Climbing Treestand "Oh Crap" Moment

[Demonical]

I got a Summit Goliath treestand and today was my second time using the stand.
It was -10C, all the poplars had a sheen of frost on them this morning.

I'm not actually sure how big around this poplar was that I went up, but it was a white poplar, pretty smooth bark.

I went up 20'. After being in the stand a couple hours I decided to head down.
I had climbed down about 8', and then ran into a problem trying to get the cable to free up, on the bottom section. I don't know why? Maybe a 'wart' on the bark on the backside, where the cable was.

I kept trying to get it to slide down and just couldn't get it to let do of the bark right there, so then ******* me, I reached down and kicked up the front of it, and that bottom sure did let go then!

Fell right to the bottom, just the tether holding on.

So I pulled it up, was just getting it back into position, and the damn thing fell again, and this time the weak s-hook that is on the elastic strap that the tether was hooked to straightened right out, and the tether let go. And the bottom section s
went right to the base of the tree. Crap.

Then I was sitting on the top section of the stand looking down from 12'...

Crap. Crap. Crap...

Grab the cell phone. No service. Crap.

Gonna have to sort this one out myself.

First priority, get my rifle to the ground, without messing it up. I undid the bottom clip on my rifle sling, clipped a strap onto the sling, then lowered the rifle to the ground nice and gentle. So far so good.

Then the only option I had was to drop down to the ground.

I'm 6'2" so if I could lower myself through the frame of the top, I'd only have to drop about 6'.

So that's what I did. Slipped down through the frame, then dropped down so I was hanging onto the stand, took a real good look as to my best landing spot, did the drop and roll and came up unscathed.

Got a dead poplar branch, lifted the nose of the top section and it dropped neatly out of the tree.

Anybody else have similar story, or advice for noobs?

[Rackmastr]

Get a set of stabilizer straps for it, or make some your own.

Third Hand Archery makes them and has videos on them. Easy to make as well.

[Demonical]

Ok, not sure what those are, will have to check it out. Thnx!

[Rackmastr]

They make your stand 10x more stable once you're up in the tree, and for climbing and descending they ensure that your foot platform cannot drop

[Demonical]

Well I already knew that the single tether didn't seem like the best thing and was planning to add a second, so basically making something similar to the stabilizer strap.

I watched a couple videos on them, definitely going to give that a try.

Thnx!

[calgarychef]

I use climbing rope, make a tether and it goes up as high as you can reach, then use a prussic from your climbing harness to the rope. As you go up the tether goes up too, you’re always connected to it by the prussic. You can lower yourself using the prussic anytime you want. You’re never not tied in.

[Passthru]

I hate climber stands. Almost fell out of one myself once.

[Smoky buck]

I will not get in a climber again. Years back I had one detach from the tree and fell 14feet or so. Falling well still in a climber sucks and all you can do is hope it doesn’t hurt too much

I now only use hang ons and ladder stands. I set up multiple locations before the season so they don’t disturb deer every hunt and rotate locations according to wind or to let a spot rest. I find it safer and the deer are not disturbed every hunt as I set up

Yup I hate climbers

[harv3589]

I use the same climber and haven’t had a problem yet luckily. They don’t work great when it’s been extreme cold for long periods and trees get pretty hard and the teeth don’t dig in. I do like being able to set up in new areas quickly. Just the other day we moved a ladder stand for my dad (and it was a good spot I guess since it looks like another Hunter shot a deer from it on the weekend) and it took 3 hours to do it.

Big thing is to make sure those teeth grab each time you move the stand up.

[sns2]

Used one once in my younger days. Once was enough

Glad you are ok.

[58thecat]

I had a go in one...nope...tried others with steps screwed in the tree...nope...fixed ladder stands for me or a ground blind...might be a bit of an inconvenience but I don't like the holy crap stuff while in a tree.

Also heard from a buddy that he was going up a tree popular he said and just was bringing up his legs to set in and put up the other half when the top third of the tree busted off....November climbs are hard to tell which tree's are healthy...my ladder stands are on tree's I can check thier condition in August etc so I don't end up sitting in a dead tree one cold morning

Glad you made it out to tell us about it.

[wildwoods]

brutal man sorry to hear that. Good thing you weren't 15' plus high. that would have been a rodeo

[Positrac]

My legs start to go numb about the 4th step up on a step ladder, so pretty much any stand is out for me.

