“Now that they are making them safer and hunters are realizing the advantages of it, tree stands have definitely exploded,” Clark said. RELATED: Headwaters State Forest open to hiking, hunting Before that, he said, most were homemade, wood contraptions nailed to a tree, and it was rare to find one that was manufactured. They are widely used across Western North Carolina because of the mountainous terrain and towering trees that make deer spotting more difficult.Ĭlark said he bought his first tree stand in the mid-90s. Tree stands are elevated structures that hunters use to improve their hunting success, since they take hunters out of the line of sight of deer and above their noses. In the 2015-16 hunting season there were three hunting fatalities and 21 injuries in 2014-15 there were four fatal accidents, and 20 non-fatal injuries, such as broken legs and wrenched knees.ĭuring the last hunting season there were 590,000 licensed hunters in North Carolina, Clark said, although that number is reached through a formula taking into account hunting licenses sold in that season and number of people with lifetime licenses, and doesn’t necessarily reflect the number of people hunting last year. One of the fatal accidents was in Mitchell County, one in Rowan and one in Stanly, she said.

All were from tree stand falls, said Nancy Boykin in the Wildlife Commission's law enforcement processing office. In the 2016-17 hunting season, there were 22 injuries related to hunting across the state, including three deaths. Four out of the five weren’t wearing any harness,” he said. A big mistake people make is they don’t attach themselves while they’re climbing. “One was wearing a harness but was not attached to the tree – he was in a transition period of either climbing up or down. RELATED: Should NC expand Sunday hunting? “They either didn’t wear their safety harness or didn’t use it property, lost their balance and had nothing tying them to the tree and fell to the ground,” Clark said. One fatality occurred each in Burke, Edgecombe and Montgomery counties, and two in Stanly County. This little bit of precaution can mean all the difference when out in the field,” he said. Also, follow your tree stand manufacturer’s recommended safety procedures. Always remember to wear a fall-arrest system and use it properly. Out of the non-fatal accidents, 15 were firearm related and seven were tree stand related.

RELATED: Antlered deer harvest in WNC hits record highĬontrary to popular belief that firearms are the most dangerous part of hunting, tree stand accidents are the leading cause of injury to hunters every year, Clark said. Wildlife Resources Commission, there were 27 hunting-related accidents during the 2017-2018 hunting season in North Carolina, including five deaths, the highest number in the past six years.Īll five fatalities involved falls from tree stands, said Chet Clark, the Wildlife Commission’s eastern outreach manager. The leaves are finally brightening, wood smoke is more pungent, and hunters are staking out their stealthy, tree-top hideaways in the hopes of bagging a white-tailed deer.īut too often, that eagerness to get off a good shot can overrule common sense, ending in injury, or worse.Īccording to the N.C. ASHEVILLE - It’s finally starting to feel like fall in Western North Carolina now that the abnormally high and mostly unwelcome October heat has lifted.

Nc state record deer 2017