Lucky to be posting this

Stinny · Jun 3, 2023

jrider said: ↑

Was cutting the last of the dead oaks in the woods at my moms. It was leaning sone already so I figured it would be an easy drop…no such thing as that as I found out. It was leaning right towards a decent size pine. I wanted to drop it to the right of the pine instead of the left just for ease of picking up the logs with the tractor. Well the oak went right onto the pine and got hung up. Ok no biggie I think. I put a chain on the butt end of the log which was still sitting on the stump. I pulled forward with the tractor and set the chain around the forks. Put the tractor in reverse and the tree came right off the stump as planned with ease. The next 2-3 seconds proved to be much different. As the butt end dropped to the ground, the oak tree snapped about half way up. The main log dropped down harmlessly. The top part dropped straight down from where it broke off like a spear. When it hit the ground butt end first, the top then fell right over the tractor. In the process it brought down a couple sapling sized trees right across the tractor as well. I saw the log coming and thought holy sh*t this is the end. Thankfully the roll bar helped protect me and kept the log from crushing me. Something did manage to whack me in the thigh though and it’s going to leave one helluva bruise. I am walking with a slight limp but will be fine. After a few minutes, I collected myself, fought to get off the tractor and then cut the tractor free. Once I cut the trunk into 8 foot logs and haul to the field, I decided it was a good time to put the saw away for the day. The tree was about 26”-28” at the Stu p end and about 16” in diameter where it snapped in half. What’s laying across the tractor is about 6” in diameter. So as the title says, I am glad to be posting this instead of what could have happened to me.
View attachment 381555 View attachment 381556 View attachment 381557 View attachment 381558 View attachment 381559
Click to expand...

Glad you're OK jrider ... it tried to gitcha but it just couldn't do it...

jrider · Jun 3, 2023

Stinny said: ↑

Glad you're OK jrider ... it tried to gitcha but it just couldn't do it...
Click to expand...

I’m a survivor…either though stubbornness or just plain luck but either way, I’ll take it!

T.Jeff Veal · Jun 4, 2023

We had a guy down here that wasn't as lucky. He was bush hogging and loader bucket bumped/clipped a dead pine. It broke off and hit his leg, mangled it some. He had surgery yesterday afternoon. He will recover. EMT's had to get a local guy to show them a way on to the property

jrider · Jun 4, 2023

T.Jeff Veal said: ↑

We had a guy down here that wasn't as lucky. He was bush hogging and loader bucket bumped/clipped a dead pine. It broke off and hit his leg, mangled it some. He had surgery yesterday afternoon. He will recover. EMT's had to get a local guy to show them a way on to the property
Click to expand...

Ugh. Crazy things happen. My leg is still sore but I’m not limping anymore.

buZZsaw BRAD · Jun 4, 2023

jrider said: ↑

Ugh. Crazy things happen. My leg is still sore but I’m not limping anymore.
Click to expand...

How big is the bruise?

jrider · Jun 4, 2023

buZZsaw BRAD said: ↑

How big is the bruise?
Click to expand...

About the size of my open hand. It never got as dark as I thought. It did just finally stop giving off heat today though. I’m guessing more of a bone bruise?

gmule · Jun 4, 2023

Thanks for the reminder that none of this is routine and things can go south in a hurry. Glad you weren’t seriously injured.