Reading these posts has conjured up some fun memories.
I still have a divet in the front of my right quad from a limb that lodged up during falling. It stayed lodged for maybe 2 months, then one windless morning, it decided to fall right on top of my leg as I was stepping up over a piece of wood. Could've walked through undisturbed timber instead but I have a habit of walking logs & tops.
Wood that's ripped off during the fall & then catapulted can travel further than one would think. I got clocked pretty good by a poplar branch that was torn off & thrown back towards the stump. The interesting part is that I had time not only to leave the stump & it's dangerous proximity, I had time to stop & turn around to look at my handywork & my next victim while getting out & almost lighting a smoke before getting hit. I think I was around 30 some feet diagonally behind the stump at the time. Those poplars weren't that tall either, so the branch that broke the other branch sure had some spring to it.
I've been roughed up by three different skidder operators. One almost drug a nice log over me when he went on ahead before I had actually gotten off said log. He was an old timer, he should've known better.. I was pretty upset until I realized how upset he was about his carelessness. I think he was on the tail end of a few weeks long milwaukee/schnapps bender...
The other incident consisted of the end of the day, a 20' tall evergreen snag of some sort, & a turn being reeled in from below the road. The snag got wacked & I was just close enough to get the top of it to the lid. Knocked me down but no damage. I was on the move, aware of my surroundings and all, trying to get out of the way. Only I was counting on my partner to be aware of his as well. Bad idea. I don't know why he didn't see the snag, but apparently he didn't.
The third consisted of the same as the 1st except with a green operator. He got hung up around a tree, so I cut the offending branches & then fell down in the brush. He assumed that I was clear & went on. Ended up having my thumbnail uprooted(the part under the skin) on one corner by a bit on my chain, but I could've totally been kneaded by oak tree tops.
I've experienced in numerous strips, people.. Ones who I had no idea were going to be there. Literally all of them were walking into the lay of the tree I was cutting. The scariest of which involving a law enforcement officer of some sort. Dude literally just marched right up over a small embankment & directly into lay. It was definitely not a mistake, either. He knew what was going on, he just figured his authority (ego) would work on a falling tree like it does people. There's just no other explanation. I was in the back of that tree, it was VERY VERY close.
Talk about upsetting. The idiot said he was checking a pond near by or some apple trees by it or something (below the embankment). That was terrifying!!!
I will always know where my behind the tree hiding spots are, if not for escaping my own mess, for dodging the boulders that the dozer cuts loose from time to time.. I almost got flattened by a big yoga ball sized unit. Had it been traveling a foot to the right, I would've. Instead it smacked the red oak I was in the back of. Did the bar in completely & broke the chain brake shield. I was oblivious until impact..
As for looking while running saws, up isn't the only place. A small 6-7"dbh, 30some' tall Hickory that I had bowed over with a larger tree almost removed my head after it kicked off of the stump instead of laying down like I thought it would. I'd cut plenty of similarly situated whips before, only that one was different. Somehow the Hickory was bound up at the top, or locked into the larger tree's bark with it's abrasive Hickory bark. Whatever the case was, I didn't see the problem & it shot the butt off of the stump & into my left temple as it resumed its linear state. In hindsight, the face went in funny. It didn't close up quite as much as it should've with the force it was under.. Apparently I went flying tens of feet up into the air. At least I landed in the skid road.. chainsaw about 20 feet from me.
Crashing another stem onto the mess would've been the best idea.
Sometimes there are brand new occurrences that one does not expect. I've had two trees leave the stump in a sidestepping fashion. As if someone hit the side of the tree with a 20 ton hammer. I mean in a split second, too. Both were cut up, one was small, the other a respectable white oak. The smaller tree had a dead locust against it. (Screw cutting dead locust with a production chain) didn't figure it was exerting enough pressure to woosh the tree right off of the stump, but it did somehow. That tree was so fast & violent tat it took my saw & sat on the bar. That was before good camera phones & before I carried one in the woods, but a picture would've been nice. The bigger tree was just as fast, but I don't know what caused it. Had to've been a similar sideways force from somewhere above. Only difference is that the big one fell after it's big trick. I could've probably been killed by the larger one as there was enough room from stump to the deck for my lower half to have gotten smushed. I need to add that both trees didn't go anywhere after being completely cut up (enough wood left to control into face).
I liked to practice what many consider to be a big no-no, which is cutting from the downhill side of a stem. Out east timber, with a 32" wrap outfit, it's a lot less work than cutting everything 3" above the deck from the uphill side. IMO
I also get a kick out of sawing swing dutchmans on the compression side, too. I could sidehill a stand of poplars without tapping a wedge & no stumps more than a few inches high on the high side. Stuff like that is what got the loggers we cut for asking why my I wasn't the boss man hahaha. I didn't know the mill owner like,my boss at the time did....
Anyways, that questionable methodry likely saved me from peril as I wasn't around the upper half of the stump where it went.
Something as small as keeping a few feet of distance between your feet & the stump may be what saves your bacon one day.
I know that my preference for a longer guide bar has kept me from danger.
I'll speak on one last point of importance before ending.
Fatigue.....
It can make you VERY stupid.
I'll never forget the time I looked at the next victim, a small stem that had its top busted out about halfway up, but not completely detached or touching the deck.
I then walked mere feet up to cutting range, & promptly forgot all about it! In the span of like 1.5 freaking seconds my brain discarded critical info. It was one of those days where you couldn't cool off. Just prior to the incident I had taken a few minutes to just sit & let the sweat pour off of my chin, trying to catch my breath, epically tired & probably in the throws of early heat exhaustion. The sleep is one thing but the heat really can do the job on a guy.
So I proceeded to put a face in, & then boom, saw rips out of my hands and there's the top of a chestnut oak inches in front of my feet. It was the size of a stick of pulpwod ready for the truck. It would've mamed me for life or worse.
Thanks to the 32" bar I was far enough away..
Anyways, everything I've mentioned involving just myself, could've been avoided by me either looking up & or around, more.
I keep thinking of more fun & interesting events, but this is enough for now. I did some wild stuff in the woods of OR before I was old enough to work in the woods. I've also done one or two wild things to save my chainsaw.. Don't do that......
Thank you man upstairs! & thank you ADHD, probably. It seems that some of the safest people I've worked with/for are those who you sometimes wonder if they don't drink waay too much coffee. The weather loving foreman being one of them!
Be safe & question everything.
