I had the foot portion of my climbing stand fall from under me 3 times while my son and I were hunting in IL. The first time was rather tramatic. I fell forward against the tree, cut up my right ear in a couple of places and the tree knocked the hearing aid in my right ear out. I did have my safety strap on my vest harness connected to the tree.

I looked down through the grate on the foot portion of the stand and I saw my hearing aid laying the only place it could readily and quickly be found. It was laying on top of a rope strap used to secure the top and bottom of the stand together for carrying. The hearing aid land on top of the coiled up rope strap at the base of the tree. The Lord put it right where I could find it.

I was so shaken at that point that I finished the hunt at the base of the tree. I got busted by some does coming onto the oak flat from below me, but I did get to see 5 deer and I calmed down from the near fall. The other two times it fell, I pulled it up using the two straps connecting the foot portion to the top. When I got it high enough, I inserted my feet and continued to climb. It fell each time as I was bent over and reaching across my body and turning the crank handle to level the foot portion of the stand.

Bill