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ORIGINAL: mfd1027

I've used hang-ons for over 30 yrs and haven't fallen "yet".

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ORIGINAL: mfd1027

I've used hang-ons for over 30 yrs and haven't fallen "yet". I now add a safety line to my set ups with a prussic know tied onto them and clip on at ground level and don't unhook until I hit the ground again. It used to be easier to climb without this set up but I'll be damned if I want to get hurt doing the thing i love the most in life. That being said i fell this year from my "newest" climber. i bought a summit openshot for this season to use as my "quick attack" unit. I hunted 47 days straight this year so i spend a lot of time in the woods. I also hunted an additional 12 days at the end of the season. Of those days only 4-5 are spent in a climber but I've used climbers for at least 30 years too so i'm real used to em (started with the ol Baker's). The openshot uses a hand climber and you flip it around the back side of the tree when you reach hunting height. I use a harness with it too (the same one I always use-I have several but now use a Loggy Bayou and love it). Once you reach hunting height and after you flip the climber around the tree you loop your safety rope around the tree and hook into a prussic knot and then lift the seat up against the tree. It's a nice system and solid as a rock. I hate having anything around me so I love it. You basically wind up with a Summit Copperhead at hunting height. I'm retired from the fire dept. and rode the tallest aerial in the USA for 10 years and heights are not an issue. Anyways, before when I climbed up and down i wasn't hooked in (I am now) and on the day I fell I was climbing a sweetgum down in the swamp and I guess I got overconfident and tried to take too big of bites as I came down. At about 18 ft the bottom of the stand came off my toes ( I use the climbing stirrups without the bungee) just as I had lowered myself down (like the bottom of a dip). The bottom of the stand lined up perfect on the tree and down it went and I went with it. Believe it or not and by the grace of God the bottom of the stand caught on the tree at about 8 ft. off the ground and I landed on it. As I hit it I lunged forward and hugged the tree. At first I didn't know ifI was hurt or not. To say it freaked me out is an understatement. I just stayed there hugging the tree for at least a min. and until I saw blood dripping on the bottom of the stand. I realized at that point that I was hurt but to be honest i didn't care and knew it would have been a hell of a lot worse if I had hit the ground or the stand in any other position than the perfect landing I had made on it. It turned out that I hadhyperextended my elbow and dislocated my left shoulder and I had a pretty good gash on my forehead. My only choice to get down at this point was to attempt to hug the tree and lower the bottom down a few inches at a time until i could reach the ground. On my first attempt my shoulder popped loudly and went back into place-instant relief!! It took me about 10 min. to get down to a point where i could jump to the ground. I headed out of the woods and straight to the hosp. where they took a bunch of x-rays and stitched up my head. The hole in my head only took 4 stitches so it wasn't bad and the doctor's told me my shoulder and elbow were going to be sore as hell for a few weeks but they would be ok-nothing torn or broken (extremely lucky). I had to let my bow down to be able to shoot it but I was back in the woods a month later and harvested my 4th doe of the year the last day of the season. During my off time I developed a system where I use my tree rope and tie an end of it to each piece of my climber. I then hook my harness to the prussic knot I have tied on it. I feel "relatively" sure if I fall again the top and the bottom are not gonna fail at the same time and whichever piece doesn't fail will catch me. I've been hunting for over 40 years and here's the lessons I learned from this incident: Don't get cocky, use your safety gear, no deer or animal that we pursue is worth getting hurt over, carry a cell phone and tell you buddy's or somebodywhere your hunting. It was a damn close call. Sorry this is so long but I thought somebody might learn something from my experience. Be safe!!!

Dan

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