I call it "fearless with extreme caution".
Hesitation gets you in more trouble than doing what you know you are capable of. Just make sure you don't skip the steps you need to take to have a backup and a safety.
Sounds like you did everything right. Used your equipment as it was meant to be. Human error is unavoidable sometimes. Thats why people came up with the safety stuff. Just know what works, and what is overkill.
Hesitation to jump gets you stung. Be ready and check the tree with field glasses mid day before you do those big dead ones. That helps
Jumping off sucks.
Overkill is fine. It's all fun till you smash into the trunk like Woodpecker said. I did, once.
Now days if I absolutely must limb walk I don't. I've been out on the bottom of the limb and back many times. If there is nothing above it you have no choice. Not a good spot to be in but doable. If I have high point to rig off I go out horizontal on a pulley up top and back to my bridge. It's sweet with the lanyard on the limb to do canopy reductions. I have two rope grabs right rope grab is a stainless steel 1/2" lanyard and a piston grip 5/8" braid on the left. The bridge mounted T pin rope grab is on a rolling Williams D. Just tie off the tail to your bridge with a knot. It has loops on the outside to your use a beaner to set your pitch if you like. Out you go with or without gaffs on. Don't matter much but faster with gaffs.
Being a mod is dangerous bidness.
Worse than being a climber.
I kicked ass today and the weather kicked mine. The worst was the last climb to top a triple busted and cracked but alive sctetchy pine tree about sixty foot. Dog legs didn't cover it x3. What a mess so it got smashed it to the tree next to it an bit bigger and straight with one big limb almost a Y like spot. Let whole top roll off. Then clobbering the stick and bucking it with the 084 HD with a muffler mod. The piston is minty and no broken parts
it sucked using it today in the heat but it ran good. 36 RS full round, drags at 0.045, first sharpen @20* top plate and 55. She digs hard and will stick the chain in under 24" wood. It needs ported and sold. Got one more ready and a second coming along. Porting the almost new top end and tossing it back on the busted spike mount case. It's a real nice short block to mill with. Adding a header pipe with a muffler. The mufflers huge for this Wildthang
. They all have very nice OEM everything inside. One has an oil pump problem. It appears stuck and spun the gear at the pump is my guess. No time right now to mess with it. Needs an 088 drum update so I got that and need the gear, new or used with the spring for 088. The plastics suck on the ones I'm keeping. The other saw is HD all original and pretty decent. It runs perfect. Starts on one pull from the first one of the day. All of them have new decomps and two have holes in the top cover, oh well.
