Dustin Manning, age 30 of Centre County, PA; a devoted husbandand father (2 year old son), was fatally injured on the opening day of
the 2009 deer season when he fell from a home-made ladder stand
while attempting to get down to recover a harvested buck.
Sadly, tree stand incidents and deaths are an all too familiar occurrence within the hunting community. A Deer and Deer Hunting survey (1993) revealed that nearly 90% of hunters hunt from elevated stands. National studies indicate that approximately 1 in every 3 hunters who hunt from tree stands will have an incident sometime in their hunting career. Some will not live to tell their story; others will tell it from a hospital bed or wheel chair. Many accident victims will never hunt again. Some states report higher fatality rates associated with tree stand incidents than with firearm incidents.
Over the past two decades there has been tremendous improvement in the technology and materials used in just about every kind of hunting equipment, including tree stands and fall restraint devices. Unfortunately, a little more than one-half of tree stand hunters continue to not wear a safety device of any kind. Of those who do use “safety straps”, a high percentage are unknowingly using outdated waist bands that can cause serious injury or even death.
Sportsmen groups and associations have long promoted hunter safety, however it’s time that a more strategic and comprehensive approach be taken to address the importance of tree stand safety. The National Bowhunter Education Foundation (NBEF) recently launched Project Stand (Stop Tree Stand Accidents’n Deaths) which will deliver hard hitting messages through various media platforms and education programs to significantly reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by tree stand accidents.
