Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Close call

just looked at tods link with more photos, looks like it actually punctured a panel rather than splitting 2 like I first thought.

definately jackpine though, natures velcro. (if you've ever tried sperating jackpine branches from a dropped & limbed jackpine... you know what I'm talking about)

and especially in the winter months these are very strong dense trees that wouldn't have any trouble puncturing a 20 gauge pannel.

Talk to loggers or other folks who work & travel out in the woods a lot with equipment, this is really no surprise to me. you'd be amazed the places a stray branch or tree can threat itself into. You really gotta be watching for this sort of thing when running heavy equipment in forest areas.

Looks like one of those Rocky Mountain palm trees to me.

Seriously.....its obviously a pine, spruce, fir or some other coniferous tree.

No, wait. Never mind. I guess the idea is the tree went in from below.

Thought I was on to something there.

- Tom

I stand corrected on the tree...

I'm pretty skeptikal of the photos I see on the net for good reason. If those are legit I'd sure be pizzed at Jeep as well. It still seems mighty odd to me as there clearly is not enough snow to bury the tree. The tree is so far to the right of the bumper it looks like it should have hit the tire and the axle. OTOH stranger things have happened.

The driver likely aimed at the tree, in an attempt to run it over. Oops.....

Tree got hit, slipped inside the tire, above the axle and ....

Murphy's law, easily.

Don't worry about it as long as she is not running around on you.

I'd agree with that. I've done my share of silly crap in the woods with my truck. Pulled over stump once that looked rotten turning around with my old D'max and found out real quick just how tuff those skid plates and oil pans are......and what they cost.

<laughin'>

Wanna figure how fast you can learn the strength of a-arms, and the rest of the suspension, in a lifted '84 Nissan 4x4, when you take it up closed Forest Service roads?

Boy, the driver either:
1. now sings soprano
2. needs new under shorts OR,
3. BOTH!

I dunno Tom, looks about perfect to me. frozen jackpine is very strong & the branches strip off clean very easily. the portion that's sticking through in the interior looks exactly like a jackpine log that's been shot through a limb stripper at a logging site.

the tree punctured 2 layers, first what is probably a plastic inner fender (the black material) then the firewall itself & I'm not certain if there is a seam there at that spot or not but I don't think it matters.

I buy it.

I have absolutely no problem believing this pic based on seeing what a tree can do to metal.

I had the experience of holding a 1x6" pine board while the ambulance driver sawed the board off close to a guy's chest so that he could be removed from the car. That board had traveled through the grill of a 68 or 69 Camero, through the engine compartment (obviously not hitting something as substantial as a block, I didn't stick around to find out), through the firewall, through the dash, and through the sternum.

Frozen pine through some sheet metal? Heck yes.

It might be a real photo but I don't think it is Jeep's fault that someone ran over a tree in plain sight. JMO, but generally when you hit an obstruction it is your fault as the driver I would think.