Almost Tragic
 

I have a brother-in-law who was a little over-confident in his ability to stay on his climber without a safety harness. I stress it once to him but he just kinda laughed it off almost as if safety harnesses were like training wheels.

Anyway, this passed weekend we were out doing some doe hunting but the day turned out to be fruitless. At dusk I got down from my tree and headed his way.As I arrived, he was climbing down when all of a sudden... SNAP, POP, BANG, CRASH!!!

The bottom half of his Lone Wolf broke away from the upper half (plastic clip broke) while he was about 12 feet up and sliding down the tree he came. Clawing and gripping the tree trunk did nothing as he slid about 7 feet, landed as the half of the climber bit and caught. He then fell backwards followed by a half back-flip. Luckily his feet were stilllocked in the climbing mechanism which stopped him from completing his backflip onto his neck.

So there he was hanging upside down helpless with his feet locked into the climbing mechanism. It was at this point, I ran over to see if he was alright. When he said that he was, I thought about letting him hang there while I finished my lecture from a previous hunt. But no I couldn't do that so I just helped him up and suggested he take my advice about a safety harness.

Wear your harnesses fellas!!!

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RE: Almost Tragic
 

I don't stress wearing a safety harness just like I don't stress wearing a seat belt.... reason being.... I believe in natural selection.

If you lack the mental gear to wear a safety harness (especially in a climber), then sooner or later Mr. Darwin and his theories will leap up and bite your backside.

Honestly there have been a few deer that I wouldn't have gotten a shot on had it not been for the harness.... having the ability to swing out/lean out to get around a small tree and be held in place by the harness is quite nice... takes a while to build up the courage and trust in the thing, but it will hold!

RE: Almost Tragic
 

In our CWD zones in Wisconsin we can hunt until the last part of April. I think??

RE: Almost Tragic
 

I think the Eradication Zones ended on the 31st of March! This is where the DNR wants EVERY deer killed in these areas thinking this will stop the CWD???? Not to many guys support the DNR's idea but some do!

RE: Almost Tragic
 

No, this had nothing to do with CWD. It's a crop damage program.

As for the incident, this is another way I look at safety harnesses: You would wear a safety harness if you were working on the side of a sky-scraper because a 400 foot fall could kill you. You should also wear a safety harness when working on the side of tree because a 20 foot fall could kill you too. Theremay be very little difference so why wear a harness in one situation and not the other?

RE: Almost Tragic
 

I dont believe in living by chance...it takes enough cerebral thinking to look ahead and plan. Cutting corners is a disaster waiting to happen. I too have missed out on getting a shot off on a deer but I would rather miss out on that one than all the others I could have potentiolly gotten a shot at If I were alive. (in regards to swampcollie) I agree with parts, butdisagree with some. If you cant walk or your dead then it would have been important??? No logic in that type of reasoning.

I once had a fall with the harnessand it was not attached high enough to the tree soI fell more than I wanted to but made it with not much more than a few cut and scratchs.In previous seasons I was one of the guys that did not wearone butIdid thattime andmy wife and two kids are glade I did too.

I hope he learned a lesson...I am sure that his loved one would want him to come home safe not in a box or wheel chair.

RE: Almost Tragic
 

This reminds me of a trip to Mercer Wisconsin about 5 years ago. My ex father-in-law and I used to hunt a lot and we decided on a trip to the homeland(he is from Green Bay). My buddy owns a gas station and set us up with some public hunting in old logging areas right outside of Mercer and we needed climbers so Hank decided to buy a Summit tree stand. I pleaded with him to try it before leaving for Wisconsin but he felt after trying my API once that he was a tree pro and having a masters in engineering how could I argue:eek:.

The first afternoon we went out he picked a tree that was pretty narrow and I advised it was a bad choice unless he wanted to switch climbers but he said nope and I went on my way after arguing for 5 minutes. I had to have walked a quarter mile, climbed 25 feet up, set my bow hanger and was settling in when I heard the screams. When I found him he was was hugging the tree with his feet and hanging for dear life to the top piece of the climber and the bottom piece was about 5 feet off of the ground. His safety harness was on but not tied off on the tree so it was dangling and all I could do is laugh and give him crap. The bottom piece was as tight as it could go and the bottom piece eventually flipped down then slid partway. Sadly this would not be the last time ole Hank had a climber issue but at least he was strapped the following two times.

RE: Almost Tragic
 

It is pretty easy--put your dang harness on when you are in a tree! Why one would not is a mystery to me.

RE: Almost Tragic
 

Hunting safety isn't exactly passed down. My dad used to hunt a climber with no harness and my ex father in law, well let me say this and hope nobody from Wisconsin in here is related or knows the family. The ex mother in laws grandfather shot and killed his own son by extending the barrell of his gun down to pull him up but had the finger on his gun and BAM, son shot in leg and bleeds to death. You would think after that the family would understand hunting safety but obviously not with the ex father in law.