One time during shotgun season, it was snowing and next thing I know this dead tree in front of me starts to go down...luckily it was out 20 yards but came down on a diagonal towards me! Yeah...just when you think "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it.." well I was!

Two years ago I thought it was a great idea to hunt during our ML season in the middle of an ice storm. As I was walking to my stand, I heard branches snapping off all around me. I climbed the 30 ft to my stand, only to find that I was going to have to spend the day on a piece of 2" think ice. Still I climbed in. A few minutes later, a tree top snapped off about 40 yards from. I then got smart and climbed down to a ground blind I had set up on a food plot, in a fence row, with no large trees around it.

All of the pines around me are bred for logging, they grow 75ft+ and as they grow the lowest limbs fall off. They are great for climbing because they are all straight as an arrow. The only downside to them is that they have no cover at all unless there are other trees around, and of course those limbs that tend to just fall on their own.

I had a ~10" diameter tree come down across my path, just 15 yds in front of me while walking out in the semi-darkness last year. The tree was dead, and we had had a heavy rain the preceeding day. I still remember the loud crack and the tree shaking the ground when it hit - nothing I could do but cringe. I thought of the extra time that I had spent getting my climber stand ready to pack out just may have saved my life... I do appreciate every moment in the woods, you never know!

-fsh

I always look for dead branches around me when im picking out a stand site to be careful but in heavy wind healthy branches can fall no problem. Havent had any come down close to me before and hope not to in the future.