Run ins with critters while up in a tree

[shooterschafer]

Lets hear some storys about experiences with run ins with critters while trimming. I recall when I first started trimming I was trimming some elm trees when somthing jumped in my bucket, I looked down to see 2 very pissed off bat's that I had awoken from their midday siesta with my chainsaw ! They made some very horrid clicking sounds as they bared their teeth . Thinking rabies I just about jumped out of the bucket. I hauled ars down to the ground and preceeded to smash the little batsterds with a small log. I always think about that little incident while handclimbing and what I would do if I ran into some crazy little critter while tied in. I was thinking about this when I was watching a video about this rock climber that would free climb massive sheer cliffs , I told my wife if a bat would fly out and scare the **** out of him that would be his demise being he wasnt using safety gear.

 

[shooterschafer]

Nobody ?

 

[psuiewalsh]

I don't climb but I have sliced up some snakes and critters while bucking logs.:msp_unsure:

 

[Landsinn]

I got a squirrel pretty mad when I hit his nuts with the saw!!!!!

 

[2treeornot2tree]

Had a flying squirrel jump outta the tree last year removing a dead maple.

 

[KenJax Tree]

I ran into a hornets nest about 80ft off the ground i heard the buzz with my ear plugs in lets just say my blakes hitch was SMOKIN' when i got to the ground.

 

[shooterschafer]

I ran into a hornets nest about 80ft off the ground i heard the buzz with my ear plugs in lets just say my blakes hitch was SMOKIN' when i got to the ground.

I knew a handclimber that nearly died due to anaphylactic shock caused by a bunch of honeybees he tore thru with his saw!

 

[shooterschafer]

Had a flying squirrel jump outta the tree last year removing a dead maple.

While we were winching over a maple near the college I saw a fox squirrel jump out of the top from about 65 ft. he hit the ground running never skipped a beat.

 

[ROPECLIMBER]

Had a Mexican Eagle come crashing through the canopy right past me maybe two feet from me, didn't know what it was it went by so fast, but it landed on a grackel killed it looked up at me,screached and flew off with the grackle, scared me but was cool, come get the rest of these flying rat grackels,Trimmed a big oak that had a family of Owls and stayed about 10 feet from it,was above it so could see the ugly birdies,the mom and dad kept coming back and were watching me one on a tree in back yard and the other on tree across street big owls they seemed to know I ment no harm but were within swoopin distance and talking to each other the hole time, the customer had told me to leve around the nest native so as not to evict them, they keep the mice and rats down.
Paul

 

[KenJax Tree]

I was spiking up a big oak and about 25-30ft up i looked down to move my climb line and when i looked back up i was eye to eye:msp_w00t: with a raccoon it was a good thing he pulled his head back in and didn't hiss because he was about to get the Silky but after i got up past his hole i heard him run down the tree.

 

[tree md]

I almost got bit by a possum a few years ago. I was doing an ancient Maple or Fruitless Mulberry, can't remember which, but it was a tangled mess that had been topped about 25 years previously. The possum was living in the rotten hollow where one of the topping cuts had been made. He nearly had my hand in his mouth when I looked around and saw him. I almost jumped out of the tree, save for the fact I was tied in.

Also had a squirrel bail down the spar on me one time. He hit my shoulder coming down, jumped off of me and hit the ground running.

I've had many encounters with critters in trees. Too many to remember.

 

[formationrx]

encounters...

put this great horned owl back in the nest a while back.... he fell out during a storm.....

 

[sgreanbeans]

I have had them all, we have a large wildlife pop right here in the middle of town. Bald Eagles are everywhere during the winter. The worst are the bees. They hate u! The best was long ago. Was taking a large white pine, had the perfect top for a coon. Hard to explain, but all the branches off the tip grew out up and back in, creating a "TeePee" for the coon. I didn't know he was in there, when I dumped it, he bailed when it hit, we drug it out of the way and the damn thing crawled back in! HO was having us leave the stuff on site, so he said leave him alone, he didn't mind the company!

 

[sgreanbeans]

Had a Mexican Eagle come crashing through the canopy right past me maybe two feet from me, didn't know what it was it went by so fast, but it landed on a grackel killed it looked up at me,screached and flew off with the grackle, scared me but was cool, come get the rest of these flying rat grackels,Trimmed a big oak that had a family of Owls and stayed about 10 feet from it,was above it so could see the ugly birdies,the mom and dad kept coming back and were watching me one on a tree in back yard and the other on tree across street big owls they seemed to know I ment no harm but were within swoopin distance and talking to each other the hole time, the customer had told me to leve around the nest native so as not to evict them, they keep the mice and rats down.
Paul

It was just a couple weeks or maybe a month since I was in that oak when the hawk or falcon swooped the squirrel right off the branch and then flew right below me. Freaking wild kingdom going on in dis beyatch!

 

[Grace Tree]

I was piecing down a hollow maple and I knew it was home to something. I kept wacking off small pieces and I could see a coon trying to be invisible. There's too many with rabies around here to risk getting bit so I wasn't going to try and grab him. I kept cutting till he ran out of room to hide and he came out of the trunk like a jack in the box. He jumped 20 ft. to the ground and ran in the neighbor's garage. Scared the crap out of me.
I climbed down out of a white pine holding a nest full of baby robins. The homeowner gave me a $25 tip for being kind.
Phil

 

[k5alive]

about a year ago i had to demoss and thin out a huge live oak spikeless, i was about 40 something feet up when a curious racoon came out of his little hole in a crotch, then he saw me and got PI SS ED started hissin at me and whatnot. i just repelled down a little and left his area alone.

 

[treebilly]

I did a large silver maple trim about ten years ago where I cut through a coiled up black snake in a hallow spot at thity foot up. Looked at all my limbs to make surev it wasn't my blood. The head hissed at me an hour later when I scooped it up off the drive. Snakes don't die till sun down it's true! Had my share of squirrels,coons,and those dang hornets(27 times at once last summer, amzing how slow a bucket is in that situation). Oh almost forgot one dumb cat. Stupid thing won't leave my house now.

 

[treeman75]

One thing I like doing to new groundies is if I find a nest with eggs I will tell them to catch this and toss one down. They almost always catch it and get crap all over. I was just talking to a HO yesterday about animals in trees. I have had quite a few incounters.

 

[shooterschafer]

put this great horned owl back in the nest a while back.... he fell out during a storm.....

While driving up a logging road I found a great horned owl that was paralyzed from the neck down. I took it home and thought it would be cool to get a picture of me holding it, bad idea that son of a --bit me on the side and took a nice little chunk of flesh out. I contacted DOW and they sent an officer over to take the owl, he said they would probably put it down.

 

[dts99]

ive seen a bit, i had a bat crawling up my leg one time, i was on the ground, i was flapping my arms to signal to my groundy over the chipper that there was a bat. when we talked about it later he thought i was calling him a fairy. and one other time i droped a log and started bucking it when a puff of fur came out of my saw and a tailless squirl came flying out of the end.