From the Hunt Report e-mail extra

Don Causey, President of The Hunting Report, has been injured while hunting in Cameroon. News from the bush is that Don was in a machan tree stand when a support broke, sending all of its occupants tumbling to the forest floor. After falling some 30 feet, it was determined that Don had suffered significant injuries, thankfully, not life threatening. As this is written, PH Dougie Stephenson and Don are still in camp awaiting evacuation to Yaounde. Don reportedly is in good spirits and says he has exciting news on the hunting situation in Cameroon and looks forward to sharing the details with Hunting Report subscribers upon his return to the United States. He asked us to apologize for his inability to return phone calls and e-mails during this period.

I hope he gets out of this okay. I've been in some pretty rickety tree machans and have been lucky not to take the big fall. I think Buzz is still a little handicapped from his big dive two or three years ago.

Will, a good reason to wear a harness just like bow hunters in the trees...

Mike

I have twice fallen from a tree, both without a safety belt and later, with one on. The first resulted in a broken pelvis and back, and the second in a free cup of coffee from the guy who buggered up the welding on the treestand that collapsed (He was standing right there watching. I think I could have had his first born, his truck and his wife.. but what the heck, the coffee was good and it was about 20 below).

Safety belts (or better yet, harnesses) are life savers.

I read this and can not help but think of my neighbor, two homes down the street. He was in a tree hunting a few years back and fell out and is now paralyzed from the waist down. He has adapted somewhat but now hunts from a ground blind. He lost his Dental practice and a wife.

It would be good to remember to always pack a harness in the future. I'm sorry this happened to Mr. Causey but we can all learn from it.

A good friend of mine fell while trying to get into a tree stand. His leg was shattered and later he had to have the leg amputated at the knee. He still hunts but on the ground. I have hunted lion from a machan and I think they are an accident waiting to happen.