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Hunters Beware: Sitting Still Can Kill You

MikeD

I'm Your Huckleberry
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Interesting and a bit scary, esp as one who sits at a desk for 8+ hours a day and sits most of the time while hunting and sits in the car for close to 3 hours a day.


Link: http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/blogs/hunters-beware-sitting-still-can-kill
Quick: Name the most dangerous part of deer hunting.

The list of hazards adds up pretty quickly, doesn’t it? Most of you probably will mention things like hunting from tree stands; razor sharp broadheads or, heaven forbid, accidental firearm discharges.

By Daniel E. Schmidt

All can be deadly, no doubt, but not as deadly as what I just encountered last Friday.

The day started like any other here at Deer & Deer Hunting: Me at work, sitting at my desk and daydreaming about getting out to the tree stand. I was just a week removed from an incredible mule deer hunt in northeast Oregon, and my thoughts had shifted to the rut here in the Midwest, which had already shown signs of increased intensity.

One of my coworkers sent up the first red flag when he saw me in the hallway that morning.

“You’re moving kind of slow today, Dan.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I replied. “I must have pulled something in my calf muscle while hiking all of those peaks in Oregon last week. We put on 40-plus miles those four days.”

The morning wore on, and the pain in my calf got worse. It got so tight that I knew something wasn’t right, but I still hesitated to take any action. Then, at the urging of my wife, I called the clinic to make an appointment.

“You best get in here today,” the nurse said after hearing me describe my symptoms for less than a minute. “It could be a blood clot, and we don’t want to take any chances with that.”

It took the ultrasound technician fewer than 5 minutes to confirm my worst fears: blood clots. Yes, plural.

The technical term for the condition is deep vein thrombosis, and it can happen when the wall of a blood vessel is damaged. It can also happen when the blood clots more easily than normal, usually a genetic predisposition. I don’t know exactly how mine formed, but I do know that when it happened I was so stiff that I could barely walk.

I also know that afternoon in the hospital was a blur.

“How could that possibly happen?” I asked the doctor.

“It just happens,” he said. “Could be from a long plane flight. Could be from sitting in one spot without moving for too long. These just don’t happen to ‘old’ folks, you know.”

As he was talking, my mind was racing. Could it have happened on that cramped flight from Boise to Minneapolis? Or could it. Bingo, I had my answer. It had to have happened on Monday when I sat in a tree stand with my crossbow across my lap for four-plus hours.

It was cold that afternoon, and I immediately realized how awkward it was to sit in a tree stand while holding on to a crossbow. I really had no place to hang it, so I just held on to it. As that afternoon wore on, I was quite uncomfortable, but I rationalized “no pain, no gain.” After all, should a deer show up, I didn’t want to be sitting there without my crossbow at the ready.

Blood clots. Scary stuff, right? Well, something else the doctor said was far scarier: “Good thing you brought yourself in. There’s only one of three ways those clots will go once they break up: to your lungs; to your heart; or to your brain.”

I later learned that somewhere between 60,000 to 100,000 people die in the United States every year from untreated DVTs, usually in the form of a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism.

I went home that evening with two prescriptions for blood thinners — warfarin (Coumadin) which is pill form; and Enoxaparin (Lovenox), which comes in needles that require self-injection in the side of the belly.

There is no quick fix. I will have to jab myself twice a day for maybe a month, plus take the oral blood thinners for six months. The thinners will help keep me alive should a clot break free, or another one form in the short term.

The outpouring of support of my friends in the hunting community has helped ease my fears. In fact, two of my high-profile industry friends have told me they have undergone the exact same thing in recent years. Both spend an enormous amount of time hunting from tree stands each fall.

Their best advice: Stay positive and listen to the doctors. I’ll definitely be doing that, and I’m not about to let this throw a wet blanket on my deer hunting plans. I’ve just got to take it slow and realize that there are a lot more important things in life than killing myself trying to stay still in a tree stand.

- See more at: http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/blogs/hunters-beware-sitting-still-can-kill#sthash.voOhr3rN.dpuf
 
Thank you for sharing that Mike.

Thankfully, I've never had a blood clot, but I will say about 5 years ago I had been sitting still in my stand for several hours and upon getting up and starting down the ladder, I got so dizzy that I didn't know if I was going to pass out or what.

Turns out, the blood had pooled some in my lower extremities and where I had been sitting still for so long, I almost did pass out. It was so bad that when I did get off of the ladder that I laid down with my feet/legs elevated over my head propped on the tree I had been sitting in for a minute or so. I didn't know at that time what was causing it, but that was the only thing I could think of to do to not go on out.

