Published Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1997
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Hunters need to be cautious in tree stands
DeAnn McCullough stands next to a tree stand displayed at Gold-N-Grain Archery shop. Safety issues are a concern with the device.
(Gene Paulson/Herald) |
Herald Staff Writer
About the only thing more popular than football this time of year in Pennsylvania is deer hunting.
Thoughts of a trophy and a freezer full of venison are on the minds of many.
Most hunters, however, don't think twice about where they'll take their trophy, even if it means sitting for hours on a tree stand, said Dr. Robert Hamilton, a hunter and trauma physician at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately, those stands are responsible for an alarming number of serious, sometimes fatal injuries, he said.
Last year during deer-hunting season, trauma physicians at Allegheny General Hospital treated four hunters, all of whom suffered serious injuries after falling from tree stands.
Two of them were left with permanent paralyses. Seriously injured and desperately ill patients are routinely referred to this Level 1 trauma center in Pittsburgh.
Just a few weeks ago, on the first day of bow-hunting season for deer, Hamilton treated a patient for a heart attack and injuries from a fall.
``We presume he had the heart attack, passed out, then fell. He wasn't wearing a safety harness.''
The 40-year-old doctor, talking inside a busy AGH trauma unit, said he's troubled by the alarming number of serious injuries from tree stand falls.
``Most people don't think about tree stands,'' he said.
But this time of year, with deer hungry bow hunters out in mass and the traditional deer-hunting season to begin in a few weeks, he urged special caution.
``There have been studies in other states, with much smaller hunting populations, that indicated that up to 40 percent of all hunting injuries are tree stand related.''
Some hunters will build their own stands or buy commercially available stands and take them with them in the field, Hamilton said. Others will use whatever stand they find.
Likewise, some hunters will use safety harnesses once they're on their stands, while others will not.
The nylon harnesses are similar to what rock climbers use, he said.
Hamilton suggests that hunters be as safety conscious as possible.
If you're 25 feet in the air when a tree stand collapses for one reason or another, ``you're going 25 mph when you hit the ground,'' the doctor said.
``Nobody would step in front of a car at that speed.''
He also points to scientific research done elsewhere.
A Georgia study found that 40 percent of all hunting injuries were related to tree stands. And over a 10-year period, the study found that 30 percent of those injuries resulted in permanent paralaysis.
``That's significant,'' Hamilton said.
The United Bow Hunters of New Jersey also did a survey of its members asking how many had fallen from tree stands, he said.
``They had a 33 percent positive response rate ... one out of three had fallen while on a stand.''
Hamilton knows first hand what it's like.
It happened to him in 1985, he said, the first year he began bow hunting.
``It was raining and I was in a commercially prepared stand ... The stands all tell you not to climb during rain or ice, but we hunt in those conditions.''
He said he was about to climb down from the stand when it gave way. ``It kicked out from below me and I was about 15 feet up. The next thing I know, I'm hanging from my belt.''
Had he not been wearing the belt, Hamilton figures he would have fallen and possibly been injured. At the time, it was dark and he was alone.
Being a cautious hunter, he said he had left word with his family where he was hunting and when he expected to be home.
That's important, he said, especially in a fall.
``Some of these injuries are fixable if you're found early.''
The Georgia study found that about one-third of victims who had fallen from tree stands were in the woods for more than two hours before they got help.
Statistics on tree stand falls are not recorded in Pennsylvania.
All that's reported, he said, are gun shot wounds and injuries involved bows and arrows.
If the New Jersey statistics are accurate and 30 percent of bow hunters there have fallen from tree stands, he figures as many as 18,000 of the 60,000 licensed bow hunters in Pennsylvania have fallen at some time.
Now they don't all end up with severe injuries, but a number of them do.''
If AGH treated four severe cases last year and the other 20 or so Level 1 trauma centers in Pennsylvania treated a similar number, ``I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at somewhere between 50 and 100 serious falls ... across the commonwealth a year,'' Hamilton said.
``Even if we said only 10 people were paralyzed in Pennsylvania, wouldn't it be great if we could stop it?''
