Fall 2024

By Ken Cook

If you follow my outdoor writings, you know it’s time for my annual lecture on Tree Stand Awareness. Deer hunting is here and it’s time to buckle up and get serious. No matter how hard I preach, some eager deer hunter is going to make some careless moves, ignore the rules, and end up in the hospital with broken bones and miss the balance of deer season. Shameful and avoidable.

I’m going to start out with some good news recently released In the Outdoor Wire: “The Tom Gallagher Award for tree stand awareness for 2024 was awarded to Trevor Lemon of North Carolina recently at the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) Conference at Big Cedar Lodge, a Bass Pro Lodging facility.

Summit Viper SD Ultra climbing tree stand. Photo courtesy of Cabela’s.

The IHEA-USA was presented in cooperation with Glen Mayhew, President of the Tree Stand Safety Awareness (TSSA) and David Smith, Executive Director of the Tree Stand Awareness Foundation and David Smith, President of the Tree Stand Manufacturers Association.

TSSA is a 501 (3C) that serves the industry as its sole focus on significantly reducing tree stand accidents through promotion, education and best practices.

Here are a few of my personal rules if you intend to use a climbing ladder stand:

I have personally erected a climbing tree stand and I have also fallen 10 feet from one. Practice makes perfect and you should worry more about whether you are safely ensconced in the stand rather than worry about “Did I follow all the rules? And check points? And is that an eight-point coming down the field edge. Hunt Safely.

If questions arise, visit the Tree Stand Safety Awareness website for answers.

Ken Cook is a former editor of Fishing Tackle Retailer magazine, newspaper columnist and freelance writer, He also is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association. Ken makes his home in Athens and can be contacted at kenneth.cook1@gmail.com.