Spinal cord injuries in Louisiana due to falls from deer stands, 1985-1994

Serious injuries resulting in paralysis and death have occurred to hunters who have fallen from deer stands that were not equipped with safety restraints. Among the most serious of these are spinal cord injuries. We examined all deer stand-related spinal cord injuries reported to Louisiana's Spinal Cord Injuries Registry from 1985 through 1994. During the 1985 through 1991 hunting seasons, we received reports of 28 deer stand falls resulting in permanent paralysis (an average of four each year) and 13 reports of temporary neurologic deficit. These injuries led to first-year medical care charges estimated at more than $4.2 million. None of the patients in the reported cases were using a safety restraint at the time of injury. After a public information campaign to make hunters aware of the risk of using deer stands without safety belts was conducted in 1992, there were no reported spinal cord injuries associated with deer stand falls for the following three years.