Critters in Trees

[blueatlascedar]

AS member beastmaster posted a thread dealing with some bees in a take down and I think we've all been there with those situations. Bees can really ruin a person's day in tree work, that's for sure, but my question; what are some other critters that have given you a thrill while aloft in the trees?
I had a couple encounters with some critters, angry squirrels, snakes, even pissed off nesting birds, but the one that takes the cake went like this. I was removing a fairly large, old silver maple that had huge cavities in every leader. After limbing off the left side of the tree, I was positioning myself and the rig lines to begin to remove the right side of this tree. When I was setting up the lines, I was about 40' up in the main crotch of this tree where a cavity was about knee high on me. The cavity was about 14"-16" in diameter and it was deep because all I could see was darkness when I peered in. Well, I was standing on the hooks communicating the next steps with the groundies when I had some hissing/growling coming from that cavity. I was like what the ???. About that time this big nasty possum comes charging out of that hole and runs right up my waist, across my chest and up over my shoulder down my back. It was out and over me in like 2 seconds. Man, my heart was pounding and I was trying to figure out what the heck it was when it came back from around the opposite side of the trunk and runs up across my back and over my head this time knocking my hardhat off. Yes, it's toenails would dig into me pretty good while it used me to get traction. By now, I kick out my spurs and launch to the back side of the tree and gather my thoughts. My groundies we're finding this whole thing hilarious, while I didn't find as much humor in it. I came out of the tree and we cleaned up what was on the ground and came back the following day. I was kinda paranoid working my way up around that center cavity again but we saw nothing of the possum and removed the remaining tree without incident.
So share with me some of your critter encounters.

 

[outofmytree]

Most of the critters in trees here have chainsaws!

Coolest living thing I have found in a tree, other than the tree that is, was a pair of fledgling rosellas. Like baby versions of this.

They were nesting inside a hollow in an old old Tuart that needed some dead wood removed. I threw my spare shirt over the opening to keep out the saw dust, cleaned up the wood and got down asap. Same tree had a big hive in it but bees don't seem to bother me. Guess I'm not sweet enough.

 

[blueatlascedar]

That's a beautiful bird. Here's what I had coming at me

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

We have been seeing a lot of large late litters of squirrels this year.

 

[blueatlascedar]

We have been seeing a lot of large late litters of squirrels this year.

Aw yes, the squirrels can get quite feisty too. I used to bring bunches of those little guys home and raise them. My wife and I would take turns getting up at night to feed them with an eye dropper. I kept one female in the house as a pet for close to a year and she would go everywhere with me in my hooded sweatshirt. She would stay in either the hand warmer pocket in front or ride in the hood. She was a blast to have as a pet.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I had a buddy in the USMC who had one as a pet for a while. It tore so much stuff up that he had to let it go.

 

[fireman]

we had this guy up in a tree awhile ago she just stayed and watched us.

 

[blueatlascedar]

yeah, I've encountered a coon or two as well. One poor fellow got his one foot cut off when we bucked the log up. We didn't know he was in there till he ran out of the butt end missing a paw and bleeding. We all felt bad, but what do you do?

 

[treemandan]

That's a beautiful bird. Here's what I had coming at me

Ohh possum is a vile creature for sure. When you told us it sank its claws into you, well, I advise some kind of shot.
Its amazing to see them in action. Of course we all know they play dead and really look dead when they do.

 

[treemandan]

I raised these guys after we de-homed them. They grew up and took off. I had to feed them all the time at work and I felt bad. This was back in the early 90's.

Things change cause these days if it moves I am locking a bead on it and taking it out before it takes me out.

 

[pdqdl]

Another possum story; not as good as yours

Some years back I went to bid a job, and took one of my guys with me. He was all city-boy. It was dusk, we were leaving, and he got real quiet. He pointed back behind me and whispers "LOOK! What's that thing? Is that a big rat?"

I turned around, expecting something bizarre, but it was just a big fat 'possum. I started laughing, and asked him if he really didn't know what an oppossum was. He was a bit defensive, but resolutely told me that he had never seen one before.

I asked him if he wanted a better look, and he nervously said No! I said "What are you worried about? Here, I'll just catch him for you!" He cried out "NO! PLEASE don't go near it!"...which I totally ignored.

I ran it down, kicked it around a little bit until it quit running, and then picked up up by the tail and took it back to him. While he was fascinated by it, he stayed well out of biting range. I turned it loose, and they he was no longer a possum newbie.

Curiously, it never "played possum". It tried to bite me the whole time, even when I had it by the tail. Needless to say, my "city boy" employee formed the conclusion that country boys were just as crazy as he had always thought.

No, I never hurt the possum. They are tougher than a boot.

 

[pdqdl]

Ohh possum is a vile creature for sure. When you told us it sank its claws into you, well, I advise some kind of shot.
Its amazing to see them in action. Of course we all know they play dead and really look dead when they do.

One of the dogs caught a possum at my in-laws a couple of years ago. It was very busy playing dead. I took my young daughters over to it, and showed them how good it was at playing dead.

Nothing I did to it could even get it to blink, growl, or twitch. I told my daughters that it was fine, it was just playing dead. They were skeptical. I told them that I could prove it was fine...I carried it over to the creek and tossed it in a deep pool.

Oddly, it sank like a guided missile out of sight to the bottom...Oh Dear! I hope that sucker quits playing possum in time to not drown.... After about a minute at the bottom of the pool, he came bobbing back up, and tried to crawl out of the creek. The steep mud bank was giving it a very hard time getting out.

It's funny- Possums don't swim very well at all.

