Tippecanoe Man Serious After Tree Stand Fall
Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating an incident involving a fall from a tree stand that resulted in serious injuries to a Tippecanoe man Sunday morning.
At 9:20 a.m., Indiana Conservation Officers, Marshall County Police and EMS responded to a rural area near Tippecanoe for a man who had fallen from a tree stand. Rodney Kreft 54, of Tippecanoe, was deer hunting from an elevated tree stand when the stand broke. Kreft was not wearing a safety harness and crashed 24 feet to the ground.
Kreft was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend for serious injuries to his spine. Investigators said the tree stand had been left in the tree for several years.
Indiana has had 11 falls from tree stands resulting in serious injuries this hunting season alone. Indiana Conservation Officers remind all hunters to inspect their equipment regularly and that the use of a Fall Arrest System while hunting from elevated positions greatly reduces the risk of serious injury from falling.