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Here is a very good tip. The only time I have ever came close to falling out of a tree is getting in or out of the stand. I have the clip on type of safety harneess and i put up a strap on the tree w/a rubber coated d-ring so i clip in at the top of my ladder and unclip when i get back on the ladder.

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

I fell opening morning of Bow season oct. 99. I got 25 ft.up in my climbing stand . When I reached up to put my safety harness around the tree,the seat climber dropped to my feet. I fell out backwards. When I figured out that my spine was ok.I tried to get up but realized my pelvis was shatterd and had a broken shoulder. I knew I had to be found. so I drug myself towards the road with my good arm about 300 yrds. I had to go around everything a tree limb was an obstical. I made it wihtin about 40yrds of the road around noon and couldn' t move any more. Nobody drove by all day so when it got dark,I cleard a spot with my arm.And piled up all the pine needles Icould reach. And started a small fire in the cleard spot. At 12:00 that night help came looking for me and spotted my little fire. I missed all of deer season in the hospital,they put bolts,screws and plates in me. I am lucky to be able to walk and even more so to be alive. Ihook up at the bottom now and don' t go alone. Ialso carry a cell phone and a walkie talkie. I also shot 2 8 pt. bucks wiht my bow the next year.

I havn' t, but a doctor in Troy several years ago was checking his wooden ladder stands before season, the ladder broke and he fell about 16 feet breaking shattering his femur. He almost bled to death, could not crawl the 100 feet to his truck and cell phone. They found him a few hours later, but he still has severe pain and walks with a limp.
Another friend fell off a 12 foot ladder stand when he went to sleep and broke his collar bone and a couple of ribs.
The worst I heard of was a 22 year old man that fell out of his climbing stand with a properly installed chest type safety strap. He hung there till he died. They found his knife on the ground, he had dropped it after cutting about 1/3 way through the strap trying to get out.

i fell out 3 times in one morning. i kept falling alseep.a few years later i fell out and landed on my shoulder from 15 feet. my ladder stand broke and it collapsed. the hunters across from me had cut my safety ropes.