I fell out of a tree from about 15'. The tree stand was a home-made stand on public ground, but looked in good shape. Well I was up in it for about 2 hours when I shot a nice ten point buck. After the shot my father walked up to check things out. I lowered my rifle and equipment down to him. As I started to climb out of the stand, the top rung gave way and Icrashed to the ground. I hit the ground so quickly, that I bounced up and was on my feet before my dad knew what happened. The only thing that he could tell was that my glasses where gone and I had a dazed look on my face. At the time I was about 5'5" and 140 lbs. I was on the high school wrestling team so I was in really good shape. So my belief is no matter what shape or condition your in, it won't stop you from falling. After gaining my senses, I looked at the area where I fell and noticed, that if it wasn't for the thicker underbrush, I would probably be dead. Right were my neck had hit was a downed tree, which would have snapped it. I am now afraid of heights because of this incident and you will never catch me in a tree without a harness.