saw it was a few feet away. After about a half hour the pain numbed a bit, I pulled myself to my pack and retrieved the water from it, I also saw the bottle of Advil I had bought a week earlier for a headache I had gotten on another trip. I popped nine or ten of the Advil and gulped down about half of the water, then decided to lay still awhile longer.

About an hour later the pain had numbed enough so that I could turn myself over, I rolled over which put my shoulder blade against the tree I had fell from. Looking up I could see the platform of the stand bent downward and got the full vision of just how I fell. I then looked down my left leg, my pants leg sticking up in the middle of my shin, told me just how serious this fall had been. There was a bit of blood soaked through, but not bad from the looks of it, the right leg was hurting badly but nothing sticking out of it, that I could see.

I had no watch on, but guessed the time to be about 9 AM. I fought the urge off to look at the wound to my left leg; afraid this may cause me to panic. I thought to myself, "okay here you are, two miles from the main road seriously injured. No one knows where you are and it's a weekday" The only thing I could do was to yell for help and hope someone heard me. For the next few hours I yelled help three or four times about every ten minutes about noon I had become very hoarse and drank most of the water that was left.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on things other than my pain, I fought myself from dropping off to sleep, fearing no one would find me. The pain started to increase again; I popped seven or eight more of the Advil and swallowed the last of the water. I then started my yelling again, as I would be quiet to listen for a response I began to hear what I thought were responses? I think it may have been voices carrying through the hills from a construction site five or six miles away?

I have to be honest and say I really did not become scared until about three p.m. that's when the thought of maybe dying set in. The temperature that night would drop to near freezing and a rain shower was expected, I knew I had to now yell as loud as I could. I then began screaming help, as loud as I could possibly do it. Later the sun started to set behind the trees, and I had become hoarse again, I would swallow hard then repeat the yell. Out of the blue I hear "WHERE ARE YOU!" I thought I was dreaming for a second, I yelled back "DOWN THE RAVINE JUST OFF THE TRAIL, NEAR THE SWAMP!" The two hunters came right to me after that, boy were they great to see, one gave me water while the other looked over my legs. Then one ran to call an ambulance while the other talked with me, but just as the one guy ran off he yelled back, "SEE BILL I TOLD YOU I HEARD SOMEONE A FEW HOURS AGO!" I had to grit my teeth a bit and then realized I was just glad they had found me.

To make a long story short, about two months later I was back to normal and a bit wiser, I even hunted with Bill a few times the next year. Sadly he was killed in a non-hunting related accident later that year, I thank Bill in my memories most every day.

Wear those safety belts folks, not just when getting ready to hunt, but the entire time you're on the tree!!!

The lessons I learned:

- Use a safety belt the entire time your on the tree.
- Let someone know where you're hunting and when you plan to return.
- Stay calm, if something does happen.