Doc
I was coming down and after 20 years in stands I had more slack in my tether than I should have. It was just barely tight and slid down low as it could go toward the foot platform. It was dark and vines mush have pulled my pin because I was left holding my seat platform in my hands falling backwards. I had been facing the tree coming down. My head was only 8 feet off the ground but I couldn't get back up or get loose from the straps that I thought had broken my legs initially. My safety line was on the tree and I had on a HSS vest but the strap was so low down against the foot climber that I couldn't get any leverage to pull myself back up.

I'm just telling this again so everyone knows to get rid of those nylon foot straps.

I’m not gonna lie I’m too lazy to go all climbing up a tree after a deer. That’s too much work

Especially when you can legally hunt from a truck seat, over a pile of corn. Geez, I can sit in the truck, in my underwear, drinking whiskey and playing on aldeer. Why the hell would anybody climb a frigging tree??

the plastic stirrups on the summit look like they are made to break away. also I don't plan on ordering new cables every year its risky enough testing a new one, just don't store it outside in the rain.

The same thing happened to me with a Comfort Zone stand. I'm just lucky that I didn't fall coming down the trees on the last hunt of last season.

Ladders, ground blinds and Millennium tree seat for me.
I can’t get hurt. I got to work.

Same thing happened to me in an Ole Man about 10 years ago. I posted the story here but at the time thought somebody had sabatoged my stand as I was hunting Illinois public land. Come to find out it was a stand defect with the pins. I started hallucinating about my buddies 12 year old son finding me purple hanging upside down and said “oh hell no”. Scariest thing that ever happens to me. I eventually determined to break my ankle but as I tried to do this the plastic buckle holding the straps on my feet broke clean in half. I don’t remember falling just next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground. It was a God moment for sure. So glad your buddy is ok. Btw I had a harness but wasn’t attached. Never again.

I had an x stand. It was the sketchiest POS I’ve ever climbed with. Used it a few times and never felt safe in it. Got rid of it with a quickness. I’m betting it happens more than we know with the x stands, they are built to be light, not safe.

For those of you using pins in your stands, throw them away and go buy you some Master locks with the longer than usual shackle and keyed alike. Replace the pins with master locks. Not real cheap, but I assure you that they will not slip out once locked. It's also a great security system if you are hunting public land or if you have a poacher problem. Leave it on the tree and forget about it until you're ready to use it again. Just don't leave it in the rain and then let it freeze.

If you simply must use pins, then at always install them from the inside out. That way, even if the metal wire loop comes off, you will be pushing it against the stop (with your feet, legs, butt, etc.) instead of pushing the pins out of the holes.