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Fall from treestand

deerjunkie said:
Oh man Joe...that had to rattle you a little. Glad it wasn't the real thing. I am healing up amazingly well, so excited to get the bow in my hand and kill some deer :)
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Especially with your accident fresh on my mind.. Good to hear your doing well and in good spirits Dale. You haven't missed much.. Same old, same old, early deer season.. Little movement, limited visibility due to foliage. Just take her easy and heal up, the best is still ahead.
 
Im glad to hear your on the mend. I first saw this on facebook and thought that it was just a reminder to keep us in a safety frame of mind. i opened the link to the news artical and saw your name. i was pretty shocked to see that it was someone i knew off of too. Prayers sent for a fast recovery dale.
 
Talked to RGecko23 the other day. Sounds good. Can you give the rest of the gang an update Dale?
 
Saw him post on FB today from the tree... I don't know how he did it... I'm just now getting my sea legs in the stand this season, i can't imagine if i took the fall he did.
 
That was the word Wayne gave me. Just thought maybe Dale would like to tell everyone himself. :smile:
 
hickslawns said:
That was the word Wayne gave me. Just thought maybe Dale would like to tell everyone himself. :smile:
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Hello everyone...well, exactly two weeks from the accident I was back in the tree. However, it was not in a lock-on...lol. Two days before I knew I was going to be able to hunt I bought a Lone Wolf sit-n-climb. Using that for my first time out was a little difficult on my leg but I was pretty comfortable in it and felt safe. Saw plenty of deer that night (Oct 1st) and it felt good getting back out there. The rest of the weekend I hunted using the climber. The following weekend we went out that Sat morning and decided to hunt out of a set I already had hung. By this time I received my Life Line systems from HSS. Now, I still had to climb the tree that morning in the dark to initially hang the Life Line system. Needless to say I death gripped every tree step as I climbed. Once to the top and prior to climbing into the lock-on I had a brief moment where I froze. I'm not going to lie...I got scared, and got scared quick. I knew there was going to be a mental hump to get over just didn't expect the flash backs that entered my head. It took me about two minutes of just being still and calming down before I climbed into the stand and very quickly attached my harness to the tree...lol. Then I attached the Life Line system and dropped it down to Larry. Sure I have the memories of that morning, but once we got settled in and the hunt began I was perfectly fine. Once it was time to be done that morning I attached my self to the Life Line and then climbed out. I can't even begin to tell you what peace of mind that system brings when your ascending or descending in the tree. Then this past weekend we hunted Wayne's farm and he has ladder sticks so those are a breeze but strapping in is the first and last thing I do now. You can ask anyone who has hung stands with me, I am a tree monkey. I would shimmy up, down and all around a tree with very sure feet. I never did anything stupid...but I never really gave much thought of things going bad when I was confident in the equipment I was using. Now I found myself overly cautious even in stands that are brand new and with new equipment because I am living proof that anything can happen. I think what feels the best is when I'm sitting in that stand I think...the one passion I am driven to do and be successful almost killed me, but it didn't, and I am BACK!

Thanks again to everyone that sent prayers my way and checked up on me. I appreciate more than you'll ever know!
 
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Man, you are one tough guy Dale. I'm not sure I could have worked up the courage to climb a tree again if I were you. Way to work through it and way to keep the faith!
 
Great to hear Dale!

Did they send you the system for free? Curious as to see what they've done or if you've figured more about their product failing? Obviously I understand that this could be confidential, so if you just wanna read over this I'd understand that entirely!
 
Huckleberry Finn said:
Great to hear Dale!

Did they send you the system for free? Curious as to see what they've done or if you've figured more about their product failing? Obviously I understand that this could be confidential, so if you just wanna read over this I'd understand that entirely!
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I was not wearing any HSS equipment that day when I fell. I was wearing another brand.
 
GREAT to hear you got back in the saddle again Dale!! Was wondering how everything was going. My buddy and I set several stands a couple weekends ago down in Meigs County and every time he or I took a step up off the ground I thought of you. Extra careful and extra safe!! Keep it going!!
 
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