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I didn't realize it could be this bad!

Iglow

Iglow

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Somehow we got to watching this today at work, the filming is dark and shaky, the soundtrack is a cross between Miami Vice and a slasher pic along with what sounds like a train or steam engine! Dan gut shoots that first buck and gives the camera man a thumbs up!!! 🤣 Noel is way up in a lock on with a cowboy hat and no safety harness/belt of any kind.
One of the guys here said it was like The Blair Witch Project with a bow and arrow! From 1987, enjoy!
 
That's actually a pretty accurate depiction and explanation of rattle hunting. Rattled in and arrowed one of my biggest bucks ever on pressured public ground and had two other hunters within 1/4mi of me. Both helped me recover the deer. One of them said he kept hearing a bunch of racket & figured it was probably another hunter. It was me acting a fool with my horns & grunt tube lol. I rattled & grunted obnoxiously every 20-30min from about 3pm until the big guy showed up right at dusk. I bet that other hunter thought I was an idiot all the way until we walked up on the dead buck. I could see the WTF come over his face like somebody had just kicked his dog.
 
Noel was caught 'rattling' in bucks that was just let off the trailer beside his stand. He was not worthy of an ounce of respect from any hunter. Dan is actually a great guy and sportsman, but he got so hung up on filming gory pass through shots, I quit watching him.

But as far as tree stand safety in the 80's...there wasn't any. We used nails to climb onto welded chain in stands made from steel fence posts and old expanded metal. Sat on an old folding stool and fell asleep. We survived by the skin of our teeth.
 
quackaholic said:
But as far as tree stand safety in the 80's...there wasn't any. We used nails to climb onto welded chain in stands made from steel fence posts and old expanded metal. Sat on an old folding stool and fell asleep. We survived by the skin of our teeth.
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[said with a Mexican accent] "Safety? We don't need no stinkin' safety!"

In the 80s, I was using a Baker climber. Enough said about safety! And I've got the scars to prove it...
 
If the soundtracks of today's hunting shows were this good, I would watch more of them. Thanks for sharing.
 
My dad was an aerospace engineer. He designed a climbing stand loosely based on the baker design. It was different. Hunted out of it for years and not one time did it slip, not even a fraction of an inch, even climbed sycamores. You could hold the stand with no part of it touching the tree, drop it and it would stop, not even a slight slip. Did not weigh much and he even came with a "climber" for it.

I did get an open shot, it is lighter by a bit and of course a great stand. I would not even hesitate to use the stand my dad designed today though.

I tried to use an actual Baker one time, no way, no how, never.

My dad did have some trial and error in designing the stand, but the end product was awesome.
 
Those videos taught me to hunt deer and turkey. I plumb wore out the Fitzgerald and Roger Raglin videos.
 
Back in the day nobody I know including me ever heard of a safety harness. I've only recently been using a tether and harness. And that was only because of just starting to use climbing sticks and hang on. In my summit climber I'm surrounded by a metal stand and never felt like I needed one. But think I'm gonna tether in using it nowadays also.
 
killingtime 41 said:
Back in the day nobody I know including me ever heard of a safety harness. I've only recently been using a tether and harness. And that was only because of just starting to use climbing sticks and hang on. In my summit climber I'm surrounded by a metal stand and never felt like I needed one. But think I'm gonna tether in using it nowadays also.
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I was talking with a kid that broke his neck causing him to be paralyzed. When that happens they ship you off to a rehab hospital, for him it was Atlanta. What he told me was a lot of the guys in there he got to know were hunters who had fell out of trees. Apparently there's 300-500 tree stand deaths a year annually and somewhere around 600 falls that result in permanent injury. One stat says tree stand falls have a 50% of spinal cord injury. All of these are preventable with a harness but the rust isn't really something that a lot of folks appreciate. Shooting deaths while hunting are a lot less common than falls but the press blows those up a lot more than falls. I just hate to hear anyone getting hurt in the woods.
 
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lol said:
I was talking with a kid that broke his neck causing him to be paralyzed. When that happens they ship you off to a rehab hospital, for him it was Atlanta. What he told me was a lot of the guys in there he got to know were hunters who had fell out of trees. Apparently there's 300-500 tree stand deaths a year annually and somewhere around 600 falls that result in permanent injury. One stat says tree stand falls have a 50% of spinal cord injury. All of these are preventable with a harness but the rust isn't really something that a lot of folks appreciate. Shooting deaths while hunting are a lot less common than falls but the press blows those up a lot more than falls. I just hate to hear anyone getting hurt in the woods.
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Years ago, I saw research that suggested 1/3 of all stand hunters will have a fall that causes permanent injury. I've fallen with climbing stands multiple times, and other than some scars, no serious long-term injuries. I've fallen a couple of times while putting up or taking down ladder stands, but never while hunting from a ladder, and again, no permanent injuries. Guess I'm lucky.
 
I've gotten skinned up & clothes torn by riding the original Baker stand down a frozen oak.
Knock on wood, I've never had a harmful fall from a climber, but did have the top piece of a Summit climber break while I was sitting on it one morning. Scary, but didn't fall (thanks to safety harness).

BSK said:
Years ago, I saw research that suggested 1/3 of all stand hunters will have a fall that causes permanent injury.
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I presume "stands" would include ladder, hang-on stands, climbers, tripods, and also ANY elevated stand, such as a permanent tower. Falling from a nice box stand doorway can be as serious as falling from any other ladder.

My worst falls have been from hang-ons & ladder stands.
And I believe the risk is greater while installing or moving than in actual hunting.
I've certainly leaned "the hard way" now to always wear a safety harness.

Steel can just suddenly break under a hunter's weight.
My serious falls have been from steps breaking and my foot slipping off a step, and in once case, missing the step by having my foot outside a narrow ladder.

Narrow ladder stands can be surprisingly dangerous.

My only "permanent" injuries are debatable, as they have been broken ribs, broken toes, and a broken foot. My highest single fall knocked me unconscious, but my only physical injuries were broken ribs & abrasions. Just dumb luck I haven't killed myself by a fall. Everything has healed, but old injuries can add to lifetime aches & pains.

Luck is not a good plan.
Be careful & wear a safety harness.
 
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Not sure how to blame this particular accident, but I had a childhood friend appear to go to sleep on a ladder stand, woke up as his gun was sliding off his lap. We speculate he instinctively reached to grab it, had it by the barrel's end, as somehow it went off. It was a Hawken muzzleloader, and it appeared the hammer banged a ladder step, causing enough percussion for the gun to fire.
 
I had a hunting buddy who fell from a stand when he was only 12. He fell 25 feet and was beat up pretty bad. Luckily, a dogwood tree below him slowed his fall enough that he was only knocked out. It was a funny story because he fell while shooting at a buck with a shotgun that was clearly too much for him to handle at the time. He always wore a belt after that until one morning, in his 20's, he was in a hurry. He forgot his belt and decided he didn't have time to go back for it. He climbed the 30 feet into his stand. Then the unthinkable happened. He got a little dizzy and fell, breaking his neck at the c5, I believe. He survived as a quadriplegic for a few years, but still died from those complications from it. Always be safe.
 
TheLBLman said:
I presume "stands" would include ladder, hang-on stands, climbers, tripods, and also ANY elevated stand, such as a permanent tower. Falling from a nice box stand doorway can be as serious as falling from any other ladder.
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Yes, all elevated platforms.
 

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