Okay just a little Safety police on you.
You are lucky about not getting whacked that first time..Second time might not be so lucky. Blankets or folded tarps over cables or chains can dampen flying cables. Spend some money or borrow a large pulley so that you can redirect your tractor from the line of fire if at all possible. Nice work though.
As I was taught;
Use a turning block to pull from the base of a different tree, right angle preferred.
If there is no "other tree" improvise; old truck, even a SERIOUS boat anchor that will SET when pulled on.
Any "stretchy bits" should be at the tree end of whatever chain, cable, ropes, slings arrangement you put together.
The rationale is that stored energy sends it THAT WAY if/when something breaks.
Similarly, if you half expect something to break don't use it.
Given that the above will be ignored, put the weakest part closest to you so that almost everything gets catapulted AWAY from you.
A rope alongside a chain and tie wrapped to it every couple of feet, with some slack in every rope segment, can make the difference between a flying chain and one that just stops.
I know, I know, tie wraps are just weak plastic that tears.
Point is every one of them slows flying chain just a bit more.
Better yet thread it through a link every couple of feet, though threading can be arduous.
Just don't continue pulling with only the rope once the chain breaks.
BTW, you should never have enough force available to BREAK whatever chains and cables you use - and/or you should never let your chains and cables deteriorate to where your available force can break them (-:
Yes, leave as much trunk on as you can shove around in an arc to break out the roots that are merely bent.