Working in the woods has always been a very dangeous way to make a living. The "joke", if it can be called that, is that you can tell a retired logger by the way he walks. Limping because of how many times he has had legs broken, hips broken, etc.
I once came across an article on the topic that said in the late 1800's and early 1900's the average life expectancy of a logger in the Pacific Northwest was about 7 years and that Oregon lost more men in the woods durring WWI than in combat.
My only personal experience in the woods (as a worker) was as a tree planter when I got out of high school. That can be dangerous in itself. Carrying a large planting hoe and walking on very unstable surfaces can easily get a person hurt. I was lucky on a couple of occasions.
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