Guys, I'm just tryin' not to tear up my woods here. The tree is dead and it's at least a couple cords of good firewood. If I was a logger, I'd just drop it, hook on to the butt with a cable, and drag it out. I don't need to do anything dangerous. I'm good friends with two local arborists and both of them would just laugh at me if I said I wanted them to help me cut a tree in the middle of the woods. This ain't rocket science, if I had arms six feet long I'd just lop the sucker off and flop the rest.
I've been cutting trees down for over 20 years, had more than a few pinched bars, hangups and trees going the wrong way. I've gone through logger training and consider myself far more experienced than most homeowners. I cut 10-12 cords of wood a year and several thousand board feet of lumber on my mill. You ain't talkin' to a newbie - but this is a complicated drop for me, and I'd rather keep this one clean.
Thanks for all the advice you've given so far - I'm still leaning toward the pole saw.