(Provided by Indiana DNR)
Indiana Conservation Officers investigated two separate hunting accidents Dec 1 which hospitalized the victims.
Jason Dudley (46) of South Bend and Joseph Morehead (60) of Milford sustained serious injuries when each hunter fell from their deer hunting tree stands.
Jason Dudleys hunting partner heard a crash about 150 yards from where he was hunting and found Dudley lying at the base of his tree. He fell approximately 15 feet.
The partner called 911 and Dudley was transported to Memorial Hospital in South Bend and treated for facial lacerations and right shoulder and back pain. He was not wearing a safety harness.
Morehead was also hunting with a partner approximately 50 yards apart when he fell while attempting to descend from the tree. Morehead was wearing a harness but it was not attached to the tree as he began his descent. Morehead used a tree branch as a hand-hold as he was attempting to lower his foot to the metal foot pegs he was using when the branch broke.
He had a shotgun slung on his right shoulder and a muzzleloader slung on his left shoulder as he fell 20 feet to the ground.
Morehead was transported to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne and is being treated for a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs, fractured vertebrae, and a fracture arm.
Indiana Conservation Officers recommend hunting with a partner whenever possible just as Dudley and Morehead were doing in these accidents. The quick actions of the hunting partners very likely lessened the severity of each of these accidents. Officers however want to remind hunters to wear a fall restraint harness system at all times while hunting from an elevated stand and whenever your feet are off the ground. Officers also discourage using tree limbs as hand holds or steps.