And how would training have changed this? I did everything correctly… used the proper face cut… proper back cut… felling wedge… stepped back at a 45-degree angle, walking backwards, keeping an eye on the tree … looked up to watch for falling debris… and reacted when said debris came my way…
Now, as far as my son being there… it isn’t as though I loaded him up and took him out with me. The woodlot surrounds my house and I have a road (for the pickup if needed) and several trails (the tractor and trailer can navigate) criss-crossing throughout. The woodlot is just an extension of our yard, and my son drives his battery-powered toy Gator through those trails. He ain’t babied or coddled, and he‘s extremely independent… he is allowed to “play” in the woodlot, per se. He and his siblings run around in the woodlot with our golf cart and bicycles, play hide-n-seek, build forts, walk the dogs, and whatnot. He had driven his Gator out to see what I was up to, and he knows not to approach when the saw is running… he had only stepped closer after the saw was shut-down and the tree had fallen into the branches… and he was still a reasonably safe distance back (still a few steps behind me, just as he has been taught). Yes, I know anything can happen when felling… but having a log launched from upper branches, as though from a catapult? C’mon, would one-hundred yards be far enough back for ya’? I never turn my back to a falling tree like I see many do… and if I would have turned my back, in this instance, I and my son would have gotten creamed. It’s only because I did everything right that I was able to react in time, just barely… but still in time.