Many hunters use a deerstand to hunt deer from.The death of an area deer hunter two weeks ago when his tree stand broke rekindled attention to the danger in the sport.
Wildlife agencies say one in three hunting injuries nationwide involve tree stands.
One person who knows the danger well is Guerry Morgan of Harrison. He fell 45 feet out of a stand on Nov. 6, 2004, breaking his back in three places as well as his sternum.
He was on a steep ridge and rolled, when he landed, 20 or 25 feet from the base of the tree he was in, which he thinks probably saved his life. As it was, the accident took away his livelihood as an iron worker.
“I was in the hospital 21 days and had two operations then, and I’ve had a couple more surgeries since,” Morgan said Wednesday. “They fused my spine from T3 to T10 [vertebrae].