small trees can be dangerous too.

bstrom · Nov 8, 2015

I'm sure most people know this as I should have but I was pushing some small blown down trees out of my wood road using my tractor loader bucket that still had roots in the ground. Maybe four to five inches in diameter and a few feet off the ground, parallel to the ground. Well they got under quite a lot of tension and one of them slipped up and over the bucket, snapped back and ripped the dashboard off and luckily caught behind the steering wheel instead of whacking me in the torso. I was able to repair the tractor ok but if it had been my rib cage who knows what that would have entailed. It was a lot of force, probably enough to do some real damage to you.

Something to be aware of. Next time I will cut them first. I'm well aware of what trees under tension can do but I hadn't encountered this before.

Panik · Nov 8, 2015

You're not the only one who has been lucky with this. A couple weeks ago I was making a clearing out back of my shop to stash yard trimmings. Was moving some old cedar blow down and had the exact same things happen to me. It was one of those situations where I stopped, said to myself this looks dangerous, and about the the time I got that thought through me head one of the cedar sapling slipped off the top of my bucket and came back at me. I had just enough time to turn my body so that the sampling caught me in the shoulder and not the chest. I got off very very lucky with just a bruised shoulder.

xtruckerbob · Nov 8, 2015

WOW!! People never give much thought to the things they do with their tractors till its to late. Glad you are OK. And yes I am guilty too.

CCWKen · Nov 8, 2015

That's one of the reasons I want a FOPS on my crawler. I was knocking down some small trash trees near a fence line. All was going well but I wasn't clearing the trees as I was moving through them. Going back and forth, I guess a branch or root snagged on a track. All of sudden I get slugged in the back of the head with what felt like a baseball bat. That ended my fun for the day. No blood but a heck of a bump. I don't run over trees any more.

chim · Nov 8, 2015

Wow. That brought back memories of a similar experience with my B7500 when it was almost new. It doesn't seem possible it was a dozen years ago because I can almost hear the "whoosh":

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ot-whacked.html?highlight=bucket+slipped+tree

Kenneth in Texas · Nov 9, 2015

Small trees are good for impaling you also, been there done that more times than i want to think about.

Ed of all trades · Nov 9, 2015

I had an experience something like that. I was winching some logs to me with my log skidder and had a guy helping me. There was a small pine tree cut off about chest high and the tree was laying next to the stump. I saw that the guy was helping me was to close and that the little tree was catching on the end of the trees I was winching and the tall stump. I stopped the wench and pointed to the little pine and the stump thinking that he would get out of the way. Instead he walked forward to cut the stump with the saw he had running in his hands. As I turned the wench back on I saw him get hit in the chest with the small pine and go flying through the air into a brush pile out in front of the skidder. He bounced out of the brush pile and landed on his feet with the running saw still in his hands. I cut off the skidder and ran to him. He was looking around trying to figure out what had happened. He was fine and just had a slightly sore chest the next day. he worked the rest of the day and the next as well with no problems. As I write this keep seeing how crazy it sounds. Tree hits guy in chest, guy flies through air for about 30 ft and bounces off of a brush pile with a running saw in his hands and is fine. That is how I felt that day. It just seemed impossible. I have no doubt that God was watching over us that day. I can think of no other reason. Ed

franklinute · Nov 9, 2015

Ed you and your helper were definitely lucky that day! I wear glasses
and to me nothing worse that a limb coming across and slapping me
across the face sending the glasses who knows where esp as I am
bushhoging. I hate getting off and feeling around the ground for my
glasses. I've gotten now I don't mow under or around tree branches
any more.

bstrom · Nov 9, 2015

After reading this it seems like the rule should be anything that can get under tension from pushing or pulling with a machine should be cut first. It's bad enough felled or blown down trees can get under tension but you can't always do anything about that. An experienced friend of mine cut a blown down tree under tension and as he went through it, it ripped the saw out of his hands and threw it 40 feet in the air. He was ok but he thought he was cutting in the right place too. Always good to take your time and look things over carefully.

Citydude · Nov 9, 2015

We recently bought 23 wooded acres that had been neglected for 10 years. In 2012 an early October snowstorm caught the aspens with full foliage and the result wasn't pretty as hundreds of them 15' and under were bent over from the top to the ground. Each tree reacts differently, not only can they be bent over, they can be twisted somewhat and can react in ways that seem to defy gravity when cut.