MONROE CO. – Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating a fatal tree stand fall that occurred Saturday in Monroe County.
Emergency personnel was dispatched to the area of Bruce Lane near State Road 45 in Morgan-Monroe State Forest after the man who fell was discovered by a fellow hunter.
Kevin Leech, 57, of Heltonville, was deer hunting from a climbing tree stand when for an unknown reason the stand malfunctioned, causing Leech to fall. Leech, who was not wearing a full-body safety harness, was pronounced dead at the scene. An exact cause of death is pending autopsy results.
Conservation Officers remind everyone using elevated platforms to hunt 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 always inspect their tree stand before climbing up into it.
Assisting agencies at the scene included Monroe County fire, EMS, and sheriff’s departments.
