On Sat, 6 May 2017 19:38:20 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I have a few dead branches in one of my 50-year old maple trees. Rather than climbing up on a very tall ladder to access the branches, I am thinking about renting an electric saw on a pole to do the job.

I am fairly handy and always do my own tree stuff, but this would be a new experience for me and I am looking for some ideas and thoughts from the folks here who maybe have used such a tool.

Polite comments please.

I have one. The trick is getting in position so you can drop the saw
on the limb you are cutting and not being under it when it falls. The
weight of the saw does the work. Assuming you don't get hit by the
limb the next worst thing is it twists and jams the saw up in the
tree. It is best to take little bites so you can wiggle the saw loose.