RE: Equipment Failure?
As John and Greg mentioned,no equipment failure but Human Failure (ME).Why is it that most learning experiences come from pain and emotional sufferring?
A friend of mine and I set a treestand in Idaho several years ago.It was in a funnel that every year get's seriously scraped up and it is close to a thick bedding area.We went in to set it mid day of our first day out there and when we got to the spot,there was so much smoking hot buck sign that I wanted to set that stand as quickly as possible and get the heck out of there.The mistake I made was not really stepping hard on the stand once I had the strap set.I was so nervous about ruining this location that I didn't take my time.
Rested the stand for a day hunted it the next,got in bright and early,got settled in and noticed the stand would squeak a bit if I shifted my weight.I said to myself I will take care of this on my way down around noon time.Now I am rifle hunting mind you.Beautiful 5x5 comes in hard off my right shoulder( I am right handed) 30 yards away,he has no idea I am there,I am thinking about where he will go on the wall,then the reality that I have to turn in the stand,hard to my right to be able to shoot this deer.From euphoria to depression as the stand squeaked and the buck pinned me like a laser beam! I still have visions of that buck several years later.
Also a cold dose of reality that never occurred to me at that time,my friend said to me after hearing about what happened,"why didn't you shoot him off your left shoulder" Yeah everyone can come up with the answers after the fact,but he was right!
If any of you ever hunt a treestand that I set you can be absolutely certain it wont squeak!