I have managed to fall out of a treestand.

It was my first year hunting. My treestand was about 10-12 feet off the ground. The weather had been pretty warm, but during the night, a cold front had come in and covered everything with a layer of frost. The frost had begun to melt which made everything somewhat slick. I remember I was reaching down to get my thermos, when all of a sudden, my feet slipped out from under me. I fell to the ground with a loud thud. As I was lying there, I began to do a spot check to make sure that I was able to move and make sure that I wasn' t bleeding anywhere. When I finished checking, I tried to stand up however as soon as I put any amount of weight on my left foot, an intense pain would shoot through my entire body. I tried to take a step, but I couldn' t.

I began to scream for help. I knew my father in law was hunting close by so I started calling to him. He didn' t answer. I knew I had to do something and I had to do it soon. I knew I was hurt, but I didn' t know how bad. I looked for a strong enough branch to support my and act as some sort of primitive crutch. Unfortunately, there wasn' t any to be found. I didn' t know how long I' d be alone in the woods so I decided to crawl back to the main road and wait for someone to find me.

During the half mile crawl, my foot had swelled considerably. Thank God I knew to keep my boots on or else the swelling would have been a lot worse. As I was crawling through the woods, I prayed that no one would mistake me for a deer and take a shot at me. Just to be safe, I would crawl about 20 feet and take a break. I would lie face down in the dirt for a few minutes to catch my breath. Then I would yell and scream some more, hoping that someone would hear me and lend a hand.

About an hour later, I finally made it to the main road. I wasn' t there for more than five minutes when another hunter in the area had found me. He asked if I was the one doing all the yelling. I asked him why he didn' t help me but before he could answer, my father in law arrived. I told him what happened and he took me to the nearest hospital, which was about 20 minutes away.

Once there, the doctors x-rayed my foot and told me just how bad the damage was. I was then informed that in order for me keep my foot, I would have to be transported to a hospital in Detroit, which was another two hours away. The doctors took a look at the x-rays and noticed that my ankle had become dislocated and that all the bones in the middle portion of my foot had broke and shifted completely to the right. The doctors then decided that they needed to put my ankle back in position. One doctor grabbed my heel while another grabbed the upper portion of my foot and then proceeded to push and pull their respected grips until my foot was reconnected to my ankle. To say that the pain was unbearable would be an understatement.

Soon after, I found myself being taken to the O.R. for an emergency surgery. Once there, the surgeons inserted 3 steel rods and 3 screws into my foot in order to fuse the broken bones back together. I was in the hospital for 3 days; out of work for 2 months; on crutches for 4 months; in a cast for 6 months; and will be walking with pain for the rest of my life. All of this because I didn' t properly tie on my safety harness.

Here are my tips:
1. Wear a harness. If you don' t know how to tie it, don' t get in the stand untill you do.

2. If you hunt with a buddy, make you know where he is at all times. If you leave for whatever reason, let him know.

3. If someone is calling for help, stop whatever you' re doing and help.

Thanks for reading. I know it was a long story.

Mike