himiler
If I wake up . . . it's a good day.
Makes one wonder if you felt guilty when you cut its legs off and that's why it can't leave the house. Kinda like that that Stephen King book Misery.
Run ins with critters while up in a tree
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Makes one wonder if you felt guilty when you cut its legs off and that's why it can't leave the house. Kinda like that that Stephen King book Misery.
squad143
Tree Guy
I've had my share. Mainly angry birds (not the game), bees and squirrels.
Last year I was removing a manitoba maple and this squirrel bailed out above me. He landed in my lap. Don't know who was more freaked out, him or me. He looked up at me and then jumped, extenting his limbs to help him soar. Softend his landing and hit the ground running.
Didn't know I could make sounds like that.
The guys on the ground were laughing their asses off.
Once I caught my composure, I had a chuckle myself.
Hard to be a big tough tree man when your screaming like a little girl.
Last year I was removing a manitoba maple and this squirrel bailed out above me. He landed in my lap. Don't know who was more freaked out, him or me. He looked up at me and then jumped, extenting his limbs to help him soar. Softend his landing and hit the ground running.
Didn't know I could make sounds like that.
The guys on the ground were laughing their asses off.
Once I caught my composure, I had a chuckle myself.
Hard to be a big tough tree man when your screaming like a little girl.
superjunior
Addicted to ArboristSite
Run into every one of them up there..Had a squirell head fall to the ground while bucking logs, A hawk let me know I was too close to his nest, had a squirell use my head as a jumping point, swung a big piece of beach over to another tree to watch a familly of dazed coons fall to the ground, Had to evict flying squirells (one year in particular it seamed they were in every silver maple) and of course the bees, those g#####m#####f#####s!!!
frostedunit
ArboristSite Lurker
Bout 3 weeks ago, had a squirrel run across a neutral line and down a pole between my legs.
65 feet up with an 80 pound cable lasher in my lap.
Wife's still trying to get the stains out of my drawers.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
65 feet up with an 80 pound cable lasher in my lap.
Wife's still trying to get the stains out of my drawers.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
We were removing a large basswood with multiple hollow areas along the main trunk. Got the top rigged out and started working on the trunk. When I got to the uppermost hollow, about 6 or 7 squirrels came barreling out. No big deal. Worked the trunk lower and when my feet were just above the next hollow spot a pretty big coon bailed out. I moved lower for the next piece and now my lanyard was right across the opening of the hollow. Got the rigging set up and started cutting.. I felt something pulling on my leg and waist. Another raccoon was trying to pull itself out of the hollow and since my lanyard was blocking the way he decided to use me to pull himself out. I bashed him a couple of times with my fist and knocked him off of me the whole time letting loose with f-bomb after f-bomb. Of course the homeowners were watching this the whole time. I've been back to the property about 5 or 6 times after this and now its always a standing joke with the homeowner. Just a week ago we were back to take down some small dead elms and once again they were joking that at least I didn't get attacked by coons again.
Youngbuck20
ArboristSite Guru
was cuttin the last of the tree out i found 5 or 6 brand spankin new porcupines. still partially transparent. must of missed them with the saw by less than an inch. picked em up and put them under a willow, next day they were gone, gunna say someone had a good meal.
himiler
If I wake up . . . it's a good day.
This isn't on topic but since I'm laughing I'll tell.
Told my son-in-law to flip the rigging rope over to me. So he grabs the line about 3 feet up from the figure 8 knot in the end and gives it a whip . . . WACKO! That knot hit him right in the family jewells. He just kinda slowly crunched over, fell on the ground, and curled up. I was laughing so hard tears were running down my face and I had to literally hold on for dear life to keep from falling out of the tree. He kind of walked wierd for a while and to this day I still laugh thinking about it. Just glad my daughter was already pregnant.
Steve
Told my son-in-law to flip the rigging rope over to me. So he grabs the line about 3 feet up from the figure 8 knot in the end and gives it a whip . . . WACKO! That knot hit him right in the family jewells. He just kinda slowly crunched over, fell on the ground, and curled up. I was laughing so hard tears were running down my face and I had to literally hold on for dear life to keep from falling out of the tree. He kind of walked wierd for a while and to this day I still laugh thinking about it. Just glad my daughter was already pregnant.
Steve
keh10
ArboristSite Lurker
I've been pretty fortunate in my 3 years of tree work. The only real run in I've personally had with a critter was a flying squirrel that flew over my head as I was making a cut. I didn't even notice it happen at the time, but my groundie wouldn't shut up about it for the rest of the job.
A few months after I started in the tree biz I was craning some hollow chunks with the bucket truck for the climber. As I lifted the first good sized chunk, a raccoon popped it's head out above the climber. I couldn't see it from the bucket, but the climber said that it was barely holding itself inside the log spread eagle and looked like it was about to jump right on his head. Fortunately the raccoon decided to wait it out inside the log and I was able to get it to the ground.
A few months after I started in the tree biz I was craning some hollow chunks with the bucket truck for the climber. As I lifted the first good sized chunk, a raccoon popped it's head out above the climber. I couldn't see it from the bucket, but the climber said that it was barely holding itself inside the log spread eagle and looked like it was about to jump right on his head. Fortunately the raccoon decided to wait it out inside the log and I was able to get it to the ground.
