By: Bud Alexis
I love to bow hunt and but I get into some crazy situations. Every time I go into the woods, it turns out to be an adventure of some sort. Of course it makes an interesting book about dad for my children.
Can you just see me, 220 lbs, dangling from the side of a pine tree 20 feet up, holding onto the hand climbing part of the climbing stand, the platform, not hooked to the tree, strapped to my feet with bungee straps, the bow tied to the platform, dangling underneath, and brother it was really a long way down.
I thought back to when I scouted this area next to a soybean field. I mention this scouting trip because it too was an adventure. The field ran parallel to the main highway, so when my friend and I decided to scout the area we entered the woods on a road leading to the field which was probably a quarter mile off the main road. Upon reaching the field, we began going along the edge of the field running parallel to the road. After walking a half mile I found the tree that I wanted to hunt from. My friend was using a three wheeler while I walked, by preference. When we were satisfied with the scouting, I had the brilliant idea to take a shortcut through the woods, figuring I could save a half mile, and he could pick me up down the road. BIG MISTAKE!
The trek started off fine until about a third the way in. I fell off into a slew up to about my waist. I thought I am already wet, so I trudged on. I began to notice that I wasn’t alone. The water was alive with cotton mouth moccasins. I have a healthy respect for snakes and they normally don’t alarm me, but I don’t like to be in the water with them. I was able to avoid the snakes without any major problems, but I sure was tense. The rest of the trip through the shortcut was a constant struggle, of wading the swamp, avoiding dangerous insects, and the snakes. That was the longest shortcut a person would never want to take.
I had climbed to about 20 feet, with my homemade climbing stand, when one of the bolts broke that was holding the blade part that wrapped around the back side of the tree. There wasn’t the availability of tree climbing stands on the market, as there are today, but there were a few homemade one’s around. This one should have been put in the Smithsonian. It took a lot of muscle to operate it. The hand climbing part would be pushed up the tree as high as you could reach, then you would have to pull yourself up along with the foot part with the sheer strength of your arms. Here I am dangling 20 feet up in a tree, with all this weight hanging on my feet. I could not let go, although the fall would not hurt me, it’s that sudden stop. I thought if I got my feet loose from the platform everything would come crashing down on top of my bow, which I mentioned was tied on under the platform. I had forgotten to bring a long cord with me. I sure didn’t want to harm my bow. Cost too much to replace. I gave it quite some thought, and decided I would take a chance of losing the bow instead of me. With my arms aching, it took some time to finally get one of the bungee straps loose and with a big sigh I pushed the other foot loose. I closed my eyes tight listening for the crash. With a loud crash I could only imagine what my bow would look like. I was able to wrap my legs around the tree and make my way down. To my amazement the bow was still intact. I could only thank God for helping me down and taking care of my bow.
