A lesson that was long due.

My eventful day of freeing a deer enroute to hunting included a very interesting, complexing and potentially dangerous situation. For over a decade I have used the same climber; a Cabelas stand made by API. It is a platform with a climbing aid that holds the seat. Anyone that climbs understands the dilema posed by tapering trees. You set the stand at a certain adjustment and as you climb that adjustment becomes more erroneous as the tree's diameter shrinks. Quite often I will pull the pin on the climbing portion and make mid-stream adjustments to reset the seat. Once in a while I get brave and make that same adjustment to the platform. There is a big difference in changing the platform vs the climbing aid. The platform holds me up while a change the seat, and the seat suspends me as I reach downward to make adjustments to the platform. Either way, the unit being adjusted is basically freed from the tree momentarily. Well the dilema comes into play if the platform adjustment process fails. Fails means the chain pulls completely out of the tube and a small alteration becomes a mid-flight reattachment. Not easy. Not fun. Worse than that, if you drop the pin, your effed. Well that is precisely what happened Thursday night. I had climbed a tree that had a large limb growing out about 12 feet off the ground. When the climber portion came to that point, I dettached it, moved it above the limb and reconnected it. No problem. I was ok with the platform staying beneath that limb since the wind was not going to be a factor that night. However, the angle of the platform was uncomfortable and I felt I could make the adjustment to correct that. I sat on the climbing rail, pulled the platform up and disconnected the pin. Glove on, bad move. Chain started to slide all the way out and my attempt to grab that caused the loss of the pin. There is a small bag that hangs on the climbing rail and holds my drop string, an alan wrench and at one time a spare pin. I hastily rummaged through that bag hoping for the pin. No such luck, but I did come up with the alan wrench. I moved the platform above the limb and mangaged to get the chain back into the tube, and used the alan wrench to secure the chain in the tube. This allowed me to finish out the afternoon hunt. Just before dark, I unloaded the gun and lowered it to the ground. I tried but could not get the platform reattached to the tree below the limb. This meant I could not begin the decend at all. With no way to reconnect the platform again below the limb, all I could do was disconnect it and let it drop. There is a rope that connects the two components, so the platform is now dangling 5 feet below me. I am now sitting on a rail that I can not move in any way. After much contemplation, I realized I was pretty much reduced to one option; drop my body down through the rail and reduce the drop to about 5 or 6 feet from sole to ground. Seemed ok if I could make the transition from seated to hanging without a glitch. Only concern from there was the uneven, concealed with snow landing area at the base of the tree. I kept seeing a broken ankle. Side note to the issue was if I did complete this dismount successfully, my stand is now hanging in a tree, unusable. An extension ladder would be needed to remove it. Dang. Well I did make it to the hanging postion with no issue. As I hung there, I realized I had a big Cherry tree right next to me that I could get my feet onto. I managed to pin myself between the Cherry tree and the Poplar my stand was in. This also allowed me to reach up and disconnect the rail assembly from the tree and drop the entire stand onto the ground (not onto my 1187!). I could then walk my way down the tree, not having to drop at all! Needless to say I was fortunate. Equally I will not be making that decision again.

 

Glad your okay. If God meant you to be hanging out in the trees, he d have given you a long tail and a love of eating bananas. I gave up my "climbing tree stand" desires LLOOONNNGGG Ago. @ 6'2"/310 the thoughts of the landing scared me away. Shot my last 8 deer from ground blinds no problem.

 

Shifted my weight bottom half of stand let go, caught the upper half with one hand and got my legs wrapped on the trunk , very sore for the next week but nothing broken, only use ladder stands now. Friend wasn't so lucky stand let go he fell and broke back. he was very lucky as nothing caused spinal injury.

 

Glad you made it down ok. I have never used a climber but have hunted from various types of other tree stands much of my life. These days I prefer to hunt on the ground and do the best I can regarding cover and wind direction.

 

learning never stops. Glad you were able to handle the situation and are ok.

 

The difficulty here is that nothing can be left behind or set up on state/county lands even if returning next day.
ladder types are fairly awkward to transport in and out. added wheels to one unit, little easier to transport sometimes also acts as a way to get deer out other than the traditional drag system.
I will hunt from the ground depending on the area like an open field with moderate vegitation. In the woods just prefer to be up a bit so as to be able to see into the under growth some.

 

Glad ya made it down ok. One thing i always do is tie a small string to the pin and attach it to the stand . That way if i do fumble with the pin and drop it, it doesn't go far.

 

Tough way to learn but glad for the good outcome. I quit making those types of adjustments mid climb. I also use a summit with no parts to drop. Don't like it? Pick another damm tree or live with however high u can get. Also...small folding handsaw can solve a lot of problems.
Question for everyone. ..who uses a harness? If not....shame on you. Get one. I prefer the vest styles myself. Your playing with fire and gonna get burned. Hell...I strap up in my ladder stands too.

 

I climb almost every time I bow hunt and I won't climb without my hunter safety harness.
Myway happy you are ok.
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Schoondog