Saturday, October 22, 2016

Tree Felling

What an absolutely beautiful weekend here at Turkey Creek. High temperatures in the low 70's and lows in the low 50's. Don't need the A/C and only a touch of heat in the evening. They sky is blue, the air is cool, dry, crisp and there is a nice gentle breeze. It's perfect for working outdoors. I don't want it to end!

We did more clearing, we felled a large dead tree that posed a hazard and we got all of the pulled up underbrush chipped and spread on the forest floor. It has been a very productive time.

The hazard tree was about 24" diameter breast high (DBH).  We had a lot of brush to clear out and little snags on the ground.  When you are cutting down a tree one of the first things you need to do is clear the area around the tree, so you have a safe working environment.

The area might of been clear, but this was the first large tree I've ever felled. I was a bit nervous. I've watched several hours of instruction on how to fell a tree.  I would have been nice to have a mentor, but I didn't. There's nothing like experience as a teacher. My plans were to fell in on Sunday. I couldn't wait, so it came down this afternoon.


Here's a little preview video I did before I felled the tree. You can see the two pine trees that I'm trying to lay the dead tree between.  They are to the right side of the picture. There's a small oak between the two pines.  The electric meter lines up between the two pines and dead-on with the small oak.


I'll try to post a video of the felling on Monday.  Stay tuned, it's going to get destructive.  Timber!