Almost a Statistic This Morning
I wanted to share this close call that I had this morning. I tookmy annual4 day weekend to bowhunt here in the NY southern zone. I go to the stand I wanted to hunt, hook my bow to the lifting rope that is there and begin my climb up to the hang on stand that has screw in steps.
near the top, the spacing on one of the steps is quite far apart . I carefully get my foot on the next step up,securely hug the tree, lift my lower leg and transfer my weight to the upper leg and my FOOT SLIDES OFF THE STEP! My feet were at least 10-12 feet off the ground and I fall and hit the ground HARD. I landed on my side and there I lay not able to catch my breath and in pain!
I was hunting alone and finally managed to get my breathing under control after about 30 minutes. I get my gear and slowly make my way back to my jeep and come back home.
I think i may have broken or bruised some ribs underneath my arm/back area. I have quite a bit of discomfort when i move certain ways. I also got a small cut on the side of my chin.
In addition to hurting myself, I tore my hunting pants, ripped the laces on the top part of my boots, tore my left glove to shreds and broke the top of my arrow quiver. I think i hit that with my foot when I fell.
So my message to everyone is BE CAREFULL!! This shook me up pretty good and I dont think that I will use that stand anymore. I think I will repalce it with a Ladder Stand. Im not sure if I can pull my bow back in my current condition. Im going to play it day by day and hopefully I might be able to get out tomorrow morning (and use a different stand!)
MIKe