I just saw this on an news channel web site. Just another warning of the risks involved in what we do.

An Oregon hunter is in critical condition after falling from his tree stand and getting tangled in his harness over 20 feet in the air, hanging upside down for two days.

The man identified as Eddie Voelker, 70, suffered critical injuries and is in a medically induced coma after being airlifted from the area near Umatilla National Forest to a hospital in Richland, Wash.

Damm. Prayers sent for him and family

Sad deal, can't be too careful! Good luck to him and prayers up.

I came close one time. Luckily I can still climb a rope hand over hand and was able to pull myself back up.

Will keep prayers Eddie and his family. Dang it anyway.

Prineville hunter in coma after two days upside-down in tree Hunter in drug-induced coma after two-day ordeal in Ukiah East Oregonian Published on August 30, 2018 5:28PM

A Prineville man is in intensive care after spending two days stuck upside down in a tree while hunting in Umatilla County.

Eddie Voelker, 70, was hunting in a favorite spot of his about 20 miles east of Ukiah off Highway 244. He fell out of a hunting stand in a tree and became entangled in his safety harness. He was suspended upside down, more than 30 feet off the ground, for two days.

According to a press release from the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 28, Union County dispatch reported that another hunter had found Voelker. Crews removed him from the tree using a bucket truck from Oregon Trail Electric Co-op.

Voelker was life-flighted to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland and, according to staff there, is still in critical condition.

Jeanette Jacoby, a family friend of Voelker’s, told the East Oregonian via email that he is now in a drug-induced coma, and doctors did a procedure on him on Wednesday to relieve pressure on his brain. She said he was breathing on his own for a while, but on Thursday, doctors put him back on a ventilator.

Jacoby said after he was brought down from the tree someone had to perform CPR on him. She said Voelker was alone, but had his dogs on the trip, and they were at the campsite. His family retrieved the dogs and some of his hunting equipment from the site the day after he was found.

Prayer on the fly from California. Sodbusterjim.

Prayer on the fly from California. Sodbusterjim.

Prayers sent. So sad.

Prayers sent.

Two days...man how horrible.

Not good. Prayers for that guy and his family. Be careful everybody.

Prayers for him.

I carry a spot locator for this reason. I hunt alone most of the time and at 64 Spot makes my wife a lot less worried.

Prayers sent for him from Pennsylvania.

Prayers sent

I am a tree stand fall survivor. I thought I took precautions. It can happen

Sorry to hear this. A Life changing event! Prayers sent from NY

Terrible story. Prayers sent.

Sounds like his safety harness saved his life, but it may have taken it as well. I carry an emergency strap in my safety vest. Supposed to be able to loop around the tree and then put a foot in the loop to stand to relieve pressure from the leg straps. The thing is, it probably doesn't work worth a damn when upside down.

I've been exercising a lot this summer and have shed some pounds and I've gotten stronger, but I still think about it sometimes - can I save myself if something happens and I fall out of my stand and am hanging from the tree?

Terrible story - sending more prayers!

Prayers for a speedy and healthy recovery

Prayers sent for him and family.

Sends chills through us all. Prayers to him and family.

Prayers from Alabama

Wow. What is a spot? I have been using a device that if I fall I lowers me to the ground. Otherwise I use a rescue one vest.

the guy is a year older than me,,, he is hard core,.... I will keep him in my prayers this week at mass

Prayer sent.

Spot is a device that with the press of a button sends a rescue anywhere in the world. Really a comfort when hunting in Alaska. It sends message to responders through satellite.

Prayers

Ok thanks

Prayers from NC

There's a lesson to be learned from this tragedy. Stay out of trees! Staying out of trees will actually teach you how to become a hunter, and old men have no business in them in the first place. Get yourself a nice, comfortable stool and learn how to read the wind and hide in long grass and bushes. In the meantime, let's hope this fella recovers.

Joe

Very sad. We don't want to see that as we get older, we lose strength, agility, coordination, and our reflexes slow down a lot. Some of our activities should be altered. Hoping for a complete recovery, and piece for his family.

Very sad. We don't want to see that as we get older, we lose strength, agility, coordination, and our reflexes slow down a lot. Some of our activities should be altered. Hoping for a complete recovery, and peace for his family.

Prayers from Illinois for tha Hunters complete recovery.

Prayers sent from ohio.

Prayers sent from ohio.

I like my tree stands BUT frisky is makes a strong point. (This time).

Prayers sent from Pa.

Prayers sent.

Prayers sent for hunter,peace & comfort for his family.

He was doing what he loved and what he was used to doing. I know seventy year old guys that are in better shape then many twenty- five year old folk so don't press the age thing. Especially if your not close that age anyway...you really have no idea. Guys under thirty get hurt and killed every year by tree stand falls/issues. So where do you limit the age?

Apparently he was comfortable doing it. If we didn't do things because someone else thought we shouldn't, it would likely be a pretty dull life. Thankfully the age police can't create laws to prohibit such things. Yet.

2X George .

The same thing happened to a friend. He wasn't wearing a harness but had his feet in the straps as he climbed. The top part of his stand broke and sent him backward, out of his stand and hanging upside down by his feet still in the straps.

He is a big guy so doing an upside down sit up and getting back up on the stand were out of the question.

He hung upside down for over an hour, he lost the feeling in his legs. He tried to use his belt to loop around the tree to give him something to pull himself up with but it didn't work.

He was calling for help but no one was around. Just by chance an elderly neighbor who never went near that plot of land decided to walk down the road near my friends hunting spot and thought he heard someone calling for help. The old man called his son who checked the woods and found my friend.

