Should I hire a pro or DYI?

[J.W Younger]

I need to take down a 70' pin oak in my back yard with a very narrow landing zone. My plan was to put a tag line at about 35' and use my tractor to help guide the tree down. In the open woods I would have not have a second thought about landing a tree of this size and putting it in the general direction of where I wanted it to go. But in this case my margin of error is very small.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Looking towards the landing area. Note the rock in the center of the picture is 105' from the base of the tree.

Looking from the landing area towards the pin oak

any chance you can come up with more than 35ft to pull with?I know you down want to pull it down on you, but even with a strong hinge theres a chance of twist with that much pulling angle.I would pull up that fence and drop it just too the right of that small pin oak to the right of the play area.

 

[SMTM]

any chance you can come up with more than 35ft to pull with?I know you down want to pull it down on you, but even with a strong hinge theres a chance of twist with that much pulling angle.I would pull up that fence and drop it just too the right of that small pin oak to the right of the play area.

Can't go right of the swing set the filter pad is in the way.

 

[hutch3912]

I'd take a measure of the height first and see if it can reach the shop or not. That top would wreck that shop in a hurry. I would deffinetly bore cut it if you know how too so keep that butt from kicking back into your house.

 

[Techstuf]

Have a pro assume liability for this one. You should be able to get it dropped, provided it fits the landing zone displayed, for under $300. Anything more for a simple drop job, and I'd tell 'em to quit the tree biz and get into banking, mortgage lending, or the auto manufacture game! That's assuming it fits the landing area displayed. Looks tight. I'd pull more of that fence, protect the stones and patio area, and drop it more to the right. If you want the yard to look nice after the drop, a few limbs would have to be roped down before the drop. If it were mine, I'd have my son climb it, get a rope on and pull it over and fix the divots later. Looks like a quick and easy job from over here. If you are worried about the yard, it's going to cost extra.


TS