Inspect Treestands Now to Avoid Catastrophe During Deer Hunting Season

The ongoing heatwave might keep most hunters out of the woods right now, but skipping your pre-season stand safety check is a recipe for disaster. A quick trip to inspect your stand and hunting location is well worth the effort if it means coming home safely at the end of each hunt later this year.

According to Matt Gideon, Hunter Education and Boater Education Coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, treestand falls account for 75 to 80 percent of hunting accidents each year, and many result in major injuries and even death.

“Right now, you want to go out and inspect all of the welds, straps and cables carefully on your stands,” Gideon said. “And if it’s been out all year, it’s almost a sure thing that you need to replace those straps holding it to the tree. Ideally, you should take the stand down at the end of every season, and I probably wouldn’t trust one that’s been up all year without going ahead and taking it down to give it a thorough inspection and replacing any worn parts. Squirrels and rats can chew up the straps, and just sitting in the elements all year can weaken the materials.”

Gideon, an avid hunter who started at the AGFC’s Charlie Craig Fish Hatchery in Centerton before transitioning to the agency’s Education Division, coordinates with the AGFC’s Enforcement and Education divisions to compile the agency’s annual Hunter Incident Report as part of his duties.

“We produce the report each year so Hunter Education instructors can relay valuable lessons learned from previous years’ accidents,” Gideon said. “It also lets us take a look at trends in lapses of judgment or safety that we can address in our classes and offer advice about possible regulations changes that are needed to keep up with changes in hunting styles and technology.”

Gideon says misuse of safety harnesses is a leading cause of treestand falls. Just about every treestand made comes with a complimentary safety harness, and many aftermarket harnesses are not only comfortable, but have accessory pockets to hold hunting gear. Still, lack of a safety harness remains the number one cause of most treestand fall injuries.

“A lot of people either aren’t wearing their harnesses or not wearing them properly,” Gideon said. “They may have them on, but they are unattached during the climb up or down, and that’s when a lot of our treestand falls happen.”

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