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Have you had a fall climbing?

Have you had a fall while climbing with anything related to hunting?

  • Yes with saddle. Minimal injury. Ex.. cut, bruise, scrape

    Votes: 29 11.6%

  • Yes with saddle. Major injury. Involved a doctor's visit or more.

    Votes: 4 1.6%

  • No with all means. Everything has gone to plan to far.

    Votes: 132 53.0%

  • Yes with saddle But not even a scratch. Talking free fall for any length of time.

    Votes: 8 3.2%

  • Yes with hang on or climber. Minor injury. Cuts, scrape, bruise.

    Votes: 38 15.3%

  • Yes with hang on or climber. Major injury.

    Votes: 8 3.2%

  • Yes with hang on or climber. But not even a scratch.

    Votes: 27 10.8%

  • Took a fall free climbing a tree.

    Votes: 10 4.0%

  • Fell off my bucket once. Does that count? (Only if sober)

    Votes: 14 5.6%
  • Total voters
    249
Jtaylor said:
I fell most recently after a screw in step broke, raked my ribs on the next step down. I've also fallen after using a cottonwood limb as a step. The limb looked alive but broke off at the base of the trunk (got a stinger from that). My dad crushed his heel years ago after falling from an icy, slick plywood stand (he refuses to climb now and hunts from the ground).
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Is his name @Nutterbuster
 
harold wright said:
Hung upside down in a climber 4 1/2 hrs, hipp and both knees replaced.
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Can you please provide more details on how it actually happened, how you got down, etc.

Would like to hear the whole story here...
 
Gaff outs… The lineman’s belt always caught me. The first one I got bruised and lost a bunch of knuckle skin.
 
Second day of 2018 bow season in Louisiana I was on top of my first stick and preparing to hook up my linesman and lost my balance. I jumped off and shattered my left heel. Found out I had bone embrittlement from previous chemo treatments. Injury knocked me out of the game the rest of the season. I still climb but hook up before leaving the ground
 
Bigterp said:
Had some puckered moments testing climbing methods but nothing to speak of saddle hunting. Had a lock on drop out from underneath me (squirrel chewed new strap) it was a 2ish foot fall from a hss harness, scraped up & threw my back out. Was able to self recover & limp out of the woods & never made that mistake again!
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Schwonkhead said:
Had a near fall once. Sat in a hanger that had been in the tree for a couple years, started to stand up to readjust and get comfortable and one of the cables on the platform pulled out of the cable clamp. I was able to stay hanging on with the seat and climb down, walked back to the shop to get a new clamp and finished out the hunt with no issues.
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I don't take lock-ons for granted anymore.

I had a Millennium chain receiver give out on me. Luckily, I wasn't hunting or it would have been bad. I'm still pretty fortunate.

Here's the scoop:

I had planned to help my brother take a few stands down on a property we hunt. He cancelled, but I decided to go it alone.

I climbed to just below stand height on 20ft ladder sticks, leaned on the stand to get a grip and lift it from the receiver, and the whole setup dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Luckily, I had three points of contact with a good enough grip on the top of those sticks with my right hand that I caught myself from toppling with it.

When I inspected the set, one of the bolts that holds on the chain had bent and broke inside the receiver.

Because of busy schedules, the stands were up past spring green up, and tree growth caused that. 100% positive.

So, guys that leave those up, watch out. Get your crap out when the trees are bare.

Lock-on's are a hunting staple, and after seeing what can happen to a heavy duty all metal receiver like that, I really think stuff like cables giving out and straps being chewed through happens more than we know.
 
michigandrake said:
I slide about 20' down a poplar with an old Baker. I was facing the tree, feet locked in the stand ready to come down when the stand let go. Grabbed the tree in a bear hug and it was like hugging a belt sander. Melted my brand new treebark fleece jacket but otherwise just some minor burns and abrasions. Those were the days before safety gear so extremely fortunate.
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Took a couple of 6-8 foot slides on a baker and dropped it from 20' too and had to hug slide to the ground. All way before any discussion of safety gear. Couple of slips on screw in steps with muddy boots that were near falls but was able to hang on with one hand until I could get righted. That was about the time I got a lineman's belt. Several more years before using a harness. Now I wont leave the ground without being hooked up. All of my hunting buddies but 2 have hit the ground. A couple were hurt pretty bad but eventually recovered.
 
I've had two slips. No falls, ever. My slips were due to trying to set up on a two small of a diameter tree for my stick standoffs. Seemed large enough on the ground but not at 17'-20' These were both going in "cold" or "blind" so I've learned to be sure to select a large enough diameter tree (at HH).
 
mtsrunner said:
I free fell 12 feet flat on my back last year.

I was trying a figure 8 autolock method of rapelling. Absolutely should have had it backed up. That was stupid. I would still never do this method again.

