You’ll think twice before checking a power line clearing for your next hunt.
A hunter named Darren “Andy” Royalty, 45, of Seymour, Indiana was hunting whitetail from his treestand on his property when he experienced the scare of a lifetime.
Many hunters use power line clearings to check for deer – it’s a hotbed for herds passing through, depending on the area and time of day. Those clearings require maintenance though, and so began Royalty’s education on just exactly how they keep those passes so pristine.
Like something out of a movie, power companies use large, rotating saw mechanisms attached to a helicopter to trim trees in order to keep power lines running smoothly. This trimmer is operated by a man high in the sky, so noticing anything in the trees is not really a priority nor is it really an option.
The trimmer from Duke Energy, which must’ve come through quite quickly for Royalty to miss the noise, sawed through his treestand and crossbow just as he was able to jump to safety at the last second. We can’t imagine the gut-wrenching feeling he must’ve experienced having just missed death from above.
If you’ve never seen one of these things in action, it’s truly terrifying.

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KwcVj79FDkM[/video]


Link Deer Hunter Escapes Being Sawed in Half

Holy **** is right. How could you not hear this thing coming?

You'd have to be more deaf than I am to not hear that thing coming.

That video was shot only 30 miles from me. Never saw that video before, but have seen the trimmer in action.

I wish they would come to our lease. We have 3 right of ways they can cut.

That is a nasty saw right there.

He obviously missed the memo or the LO didn't want him coming back.

Wonder if I can get one at Lowes.

Wow!

dang!

Was that T.C. from Magnum P.I. flying the chopper?

i didnt see anybody in a tree?..what min/sec mark?

Wow, just wow...

wow

That is crazy, but a pretty neat rig.

The video isnt of the guy's near-death experience, it was just showing the type of aerial cutter he ran into...

WOW!

Yikes. They need to put a Saw Stop on that thing.

He was prolly wearing his hearing protection... Crossbows can be noisy

I wonder if Andy was curious as to why he wasn't seeing any deer?

That this guy had to flee for his life seems rather far-fetched. I know that is the claim being made, but those things make a HUGE amount of noise, never mind the helicopter noise and air blast.

As seen in the video, these things have support crews. It isn't like this helicopter/trimmer dropped out of the sky from nowhere and just started work all of a sudden on the tree he was in at the time.

Something just doesn't feel right about the story. I don't doubt his tree stand got destroyed, but I doubt he was in it just before it happened and had to jump to safety.

Part of that thing may be the "drone" on the other guys post.

OMG