Posted by Sherman in Idaho [50.52.4.20] on Monday, July 13, 2015 at 14:16:02 :
In Reply to: Bad accident, a power wagon "family" member - posted by Doc Dave [24.245.101.30] on Monday, July 13, 2015 at 13:18:17 :
Sorry to hear that. I don't usually comment on these sorts of posts, but that one hit close to home because I've had enough close calls, especially with "widowmakers" as the loggers call those dangerous trees, to know that it was just dumb luck that let me learn from my experience rather than be injured by it. The one thing modern medicine is really good at is trauma, so I hope Wayne will pull through, but anything involving the neck and head is really scary. Those hung-up trees are really tricky because when you cut them off in pieces, the butt can kick out in any direction. If I can, I get a line on it and pull the butt end out, or even cut down the tree it's hung up on.
With tree cutting it seems like even when you think you've learned it all, unexpected things still happen. Last year I thought I killed my dog. The dog was waiting patiently behind me and the tree started to go over just the way I aimed it, and then the dog decided to get up and go sniffing right where the tree was headed. I thought for sure that was the end of her, but although she yelped, all the big branches missed her and she wiggled out from under it. For quite a while after that, though, she'd run and hide whenever I fired up a chain saw. Of course my first thought was "what if it had been a child?"