Nasty Hackberry

When we first looked at this hackberry we weren't too sure about dropping it because it had lots of ice damage, with several hangers overhead. The stem on the left also has a bad split, but it stopped about four feet above where we would need to cut. There was also a dead eastern red-cedar with its top stuck into the crown of the first stem to be cut. You will see a photo of the setup to take the cedar down at the beginning of this slide and video show. This tree had lots of lean, and you can tell that the students were pretty gun shy. Careful planning before they cut made it go pretty well.