How not to bushhog !!

[deezler]

Don't believe a word of it.

It's a joke, man.... I've seen it several times. Was a good chain email letter thing for many years.

 

[IndyJay]

Yeah, but still...

 

[xunit13]

Im glad to hear that im not the only one who lives under the wrath of Murphy's law. If anything can go wrong, it will

 

[mred2]

On my dozer yesterday. Pushing a lot of trees and brush. limb beside dozer, I had to stop going forward, not enough dozer. Tried to back up and could see limb going into engine. STOPPED before it got to radiator. I did manage to turn and get it out. Pushing on limbs with a lot of pressure may not always be a good thing.

 

[Smokeydog]

I was bush hogging an over grown field with some Mimosas. About 1/2 mile down the road from the farm. Running over some 2-3” weedy trees. One horizontal long limb bent and broke coming back hitting me across the nose and eye brows. Luckily didn’t knock me off the tractor. Looked down steady streams of blood coming down from broken nose. Felt face now numb to make sure eyeball weren’t hanging out. Needed to get help fast so put the tractor in high gear and headed for home. Passed a few cars on the way home with drivers with scared looks. White T shirt now soaked with blood. Face and neck covered with wind blown streaks. One eye now swollen closed. Got home and scared myself to look in the mirror. Luckily most the bleeding had stopped. Clean up the worst, changed shirts and woke my wife up sleeping from working the night shift to take me to the hospital. You know you messed up pretty good when you get immediate attention from the emergency room staff.
Had to surgically set nose the next day. A few stitches above the eye. Jet black and blue face for awhile.

6 or 4 post ROPS on tractors from then on and more careful. Spend lot more time clearing low limbs from around the fields and pastures.

 

[RSKY]

I have pushed over many trees bigger than the one that got me Saturday. Usually if the tractor will push it over the hog will chew it up. Operated that way for years and finally tore the gearbox up in the old Ford mower last fall. It was 45+ years old and had been used hard.

The sapling that got me was standing tall stripped of bark and leaves. It was standing alone in the field after popping up after being pushed over I guess by the rear tire on the previous round. It was just short enough to spring out from the front axle before the rear tire caught it and just long enough to catch me in the face.

I looked today at the loader mount holes and I think a very long 3/4" bolt would fit there and keep that from happening again. Tree would hit them a foot or so before they hit operator (me)!

Today I crept over the ruts left by my brother in laws IH 1206 with duals left last year when he got stuck. My sister came and made sure she pointed out exactly where they were located at the edge of a field near a tree line. She forgot to point out the ruts the tandem axle wrecker left in the middle of that same field. I found them wide open in 4th gear. About seven mph. Turned the tractor 45 degree to the right with the steering wheel not being turned. Scared the he11 out of me.

I am getting too old for this sheet. Or maybe I just notice the stupid things I do now that I'm older and (supposedly) wiser.

On a positive note I only got the front wheels off the ground once going up a steep bank AND I chased a copperhead across a field, dropped the hog down on the ground, and chewed him up. I let black racers get away but always chase the poison ones.

RSKY

 

[dodge man]

Through my work as a land surveyor I have injured my eyes on 3 different times. Once I got a piece of bentonite in my eye that wouldn’t wash out, the other two times getting poked in the eye by a tree branch. It’s no fun, luckily for me no serious damage.

 

[CADplans]

Back in the early 1950's, my BIL was clearing land with a CAT D4,,
This was before ROPS,, he was about 45 years old at the time.
A branch sprung off the blade, and hit him,,
When he realized what had happened, he spit out a BUNCH of teeth.
He got to live the rest of his life with a dental partial plate.

He used to spit that thing out and scare all of his grandchildren,,,

They welded a make-shift DIY ROPS on that dozer before it was operated again.
When they bought the Allis Chalmers HD-10, the first thing they did was add a ROPS,,,

 

[ssgp2]

It’s the ones you don’t see that can be costly. Two different times for me.

 

[mred2]

It’s the ones you don’t see that can be costly. Two different times for me. View attachment 713331View attachment 713332

I just can't like that!

 

[jezreel]

I really like this thread. Hearing these stories helps a greenhorn like me to take things a bit slower, and to give safety its due consideration.

 

[oosik]

Nothing quite so dramatic here. Story was a good laugh. I had an electric fence for a while. After installation I could not get a positive read on the fence tester tool. Grabbed the wire with my hand - nothing.

Like a blooming idiot - right shoe off - standing in the wet mud - grabbed the wire again. As you would expect - knocked me back on my a$$.

Redid the ground for the control box - all was OK then.

 

[Gee Ray]

I bet the neighborhood bully a dollar that he could not pee over the electric fence. The most entertainment I ever got for a dollar.

 

[RSKY]

I really like this thread. Hearing these stories helps a greenhorn like me to take things a bit slower, and to give safety its due consideration.

You live to your sixties by being incredibly boring, not doing anything exiting. Or you live to your sixties by being incredibly lucky, surviving all the stupid things you do.

On a side note all of the land I have been mowing is owned by my 96-year old mother. My two sisters, both in their seventies, had to bring her to the distant farm every day or she would threaten to drive there herself. THAT is a no-no. So I had an audience to every stupid thing I did this year. Well nearly every thing, they weren't there yet to see the hit to the face. Mom had mowed those fields by herself several times. But stage four cancer and dementia and worn out knees keep her off of it now. She is one TOUGH lady and may make it another year or so.

Didn't prevent her from telling me, and my sisters, everything I was doing wrong. Sheesh, when I was 13-14 years old I would have to drive the 641 Ford over there and plow, disk, or mow all day with nobody even bringing me lunch. Had a bologna sandwich in a paper sack hanging on a limb and a gallon jug of ice water. They would come and pick me up at dark so I "wouldn't wear out the tires" on the two miles of pavement. You want a long day try sitting on a tractor with a metal seat plowing fifty acres with a two bottom plow.

Those were the days.

Yeah I know, two miles to school in the snow uphill both ways.

RSKY

 

[tradosaurus]

Those bent over 2-3" trees can be deadly...tree guys call them spring poles.

Accident Report Detail | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Someone at OSHA needs to learn how to write better accident reports. Still couldn't understand what happened.

Can't wait to see what they write for Demented Joe's mandatory vaccine requirements.

 

[tradosaurus]

When I'm out clearing or doing work in my trees I wear a forestry helmet. Saves headaches from falling branches as well as scratches from limbs on the face.

 

[9973720wb19]

I bet the neighborhood bully a dollar that he could not pee over the electric fence. The most entertainment I ever got for a dollar.

actually that would never happen because pee is not a continuous stream enough to conduct electric