Timberrrrrrr!

Oh yeah, there's a lot of people out there with chainsaws and a perception that they know how to cut down a tree properly and safely. Riiiiiight!

I can tell you that I've felled a lot of trees and have been pretty successful, but there's been a few that gave me pause for thought and made me change my approach somewhat. The adjustment might be something simple, like parking your truck in a safer spot or dragging that storage box out of the way, and sometimes it's more complicated, like when you have to hook on to a trailer that's nearby and move it out of the way. Why take unnecessary chances?




We even had a few trees that were so big and so twisted that there was no way to guarantee they'd fall where I wanted, meaning we had to call in a pro with a feller/buncher. A bit of an added cost but he made short work of a lot of hard to handle trees and they were guided right to where we wanted them to fall, so no damage!

A feller/buncher in action

Regardless of how I am approaching the job of knocking down a tree, I always notify everyone on the property about the task and ensure our family and friends are in a safe place and stay there until after the tree gets dropped. I also park a vehicle across our access road, just to ensure no-one drives up while in the process of felling a tree, particularly if I'm aiming to have the tree land on the road. 

It's sure easier to limb and buck a tree when you have clear access, and you'll be all the more confident with your process and procedures if you consider the safety aspects and approach your tree felling with a "better safe than sorry" attitude!