Glory shots - worth the risk?

[newbym]

Hey all, just wanted to see where the rest of the "pros" stand on this. I just started working with a new company, and their groundy loves hitting those glory shots with the slicked up pole I leave. Since I'm the new climber (1 week to date), I don't really have the clout to tell the guy that I don't want him trying for them, but I'm definately the better-safe-than-sorry kind of guy. Right now I just bring the tree down to the level the groundy says, then let him take over (including taking over full responsibility if something goes wrong), even though I would much rather just bring the whole thing down in pieces and not risk missing the shot. That extra hour or two of me in the tree knocking down a few more chunks is a lot less expensive to my employer than replacing a deck, fence, greenhouse, etc. So far, no major damage (he did break some terra-cotta pots when the stub bounced more than he thought), but I feel like it's just a matter of odds, and why play those odds when you don't have to... Oh, and just to remove confusion, I'm talking about hitting a line where you only have 2-3 feet of error with a 30-50 foot piece. So now that I've rambled on, I would like everyone else's 2 cents, am I out of line thinking that this kind of risk is unnacceptable?

 

[Burvol]

"Glory Shots" is what you call them? You should tell your groundy if he is really ambitious and wants to "Thread the needle", then he should get a job falling timber in selective harvest unit. He will get ample oppourtunites to swing trees and hit the right spots with out killing the neighbors, and he will get a good butt chewing for scarring trees and breaking lenghts from bad descions. I'm sure there are some jobs around Shasta in the woods. I would tell him to get over his ego and just work, unless it's an obvioius "Glory Shot" that poses no risk.

"Glory Shot" sounds kinda dirty to me

 

[John464]

To you they may be "glory shots". To an experienced feller they may just another felled tree. When you get to the level of precision felling you'll look back and say years ago I would had to have spent another hour or two in that tree before I felt it was safe to drop. Looking back in my earlier years I too was like you, not confident in my felling abilties.

 

[Burvol]

To you they may be "glory shots". To an experienced feller they may just another felled tree. When you get to the level of precision felling you'll look back and say years ago I would had to have spent another hour or two in that tree before I felt it was safe to drop. Looking back in my earlier years I too was like you, not confident in my felling abilties.

But we don't know about the ground guy. He never said if he was good, or green, or indifferent. I agree though, it should be pretty cut and dry if can do it or not. If not, go back up the tree.

 

[John464]

But we don't know about the ground guy. He never said if he was good, or green, or indifferent.

We know of the original poster(see bio)
"Just starting tree work"


newbym is a newby to tree care therfore I assume he is seeing tasks that are blowing his mind. Thats what I saw when just starting and one of the main reasons I percieved these highly skilled techniques, such as precision felling, so fascinating. It is mind blowing to one just starting out how these guys do it.

 

[Burvol]

Very true. I am surprised that a guy with no ground experience would go straight to climbing.

 

[9th year rookie]

trust and communication

I can drop butts fairly well but not always with confidence.
The guys that I work with can, and w/confidence.
The difference is that I know them (or get to know w/not so glorious shots), you haven't been there long.
I take all the responsibility, whoever is cutting.
If I have any doubt, I will have a full discussion to make sure whoever is cutting is 100% confident, if not chunk down a little lower.
Glory is great but not on my dime.

I would make sure if he is going to make the glory shot and misses, you are not responsible. Either way a crew is a team and a bad shot is a bad shot for everyone.

 

[beaverb01]

Glory Shots?

My idea of "glory" when it comes to tree work, is getting the job done without any damage to anything except the ground. Landscaping, flower pots, sidewalks, even lawn ornaments....whatever the customer does not want damaged or destroyed should be respected. Why take chances when you don't have to? Showing off should be done AFTER leaving a successful job....not in front of the customer!

Just my 2 Lincolns,

Work Safe.....Beaver

 

[gremlin]

Im new to to this as well and the few trees i have felled that i were unsure about i chunked till i knew without a shadow of a doubt that there would be nothing destroyed when it fell. Abolutely no sense in trying to show off in a tree and end up tearing something up in the process. Def. not worth it to me. Id rather spend more time in the tree and know that im not taking the chance of destroying someones property.

Much better to be safe than sorry

 

[Dadatwins]

Sometimes it is easier to drop the log whole than piece it down. Some companies sell the logs to mill and need it to be specific lengths ,they would flip out if you pieced down a mill log. I will take the top down as far as is needed to drop the trunk safely. I will generally leave a rope in the trunk just to make sure it goes where I want it. As for cowboying around with a 'glory shot' on a customers property, probably not a good idea. Good luck with your new climbing career, be carefull.

