Falling branches and trees

lestrout

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Do you worry about being hit by a falling tree or branch? I know enough to stay out of the woods on windy days, but last year, I had two cases where a big branch (the size of a tree) fell near me on a still day. The ash borer is demolishing ash trees. The fallen hemlocks on Clarks Creek have created huge logjams. I see a lot of new logs in streams like Ridley.

And today at the board meeting for Valley Forge TU, one of the members was telling us an invasive nematode is killing beech trees. This will reduce canopy on Valley Creek and others, which is bad for keeping the streams cool during the summer.

So on two fronts, more things to worry about.
 
I have been sitting in my tree stand bowhunting on perfectly calm days and heard trees/branches fall. These things happen in nature, so I don't spend time worrying about it.
 
I worry about it enough to have spent the money to have a tree service come to the house on Wednesday and cut the dead branches off a huge tulip poplar on my front lawn under which I cut grass and the wife has a flower bed.
 
I worry about it enough to have spent the money to have a tree service come to the house on Wednesday and cut the dead branches off a huge tulip poplar on my front lawn under which I cut grass and the wife has a flower bed.
That's being smartly proactive, because tulip poplars don't hold thier deadwood the way many other trees do, like oaks, hickory, locust, ect. Tulips were the biggest trees I climbed during my 40 years of tree work.
They seperated the men from the boys. 😉
 
Indeed, I've had some close calls with silver maples on the Juniata. They're big and mighty trees.... Until they aren't.

Do I worry? No. What would by my options? Stay home where it's safe?
 
I once was fishing in the middle of the bald eagle. A fast storm came through. A very large limb, large enough to seriously hurt or kill me if I were knocked out, fell about 10-15 yards above me. I had to dodge it to keep from being dragged downstream with it.
 
I worry about it enough to have spent the money to have a tree service come to the house on Wednesday and cut the dead branches off a huge tulip poplar on my front lawn under which I cut grass and the wife has a flower bed.
God's honest I rarely worry about it when I'm fishing in the woods except when a storm blows up. I REALLY worry about it on my property. I have several large trees within short distance of the house and my shed. I've had a portion of one break off and dangle 50' in the air. Tree crew had to sky climb it to take the limb down. I also have had others removed that were suspicious. We just had a massive one come down in the neighborhood on a blue bird day. Took out 3 poles, a transformer, and wires, fell right across a main road. God was looking out cause it happened around noon on a workday, had it been rush hour there almost certainly would have been fatalities, could have been me, I drive through there 300 days a year, 2x a day. Damn trees are fickle.
 
Do I worry about falling branches and trees? No, but I don't worry about bears and rattlesnakes either. However I am aware of the danger of all three. Take your time,observe.your surroundings.
Life experiences have guided me to take a chainsaw when traveling unpaved roads through national and state forest. Having to backtrack 10+ miles after turning around on a dark, narrow forest road kind of sucks.
 
Do I worry about falling branches and trees? No, but I don't worry about bears and rattlesnakes either. However I am aware of the danger of all three. Take your time,observe.your surroundings.
Life experiences have guided me to take a chainsaw when traveling unpaved roads through national and state forest. Having to backtrack 10+ miles after turning around on a dark, narrow forest road kind of sucks.
Having a chainsaw in your vehicle is a smart move. Better to have and not need, than to need and not have.
 
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If I get taken out by a widowmaker while fishing, my affairs are in order, Les! The loss of canopy is alarming, though. I fished a SEPA Class A in May with a buddy, and we discusses Johnny Appleseed-ing the place because the landowner had to take down so much dead ash.
 
If you are camping, it would be worthwhile to look up and not set up your campsite under big dead limbs.

Trees are suffering many afflictions, causing an increase in the amount of dead and dying trees.
 
I was fishing on a calm weather day, did pretty well and walked back to my truck to find this. To make matters worse, this happened one week before I was going on a five day fishing trip that I planned to be the main driver on. Could have been worse, damage being mitigated by the telephone line. So now I definitely check for limbs and dead trees above me before I park anywhere.
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