Spiked boots on removals until a close call in a backyard in Boise

Used to climb in spiked boots for every removal, no exceptions, and I thought it was just how the job got done. Then about 2 years ago I'm on this big cottonwood out in Boise, up around 40 feet, and a chunk of deadwood the size of a dinner plate comes off right under my foot. The spikes punched through the bark and that whole section let go at once. I came off the trunk maybe a foot before my flip line caught me, and my hands were shaking so bad I had to sit on the limb for 5 minutes. Now it's a rope and harness on live wood and spikes only for the bare trunk after everything's stripped, and the older I get the more I wonder how I made it this far running them all day. Honestly I think I was just copying the guys who trained me back in the 90s and never thought about it. The spiked-boot thing is so baked into the trade though, so how many of you still climb them on removals when a rope would do? And did some close call change your mind or was it just a slow shift over the years?