Treestand safety is a primary lesson of our any Hunter
Education program taught in the 50 states by the fleet of
volunteer instructors, yet with the multitude of other crafts
that we teach, often times, we don't stress enough it's
importance.
In September of 2010, I was privileged to attend a two
day Treestand Safety Instructor's course near Cullman Alabama at
Camp Meadowbrook. In a year punctuated by no appreciable rain
for the bulk of the record hot summer months in many parts of
the state, the leaves on the white oak trees turning prematurely
brown, our treestand outing was interrupted only briefly by
welcome morning showers. By the time we put on our full body
safety harnesses to demonstrate what we had learned after lunch,
not a drop of water remained.
The course was taught by John Louk of the
Treestand Manufacturers
Association, (TMA) and LJ Smith, famed early proponent of
treestand safety, and much sought after treestand accident
investigator. You can find plenty of references to Smith and the
TMA online. The course was made possible by tireless work of the
former president of the Alabama Hunter Education Association,
Ricky Moss, and Stuart Goldsby, Regional Hunter Education
Coordinator, along with others from the area.
To be honest, when presented with the opportunity to
attend the seminar, I balked. While I always enjoy a chance to
meet up with my fellow instructors, I reasoned, what possible
new thing could I be taught about tree stands, having used and
taught about them for most of my adult life? My skepticism
lasted for about five minutes into the course.
The
purpose of the course was to certify a nucleus group of
instructors the finer points of tree stand safety so that they
could go on to certify other instructors.
The first thing we learned was that there have been no
verified deaths resulting from falls when a hunter was properly
installed into a proper full body harness of the modern type.
The stats go on:
- 75% of the falls were with
hunters between the ages of 30 and 60, or an average age of
44.
- 82% of the hunters were not
wearing any type of fall restraint.
- The average distance the hunter
fell was 21.4 feet.
- 10% of the accidents involved
homemade stands.
- From 1998 to 2005, an average
of 18 accidents reported.
One thing to take away from the stats above is to
consider that the ages of the hunters most often falling from
their perches is a group that is not mandated by law to receive
hunter safety training. Thus, our best way to get to these
people are through their kids that come through our courses.
Tree stands started to become an item in the mid 60's.
If you are old enough, you probably constructed your own
homemade tree stands out of bed frames and plywood. Manufactured
tree stands debuted with the LOC-ON Treestand Company, and the
Baker Treestand Company in prominence at this time.
Today there are more than 1.5 million stands (with
harnesses) sold each year. The treestand industry is
big business with a capital B.
Note that tree stands come with full
body harnesses... This is a very important point.
In 1995, far seeing treestand manufactures came
together in Atlanta, Georgia and formed the Treestand
Manufacturers Association to establish standards for the
industry. Currently, there are over 500 stands and harnesses
that meet or exceed TMA's standards. Approximately 85% (43
companies) of the industry are currently members of the TMA.
Besides setting industry standards, the TMA is obviously the
education wing also, as demonstrated by the Treestand Safety
course and certifications. Again, much more can be learned about
the industry certification process by visiting TMA's website.
The prime safety directive of the TMA is that you must
follow the manufacturers directions. This means that you must
actually read and apply the directions that come with your
climbing and safety equipment.
The TMA also stresses that the full body harness,
which comes with ALL new treestands is NOT an accessory...It is
an integral part of ALL tree stands. Obviously, if your older
stand didn't come with a full body harness, you need to purchase
one and use it before next you climb.
Even with the latest safety devices, it must be
stressed that all risk associated with going vertical in a tree
can not be fully eliminated. Still, there are measures
that can and should be taken to minimize peril in the event of a
fall.
It takes approximately 70 seconds longer to climb a
tree with a harness than without. How much you value
your health will determine if you're willing to take those extra
seconds.
A nifty formula to consider with your students: Body
weight times Distance of Fall equals your perceived weight when
you land. (This is my version, but it's good enough)... BW x D
= W .... Example: You weigh in at 200 pounds. You fall 10 feet.
