94-year-old Scottsburg man dies after falling from tree stand

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Indiana conservation officers in Scott County are investigating after a tree stand accident that left a deer hunter dead.

It happened Tuesday, in the area of Taylor Road, which is just outside Scottsburg, according to a news release from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Emergency responders were sent to that location after a hunter discovered the elderly man, identified as Donald Cass. He was not wearing a full body harness when the homemade elevated stand collapsed for an unknown reason.

Cass was taken to Scott Memorial Hospital and then airlifted to UofL Hospital in Louisville, 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 alone; and always inspect the tree stand before climbing up into it.