Seasoned hunter breaks neck, ribs after cutting corners

Rodney Markle made a bad decision.

It was dark and cold, the first frost of the year, when he and his son hiked to their tree stands to hunt for deer in Jackson Township. Josh Markle's stand was ready to go. But Rodney Markle was using a friend's stand, and it was missing safety equipment.

He could have lugged equipment up from another stand.

He could have hunted somewhere else.

Instead, he tied his harness to a rope and tied that rope to the tree.

"I thought, you know, nothing's going to happen," said Markle.

Used properly, a safety harness and strap should prevent a hunter from falling to the ground if the stand fails or the hunter slips. Markle had the harness, but not the strap.

He'd been hunting since he was 12 and now, at 64, he felt comfortable, confident. This was supposed to be his big year for archery. The Army and Air Force veteran had just retired and planned to make the most of his newfound free time.

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For four hours, Markle sat in that tree stand waiting for deer. No luck. Then he stood up.

The tree stand collapsed.

The rope snapped — didn't even slow him down — and he plunged 15 feet to the cold, hard ground.

Josh Markle heard the crash, then heard his dad groan. He was at a full sprint, running from his own stand 70 yards away, when he saw his father sprawled at the base of the tree.

He had just one thought: Is he alive?

Rodney Markle broke four ribs, fractured vertebrae in his neck and back, tore his rotator cuff and fractured his shoulder blade and pelvis. But he was alive.

Statistics on the frequency of tree stand accidents are hard to come by — hunters aren't required to report them to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. But York Hospital sees a fair number of cases every year, said physician Eric P. Bowman, director of section of wilderness medicine and faculty for emergency medicine residency.

Those cases are mostly preventable, and spike as rifle hunting begins for deer at the end of November, Bowman said.

In the two weeks Markle spent in the hospital and rehabilitation facility, he met two other guys also recovering from tree stand accidents.

Even before his fall, he knew four people who had been in tree stand accidents of their own, two of whom are permanently paralyzed.

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Markle said he is expected to make a full recovery, although his doctors tell him the timeline is uncertain. Right now he can't drive, bend, lift, or walk without assistance. And it's been three weeks since the fall. It means relying on his wife and sons, a burden he hates to put on them.

A burden he puts on them because of one decision. A foolish decision, Markle said.

He knows better.

He's not sure if he'll ever hunt from a tree stand again. But if he does, he'll be smarter. He said he won't skimp when it comes to safety, and he won't hunt alone — something his wife has been asking of him for years. If his son hadn't been there, who knows how long he may have been stuck. He had a phone with him, but he's not sure he could have reached it.

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The fall caused other ripples.

Josh Markle tried to hunt a few days after the accident. He reached his tree stand, and he just couldn't do it, he couldn't climb up. He'd never hunted that property without his dad. He stood there for a few minutes, then left.

Rodney Markle fought in multiple wars and came back without a scratch, but this one decision nearly cost him his life.

It will stick with him and his son, and they'll think about it every time they hunt.

He hopes that others will too, and that hearing about his foolish decision will prevent someone else from doing the same.