After a minute or two, I was alright, but it did scare me enough that I talked to my Dr about it.

Now, I will stand up, and move around some (albeit confined) at least once an hour.

Not sure if anyone knows, but while we're on the subject, blood pooling in your legs can also kill you. That's why I dislike fall arrest systems so much. While a fall can hurt or kill you too, a fall arrest harness can be just as deadly.
 
Not sure if anyone knows, but while we're on the subject, blood pooling in your legs can also kill you. That's why I dislike fall arrest systems very much. While a fall can hurt or kill you too, a fall arrest harness can be just as deadly.

I've been seeing more harnesses that have the ability to lower the hunter to the ground. A lot of people have fallen and have been left hanging in a position that prevented them from getting back to the stand or grabbing the tree or even cutting the strap to free themselves.

I rarely wear one any more as the only tree stands I tend to hunt are permanent structures that are either fully enclosed or have railings and full staircases leading up.

If I do resort to a sectional ladder or a climber I always wear one.

Heck I still remember the early days of tree stands, just a belt around the waist connected to a belt around the tree and the stands were a LOT less stable than they are today. I still have an old Baker Death Climber in the garage up north but It'll never get used again.
 
My 2 man stand came with 2 fall arrest harnesses obviously. Neither of them are very good quality in my opinion. The upper straps seem to be poorly designed, and neither have bungee straps to lessen the jerk if you were to fall. I really believe someone would hurt even if you didn't hit the ground.

It does come with a secondary strap that "theoretically" you could maybe wrap around the tree and use it as a foot strap to maybe get yourself up enough to get back into the stand, but it would be tough and swinging around in the wind up in the air is not the time to be fighting with a poor setup.

Instead of relying on that, I modified my harness slightly by screwing in a long 3 inch eye bolt into the tree well above my head and put a 950 lb rated caribineer through the end of the fall strap so that if I were to have a fall, the strap would be so short that I couldn't really get out of the confines of the stand and the gun rest to begin with. Doing it in this manner, the fall strap has no way of slipping down the tree if you were to use the strap as the instructions state.

Here is a link to the eye bolt (it's common to find these on utility poles and I have never seen a broken one). The electric pole itself will break before these will.

http://www.hubbellpowersystems.com/pole-line/deadend/eyenuts-standard/

I learned a few things from 15 years as a lineman working on towers, poles, ladders and bucket trucks. ;)

The most important of which, was ways to secure yourself so you can't fall.

While this picture makes it look like the caribineer is too small to hold much weight

jtcostumecontest2014020_zpsd5ebbd35.jpg


Here is a picture of it in my hand.

jtcostumecontest2014022_zpsab98858d.jpg
 
There was a good point buried in the article. If you fly a lot you are susceptible to this as well...driving for long periods of time without stopping and walking around is equally bad.

As for fall arrest systems, I wear my harness religiously. I have a strap kit that will allow me to "stand up" should I fall and end up hanging from a tree. It is a loop that I clip it to my harness. It will take the pressure off my legs and allow me to figure a way to get out. At a minimum it will give me a fighting chance where falling 20-30 feet won't...
 
I'm not sure if this is mentioned already or not, I didn't read all of it. One of the best ways to combat clots and blood pooling in your legs is to pump with your legs. Your body naturally does this when you walk, but sitting for long periods of time not only kinks your vessels, but keeps the natural "muscle pump" from moving blood back North. I'm not a doctor, but the best thing I can say is to tense your calves for about 5 seconds, then your thighs for 5. Repeat this like 3 or 4 times every 5-10 minutes to ensure proper blood flow through your legs.
 
I'm not sure if this is mentioned already or not, I didn't read all of it. One of the best ways to combat clots and blood pooling in your legs is to pump with your legs. Your body naturally does this when you walk, but sitting for long periods of time not only kinks your vessels, but keeps the natural "muscle pump" from moving blood back North. I'm not a doctor, but the best thing I can say is to tense your calves for about 5 seconds, then your thighs for 5. Repeat this like 3 or 4 times every 5-10 minutes to ensure proper blood flow through your legs.

I will do that with my shoulders and arms as well. It helps keep you lose for when you need to make a shot, esp if hunting with a bow.
 
I have what could be restless leg syndrome...at least in a tree stand. I can't sit still very long. Maybe that's why I haven't killed anything with my bow yet...:confused:;)
 
I have what could be restless leg syndrome...at least in a tree stand. I can't sit still very long. Maybe that's why I haven't killed anything with my bow yet...:confused:;)

Hang in there it's only taken me 30 years. LOL <cry> LOL
 
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