Had a dead 11” Red maple break off ½ way about 15’ up, top got hung up in an oak. Tree is about 30’ from the side of my cabin to the west, tree broke off to the east. Not sure how to get it all to the ground as don’t know which way the top is putting pressure on upright part, I'd guess back to the west. My only thought was to get a rope on it and pull on it while cutting either to the north or south at a 90 degree angle. Most important is to make sure nothing hits the cabin. How should I approach this??
I would be careful pulling 90 degrees. Trees can swing or pivot in ways you couldn't imagine. I will only pull a tree 180 degrees from the lean for this reason.
X2 Can you get a rope over the broken section? If its not too firmly attached you may be able to pull it free and cut what you can off then fell the spar. As stated leaving a thick hinge and coax it over with wedges.
If it broke 15 feet up and is 30 feet away the chance the top would whack the cabin is not very likely. These are the kind I let nature take its course but that’s in the woods. I understand wanting to get it down near the cabin. Do you have a sheave/pulley? You could toss a rope over the top, bring it down to a pulley tied off at the base of the tree. Then no matter which direction you pull it from it will pull the top directly down. Whether the top breaks off or not is a different story but hanging straight down is the safest method. If it’s still connected then you can use the thick hinge and pull both right over.
Ideally you would want to pull it back to the west, using the busted top to help it over. If that has a risk of hitting the cabin is there another way it could be pulled? To the north or south without getting hung up?