My friend was in really bad shape by the time they got him down, I am pretty sure he has lingering problems from the ordeal even though it was years ago.

If we don't know how to do CPR we don't give a damn about our fellow men/women. No excuse. Get instruction from your local fire department, video isn't enough.

Eric, I have a friend who had the very same thing happen to him except he kicked and got loose and fell about 20 feet. Fortunately he survived but was pretty stove up for a while.

Sad to hear, I wish him a quick and full recovery.

Sad,hope everything goes okay for him and his family and he's able to get back in the woods when he's fully recovered.I hate to say it ,but it goes to show that it's not safe to hunt by yourself.

I agree with George on this one. I think if you are going to participate in these kinds of activities you should stay in shape well enough to do it. Eric that is a freak thing. I can see that happening. A harness could have prevented him fro falling off of the stand however. There are risks in everything. I know a guy that got killed skiing. I've gone to using mostly ladder stands. I wear a safety harness but there are still risks. I still say driving in a car is more dangerous but we do that. just be careful.

A SPOT or other type of Personal Locator Beacon Device is a good thing for those of us who hunt alone. The annual cost of the SPOT is a PIA but I carry mine when hiking, bird hunting in remote areas, etc. I turn mine on when out and about and keep it in arms reach. Good piece of mine for me and family.

This is where our cell phones can be very helpful. Keep phone on silent (vibrate) obviously when hunting I ALWAYS ask my buddy to text me when he gets on his stand and buckled in safely. Sometimes he forgets and I'll text him. Should he not answer, I will assume he's hurt or something and I will rush to him. I'm not a fan of phones but in these cases, invaluable.

Good if you are in an area where you have cell coverage. There are lots of places here in WV that due to mountainous terrain that coverage is zip.

yea cell phone coverage is for city hunters. where I hunt in the mtns of WV there is no coverage.

Praying he makes it with no permanent injuries. Incidents like this is why I don't hunt from a tree stand.

This is one reason I am a longtime ground hunter, hung upside down from a cheap climber back in 86 and lucky there was a aspen next to me to take the pressure off and slide down. Packseat and ghillie is all I need to hunt to enjoy the hunt, over come and adapt.

My idea of a dirt nap is a a slightly sloping down hill grade, with my butt pad on a nice 4" tree branch, with a cool breeze and just enough sun to keep the chill off. I have sat in enough tree stands, but never needed one to get a deer. As long as it does not come at you too fast, the ground can be a wonderful thing.

George speaks the truth. Hunt your way...this is a real possibility, and I occasionally still use a climber at age 66.

But those trips are rarer every year, for reasons other than safety...which is STILL paramount. I'll deny it in a court of law, but I get what Frisky said. I enjoy ground pounding more every year, and will probably remain on terra firma for the duration of my hunting days.

Prayers for that gentleman!

Really never got into the trees even hunting back in IL. I didn’t even climb trees as a kid. Did once and branch broke, I fell. Maybe a lesson learned early.

I hope he pulls through OK. Please leave your location and time your due to return home with a loved one. They deserve it!

You have to be smart about tree stand hunting. I gave up stands years ago but when I did use them I was very careful.

I never used one unless I hunted with a partner or someone at home knew the exact tree I was in. Full body harness, cell phone, safety whistle, 3 knives I could reach with left or right hand, safe close steps and hand holds, always be hooked up before stepping DOWN onto your stand.

I never had a close call or slip. I was lucky. I decided a long time ago I did not want to wake up at the base of a tree and wonder if my life just changed forever.

Has anyone heard how he is doing?

Prayers from Pa.

Tundra

prayers from Arkansas have to try and be safe as we can dr

Yeah, I was wondering. I hope he's recovering well.

Prayers sent from East Texas, Please allow others to know where you will be hunting and time you plan to leave. This simple rule of mine I feel will help me if ever I have troubles.

The guy that stayed with him while waiting for rescue posted on another forum that he tied himself off at the waist with a rope, left his harness on the ground next to the tree because it was too hot. He was bent over backwards and upside down so he could get no leverage to rescue himself. If he cut the rope it would have been a 30’ drop. The sad part is the yellow jackets hammered him so hard his eyes swelled shut. He was in such agony he was begging for someone to shoot him. The whole rescue took 4 or 5 hours to get under way. He ended up being in the perfect spot as they were able to get a boom/bucket truck to him. The guy said he was traumatized just being there and it was worse seeing the harness on the ground next to the tree. No other updates other than they had him in an induced coma and he was expected to survive.

What a sad story, Prayers sent for his recovery.

Geeze. Yellowjackets too? Dang.

"WHY do so many people think they have go 20-30 feet up a tree."

IMHO,most guys exaggerate the height of their foot platform. Maybe some go 20', but unless I measure it, I listen to all estimates with "a grain of salt".

I get up about 8-12 feet. I brush the stand in and the deer walk right under me

"Maybe some go 20"?

There's no maybe about it. Lots of folks go 20', guaranteed. Perhaps since I set them higher than that, I'm less apt to doubt their word. When I used a portable, I hunted lower if appropriate, but also regularly went above 20'. The bow rope I used with the climber was 30' and on trees where there was a chance I'd be seen or skylined, trees that usually work best with a climber, I'd climb until I was up near the canopy or until the bow was lifting off the ground... in some instances, I kept going with the bow following me up.

I brush in lock-ons like Babysaph, but height depends on the tree shape, surrounding canopy height if any, terrain features, proximity to trails, etc. I've set lock-ons up to 43' to the stand platform. Not estimates. Salt-free truth. Why? Because that's where they needed to be to be most effective... and they were.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here