I was on my way up a pretty good size ash tree that hung out over a pool. A squirrel kept running ahead of me whenever I'd start to get close. He finally didn't have anywhere else to go and he took about a 30 ft. dive right into the pool. Swam to the edge, climbed out and took off running. Never seen a squirrel swim before that. Another time we'd taken a good size pick off a silver maple with the crane and a squirrel ran down the trunk of it while the butt of it was still 20 ft. in the air. He got to the butt, kind of looked confused, 
and jumped off. He bounced off a log and took off some fur but he seemed to run away ok.
and jumped off. He bounced off a log and took off some fur but he seemed to run away ok.
tree md
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was on my way up a pretty good size ash tree that hung out over a pool. A squirrel kept running ahead of me whenever I'd start to get close. He finally didn't have anywhere else to go and he took about a 30 ft. dive right into the pool. Swam to the edge, climbed out and took off running. Never seen a squirrel swim before that. Another time we'd taken a good size pick off a silver maple with the crane and a squirrel ran down the trunk of it while the butt of it was still 20 ft. in the air. He got to the butt, kind of looked confused,
I had one climb ahead of me in a 100'+ tree onetime. There were no other trees for him to jump into as this tree was isolated. He kept advancing ahead of me as I limbed it up. Just before I dropped the top he bailed out of the top of the tree. I could hear the thud when he hit the ground from way up there. He didn't move and I thought he was dead at first. After a couple of minutes he came around and limped off real slow. Not sure if he made it or not. It was one hell of a drop...
arborjockey
ArboristSite Guru
i dont post much but here goes. about three years ago i was blocking down an oak spar, i started the saw and made a face cut then about half way through the back cut all i saw coming out of the cut was blood, all over the bar and myself. so i just finished the cut and chunked the log out and their was a raccoon cut in half. part of it in still in the tree and part of it on the ground still trying to crawl around with a neighborhood full of people watching. then their was last year i was removing a siberian elm, i rigged off a pretty good size hollow piece...when the piece came off i was face to face with a good size cotton mouth. i have never been so freaked out in my entire life ..I HATE SNAKES! it went right back down into the trunk, thank god i didnt come across it again. but thankfully thats about it for run ins so far.
Thats how I do most of my removals. My lady bug suit doesn't show quite as much skin though.
A few weeks ago I was deadwooding a large cottonwood and a little woodpecker I had noticed earlier came in for a closer look. He hung upside down and cocked his head as he stared at me from 5 feet away. I'm sure he was thinking "wtf is this joker doing in my tree?" he didn't seem to happy about me being in his zone, cutting off the branches that held his meal. He got kind of pissed off and I thought he's was going to start bombing me. I was almost done so I left one branch that he had been working on as a goodwill gesture.
Stihl Wielder
ArboristSite Member
I was 50' up in a red maple that we were piecing down, there was a crotch where the two top branches came out either direction. I got the strong smell of pi$$ and it really stunk, like rat pi$$. dropped those two tops, came down the tree and chunked off a 20' section, and shut off the saw. As I started descending down to come out of the tree and drop the rest of the trunk I heard all kinds of squeeking sounds down on the ground. Here a nest full of baby squirrels was in a hollow void in the middle of that crotch in a nest. That's what was making all the stink. Not sure if the mother ever came back, but I gathered up the youngins and put them back in that nest after cutting that crotch off of the rest of the tree, left it overnight and when I came back the next evening to clean up the rest of that job, they were gone. Not sure if a cat got them or what!:msp_scared:
freeweight
ArboristSite Operative
u saw a sh1t load of blood going everywhere last thing that would go through my mind is "KEEP CUTTING"...
i was sawin a hollow tree log a week ago and a raconn ran out and i had hit its leg and i felt like crap all day because of it
but im a animal "care for'er"
just cant imagine doin that
i was sawin a hollow tree log a week ago and a raconn ran out and i had hit its leg and i felt like crap all day because of it
but im a animal "care for'er"
just cant imagine doin that
i had cut most of the way through the log, it wasnt until toward the end of the cut when i saw the blood. i dont try to Intentionaly hurt animals..i felt bad as well. really i didnt know what to do after that happend.
Stihl Wielder
ArboristSite Member
A little off-topic but last spring I had just backed the truck into my driveway one evening (it was twilight) and noticed a critter in the side yard sitting there. I, thinking it was one of those dam stray cats in the neighborhood, ran towards it yelling at it. It never budged. Once i got close enough to see it clearly it was a racoon, and it was missing all kinds of hair and very sick (either mange or rabies). I ran down to the shed and all I had to kill it with was a pitchfork. The point is, sometimes you gotta do things that are beyond your control. I felt really bad for that poor 'coon, but if a cat or something else would have been bittin by that thing, who knows what could have happened to one of the neighborhood kids.
tree md
Addicted to ArboristSite
The coon population is out of control these days. No one hunts them anymore. People feeding them and turning them into "pets".
I'm as guilty as anyone...
I'm as guilty as anyone...
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Got bit by the clients dog today. Tore the top of my hand open. I was letting the dog smell my hand and the f#cker bit me.
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