Had a day last spring where every single tree I climbed had a widowmaker in the canopy

I counted five separate hanging branches in one shift near St. Louis, and on the third tree a limb the size of my arm dropped straight down the second my saw touched it, has anyone else had a day where the dangers just kept stacking up like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbara_baker571mo ago

My husband read an article last month about how certain weather patterns in the spring create more widowmakers than usual, something about the freeze-thaw cycles weakening the branch attachments. He pointed it out because he works in forestry too and said it matched what he was seeing in the field. That sounds like exactly the kind of day that article was warning about, where every tree feels like it's ready to drop something on you. I've heard enough stories from old timers to know that a string of bad luck like that is just part of the job, but it never gets easier when you're the one under the tree. Glad you made it through that shift without getting hurt, because sometimes the only thing separating a close call from a trip to the hospital is pure luck.

the_jana1mo ago

That freeze-thaw thing @barbara_baker57 mentioned makes a lot of sense. Back in 2019 we had a weird March where it'd freeze hard at night then hit 60 by noon for like two weeks straight. I was cutting a dead oak up near Alton and a branch the size of my leg just peeled off the trunk without me even touching it. Landed three feet from my boot. By the fourth tree I was checking every single branch above me like a paranoid hawk before even starting the saw. Some days the wood just feels angry.

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victor_adams9d ago

And that's exactly why I keep a roll of duct tape in my truck. Not for the saw, for my mouth. Keeps me from screaming every time a twig snaps overhead. Last spring I had a maple drop a branch that hit the ground so hard it bounced back up and almost took my hat off. I swear that tree was laughing at me. You ever get that feeling like the woods are just waiting for you to let your guard down for one second?