“Officials are investigating a fatal hunting related accident. It happened at about 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Officials with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission said 70-year-old George Olivo of Reidsville was killed from the injuries he suffered when the tree stand he was in fell to the ground.

Olivo was transported to Cone Health where he died.

"As a hunter myself, of course you never want to hear about it, both in my personal life and work life. Again, it's something that could happen to any of us," said North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Officer Nathan Green.”

http://www.twcnews.com/nc/triad/news/2015/09/22/man-died-after-hunting-related-accident.html

Always use safety harness.

Never good, Wish nothing but the best for his Family...Be careful out there

Dang, that stinks. Safety harness is a good idea

Never good to hear. I lost an uncle when I was a young guy. He fell out of his stand, broke his next instantly and passed there. Took 3 days to find him. Was a sad day for all of us. Needless to say harnesses are mandatory in our family since

That's a scary thing. I fell 12 feet from a tree stand and landed flat on my back, knocked me out for a while. When I woke it was dark, no idea how long I had been there. Not sure how it happened but was very glad to be alive and relatively uninjured. I still don't wear a harness, even though every time I climb up into a tree stand I'm reminded of the fall, maybe one day it will sink in more

The article says that the stand fell, not that he fell out of the stand.

That's why we always have at least 2 ratchet straps on all of our stands

That is scary stuff. I never trust a stand unless I put it up myself and it is
secured doubly.

Hate to hear that. We double strap ours and replace straps every year. Harness is mandatory. I actually like them as I can lean a bit forward without fear of losing balance in order to get a cleaner shot.

Hate to hear that, it's definitely something to take seriously. I thought I was going to fall once trying to get down from a lock on bow hunting when a nasty thunder storm hit. I was 25' up and that tree was freakin' moving, trying to find the foot peg was difficult to say the least. I kissed the ground in the rain, would have been a long fall.

You don't know what time you got to your stand? Or you don't know what time you woke up?

When my little 6'3", 300 lbs) started bow hunting, which was before I started hunting of any type, he wouldn't use a harness. My uncle asked him at Christmas that first year and my brother was truthful. He got an earful from my uncle and has used one ever since. If I had given him the same response, he probably wouldn't have started using one, but I'm glad my uncle was able to get through to him.

This happened on a lease that I was on near Breckenridge 20 years ago. There were 8 of us on the lease and after opening morning, 7 of us were in camp by 9:30am. It was one of those 90 degree opening days and was already near 85 by 10. We waiting for the last man, but he never came it. We discussed going to see if he was alright, but some suggested that it being opening morning he may be hunting for a long time. At 12 we decided to go check on him and if we ruined his hunting so be it. We found him at the bottom of a 12 foot tower stand that he had fallen out of that morning when climbing up the stand in the dark. His back was broken. We did not want to move him because we did not know if we would do more damage than what was already done. I drove to the nearest farm house and call 911. I waited there and took the ambulance to the stand. He lived and he can walk but he has to use a back brace. After that we had a rule, back to camp at 10am or we are coming looking for you. That is also the rule that I require on every lease I have been on since.

10am rule is silly. Lots of bucks are on their feet during the rut through mid day.

Sorry to hear about this. Fell out of a ladder stand when I was fifteen that I hadn't secured properly when it shifted. Call it youthfull reaction but landed on my feet , if was to happen now I would break my fool neck anyway the hunt was over.

Prayers Up

No offence Dogtown, but a 10am rule is not silly at all when you find your hunting partner laying on the ground with a broken back and he has been laying there all morning.

We are lucky to have good cell signal (AT&T) all over the lease.

Mr.T im sure that was a life changing event indeed, but maybe a cell phone rule would be a better option than the 10am rule. Just my

Agree, or a check in time with phone or portable radio.

Everybody is entitled to decide how they handle this citation on their own lease. There is no one right answer. This was before everyone carried cell phones and on my last lease last year, there were 3 stands that got no cell service if you had T-Mobile or Sprint, but all would work if you had AT&T. And you are right, it was life changing that is why my rules are what they are, because of past experiences.

Thats why I use At&t. Others are cheaper but their coverage sux. Mr.T your lease your rules. As long as yall agree my doesnt really matter. Be safe and good luck to yall this year.

First off, this happens every single year and all it takes to prevent it is one ounce of common sense in about 99.9% of these type of circumstances. On a lighter note, if you come rolling up on me at 10 am while I am hunting to check on me, I better be dead.

All I know was it was after lunch, not hunting season, if I recall correctly it was very warm outside.

We check in via cell phone among ourselves when we get settled in to hunt and typically throughout the hunt just to see who is seeing what, as well as when we are headed back to camp. Earliest you can depart blinds is 9am so when we stay later, a quick text to the group so nobody worries.

It's a nice safety / courtesy measure and also allows others to take routes back that may be least impact on your hunt if you are staying later. And everyone knows where each other is hunting before we depart camp.

Accidents can happen going to, from and during the hunt. The only hard and fast rule is nothing more than to have common courtesy to your fellow hunters and yourself.