Tree stand safety is paramount

By V. Paul Reynolds

As most deer hunters learn, their prey is blessed with an almost uncanny danger detection system comprising hearing, vision and an acute sense of smell. Experts can differ on which of these senses the deer most rely on. When weather conditions are favorable, most experts agree that a deer’s olfactory mechanism trumps vision and hearing.

This is why die-hard deer hunters will go to impossible extremes to avoid being picked up by a deer’s keen nose. We play the wind. We learn about thermals. We bathe with special soap, or we spray our hunting togs with an earthy scent. And many of us climb up, way up in trees to get our scent off the ground. We are the intrepid tree stand deer hunters.

In more than 50 years of tree stand hunting, I have never fallen from a tree stand. Knock on wood. As a young deer hunter, however, I did plummet to the ground from a big pine tree when a dead branch gave way. Luckily, I was not seriously hurt, though stunned and scared by it all. That experience taught me, not only to stop climbing trees, but also to approach tree stands with great caution and focus.

Statistically, a deer hunter’s biggest safety risk occurs not from becoming lost or injured by a gun, but when hunting from an elevated tree stand. That’s right. According to Maine survival instructor Joe Frazier, “one in three people who use tree stands, WILL fall.” A majority of these individuals will suffer major injury or even death.

Frazier’s message is simple. Do not use a tree stand without the benefit of a full body safety harness, or what he calls a Fall Arrest System (FAS). He recommends practicing with your safety gear at lower heights before the hunt. 

Interestingly, if you fall and are saved by the FAS, you are still not out of danger. Hanging in your harness below your tree stand places you in a very untenable and awkward recovery position. It is a little like trying to climb back into a boat after falling overboard. With all of your weight on the harness’s groin straps, your best hope is the suspension relief strap, which should have been attached to your harness. Hopefully, with your foot in the suspension strap you will be able to gain enough “purchase” to climb to safety back onto your tree stand. Short of that, you may be able to reach your cell phone or signaling device in your breast pocket and call for help.

Frazier also suggests carrying in your breast pocket three folding screw-in tree steps, for obvious reasons.

Some final thoughts. Think safety every step of the way. No day dreaming about big bucks. Never ever, climb up the tree ladder or down the ladder with a gun, a bow or a day pack. Always hoist them up on a rope after you are secured in the stand with your FAS. 

Remember, no deer is worth dying for. If, for whatever reason, you are not comfortable wearing a full body safety harness you would be better off staying out of the trees in the deer woods altogether.

Ground blinds are a good alternative. They do mitigate your scent to a certain extent, and there are some really neat camo ground blinds on the market. Most of the newer designs are quite user friendly when it comes to putting them up and taking them down.

Ground blinds are also much safer if you are the sort who tends to nod off. A tree stand is no place to catch a few winks.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has authored three books. Online purchase information is available at www.sportingjournal.com.