VAhuntr

I would like to explain a little scare that I had a few weeks ago from my climbing stand while deer hunting.

I want to start off by stating that this incident was operator error and in no way a problem with the stand. In fact I will not even mention the brand name of the stand in this thread.

I found a hot area that I wanted to muzzleload hunt between a bedding area and a feeding area. Set my stand up on the tree, hooked my safety harness up and climbed on up. Once I got to about 15 feet I was head level with a crotch in the tree, where the trunk split in two. I decided that would be good enough. As I was setting my gear, the thought occurred to me that if I went up another foot or so I could use the crotch in the tree as a rest for the area directly behind me. So, I moved up another foot or so.

When I set the top portion of the stand, I noticed that it was angled up more than usual due to the tree being wider at the point where it split into two. As I sat down everything was fine but when I leaned back, the top portion fell, with me in it. Luckily my feet were almost directly under my butt, so I landed on my calves and was able to scoot my back up against the tree and stand up.

After I caught my breath I realized how lucky I had been. I was also amazed at how fast it happened. Had my feet not been almost directly under me, I may have lost my balance and fallen out of the climber. I did have a full body safety harness on but I don't really want to try one out on a fall.

Just wanted to post this to remind everyone to wear a harness and pay attention to what you are doing. Had I thought about the angle of the seat for more than a second or two I would have not sat down in it.