Comment on Tree stand safety a precaution that shouldn’t be overlooked

Matt Johnson stood up to stretch while archery hunting from his tree stand, and when he sat down things went awry. Quickly. As Johnson sat back down, the pad on the seat flipped over his back, tossing him out of the climbing stand 20 feet above the ground. Fortunately, Johnson was using a safety harness and, rather than falling to the ground, he dangled in the air before pulling himself back into the stand. “That was four years ago and I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was scary,” said the Dalton resident, who is also the director of the Northmoreland Sportsmen.