Wild Grape Vines are STRONG! - Near Miss

[madhouse]

I was clearing the overgrowth along the fence-line. There were two grape vines that I couldn't quite pull out by hand so when I was at the point of moving the piles of brush with the grapple I first snagged the vines. It appeared that I would be better off grabbing them from the side and continuing down the fence-line verses grabbing them straight on and backing out. I won't make that mistake again! Having the grapple as a shield in-front has a lot of merit!

I heard the tree snap but it was on me before I had a chance to do anything. Luckily, I simply bumped my knee on the console as I recoiled from the surprise. The tree completely missed me and shockingly didn't break the steering-wheel.

 

[RUSTBUCKET BRONCO]

wow close call, glad you're alright

 

[oosik]

AH - now, with the pic, I understand. Who would have thought that grape vines were that strong. Appears you were lucky to not get bonked.

 

[CobyRupert]

Mother Nature is a b*tch!!

She can think of an infinite more ways to kill you than you can think of.

When people say "Go slow...be cautious...look for dangers...think it through" that's fine and well; but you'll never be prepared for what you can't imagine.


"...because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns the ones we don't know we don't know..." - Donald Rumsfeld ( U.S. Secretary of Defense 2001-2006)

 

[jeff9366]

I keep a big Lopper on my tractor to cut vines.

 

[Oaktree]

Where did that tree come from? Were the vines tangled in it somehow or did you hook it with your loader? I've had a couple close calls myself with the loader hooking a tree.

Grapevines are tough. Had a bunch of 'em at my last place. No tractor then. Just kept them cut back, eventually they died off.

 

[madhouse]

The vines were in the tree. I had cut them off and attempted to pull them out by hand. When that didn't work I hooked them with the grapple. In the past the vines either pulled out or simply gave way. This time they pulled the tree over.

 

[CobyRupert]

Grapevines are tough. Had a bunch of 'em at my last place. No tractor then. Just kept them cut back, eventually they died off.

Had good luck by cutting the main "trunk" where it comes out of the ground. Then they whither, die, get brittle and easily pull or snap out of the tree their entangled with.

 

[RandyT]

You guys never cut grapevines off at the ground and then use them for Tarzan swinging ropes. Real fun to find one on the edge of a hill so you can swing out over the edge and at times be 40-50 feet above the ground below.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Once as a kid we were walking up this steep hill when we got to what looked like a fairly level field, so we started walking across it. I noticed the ground was sort of spongy so I stopped and dug down. After about a foot or so down we were looking at treetops! So we carefully walked back, then went around another way.
Looking up we saw grapevines, kudzu, honeysuckle had grown out over this really steep cliff, attaching to trees. Really bizarre from the top, lucky no one fell through!
You were lucky tree didn't injure you! Yes, they're strong as ropes or cables.