Ever had happen?

[n6crv]

Hello, was wondering if anyone else had this happen? Was cutting with a friend yesterday and he was working on a big old Ash tree. I could tell something was wrong by the way he stopped and starting looking at his legs. Blood was all over him and the tree was red where he was cutting. So after seeing he was fine finished cutting and found the tree had two Coons living in it. One gave him a nasty look then ran off the other one was not going anywhere. How do you check to see if anything is living in a tree before cutting? Glad it was NOT a Skunk or we would still be sitting outside.

 

[ScotO]

Hello, was wondering if anyone else had this happen? Was cutting with a friend yesterday and he was working on a big old Ash tree. I could tell something was wrong by the way he stopped and starting looking at his legs. Blood was all over him and the tree was red where he was cutting. So after seeing he was fine finished cutting and found the tree had two Coons living in it. One gave him a nasty look then ran off the other one was not going anywhere. How do you check to see if anything is living in a tree before cutting? Glad it was NOT a Skunk or we would still be sitting outside.

I've heard of it happening several times, but never had it happen to me. Worst thing I've ever had happen as far as animals and tree-falling was displacement of a squirrel nest that was in a rotted out crotch in a maple I cut down two years ago (burning wood from that tree as I type this). Sad thing was, there were babies that were still hairless in that nest. Didn't know what to do with them, and the mother was distraught. So I left the tree lay as it was and returned the next morning, the mother and babies were gone. Hope she got them to safety.

As for your incident, that had to be disheartening to see blood everywhere. I bet you thought he did something to himself, probably scared you at first!

 

[FireBones]

Racoons are dirty and I would hate to get any coon DNA into a cut or open wound or in my mouth.

 

[Danno77]

How'd you like to be pulled over with blood all over you and the saw that's in the bed of your truck. Geesh.

 

[firebroad]

And to think I still feel guilty about running over the baby bunnies with the lawnmower in 1965.
They weren't even big enough to eat.

 

[gzecc]

Hello, was wondering if anyone else had this happen? Was cutting with a friend yesterday and he was working on a big old Ash tree. I could tell something was wrong by the way he stopped and starting looking at his legs. Blood was all over him and the tree was red where he was cutting. So after seeing he was fine finished cutting and found the tree had two Coons living in it. One gave him a nasty look then ran off the other one was not going anywhere. How do you check to see if anything is living in a tree before cutting? Glad it was NOT a Skunk or we would still be sitting outside.

Similar thing happened to me although no color. I was on a ladder trimming a 10" branch when I felt fluid running down my arm. Scared the #$%* out of me. It was water sitting in a hollowed out section of the branch I was cutting. Man, that was a relief.

 

[lukem]

I had that happen once. I probably turned pale as a ghost because I thought I cut myself but it hadn't started hurting yet.

I have enough to do than worry about a critter getting in the way of the chain. Natural selection...survival of the fittest...deepening the gene pool...all that stuff.

 

[bogydave]

New one for me.
Few seconds of terror & a bad day for the coon.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Had that happen once in my old logging days. Certainly not as bad as felling a tree that is loaded with bees!

 

[n6crv]

Similar thing happened to me although no color. I was on a ladder trimming a 10" branch when I felt fluid running down my arm. Scared the #$%* out of me. It was water sitting in a hollowed out section of the branch I was cutting. Man, that was a relief.

Did you also get some that ran down that was warm?

 

[Thistle]

I always tap on a hollow trunk (usually I leave them for habitat,2-3 per acre) or log first when the rare one is removed.Whether its a standing snag or deadfall.

Last December I was still splitting up the last of the 12 cords of dead mostly Red Oak cut in previous 8 months.Grabbed this round from the pile & hit it once with the X25.It was quite cold & I was wearing heavy lined leather gloves.Suddenly this white footed deer mouse come scurrying out of that small hole in the end.Obviously built a nest when the logs were dumped earlier in the summer.I grabbed it carefully,set it down a couple feet away where it went under a pile of leaves & brush.

See what an ol' softie I am?

 

[Flatbedford]

I have hit water, but never critters. Even the water scared me for a split second!

 

[rkshed]

I have hit water, but never critters. Even the water scared me for a split second!

I just hit water this weekend.
Splitting some oak I had just felled and found out there was a pocket of water in the middle of the log. It had to be a good 2 cups worth. It splashed out and I jumped thinking I had just done something I shouldn't have... Just didn't know what.
I've never seen that before.
If it had been a snake i'd still be out there chopping and slashing away at it.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I took a tree down with a bird nest in it last year squished the baby's ! I felt terrible I was in a crook of a branch where I could not see them. When we where cleaning up I found them.

 

[peakbagger]

I helped drop a big oak once loaded with squirrels. No outside evidence of them but when my friend was sawing he could tell the center was rotten. We worked onthe tree for quite awhile and no sign of squirrels until we dropped it. They swarmed out like bees. They had a nest that must have been 20 feet long inside.

 

[Prof]

I cut a hollow tree down one time that had a squirrel in it--no blood though.

 

[firefighterjake]

A number of years ago I took down a tree with a nest of young chickadees in it . . . felt pretty bad . . . although I did manage to save one bird by catching him/her and bringing them to a local avian shelter.

Now I try to avoid cutting down trees in the Spring when the birds are nesting . . .

 

[smokinj]

I had squirrels make the ride down but didnt stick around for the bucking.

 

[punchy]

i saw a mouse pop out and back in a hole once. he/they rode the tree till it stopped. saw more of them while bucking, but never came near the saw.

 

[firebroad]

Well you know, they always say if you have dead tree on the property it is a good idea to leave it standing to provide a home for wildlife. Guess the folks to advise that don't burn...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I took a tree down with a bird nest in it last year squished the baby's ! I felt terrible I was in a crook of a branch where I could not see them. When we where cleaning up I found them.

One more reason we usually stop cutting in March. Our cutting season runs December through February and only occasionally into early March.

 

[onetracker]

Well you know, they always say if you have dead tree on the property it is a good idea to leave it standing to provide a home for wildlife. Guess the folks to advise that don't burn...

as thistle said- he leaves so many standing-dead per acre. that's land stewardship.

and backwoods, just another illustration of your experience

 

[mywaynow]

Last two times I went to split some of the big Hickory I bucked last winter, when I start the splitter up the mice start to pop up. I think they have a nest in the main square tube frame. Going there today and the splitter is coming home so I hope they have seatbelts! Better yet hope they jump ship when I split the last of the tree and stay there!

 

[Realstone]

Thought about suggesting hitting the trunk with a steel bat, but that would probably make the critters hunker down even more.