Chainsaw Chaser

Hank was a chaser. A chaser is a logger who unhooks cables from logs so the loader can work with them. The loader is a large machine that lifts and maneuvers logs. The chaser works on the logs, cutting them into the right lengths and cuts the limbs off them if the de-limber machine is not present.

On this day that Hank was chasing logs the de-limber was broken. This meant that Hank had to de-limb, with a chainsaw, each limb from each log that was dragged to the top of the mountain. Hank didn’t mind a little work, but cutting off every limb from 409 pieces of timber in 10 hrs is a little bit too much work for anyone. Hank’s crew that he worked with was in the thick of a logging unit that was wonderfully stacked with medium sized timber. Every time the yarder brought logs to the landing there was up to 9 pieces in the bunch. Hank had run his tail off and that was setting his temper on a short string.

Hank had plenty of energy but he also had a cell phone and was easily distracted. He was a man of medium stature who had been in a lot of trouble already in his life of 25 yrs. Hank was a good man to have on your side but to become enemies with Hank was to gamble with your life. He had been known to go a little crazy at times.

The loader operator’s name was Rick. Rick was a perfectionist and an old timer who expected a lot from his chasers. Rick didn’t like Hank and made Hank do more than was necessary. Rick had a horn in his loader and he would honk it at Hank to gather his attention and get Hank to hurry up. Rick was only slightly smaller than Hank but he was around 60 years of age. Rick smoked cigarettes constantly and his health was near ruined because of it. Sometimes Rick would get angry enough to get out of his loader and yell into the face of the chaser on the ground.

Hank was at his boiling point already when Rick got out of his loader the first time. Rick yelled and cussed Hank up one side and down the other. Hank wasn’t one to take much off anyone but he held his tongue and went and bummed a cigarette from the yarder operator to calm his nerves.

It wasn’t much longer before Hank had Rick hopping mad up in his loader once again. It was getting towards the end of the day and both Hank and Rick were tired. Rick clambered out of his loader once again and ran to where Hank stood. “I leave a log down here and you ignore it. When I leave a log down here it needs more work, crap for brains!” Rick screamed.

Hank just stood still, trembling, with his eyes looking at the ground. Rick continued to yell and scream at Hank for some time. Just when Rick was about to turn and go back to his loader, Hank snapped. Hank spun on his heel and sprinted for his chainsaw that lay beneath a bush on the side of the road. Rick, seeing what Hank was thinking, began sprinting in the other direction, back to his loader. Hank reached his chainsaw, picked it up, and pulled the start chord as he sprinted back towards Rick. Soon the chainsaw was at full throttle and stretched out, held at arm’s length, in the direction of Rick as Hank ran towards him. Rick made an impressive flying leap up the steps into his machine as the chainsaw chased him down roaring. Rick barely escaped maiming or even death when he was able to slam the door to the loader’s cab just before the saw reached his body.

From this point on Rick, the loader operator, respected young Hank, the chaser, and only sounded his horn when very necessary. Rick wasn’t the kind to press charges being as he was an old timer. Such happenings, to an old timer, were of a regular occurrence and reactions like Hank’s just proved to Rick that there was some grit in ol’ Hank’s belly.