Deer hunter injured after falling from tree stand

NEW ATHENS, Ill. — A 75-year-old man is recovering after falling from a deer tree stand in a remote part of southwestern Illinois.

Capt. Tim Daiber of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ conservation police tells the Belleville News-Democrat the injuries sustained by the unidentified hunter during the tumble Thursday near New Athens aren’t believed to be life-threatening.

Daiber says that after the man shot at a deer in the Kaskaskia Fish and Wildlife Area, the top portion of his climbing stand collapsed. Daiber says the hunter wasn’t wearing a safety harness and fell from the tree.

It took two hours for rescue workers to reach by boat the remote area where the hunter fell and take him to a hospital.