I found a ladder stand one morning on a well used deer trail a few years back and it appeared to have not been used in a while. I came back later in the day with a couple new ratchet straps and made sure it was safe. It was 12-14’ high and I sat in it until almost last light when a decent 5x5 Whitetail came along. From the time I saw him to when he was laying on the ground dead was the only time I didn’t think about falling. That was my only time in a tree stand. Oh, and if you went back to your ladder stand and found 2 ratchet straps still attached that was me. I looked at them as payment for the use of the stand.

Glad you made it out ok Demonical. That would have been enough for me to have never used one again.

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by Demonical

I got a Summit Goliath treestand and today was my second time using the stand.

It was -10C, all the poplars had a sheen of frost on them this morning.



I'm not actually sure how big around this poplar was that I went up, but it was a white poplar, pretty smooth bark.



I went up 20'. After being in the stand a couple hours I decided to head down.

I had climbed down about 8', and then ran into a problem trying to get the cable to free up, on the bottom section. I don't know why? Maybe a 'wart' on the bark on the backside, where the cable was.



I kept trying to get it to slide down and just couldn't get it to let do of the bark right there, so then ******* me, I reached down and kicked up the front of it, and that bottom sure did let go then!



Fell right to the bottom, just the tether holding on.



So I pulled it up, was just getting it back into position, and the damn thing fell again, and this time the weak s-hook that is on the elastic strap that the tether was hooked to straightened right out, and the tether let go. And the bottom section s

went right to the base of the tree. Crap.



Then I was sitting on the top section of the stand looking down from 12'...



Crap. Crap. Crap...



Grab the cell phone. No service. Crap.



Gonna have to sort this one out myself.



First priority, get my rifle to the ground, without messing it up. I undid the bottom clip on my rifle sling, clipped a strap onto the sling, then lowered the rifle to the ground nice and gentle. So far so good.



Then the only option I had was to drop down to the ground.



I'm 6'2" so if I could lower myself through the frame of the top, I'd only have to drop about 6'.



So that's what I did. Slipped down through the frame, then dropped down so I was hanging onto the stand, took a real good look as to my best landing spot, did the drop and roll and came up unscathed.



Got a dead poplar branch, lifted the nose of the top section and it dropped neatly out of the tree.



Anybody else have similar story, or advice for noobs?

I just use a couple pieces of really good rope about 10 in Long on each side of the bottom connected it to the top, Had a hunter stuck up 40 feet up a tree Once and had to catch him cuz the bottom piece fell off.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Positrac]

Originally Posted by 35 whelen

I just use a couple pieces of really good rope about 10 in Long on each side of the bottom connected it to the top, Had a hunter stuck up 40 feet up a tree Once and had to catch him cuz the bottom piece fell off.

You must be one tough SOB. I’m not sure what your hunter weighed but you wouldn’t want to catch me jumping out of a tree from 40’.

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by Positrac

You must be one tough SOB. I’m not sure what your hunter weighed but you wouldn’t want to catch me jumping out of a tree from 40’.

IT was more of a fall catch thing .

[Stinky Buffalo]

Yikes! Glad you are okay.

The two biggest concerns with using a climber in the late season are frozen bark (ensuring the teeth of the stand are able to dig in properly) and what 58TheCat mentioned, having part of the tree give way (here in Alberta, the most suitable trees for those kinds of stands are poplars, which, as he pointed out, are difficult to gauge the health of in the late season).

With my stand, I have two stabilizing straps. They clip in, and are adjustable with plastic buckles.

[Demonical]

All interesting comments...

I bought a pair of straps that I am using to make my own stabilizers. I'm sure they will work fine.

And I am damn sure going to go back up in the stand.

Just part of the learning curve, what happened the other day.

[58thecat]

Ohh and yes poop happens in all aspects of tree stands...another one I heard was a fella climbing up into his stand after 10 plus or minus 20...the screw in step broke and yup his leg got cut up pretty bad...if not for the layers he could have been hurt way worse....no real perfect answer to reducing issues cuz they will happen....I know one to avoid falls....ground blind

Oooops wait even could tip over enjoying a nap so there goes that theory...

[ghostguy6]

Originally Posted by Demonical

Crap. Crap. Crap...
Anybody else have similar story, or advice for noobs?

Pretty sure I said something close to that but less forum friendly on my adventure.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=149699

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by sns2

Used one once in my younger days. Once was enough

Glad you are ok.

me too lol