That'd be my recommendation as well, have a pro drop it do the rest yourselves. If limbs keep the trunk off the ground, get a good plan together to safely cut off the limbs sticking up in the air, try to section it as much as possible from the tip of the tree, and then use the truck to roll over the trunk and finish limbing it.
Certified, you did the right thing. I'll comment on the highlighted comments above. 1. Easily over 85' and 36" diameter with large branches. Big tree. Could be a white pine or others. But the point is those large branches. Sometimes those are difficult to judge how they will affect the tree as it falls. Some folks tend to look only at the trunk of the tree to see where it wants to go. Not good. 2. A slight 90 degree lean? Hum. I've never happened to come across one of those. That is major! 3. So we'll cable it to the truck. Okay. How far out will the truck be? How far up the tree will it be fastened? Does he realize this is no picnic? A lot of weight can affect that truck! It could pull him the wrong way because he wants to fell that tree against the way it wants to go. Not a good picture here at all. No doubt about it. One needs some serious equipment to take that down. Or one needs someone who likes to climb trees and cut from the top down. Call Scotty.
Being overly cautious is a good thing when it comes to work like that. I've had a small oak go wrong on me too. Thought I read it right, made my notch and started my back cut, and it fell over the exact wrong way. I hauled azz out of there and luckily was fine, and it was in the woods so no damage to any buildings. But it did show me how quickly things can go wrong even when you think you've got everything set up right
My daughter watched the video with me. At the end she said "Looks like they aren't having people over for Thanksgiving dinner at their house".
Read this thread to here, nothing new yet. Waiting for a Stinny video to show up. I really do hope he heeds warnings sent to him and not do it himself.
12 or 13 trees as big as that....3K cut and bucked and someone else's risk....which you can subsequently split for firewood for yourself....each of those trees is likely several cords....26 cords for $3000....I'd be happy with that
First step of the process...talk to your insurance agent and cover all bases weather u do it or hire it out.
I want to see some pics of this thing. Probably the right move walking away. I walked away from a few this year that I wasn't comfortable with.
