umm, sometimes, it pays to have sliders.
Seriously. 2 ways they would have saved you.
1: They'd have contacted the tree before it got to your door, preventing the dent.
2: They make great anchor points for lateral pulling. This would help as you could hook a strap (a good 3" strap) around one end of the slider, and wrap it around a tree about 3 times. As you move, it would act as a fulcrum? and while your vehicle wanted to move forward, it would actually move in an arc, the tree being the pivot point, and the slider base as the end of the radius. I've done this on a lot of situations, from trying to get Carlton onto, and then off of a crazy ass trail he was the only one who believed he could get through... to keeping a vehicle inline and supported while going down an icy waterfall.
Buy some damn sliders, fool.
Matt