The wind took a smaller (relatively) line tree down. This is a along our north line, and while there is a pin here, it's not a corner pin. The corner pin is another 700 feet west. It's resting in some small oak, beech and some other small hardwood trees. I am formulating a plan but before I proceed, how would you approach this? From the top: From creek bottom: Looking forward to the insight on this one.
I'm pretty sure this is part (in red) of the canopy of the downed tree. There is a much larger oak north of this one. My line is in yellow. Survey pin is a reference and was placed this past summer.
It doesn’t look that bad besides the smaller trees that are bent down with it. Those things might spring back with some unexpected speed and force. Be careful. You might be lucky where it’s actually the top of that ravine that’s holding it up and it’s not really hung up. From your pictures it’s not nearly as bad as some of the other situations I’ve seen posted here.
Yeah, there is about 10' from the top edge of the ravine to the base. There are some very "pre-loaded" trees that it is resting on. The good thing is that I can access from creek bed if needed.
Can you pull it down? Hard to see on my cell phone. If you can get it flat, let the smaller ones land where they land and the cut off the root ball and skid or block. Safety first
It would lever on the edge of the ravine if I tried to cut it free from the rootball. The ravine isn't vertical, but it's close.
carefully from down wind, trees can smell fear and will eat you alive. Be careful think it through, twice, before plunging the saw.
I would start on the top side of the ravine and shorten up the spring trees and clear as much junk as possible first. Then deal with the spring trees. They look small enough to use a pole saw if you have one. Once the springs are off, get that side branch off. Then I would ignore the rootball and cut it from the top of the ravine. If I’m seeing things correctly, the branches in the tree aren’t strong enough to hang the top. The tension side might change if the rootball stands up- not sure if taking the top off will remove enough weight for that to happen or not. Once the top is dealt with, then deal with the bottom.
I usually pick the spot about hip height and cut about 3/4 through the trunk or until just before the bar gets pinched and then move up 16 inches ( or whatever your split length is ) and cut from the bottom . Usually the top of the tree ends up separated from the trunk and then I lever or pull the trunk to the side hoping the top rolls out of the hang-up. SOmetimes it won't roll out and has to get pulled out. Or I suppose you could keep cutting rounds or lengths as above. I don't like that as you keep getting closer to the top which can end up on top of you. But every fell is different.
This is along the lines of what I'm thinking. I plan to anchor the top to our John Deere 4230 and secure it while cutting even after getting the load off the spring trees and removing side branches. Cut the log at a comfortable height as billb3 mentioned. Then, if possible, drag it into the field whole. Then, anchor the butt log to the 4230 and either use a 5 ton come-a-long or optimally, pull it up with the tractor. The only issue is the 4230 isn't 4x4 but it's the heaviest tractor we have at 13k.
Looks like the discharge line from the field tiling has washes the dirt out on the downwind side. Also, the heavy rains we had last week looks to have washed a lot of the rootball clean. Hopefully that works in my favor in keeping it feom wanting to flip back upright.
