The art of falling can be masterful

If you hunt, fish, or hike, sooner or later you are going to fall.

It is a fact of the outdoor life that the natural configuration for the human body is to lie flat on the ground. There are a million ways to succumb to gravity, but landing safely is an art.

Our objective is to minimize the chances of falling and mitigate the possibility of injury when falling is inevitable.

Falling from elevated stands is the most common type of hunting injury and the leading cause of fatality among hunters. Your platform can slip. If you are climbing a ladder, your boot sole can slip on a dewy or icy rung. You can fall asleep or get distracted and fall out. Sometimes, you are so comfortable on a stand that you forget where you are and simply step off into space.

I experience vertigo when I look straight down from an altitude. I can look out, but if I look straight down, I get disoriented, and I feel a strong urge to jump. Several years ago, while hunting deer from an elevated stand, I looked down and immediately felt weightless and woozy. I sat, closed my eyes, took several deep breaths and relaxed.

The episode passed, but it spooked me badly.

Fortunately, I was tethered to the tree with a harness that would have kept me aloft and enabled me to reach the ladder. Never ascend a tree without a harness and a lifeline.

Falling is intrinsic to duck hunting, especially if you walk long distances in flooded timber. The risk increases tenfold in the dark. A moment of inattention invites tripping on a root or a submerged log or branch. You will either go straight down with scarcely enough time to yelp, or you will entertain your companions by making a theatrical crash landing.

It is dangerous to get soaked in cold weather. Hypothermia is a threat when the air temperature is about 50 degrees. Give yourself plenty of time to reach your spot if walking. Step carefully and go from tree to tree for stability.

When traversing steep terrain, never go straight downhill or straight uphill. When pointed downhill, you are top-heavy and unbalanced. Snagging a root or a rock with your toe will plant you on your face. In the Ozarks, the soil and rocks on steep slopes is often so unstable that it kick out from underfoot and send you tumbling. This happened to Miss Laura when we took a shortcut off the Ozark Highlands Trail down a steep hill to the Mulberry River. She slid downhill on loose scree as if on a waterslide, stopping only when she slammed headlong against a tree. An extra 50 pounds strapped high to her shoulders increased her forward momentum considerably.

Instead, go diagonally uphill or downhill in a serpentine path. It is safer, and it’s a lot less work. if you fall taking a diagonal course, you will fall uphill. That’s a shorter distance to the ground, and also a gentler angle.

In high risk areas, plot every step. Test the footing to make sure it is solid. Grind your heels and soles into loose surface to create a foothold.

Some situations you should avoid entirely, especially icy or snowy slopes. Miss Laura experienced such an incident on Petit Jean Mountain in the snow. We were walking off trail when she slipped and skidded on her chest toward a cliff. Accelerating, she uprooted saplings that she grabbed to brake the skid and went over the cliff. She fell about 10 feet to a narrow bench, landing on her back between two boulders.

Often, you will encounter vine walls, especially near creeks and rivers. If you don’t have a machete, snap vines by hand, one by one. It’s surprisingly easy, and you can make yourself a nice trail to get back out of a stream.

Wading in streams is a sure fire way to fall. It can also be very dangerous. If you step into a crease between two big rocks, you can pitch forward, backward or sideways and break your leg. If wading among rocks, test every step and stay as high as you can. Using a staff increases stability and allows you to test the footing before each step.

Sometimes, you fall so fast that you can’t react. The best you can do is dust yourself, be thankful you aren’t hurt, and keep going.