I went to ER and had a CT scan, but nothing damaged. I was sore for weeks.

Here is a video on the method I was using.

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If you don’t mind, what went wrong for you? Would you still do more conventional figure 8 rappelling?
 
_Dario said:
glad that wasn’t worse! Can you talk about how the cam buckle came undone or at least your best guess if you don’t know for sure?

I was actually messing with mine yesterday and accidentally un-cammed the buckle right into my thumb while I was setting it up. Son of a.
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been there and done that…once!
 
neonomad said:
If you don’t mind, what went wrong for you? Would you still do more conventional figure 8 rappelling?
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What went wrong was exactly what is stated the title of the video I linked. I had to apply so much pressure to get the 8 unlocked that it rotated too far and released completely.
Yes, I would have no issue with conventional figure 8 rappelling and have done so since my fall. I am pretty much doing the JRB climbing method now. I feel very safe with it.
The important thing is to ALWAYS have a backup. I know that there is a popular method right now of using an 8 without a backup. I wouldn’t do it. It really hurts to fall.
 
Never had a fall at height when tree climbing or hunting but did fall 10' off a ladder onto my cement sidewalk/ steps while exiting the roof. I did a nice Aikido roll and came away bruised but not broken- guy at E.R. called me Superman. Needless to say I still hate ladders with a passion.
 
Several years ago I was visiting a friend, and we decided on the spur of a moment to hunt together that evening. I had my bow and hunting gear in my truck but didn't have a stand, so I used one of his original Ol' Man climbers. This was back before anyone really worried about safety harnesses. I've used many climbers but didn't have a lot of experience with the Ol' Man, so I'm not sure what went wrong. All I know is I climbed about 20ft and hadn't been in the stand an hour when a mature doe came in. I stood to take a shot, and just as I came to full draw the platform fell out from under me. It fell down the tree about 6ft before stopping. The stand seat had the rail around the front, and it caught me under my arms on both sides. My bow exploded and fell to the ground, and I was left hanging from the top section of the stand by my armpits. After I regained my composure best I could, it wasn't easy but I managed to get myself up onto the seat. My buddy had a rope connecting the two sections of the stand. The rope was the only the reason the platform didn't fall further down the tree, so I was able to pull the platform back up and get down. I had some serious bruising under my arms and was really sore in my arms, shoulders, and upper back for a few weeks. I also had a small gash and some bruising on my face. Only thing I can figure is my bow must have hit me in the face.
 
cedar paul said:
Never had a fall at height when tree climbing or hunting but did fall 10' off a ladder onto my cement sidewalk/ steps while exiting the roof. I did a nice Aikido roll and came away bruised but not broken- guy at E.R. called me Superman. Needless to say I still hate ladders with a passion.
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I fell of my scaffolding two weeks ago,about 10' up and landed on an upside down aluminum scaffolding plank. Managed to break the plywood on it and bend it,I don't know how I didn't break any bones as I landed on my side. Even my ribs were not bruised to bad. I attribute that to either my guardian angel having a super work ethic or dumb luck. I take that fall if it has to happen after working on scaffolding for 23 years now.
I think I went pretty limp before hitting the plank as I had no time to try to brace myself or try a nice landing. I think I checked out mentally before the impact.
I didn't pass out or anything.
 
KYHunter said:
Had a Hawk mini slip down on a very small and diameter tree while using a versa strap. Bark was also wet from a recent rain. Thankfully had my lineman’s belt tight and it caught me quick. About knocked the breath out of me and bruised some ribs but that’s it. Ended up killing the buck in my profile pic about 2 hours later so I guess I picked the right tree.
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Bruised rib and still killed that buck, what a man!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
API climber
got to 20' and the pin of the top section came out un noticed, when i sat down on the top section to pull the bottom section up, it busted loose from the tree. I let go of the the top section and it fell to the ground as I windmilled my arms and caught my balance. God was my savior. Luckily a friend was able to tie the top section and pin to my pull rope to get me down.
 
I was about 20 feet up once and tried to toe hook my predator to get it tighter. It ended up coming lose and falling down below where my feet were. I was left hanging from my tether and just barely was able to get my toe onto my top WE step. If my top step was any lower it would have been a dicy situation.

Lesson learned...ALWAYS have a backup plan if the step you are on drops out from under you. Its something I never read or thought about. Now I never set my predator more than 6-8 inches from my top step.
 
Missed a step in the dark that i spaced too far apart so had to sort of drop down onto it. Thought my foot was over it but nope so down i went, about 10 ft.

Didn’t even get a scratch though just landed on my feet and rolled. This was WAY before safety harnesses and tethers. Always thought it was so much fun hanging a hang on with one arm on the stand, the other around the tree, and my teeth to pull on the strap without any sort of harness. Those were the days.
 
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