When you say "winch" I'm assuming you are talking about a hand-held come along like this:
If so they are a good way to seriously injure or kill yourself if the cable / rope breaks or the ground anchor pulls out. Either way you likely have thousands of pounds of tension released and coming right at you like a giant and deadly rubber band.
At a minimum you should weight each end of the cable or use a safety rope to contain the cable if it snaps or the anchor fails.
https://www.4wheelparts.com/the-dirt...o-use-a-winch/