A couple years ago on a stormy night the wind uprooted an ash and an oak together on a hillside area of our property that was logged by the former owners. Both are probably 16” DBH but that’s an eyeball guess. The trees fell into a maple a damaged the crown pretty good. The trees are leaning directly over our foot trail that climbs the hill and every time I walk under them I try and figure the best way to get them down. I’m thinking it’s time all three of these trees made their way to the wood shed but the situation is sketchy. Right now I’m thinking I’ll wait until the snow melts so I can have some sure footing. I can get an ATV to this spot but there is no way to get a truck or tractor up to these trees so a rope and pull approach is unfortunately out of the question. The way I see the situation now is to stand on the uphill side of the trees, realease them at the stump end and let the bases fall to the ground away from me. Then very slowly and methodically step ladder my way up the trunk, letting the cut end of the trees fall to ground, taking extra caution to avoid back slide and of course never standing under the trees! I’ve done this a couple times on less sketchy hanger situations and the trees, with very slow and smart cutting, eventually inch their way off the tree they’re hanging on. Once the oak and the ash are down then the maple will be cut down. Any thoughts on how you would approach the situation or would you avoid it all together? I’m not a particularly reckless guy and I love keeping it safe. There is this thing I do called living that I really want to keep on doing for a long time. Thanks!
I’ve had luck in the past with doing the following. About 5’ up the trunk on the bottom side of each stem, cut a notch/face cut. Tie your rope just below that notch and to your ATV that is parked the opposite direction of the lean. Place a little tension on the rope. Start your back cut from the top of the trees. You may need to place wedges so your bar doesn’t pinch. Once you are down to an inch or so of hinge, fire up the ATV and pull... the force required would be far less than to pull the whole mess out of that top.. when it lands, it’ll take the base 7’-8’ further away than where it sits now and could dislodge from current location... worst case scenario, it drops straight down and you try again from a more vertical starting point.... keep your toes clear... tying the rope below the cut will keep it out of the dirt... With all that said, this would be easier if the bases of the trees were not still attached to the stumps... so a vertical cut to drop the trees off their stumps may be in order first..
cut it from the stump ( I like hip height ) using a wedge on the compression side of the cut and then either use a come-along to pull the base to the side or use a long fence post rail ( or equivalent ) to walk the base of the tree to the side.
I may not be a pro, but I would under cut one a few times very carefully till it were a little more vertical and then simply pull it in the direction most desired. I would attack the one on the right first as the left will fall away from you if it dislodges with a bigger saw with at least a 2o inch bar. Do not walk under the other tree of course. Once the tree is a little lighter it will pull over easier. The last cut before you pull she be done such that the base does not want to dig in so much as you pull, which may or may not work due to soil conditions etc. You have to be very careful, plan every move and realize limbs may break loose. As a disclaimer, that is what I would do and may not be what other trained individuals would do. Lots of physics at play, so if you can see the forces and movements and plan for the "what ifs" like I try to, I would proceed. If not comfortable, pull as it sits to be safe, hire it out, or let mother nature do its thing.
I should also add that sometimes leaners, rather than just slide down out of the host tree, roll and sometimes taking the trunk with it, which can flail around a little depending on how big the top is.
Hard to tell how wedged it is at the top, but it looks like you might be able to get a cant hook on the left one and roll it out. If it works it will simplify the second tree.
If the two trees in question have been like this for several years, your potential for widow makers are high. It looks like the least amount of branchs from the fallen trees are @1-2 o'clock and the majority of the crown is to the 10 o'clock. The limbs below the crown of the fallen trees looks to be substantial limbs. The safest way to bring the trees down is felling a large enough tree to force the two down to the ground. Second option make sure you have enough rope and pulley's cut the trunk from root ball and skid the trees away from the holding tree. So the crown from the fallen trees slide down the hold tree's trunk. Try and place some thing like a side of a cut plastic 55 gallon drum, under the trunks before you cut them. The plastic will be a make shift skidding cone/plate that will reduce the friction of the trunks sliding on the ground.
