By Joel Yonkman
Firearm deer seasons are opening across much of the country. Wisconsin's gun deer season opens Saturday, Nov. 21 and runs through Nov. 29, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Pennsylvania's statewide regular firearms deer season opens Nov. 28, per the Pennsylvania Game Commission. More hunters in the woods means more people climbing into stands before dawn and climbing down after dark.
In our work as paramedics and emergency managers, the hunting emergencies that go worst are rarely the dramatic ones. They are the fall nobody saw, from a stand nobody else could find, reported hours after the hunter was due back at the truck. Most of what decides the outcome is settled in the parking area before anyone walks in.
How common are tree stand falls?
The best population data comes from a Marshfield Clinic study of five Wisconsin deer seasons (2009 to 2013), published in the journal Injury and summarized by Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. Researchers followed about 16,700 hunters per season through their health records and found:
A steady rate of about 5 medically attended tree stand falls per 10,000 hunters each year, with no decline over the study period.
77 percent of falls happened during the archery-only season, not the gun season.
28 percent happened while the hunter was climbing down, and 36 percent happened in the evening.
A harness was documented in only four of the 39 cases, and structural failure of the stand was reported in 18 percent.
Two of the falls led to deaths in the hospital.
Extrapolated statewide, the authors estimated 200 to 250 medically attended falls a year in Wisconsin alone. The pattern matters for planning: the risky moments are predictable. They cluster at the end of the day, on the way down, often when the hunter is tired, cold and losing light.
Why the first 20 minutes matter
A full-body harness turns a fall into a rescue problem rather than a ground-impact injury. That is a good trade, but it is still a problem that has to be solved quickly. The Wisconsin DNR's tree stand safety guidance warns that suspension trauma can be fatal within 20 minutes. OSHA's bulletin on suspension trauma and orthostatic intolerance reports that hanging in a fall-arrest harness can lead to unconsciousness, followed by death, in less than 30 minutes, and directs that suspended workers be rescued as quickly as possible.
Two points follow. First, a hunter in a harness needs a way to take pressure off the legs; the DNR recommends an extra foot strap, and OSHA describes pumping the legs and using footholds while waiting for rescue. Second, the people who can reach that hunter fastest are almost always the rest of the hunting party, not the ambulance. If they do not know where the stand is, the clock runs out while everyone searches.
What should a hunting party settle before anyone climbs?
Equipment rules everyone follows
The DNR's guidance is the right baseline for every member of the group, every time:
Wear a full-body harness whenever you are off the ground, with the tether kept short and attached while seated.
Stay connected to a lifeline from the moment you leave the ground until you are back down.
Keep three points of contact while climbing in or out.
Raise and lower an unloaded firearm or bow, and heavy gear, with a haul line.
Follow the manufacturer's instructions, do not modify equipment, and choose a tree that can carry your weight.
Given that nearly one in five falls in the Marshfield data involved structural failure, inspect straps, chains and platforms before the season, and again after storms.
A plan someone else can follow
The DNR's advice to tell someone where you are hunting, where you parked and when you expect to return is simple and often skipped. Make it specific enough that a stranger could act on it: the stand or blind each person is using, the route in, where the vehicles are, and an "out by" time. Decide in advance who calls whom, and at what point a missed check-in becomes a call to 911.
A check-in rhythm and a rally point
Agree on a check-in at last light and a single rally point, usually the truck. If someone does not answer or does not arrive, the plan should already say who goes to look, who stays at the rally point to guide responders, and when to call for help. A party that has to make those decisions in the dark makes them slowly.
A location you can give a dispatcher
"The big oak past the second creek crossing" means something to the people who hunt there and very little to a 911 dispatcher or a responding crew. Save each stand's coordinates, share them with the group, and know which road or gate responders should use. On large or unfamiliar ground, the access point is often the piece that saves the most time.
The first minutes after a fall
When someone falls or is found hanging, call 911 first, give the most precise location you have, and follow the dispatcher's instructions. Send one person to the road or gate to bring responders in. If the hunter is suspended, the priority in both the DNR and OSHA guidance is prompt rescue, and the person hanging should keep their legs moving and use any foothold until help arrives. Do not let the group spread out without a way to find each other again; one emergency in the dark can quickly become two.
Where technology helps, and where it does not
A phone only helps if the injured hunter can reach it and the group knows to look. That gap is why we built ERGSS Outdoors around the hunting party rather than the individual. It puts the group on one live map from stand to truck, lets hunters drop pins with directions and arrival status, detects a fall and starts an "I'm OK" countdown before alerting the group, sends a one-tap SOS with location and 911 details, and shows the last-seen location if a phone dies or loses signal. A Day Pass covers a guest or a first-time hunter for 24 hours.
No app replaces a harness, a lifeline or a call to 911. Coverage in hunting country is uneven, batteries fade in the cold, and phones get left in the truck. Technology works best as one layer of a plan the whole party already agreed to.
Frequently asked questions
When do most tree stand falls happen?
In the Marshfield Clinic data, 77 percent of falls happened during archery season, 28 percent while climbing down, and 36 percent in the evening. End-of-day descents deserve the most attention.
How long can someone safely hang in a harness?
Treat any suspension as an emergency. The Wisconsin DNR says suspension trauma can be fatal within 20 minutes, and OSHA reports unconsciousness and death can occur in less than 30 minutes.
Do blaze orange rules apply in a tree stand?
Rules vary by state, so check your state wildlife agency. Wisconsin requires at least 50 percent blaze orange or fluorescent pink on outer clothing above the waist, and on any head covering, during gun deer season (Wisconsin DNR). Pennsylvania's firearms deer season guidance requires at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange on the head, chest and back combined (Pennsylvania Game Commission).
What should a hunting group agree on before the hunt?
Who is in which stand, where the vehicles are, an "out by" time, a last-light check-in, a rally point, who searches and who stays, and when a missed check-in becomes a 911 call.
Planning for clubs, camps and landowners
Hunting clubs, camps, outfitters and landowners who host hunters carry the same responsibility at a larger scale. ERGSS helps organizations write emergency plans people will actually use and trains the people who carry them out; see our community education and preparedness services. If your group would like to talk through a plan before the season, write to info@ergss.com or call (202) 978-2666.
Joel Yonkman is the founder of ERGSS (Emergency Response & Global Security Solutions). He is a paramedic and emergency manager who served as Planning Section Chief on FEMA Region VI's Incident Management Assistance Team and worked major responses including Deepwater Horizon. More at joelyonkman.com.