Had a scare today!
 

Today i got a text while climbing down from my treestand that we all fear getting. I hit the ground and read my new message from my Dad, "HELP, HURRY IM HURT!" I can guarentee you that there has never been a man run faster with a treestand on his back. I sprinted to the truck, through my stuff on the ground and took off. He was hunting about 5 mins down the road. Not knowing what to expect when i got there I found him hanging upside down ten foot up the tree from the bottom of his climbing stand... On his way down the tree something caused the pin in the top section of his climber to come out, detaching the top section from the tree. Dad fell backward when the stand gave way and the foot straps on the bottom section caught his feet. Picture yourself as a child hanging upside down on the monkey bars with your knees... thats the position he was in... for about 20 mins! Luckily i ran into another of our club members to come help catch him when he fell after i shimmied up the tree and cut the straps. He was very weak and barely able to talk when i reached him from being all upside down for so long. With the blood being cut off from his feet for that period of time and stretching all the ligiments in his ankles he was in some serious pain when he got down. We sat on the ground at the base of his tree for about an hour while we waited for him to regaining feeling in his feet and assess the damage... Luckily there was NO MAJOR DAMAGE. He was able to walk around with a small limp for the rest of day. He's a stubborn ole fart and wouldnt go to the hospital and actually went hunting this afternoon. All seems well but it could have been so much worse! PRAISE GOD everything turned out ok! He Deffinatly had my old mans back this morning!

I don't believe in God, don't praise any Lord, but glad he's safe and in good condition.. Great reaction time on your part to get to your father..Be thankful for the person who invented Cell Phones, and the cell phone service provider..

Wow close call. I have owned a climber for a few years now and finally started to use it. A case can be made to always use a safety harness and as you climb or decend slide the tree safety strap to keep up.

As much as I hate the damn things, I agree it's also a good reminder to bring your phone or radio and making sure people know where you are as accurately as you can. Maybe you won't get reception, but a chance of saving your butt is better than nothing. Glad you were there to make sure everything turned out ok.

Many of us probably would have been stuck until the wife finally got nervous and someone managed to find us. I don't even hunt that far into the woods, but I imagine my most likely scenario would be rescue (or retrieval) the next morning if I were incapacitated and couldn't get word out. Scary situation.

I am glad your dad was OK. He was lucky that you were there to help.

Wow, that is scary! Glad he is ok, and really glad that you were there with him.

Glad everything is ok ! I wear my harness from the time my feet leave the ground till I make it back down. I don't wear it for me , I wear it for my family. Sounds like the perfect Christmas gift this year!

Well I believe in God and your a smart man to Praise Him for saving your father's life. I am always attached to the tree when in my stand or going up or down.

Might be time for a ground blind...

used one this past season, and it was like a condo! no wind... hidden away, movement concealed, I may start going this route more often whether or not required due to the weather...

really need to think about this stuff... If I fell... who would I call? how would I cut the straps?

also not everyone's cell phones work in all areas, so just because yours works, don't assume your dad's, buddy's, etc... cell phone will be working... good luck! hunt safe!

I rejoice with you brother..Praise Jesus!!! Glad all turned out well..I had a rough day today missing a beautiful buck..but when I read what happened to you....mine was nothing.

I as well thank god he was OK cept for a limp. That and that he uses a cell phone. My dad is 71 and does not even own or know how to use one if he had to. He does hunt, just not alone. Glad all are OK and carry on another day.

Praise the Lord...

God Bless him and he has.

I had a liver transplant 14 years ago my Dr was a deer hunter. He told me to hunt as much as wanted to and he enouraged me to. But he made me promise not to use a climber. My diaphram was cut and I lost alot of upper body strength.

So here I am 14 seasons later and no more climbers. It doesnt bother me one bit as long as I get to go to the woods and see a deer I am happy. I shot 3 nice bucks 2 years ago and have not pulled the trigger since. I can honestly say I dont care whether I shot a deer or not. As long as I see one from time to time is enough to recharge my batteries.

I pray your Dad continues to recover and has a very special Christmas. I got a feeling he is going to

Glad to hear your father is ok, what a scare! Thanks to our Heavenly Father and Jesus for all of the times they are watching over us and our family!!

Glad he's ok...

How about god not letting it happen in the first place :s4:

AMEN!!!!!!! Glad things turned out OK.:happy0001:

Glad to hear he is ok, that would be a scary situation. And thanking the Lord is the only appropriate response! Also glad to hear he was back out hunting so soon.
-Jake

THanks for the comments everyone! Deffinately was a scary moment a just an awesome reminder about how know one knows when their time will come!
P.S. we now own 4 hunter saftey systems rather than just one ha.. one for each member of our hunting party

Glad your dads allright.If hes still stiff and sore this morning you may want to have him checked out by a doctor.Im certified in fall arrest/rop rescue and hanging upside down for that length of time can cause some problems, blood clots etc... that can break loose and move around inside the body.You can feel fine and still wind up with some serious problems.

God was looking out for your dad and its good to hear he is ok.

Praise Jesus indeed!

God is good!! Glad all is well

Glad to hear you were there for you dad and that everything seems to be okay so far! I would like to hear more about the tree stand failure. What kind of stand was it, and did the stand fail or did your dad forget to do something before he began his climb?

my uncle broke his back doing that in a climber.he didnt ,ake sure clip closed all the way,n when he stood up to shoot down he went 15ft knocked him out n all.he had to crawl out the woods.

Nato, It was an Ol' man treestand. Me and him both love these stand, we each have two ol man climbers. all but one are older models though. When he got up there that morning the top portion of the stand was rele unlevel so he fixed it while he was up there. Best we can tell when he put the pin back in to secure the cable around the tree he did not get the pin set correctly and as he was coming down the tree the pin slowly worked its way up till it came out. Its not the smartest thing in the world to do to try and do any adjustments to ur stand once your up the tree but im sure we have all done it and after hunting from a climber for more than 25 yrs i guess he just felt like it wasnt a big deal.

the newer model of ol' mans actually use a screw as a pin to secure your cable with a wing nut to put on the bottom of the screw once it is through the arm hole. Appearently this was not the first time that has occurred with that brand. We will still be useing the Ol' mans we have because i rele do love em but we will be buying the newer style pins for all of ours needless to say