If I was in your situation, I would redirect my trail and let nature resolve the situation. Especially if you can’t get a tractor or truck to it to pull. As you pointed out, potential life changing consequences if it goes wrong. I used to take down hung up trees like that without a second thought, now I look at it as a ridiculous risk over a tree. If you feel that they too dangerous to be left as they are I would look at hiring a pro vs becoming a burden on your family because of injuries or worse...This is coming from someone who in the past would have climbed the trees and cut the crowns off the hung trees to prevent them from hanging again when making the final ground cuts. (I cringe at how dumb I used to be)
I would not mess with those by myself. I have cut similar stuff at my place. Its very hard to tell what the tree wants to do. Sometimes the trunk will fall down other times it just stays right where it is and you have to pull it off the stump. I only do these things with help. One guy cuts while the other guy has a track loader or a tractor that can push or pull on the trunk. We usually cut from the top STRAIGHT down, not square to the grain, so the stump has an angle cut on it when done. It wastes some wood if your cutting lumber. Hopefully you can get close to the bottom before it pinches. At this time add wedges above the saw. Put a light push on the trunk so it wants to go away from the sawyer and finish the cut. Most of the time the trees don't go anywhere. Sometimes they will fall straight down. They can't fall down if you cut the tree perpendicular to the grain. At this time we pull the trunk side ways off the stump.
Soggy and Winston are giving solid advice. Really, really good advice. I’ve cut a big oak that was hung. The tensions involved were spectacular. As the cuts progressed, one side could go from tension to compression and back to tension as the cut allowed things to move a little bit and totally change the situation. The guys urging caution are wise and they are doing it based on experience.
Disclaimer - this is only my opinion and I have a decent amount of experience with hung trees. I would probably be reckless here and do a vertical snap cut on both the oak and ash, and if neither one were dislodged by a single cut, at least they would be free of the stumps. Then I would put a very shallow open notch in the far side of the maple and bore cut with a large holding strap. Making sure I have a well-planned escape route 90° to the direction of fall, cut the back strap quickly and drop all three at once. If either the oak or the ash were in bad shape (i.e. rotten) I'd probably take the time to pull them down with a winch or a come-along first. Yes, I know it's not safe, but that's my thoughts.
Lots of different ways to tackle this deal. I'm no expert on cutting hangar trees, my only real advice is have another person there with you when you do go after this. And also stuff like this has turned a lot of nice chainsaws into dumpster dive specials.
Heres my take... wrap a chain around the base of the “loosest” tree. Connect to a come along, connect come along to nearest tree that would be pulling in the same direction as tree its hung on... this twists the top of hung trees the opposite direction. They now on ground, and you can forget about all these crazy cuts that might cause log missles sending you into next zip code.
These trees can make some trick scenarios...... That being said, it's hard to prescribe a "catch-all" plan from pictures, but I'll give my opinion. Take that with a grain of salt, though. Make a notch around 1/3 deep into the side of the maple tree with its lean. Have a clear exit path to get yourself out behind your back cut area! Then, make the back cut around 2" above your face notch, once the tree starts to give, get out of the way. This is assuming you have experience dealing with tricky cutting situations, and are comfortable making a cut like this. I'm also going off the pics you have posted here, and this is strictly my opinion as to what I'd do I this situation. Above all else, BE CAREFUL.
I want to hit the like button about 100 times on this one!!!!!!!!! Heck with a notch cut, just a cordless drill and a couple of holes!!!!!!
You mentioned being able to get your four-wheeler up there. Like rope mentioned, if you can get that trunk to fall onto a plastic skid, you should be able to drag one tree at a time out of there with a four-wheeler. You may not be able to drag it in line with the tree, but possibly at 45 or 90 degrees to the direction of fall and be able to work it down that way. Or Tannerite. Tannerite is always good
