Scottsburg man dies in tree stand accident (Scott County)

This accident remains under investigation

Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating a fatal tree stand fall that occurred Tuesday in Scott County.  

Emergency personnel were dispatched to the area of Taylor Road outside of Scottsburg after an individual who had fallen from a tree stand was discovered by a fellow hunter.

Donald Cass, 94, of Scottsburg, was deer hunting from a homemade elevated stand when it collapsed for an unknown reason. Cass was not wearing a full body safety harness.

Cass was transported to Scott Memorial Hospital and then airlifted to University of Louisville Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Conservation Officers remind hunters using elevated platforms to always wear a full body harness, use a tree stand’s safety rope, never try to put up or remove a tree stand by themself, and to always inspect their tree stand before climbing up into it.

Assisting agencies at the scene included Scott County EMS and the Vienna and Finley Township fire departments.