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Near Miss

Started by Ron Scott, August 16, 2010, 10:00:24 PM

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Ron Scott

While walking in the woods late this afternoon, a large aspen snag came crashing down unexpectedly out of the blue and landed within 5 feet of me. It landed with such force that it exploded in pieces, bursting around me.

It was somewhat windy and the snag came down so fast and hard without warning that there was no way that I could have gotten out of its way. It about took me off my feet and I'm just thankful that it missed me. If I was just a few feet closer walking or if the snag a few feet taller, I probably wouldn't be writing this as a "near miss" tonight.



~Ron

Shotgun

What an experience, Ron!  Sure glad it missed you. That's a camp fire story, for sure.

Norm
Joined The Forestry Forum 5 days before 9/11.

Magicman

I'm glad that you only had a close call.

The thought of widow makers is scary stuff.  We still have Katrina limbs continually falling.  I've had several to fall in my back yard this year.  One Saturday night.
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Warbird

Glad to hear you are okay, Ron.  Nothing like a 'near hit' to make a guy appreciate being alive.

Gary_C

Wow, that's way too close for comfort Ron. Were you working or just out for a walk in the woods?

The job I am working on right now, which is a pine thinning is way too dangerous for a person on foot. It's a real mess with the Buckthorn and Prickly Ash undergrowth that's higher than the machine plus with the blister rust and the antagonistic Walnut mixed in, there are dead and dying trees all over. I think the underbrush is all that's holding some of those white pines up.

I already had the top of one white pine that I was cutting fall on the light bar on top of the harvester and knock it off the machine onto the ground and of course I did not see it fall and promptly ran over the light bar and flattened it. There goes $600.

The woods is a dangerous place and not even safe for machines.  :)
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Jeff

I know of a few woods, including my own that I won't walk in in a wind.  Ron, the wind was blowing quite hard here yesterday.

I got put to ground on a calm still day in 2009 standing just inside my woodlot when a dead birch branch fell from the sky without warning and got me right on top of the head. It was only about an inch in diameter and two feet long but I had a headache for a day and a stiff neck for over a week.  I thought somebody had snuck up behind me and hit me with a bat.


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Tom

I'm sure glad he missed you, Ron.  Lately, we've been the dart board on the wall of Deity's entertainment room.  That Perseid Meteor shower has him throwing rocks at us again and Pakistan is being  (for a milder term) leaked on.  I guess he saw you wandering all alone out there in the woods and just couldn't resist a chance to make you jump.  :D


Texas Ranger

Several years ago, on a dead (scary word, there) calm day I am walking through a really nice patch of woods, when I hear a creaking, popping sound to my left.  Glanced over to see a water oak gently falling over, just out of range.  I did a quick step anyway, and went back to see what had caused the fall, roots pulled, no damage at the base, just decided to fall.

Or, Tom is right, The Big Guy was sending a warning.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

DanG

Gravity is a wonderful thing.  It comes in handy for little things like staying on the Earth and that sort of stuff, but it gets a little too frisky sometimes.  I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't be wearing a hardhat whenever I go out into my own yard.  These tall pines think nothing of spontaneous self-pruning from over 100 feet up, and even a green pine cone can ruin your day.  A green Longleaf cone is almost a foot long and weighs about 3 pounds.  They can ruin more than your day!

I'm sure glad that snag missed you Ron!  It brings to mind them bullets that have a name on them, and the ones addressed "To whom it may concern." :o

TR, I had a similar experience a few years back.  I was driving down the highway and just happened to look at the trees at just the right moment to see an oak just keel over.  No wind, live tree, just fell over for no apparent reason. :o ???
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Ron Scott

Yes, it was quite windy here yesterday with gusts to 30 mph. Not the best day to be in the woods, but hey I've been there many times before. ::)

I was visiting a client's property (hunt club) where I have hunting prevliges and was doing some scouting and pruning up a shooting lane along a lowland edge with an overstory of scattered old growth aspen. The area is not very accessable, except on foot due to the high water table, but is an area that I've been in many times.

I've had trees fall nearby in the woods before for no reason while marking timber, but none this close, so fast, and with such force. It was just like an unexpected mortar blast, but without any sound. It's still scary thinking about it, and yes HE got my attention. ;)
~Ron

Bro. Noble

Quote from: DanG on August 17, 2010, 11:55:11 AM
Gravity is a wonderful thing.  It comes in handy for little things like staying on the Earth and that sort of stuff

I'll bet things were a mess before they passed that law of gravity ::)  I'll not say anything more about passing laws and messes or Jeff will chastise me for getting political :D :D

Ron,  I'm glad you are still with us ;D

I bring the stoopid cows in to the milkbarn at 4PM everyday no matter what the weather is doing.  I think the scariest time was during an ice storm aand it sounded like bombs were exploding here and there.
milking and logging and sawing and milking

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