Don't squash the chickens!

Here's the final few moments of the takedown of a big empress tree this morning.

Keeping it off the chickens was the trick, so I gave it a good send off shelf and got the remaining canopy limbs past the coop in case it rolled.

Worked well too, but had to be Johnny-on-the-spot with the wedges.

Side Note: Some have questioned why I push wedges when some trees are starting to go. I've had guys claim it doesn't do anything. It does.

The reason I do this is because I am sending the tree against a hard downhill gravity pull.

Once the hinge starts to tear the tree can sit back into the kerf on the low side and roll.

I have seen this happen.

So that's why I wedge. If the tree tries to sit back into the low side of the kerf, the wedge will not only stop that, but the pressure off the wedge will nudge the tree back into the direction you want it to go, assuming its placed right.

That's why I do it.