Best way to drop this guy?

[sportbikerider78]

The crazy wind yesterday broke this maple 1/2 of the way up and turned it into a leaner. This is my backyard and I have small kids, so I'd prefer not to leave it.

For scale, that's up about 20-25'. I took the image off my deck which is off the ground 15' or so.

Thoughts?

 

[armanidog]

I would call someone with the equipment (bucket truck, etc) to cut the top part at least. Since there is no disposal cost it may be a reasonable price.

 

[jackatc1]

At least 100' of 5/8" rope pushed up 10/15' a snatch.block tied off away from the leaner

A come along out of fall line, face cut towards the block, back cut leaving 1"1/2 hinge that is wedged .
Carefully start cranking .
If not sure call a pro. Or leave and let nature take over.

 

[tadmaz]

Throw bag/throw line, then tie on thicker rope? Could use a wrench tied to a rope too

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Also found a chainsaw rope idea.

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[sportbikerider78]

I would call someone with the equipment (bucket truck, etc) to cut the top part at least. Since there is no disposal cost it may be a reasonable price.

No way a truck can get down there. Well, maybe down,,but not back up.

I have a winch on my ATV. I could toss a rope over..pass it through a loop, choke it on the tree and then try winching.

 

[kennyp2339]

Your not going to like what I would do, I'd notch the front of the trunk facing your deck, then do a plunge cut into the center of truck, leaving small holding wood between the notch and plunge cut, then I would cut the release wood in the back, it gives you some time (1-3 seconds) to get out of the way so the top can fall, it looks like it will fall near the stump.
What ever plan you come up with..remember maple is very BRITTLE, it will crack and shear on you.

 

[gzecc]

Get a rope up high and pull it down with m my truck.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

The crazy wind yesterday broke this maple 1/2 of the way up and turned it into a leaner. This is my backyard and I have small kids, so I'd prefer not to leave it.

For scale, that's up about 20-25'. I took the image off my deck which is off the ground 15' or so.

Thoughts?

View attachment 223581

I had a similar situation with an oak last year. I had narrowed it down to throwing a rope over it and winching it down with a come-along. I then proceeded to procrastinate for several months until it came down on it's own.

 

[Allagash350]

Well what I would do and what you should do are two different things. I consider myself a pretty experienced cutter, and am not sure what your skill levels are.
Depending on how tangled the crown is, which it doesn’t look too bad from here,
I would make a notch on the right side of it as you are looking at it.
Then carefully make your back cut, watching both the Widow maker top and the trunk.
A lot of times the trunk and top are still connected, or at least wedged together. Usually what happens is as the trunk starts to go, it pulls the top out of the other tree, which in turn pushes the trunk over the rest of the way.
I have done this many times, and it can be dangerous of course but it works. You just need to be ready to run, wear a helmet all that stuff.

Also if that whole area is maple, I would recommend thinning it out. Maples in particular do not do well in areas like that where you have bunches of 5 or 6 trees growing right on each other.
Good luck let us know what you do please

 

[xman23]

I think they would call that a widow maker. I would get a rope around the top and pull it down.

 

[BoiledOver]

I would drop the tree into the yard.

Yeah we had some high winds too. I had been waiting for many months to get the high winds and direction right to drop two very heavy back leaners (Aspen). The larger was rotting at the 8 foot level and would eventually have fallen on a beauty of a white pine doing unwanted damages. So, I hit the big one first and sure enough the wind took it directly to my target. The other tree eventually landed directly on target too. It stood with the saw bound in the back cut for about 5 minutes until a good gust came up to finish the fall. It had a perfect 1-1/2" hinge and am soo glad the wind finished it. Have doubts that I coulda got it over with just wedges but would at least have gotten the saw free. Definitely worth the long wait instead of being too risky.

A third one (12 incher) was taken by the wind too. It had been half chewed by a beaver in the fall and stood until the wind took it.

 

[WiscWoody]

I had a couple of trees to take down like that a few years ago.

 

[xman23]

Those are sideways trees. There can't be to much keeping the up there.