You feel like you weigh 2000 pounds when you bounce off the
loamy forest soil beneath your tree. The ground comes up mighty
fast when you flip out of your stand... So fast that it is
impossible to prepare for it. By the time you are on the ground,
with your high school physics lesson catching up with you, your
brain still thinks it's safe in the tree.
On the positive side, the above is one of the best
arguments for humane death by hanging. By the time you feel the
trap door swing out from under you, you're already quite dead.
It has to do with reaction times. In a fall situation, things
happen faster than the mind can react to, unless you are very
high indeed, which poses it's own problems.
Most people have a comfort threshold when climbing.
When you feel like you are as high as you can stand, go no
further, for you still must be able to operate comfortably at
altitude, and you still must come down.
When hunting from an elevated stand, you must make
triply sure that you have followed through with a rescue plan.
If nobody knows where you are, you can't be rescued in the event
of a fall, and a fall, even a successfully restrained fall can
eventually result in death.
A phenomena that occurs to hunters dangling in their full
body harnesses...(NEVER EVER wear the old belt type harness. If
you have one, burn it.) is death by
"Suspension Trauma."
The problem, even if one falls gently into their
harness is that the blood flow in the legs is hampered or
outright suspended by the action of the harness. Over a short
period of time your blood pressure goes up as the heart can't
properly circulate the blood in your body. If you can't get back
into your stand, or safely reach the ground, at some point you
will die.
The importance of an escape plan can not be
overstated. Even if help is just a hollow away, you are in
serious trouble the instant your harness deploys. Whether it's a
walkie talkie, or whistle, you and your partner should be ready,
and in agreement about the eventualities. If you are hunting
alone, the price of being without a plan that works can be your
life. The treestand safety course gives hints of how to prepare
a plan, but in the end, relies on the good common sense of the
stand user. In other words, your life is in your hands
when you climb.
There are devices on the market that will let you
safely lower yourself from a fall. Also, there is a device that
you can hook directly to your harness that you can step into
and will give you a measure of relief to let the blood flow to
your legs again while you wait on help. It's not the scope of
this article to go into detail. The details can be found in the
Treestand Safety Instructors course that is available to you
now. It's things you need to know for your own protection, as
well as that of your students. A dead instructor teaches no more
classes, as the saying goes.
I must repeat, the course that is now available to you
goes into a great deal of depth with concrete answers on most
issues, I need to stress that under all circumstances, you must
have and follow the manufacturers guidelines as to the use of
your climbing and fall arrest products. If you don't have the
instructions, you can probably get them by visiting the TMA
website.
Lastly,
a type of tree stand, be it wood or metal that has no
instructions can be found on most private hunting properties,
and that is the home made treestand. Before you finish the tree
stand safety instructors course, you will know with a great deal
of certainty why you must go to your hunting property with a
hammer and crowbar, and completely demolish your home built
elevated tree stand, no matter even if it is the best
and newest home built tree stand. Whether you do so or
not is, of course, completely up to you, but at least you'll
know why you should.
Also worth noting... Should you, good person that you are,
let your friend hunt in your homebuilt, or sell your old
manufactured stand without also providing the original
manufacturers instructions, and something unfortunate happens,
then a new word often must be learned, and that word is...Litigation.
Nothing personal of course.
Yes, I was skeptical about what more I could possibly
be taught about treestands. Well, I got an earful, and I feel
mighty fortunate. You will too. Make use of the new crop of
Treestand Safety Certified Instructors to enlighten and educate
you. As we often tell our students, "What you don't know might
be the thing that gets you into trouble."
As professor John Louk of
TMA says, "No shock and awe PLEASE." Just teach them what they
must know, stress the manufacturers information, and it will all
make sense. Contact Ray, Stuart, or Marisa to get you hooked up
with the closest instructors.
