DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711090167

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR 

                                            LENGTH:   31 lines

DEER HUNTERS SHOULD TAKE A STAND FOR SAFETY

There are two kinds of hunters who use tree stands, according to Herb Foster, safety officer for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: those who have fallen out of stands and those who will fall out of stands.

I don't expect to join either group. I have acrophobia, a fear of height. My knees start to tremble when I mount the first couple of steps on a ladder.

Anyway, three recent accidents, all on the Eastern Shore and all involving Virginia Beach deer hunters, bring Foster's point home.

One hunter dislocated his shoulder, which eventually will be as good as new.

The second broke his ankle and had to have it put back together with pins. It'll never be as good as new.

The third broke his neck and could be a paraplegic the rest of his life.

Thousands of Virginia and North Carolina hunters use tree stands, usually metal contraptions that allow the hunter to shimmy up a tree and sit waiting for a deer to come along.

Obviously, they are effective hunting tools. Most hunters climb at least 15 feet off the ground, where he or she is unlikely to be seen or scented by a whitetail.

But so many things can happen, even in stands reputed to be safe. You can slip, you can fall asleep, or you can make a too-sudden move.

Some stands are safer than others. But I don't know any that come with either a safety guarantee or a free insurance policy.

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