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Hunters cannot ignore proper treestand safety

Hunters cannot ignore proper treestand safety Hunters cannot ignore proper treestand safety

Hunters have gotten injured far more often from falls from treestands than from firearms in the last few decades. The last 10 years hunters did reduce the fall statistics. Currently one in four hunters will experience a fall from a treestand in their hunting career. Ten years ago, that statistic was one in three hunters.

Education reduces incidents. In 1967, there were over a 100 firearm incidents in gun deer season alone; by 1984, that fell to 60 incidents during the gun deer season. Last year there were 21 total incidents for the year in Wisconsin. For the last 10 years or so, hunters ed classes have started stressing treestand safety with a required lesson.

Younger hunters who received that education in their classes are more likely to follow the instruction, more likely to use a safety harness, and more likely to a pull rope. Education on the types of stands that create the most falls puts correct information in the hands of hunters.

To make sure that you are not in the “one” part of the four, there are some things to do correctly. First, never, ever leave the ground without using a fall arrest harness. All commercial stands makers provide them with any new stand. And several different companies make comfortable and easy-to-use fall arrest systems. That wasn’t the case back in 1984. Wearing a harness and making sure you are “strapped in” from the first step up until you once again set foot on the ground is the most important part of hunting from a treestand.

Old homemade stands still have the highest fall rate. Commercial stands, from the most dangerous to the safest, are ladder stands, hang-on stand, and climbing stands. Ten years ago most hunters would reply that climbing stands had to be the most dangerous and ladder stands the safest.

Homemade stands often fail. Ladder stands tend to collapse when the hunter first climbs in the stand to strap it to the tree. Hunters often slip and fall when using hang-on stands, while stepping into it on the way up or stepping off of it on the way down — when they’re not tethered to the tree.

Those falls occur from slipping due to wet or icy conditions, but mostly from not using enough steps and not using them correctly. The hunter should use enough steps so that no step up is greater than the height of a ladder rung. The steps should extend up above the level of the stand for the hunters’ feet and high enough that the steps for hand grips allow for three points of contact at all times. Branches should not be counted on as steps or hand grips; a lot of falls happen from a branch suddenly breaking off. Carrying gear, firearms, and bows into the stand can cause a lot of falls as well. It changes the hunter’s balance, reduces their ability to maintain three points of contact with the stand or tree at all times, and when the hunter slips, it reduces their ability to recover. Use a pull rope to pull gear and firearms or bows into the stand and to lower them to the ground.

I suspect the number of hunters that have had a fall is still much higher than one in four. I suspect that more hunters are wearing safety harnesses and do so from ground to stand. Falling while wearing a safety harness just involves a change of underwear. The falls we hear about are the falls in which hunters fall all the way to the ground.

The amount of force with which the hunter hits the ground can break any bone in the human body many times over. Falling from just five feet high will cause serious injury, and since hunters usually hunt from 15 to 20 feet high, the odds that a fall will end your hunting career or worse are very high. Maybe some people really want a helicopter ride, but I hear the view from the stretcher sucks. Safety harnesses are a betterto- have- and-not-need, than to-need-andnot- have- on type of thing.

And the last thing to consider: Hunters hunt better when they feel safe, so good treestand safety improves your hunting.

Good luck and please remember that “Safe Hunting is No Accident!”

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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN

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