Freak Tragic bushhogging incident killed a local farmer

[BigD23]

I had a peice of an old dried out tree limb about 1 inch in diameter and 5 inches long shoot out the front of the brush hog through the rubber flap, and nearly take off part of my left foot 2 years ago while brush hogging on my father in laws old Ford 600 . I heard the brush hog hit something, and then felt a hard swat on the side of my foot.It all happened so fast, I was in to much pain to step on the clutch to stop the tractor, luckily I had the presence of mind to shut the key off and let the tractor coast to a stop. When I looked down at my foot, my leather Red Wing work boot had a tear about 6 inches long where the soul meets the leather, and I could see my blood soaked sock through the boot. I stayed on the tractor and called for my wife, who had heard the crash of the brush hog and the tractor stop, and had already come out on the deck to look out back to check on me. When we removed my boot, my foot had a huge gash on the side of the arch, and my little toe was broken, and its nail had been comepletely torn off. I have made a complete recovery, but will never forget the lesson I learned that day. That old 600 jusd had floor boards hanging off the side of the trans , kinda in outer space, which left my feet totaly exposed to whatever came flying out of the front of the brush hog. From now on, I only brush hog with my Farm Trac, since it like most modern day tractors has an enclosed foot area {fenders and floor boards fit flush with each other}, and I don't brush hog when nobody is around any more.

It only takes a Second............

 

[JB4310]

I don't have any experience with bush hogging but looking at N80's picture, if a deadly projectile came out the front then seems like it would have to ricochet of the back of the tractor then ricochet off something on the mower to obtain a trajectory to the operator.
A freak occurrence for sure, those chains look like they would be great at stopping most projectiles but not something as small as .22 every time.

Just the mention of a .22 bullet by birdhunter had me thinking, I hope it wasn't someone varmint hunting with a 30-06 w/.22 sabot round a couple of miles away.
JB.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

you guys have me scared to death....

that's one reason i like my flail, i tend to think that most things would go out the back..........there's always an exception.....

i like the chain and the plexiglass idea.....

to add to the plexiglass idea, you could take two magnets from harbor freight and make it quick attach.......i use one for a small light and they stick on metal much stronger than you'd think......

fella, i sure hate that for you and the operators family.....very sad......i think about it a lot, especially with small children and a wife......dang, man!

 

[Eagleview]

I was also thinking along the lines of it comming from a rifle . Or is it possible that it was a section of a shear bolt from the PTO shaft ?

 

[Skyco]

Yeah ya'll have worried me too. I think I have another winter project building chain guards for my brush hog...

I sure hope the coroner carefully analyzed what the piece of "debris" was that killed the unlucky fellow...if it was made of lead and or copper, I'd be really suspicious it didn't come from the brush cutter....

 

[McCaskey]

I used Polycarbonate, not Plexiglas. The Plexiglas will shatter when hit hard, Polycarbonate (Lexan) will dent in high impact applications. Additionally, it can be bent with a metal brake. Although I purchased locally, there are multiple places to obtain online.
Random examples:
Clear Lexan* Polycarbonate 9034 Sheeting - US Plastic Corporation#
POLYCARBONATE Sheet- Polycarbonate Sheets - Order Online

 

[wstr75]

I have a 5' bush hog type rotary mower for my tractor and also have a 34" flail mower for my BCS walk behind tractor. The flail mower does not "throw" debris, rather the debris comes "tumbling out". Not much inertia imparted to the objects by a flail mower. A flail mower is more upkeep regarding greasing and individual blades/knives but considerably safer than a rotary mower.

It is interesting seeing a ham-sized piece of wood come tumbling out of the flail mower in slow motion. My home mower is a John Deere LX 176 and sometimes when mowing around oak trees it zips an acorn into the tree and then into my face. I wear glasses but have had several acorn to tree richochets come close to my eyes and it stung pretty hard indicating a lot of energy was still there even after bouncing off the tree. I now think flail mowers are the ticket to ride for everything except high quality finish mowing.

Bill in NC

 

[J_J]

I have had something similar happen. While cutting grass on my Dixie Chopper, I saw a piece of debris come out from the mower deck and make a curve upward toward me and smacked me. It reminded me of the boomerang effect. From the same mower, I must have slung something through a patio door from 40 ft away. , I heard it hit and the glass door started breaking into little pieces. I have also ran across metal coat hangers, and the mower blades will chop them into little pieces and sling them every where including my tires. So If you have kids around, even adults, be careful when using that mower.

 

[Reg]

I think I have a Lexan project, thanks.

 

[N80]

I understand that mowers can throw stuff at high velocity. Before I got my mower my B-I-L was mowing my place with an ancient 14' dual spindle JD with an open rear and no chains or anything. Well, I was puttering around as he mowed, picking up sticks etc. He was a good fifty yards away and I heard something go whizzing by. It hit an old sheet of tin roofing about that was leaned up against a tree about 10 yards behind me. It put a big dent in it.

But still, in this tragic case, I don't think I could rest with the given explanation unless there had been a witness. I'd still like to know exactly what the thrown object was and for someone to measure the angles needed for such a trajectory.