Yep. The last dead skag I dealt with was a 16" red oak that had been
dead for at least 5 years. I hooked the Jeep winch to it, chained the
Jeep to a convient tree, put some good tension on. Object was to put
enough tension on it to make sure it went where it was supposed to.
Thing came out by the roots, stump and all. No chainsaw. Glad I wasn't
under it sawing away.

Don Foreman wrote:

On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:44:09 -0700, Sunworshipper
wrote:



Need a tree to practice on? Only thing is that I'm too busy to push
my other truck out of the way at the moment. Easy dead tree that I
could fell myself in the right direction and have never run a chain
saw. Been a helper for cutting sticks in deep snow with a homicidal
step father and kinda got the idea down.


You may have noted how I dislike drama queens, but I'll mention
that it's dangerous to assume that any tree of any size is "easy".
Many or most do turn out to be, it's the ones that aren't that tree
guys call widowmakers.

That isn't to say you shouldn't go for it, not at all. I merely
suggest that you never assume that a standing tree of any size, alive
or dead, is "easy".

Case in point: the 60' tree a pro just dropped for my nieghbor
turned out to have a rotten hollow core way on one side. It would
definitely not have fallen as expected if just felled. This pro
took it apart from top down, all drops controlled with lines, so there
were no surprises. These guys love playing Tarzan on high, swinging
on ropes from trunk to trunk and rappelling down, it's a great show
... but every move is carefully calculated in advance.