 

[treemandan]

One of the dogs caught a possum at my in-laws a couple of years ago. It was very busy playing dead. I took my young daughters over to it, and showed them how good it was at playing dead.

Nothing I did to it could even get it to blink, growl, or twitch. I told my daughters that it was fine, it was just playing dead. They were skeptical. I told them that I could prove it was fine...I carried it over to the creek and tossed it in a deep pool.

Oddly, it sank like a guided missile out of sight to the bottom...Oh Dear! I hope that sucker quits playing possum in time to not drown.... After about a minute at the bottom of the pool, he came bobbing back up, and tried to crawl out of the creek. The steep mud bank was giving it a very hard time getting out.

It's funny- Possums don't swim very well at all.

That is hilarious and yes dem sum#####es bite.

 

[Sciuropterus]

I raise/release baby gray squirrels every year, they are fun. I also have 3 pet flying squirrels, they are 12 years old. I installed 3 flying squirrel nest boxes on my property, they all have flyers living in them.

 

[lego1970]

The three things that come to mind is one time a green tree snake caught me off gaurd, the second time a Momma and her two younger raccoons were in the same tree I was trimming but luckily the tree was just being side trimmed along powerlines and not a removal so the raccoons just hugged the top of the tree.

The third thing that comes to mind was horrible. I was topping (yes I know, shouldn't do it, but there was nothing left to these trees anyway) a silver maple after a nasty ice storm we had in Kansas City back in 2002 and while I was cutting this one lead red fluid starting spraying out of the cut and getting all over me. At first I thought I had somehow cut myself, but I didn't feel anything. Then I thought maybe somehow I had poured hydraulic fluid in the chainsaw oiler but that didn't make sense either. Anyway I finished the cut and when the top fell out there was a hollow spot in the tree, I saw something wiggling around and it turned out to be about 4 or 5 little baby squirrels. Three of them were a big bloody mess squirming around but two of the them were still ok. I started bawling when I saw a couple of them helpless guys struggling for life. At the time my son was only 2 months old and something about how helpless a baby is made me all emotional. When I saw those little squirrels all I could think of was my little boy and how helpless he was. I grabbed the two that seemed unharmed and went down to the HO who happened to be a Veterinary. He said there was no chance of helping them and put on the ground and stomped them out. I felt horrible, but 7 years later I bought my son his first BB gun for his Birthday last year and we have taken out all the local squirrels around my house.

 

[m.green]

Just the other day I was doing regular maintenance line clearing trimming for the power company and I had a squirrel run right up my stick saw (in between cuts) and go up my arm, around my neck, down my other arm and then fly into the tree next to me. It happened so quick it almost gave me a heart attack, and I'm 23.

 

[pdqdl]

...I grabbed the two that seemed unharmed and went down to the HO who happened to be a Veterinary. He said there was no chance of helping them and put on the ground and stomped them out. ...

I spent 5 years working for a veterinarian. After a while, dealing with all the mashed, sick, and otherwise ruined animals, you become emotionally detached from the plight of the animals. Much like most of us are not emotionally attached to the trees we terminate. Infant squirrels might have been saved, but the survival rate would be low, and you would spend a small fortune at the vet clinic to save an animal that is not legal to keep as a pet, and would otherwise be "game".

That vet did you a favor, but it was pretty crude to stomp them while you were watching. My guess is that he was trying to give you a lesson on the value of squirrels.

We had a lady bring us an injured wild rabbit once, it's cecum was protruding out a hole in its belly. The vet was very patient and sympathetic, explained that it was an abdominal injury that was difficult to repair, that the survival rate was very low. He persuaded the lady to choose euthanasia, she paid the nominal fee, and left the clinic convinced she had done the right thing. Then he asked me if we should do this the right way (torture the animal for 5-10 minutes trying to find a vein to inject the barbiturate into) or the way he does it when he goes rabbit hunting. I said show me the easy way...he wrenched it's neck in one quick twist. One spasm, and bunny was gone.

 

[Curlycherry1]

I was dropping a bunch of swamp ash trees once in an area where nearly all of them were hollow. It was February and darn cold (<0) and nothing was moving. I worked up to a big tree and cut a shallow wedge and then proceeded to cut it off fast and furious as we did with those ash to prevent slabbing. Halfway through the cut the snow turns red from the saw and I am thinking WTF just happened? I check and I am not hurt and nobody is around the tree. Not wanting to stop for fear of the tree splitting and taking me out I finish the cut and the tree goes over. Inside was raccoon cut in half. Not pretty, but at least it was quick.

The rest of the guys on the crew gave me a lot of room after that. I told them "you say what I did to a raccoon, you could be next!" :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Blakesmaster]

I took down a colorado blue last week that had a few baby squirrels in it as well as a dead hawk. My partner knew what kind it was but I forget. Quite the place for wildlife, that tree was. Today I climbed a cherry for the bossman that had a nice size honey bee hive in it, had to take out the lead about 2 feet above the hive. I climbed up the opposite lead with a can of raid on my saddle just in case, swung over to the rear lead, set my running line, and jumped back to the infected lead. I tied off what would be my second piece, climbed up to the top, sailed that to the ground then slid down to my next piece already rigged and cut it. Then got out the tree right quick. It was fun.

 

[BRCCArborist]

Found three baby squirrels in a cavity the other day. The branch was being pruned out anyway, so we rigged it up nice and tight and lowered it down. I climbed a neighboring tree and relocated them while the original climber and a ground guy chipped brush. Not sure what good it did, but it made the guy that found the squirrels happy since he is a big animal lover.