 

[mckeetree]

My idea of "glory" when it comes to tree work, is getting the job done without any damage to anything except the ground. Landscaping, flower pots, sidewalks, even lawn ornaments....whatever the customer does not want damaged or destroyed should be respected. Why take chances when you don't have to? Showing off should be done AFTER leaving a successful job....not in front of the customer!

Just my 2 Lincolns,

Work Safe.....Beaver

Our clients don't even want the ground damaged. I can drop a spar anywhere I want it to with extreme accuracy (at least I used to could, I guess I still can) but I don't let my guys do tree work that way. We lower everything down. I bid a job today and got the O.K while ago to do it . The guy told me we were $1,800.00 higher than the next highest price he got but word is we don't let anything hit the ground hard and that's what he wants. I like that.

 

[clearance]

One thing that I like about this job is the rush. I don't take chances, I take heavily calculated risks, big difference, like between a gambler and a player. When I am sure I can fall it, I fall it. If you are confident, go for it.

When I hear how someone cut down a big tree by roping down every single branch, I am not impressed. If someone lowers some branches, pushes off the rest, blows off a top that has to go one way and only one way, if they fall a big buttlog and it just misses the fence by a few feet, then I am impressed. I am not advocating being careless or foolish, not at all. If you are real sure, have taken some time to think about it, then is the time.

If you want to be 100% sure of everything, go and be an accountant.

 

[clearance]

And it not the "glory shot", its the MONEY SHOT.

 

[Mikecutstrees]

I agree with most of the posters here. Taking risks is a bad idea. Once you have felled alot of trees you begin to realize how unprictable things can be. Doing things that can possibly damage property is just unacceptable for me. Stuff does happen but we must do everything we can to eliminate risks. I was up in a very healthy white oak a few weeks back. While I was in the top it was moving a little more than I expected. So I took small pieces and chunked it all the way down. The second to last piece looked fine, but the final 16" of the tree was completely hollow underground too. Felling that stick could of led to disaster for the nearby house.

 

[Dadatwins]

One thing that I like about this job is the rush. I don't take chances, I take heavily calculated risks, big difference, like between a gambler and a player. When I am sure I can fall it, I fall it. If you are confident, go for it.

There is a difference between experienced confident and newbie risk. After a few thousand trees under your belt you can have some confidence in what you are doing. But you must still be careful and expect the unexpected. Overconfidence gets people hurt and property damaged. As can a newbie taking a risk trying to build confidence. Keep asking questions newbym, and don't take chances or 'heavily calculated risks' until you have built some confidence.

 

[hornett22]

i'll lay a $100 on a bar oil jug that i can hit it 99.99999% of the time.

but if i feel the slightest doubt,i chunk it.it ain't worth a sloppy reputation and you will get one.customers do not like you taking chances on their property.especially when they pay you to do it safely and correctly.if they didn't care they would have hired Bubba's Truck and Saw.

 

[TheKid]

the crew and i just finished a pretty big for us (maybe 120' )
dead doug. fir removal and had originally planned to fell the last 60' and leave on site as it is a forested area. I spoke later with the client and convinced him to leave a 30' snag as a wildlife habitat. I am very glad he agreed to this as it prevented us from having to "thread the needle" and fall a spar in a tight spot where minor damage COULD have occurred had we not hit our mark. I personally often find it more difficult to fall a naked spar into a tight spot than it would be to fall an entire tree. We almost always use a pull line when falling anything. gotta be for sure in the urban environment. fwiw.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

The best town in the country for "glory" money shots is Picher, OK. It is...er was a perverbial shooting gallery about a month and a half ago.

A customers yard isn't the place for it IMHO.

 

[clearance]

Fir is the best to fall, for me, so predictable and good holding wood, even when dead but not a snag. Now, you have gone and made a snag, when you could have cut it down. So, this 30' snag, one day it will fail, now for the "take no chance" crowd, what if it kills someone? I guess thats a chance you guys are willing to take, however slim, with other peoples lives, of course.

 

[TheKid]

I agree with you on the excellent properties of the mighty fir. the snag we left is on a 35 deg. sloping, wooded back "yard". if and when this thing comes down (not in our lifetime) no one will be there and it's not long enough to hit anything. I thought i did the right thing considering the log's value on the ground (it's a wild, wooded area so we were instructed to leave all the wood) vs. the logs value standing. woodpeckers, owls and other critters seem to make good use of these snags.