I Lost my Champion Tree......Again

[Magicman]

 A little about the "Again".


 
This was my Champion Tree shown here in 2010 with FF Members; fishpharmer, Radar67, DonK, Pine Nut, & LJM.  This Old Warrior died so my next Champion became....




This one seen here with WDH in 2017.


 
I am prepping for our July 4th trail rides and this is what greeted me this morning.  It was not there last Friday.  


 
Closer to the trunk.


 
What a mess.


 
The trunk split and the halves went in opposite directions.  We will be there Saturday morning with chainsaws clearing the road.

I already know where/which my next Champion tree is.  It is actually about 100 yards from this one.  I'll have to measure it.

My Great Grand Father moved his family to this property in the 1860's and were sharecroppers until he was able to buy the first parcel in 1899 and the remainder in 1904.  I can only wonder if this tree was alive back then?  I am sure that it was when he died in the 1930's.

[SwampDonkey]

Typically up my way a champion tree would be white ash, yellow birch, white pine or sugar maple. I don't have any hemlock. I have a long ways to go with a young forest. Although my yellow birch did get mentioned in the latest reprint of the great trees in NB. But not as big as others. ;D

It's disheartening to see the special trees finally come down when you're not expecting them to already. ;)

[thecfarm]

I had a big read oak that did that to me.  :(
Small compared to what you had, but sad to see come down to the ground.

[Jeff]

I'm sure I've seen the new champion. I wonder if we recorded them on that video ride around we did years ago?

[Jeff]

Ive got the link, but can't watch it from here at the cabin to see.
A Magicman trail tour - YouTube

[Don P]

I feel your pain, and a much smaller version of MM's, we lost a good sized oak in that wind a week or so ago. Luckily I can still drive around the top and say "I need to get to that"  :D

[Magicman]

Probably so Jeff.  The weather forecaster changed what was planned for Saturday to today:



 
Kinda like eating an elephant.


 
Marty with the U25 Kubota did wonders.


 
Chainsaw off a few plugs and then move them away.


 
He would drag it out to me and then I would push it away.  This is how it looked when we stopped for lunch.


 
Luke was a sweat factory.


 
Slowly but surely.


 
Marty making his final push.


 
And then I made the final road sweep with the M4900 Kubota.  The limb that we left is about 15' off of the ground and hung big time in that Sweetgum tree.  There was no need to possibly ruin a successful day by attempting to clear it when it did not matter anyway.

I will salvage a considerable amount of firewood.  Hopefully the weather will clear tomorrow afternoon and I can finish bushhogging the trails for our July 4th trail ride and scavenger hunt.

[Bruno of NH]

Sad to see the big tree go .
Enjoy going to the 4th of July Sir

[firefighter ontheside]

Sad to lose a big tree, especially your champion.  The champion for our place is not that old relatively, but its big.  It's a loblo lly just behind my house that's about 60 years old and about 40" diameter.  It's been dropping some dead limbs and I hope its just naturally pruning itself, but I wonder if it's in decline.

Looks like your "Hoss for da farm" was useful too in removing the tree.

[WDH]

I suspect that you were in the trail maintenance mode today.  It was nasty humid hot here today, really nasty.  Hopefully it was a bit cooler and less humid over on Mississippi......(probably not a chance ). 

[Andries]

Young and not-so young: you guys have got the heat thing worked out.
Well done! 
This glaciated Northerner would be a babbling heat-stroked mess in those temps. 
MM, other than really old and large, what species of tree is that?

[Magicman]

Zoom in on the leaves between Marty and I in first picture in Reply #6.  (Not the other leaves because you will find Sweetgum and Poison Ivy.)  It's a Red Oak and what I call a Cherrybark but then I tend to label all of the large leafed Red Oaks as Cherrybark.  :  

Yes Danny, all of the trails are ready for tomorrow.  8)

[IndiLina]

Found a 52" dbh silver maple on my Indiana tract today. Going to expect that's my champion, even if a bit ugly.   


.  

[Walnut Beast]

 

 Wow! I missed the original post. Really sorry for the big one coming down Magic! But things could have been much worse

[WDH]

It is certainly cherrybark oak.  I have verified that in person.  Notice that the leaves are two toned, that is, distinctly different colors on the upperside of the leaf and the underside of the leaf which is a characteristic of cherrybark oak.  You can see the color difference in MM's pics.



 

That 52" silver maple is a real beauty in my eyes. 

[Andries]

Thank you Magic and WDH.
Our oaks are easy to identify, they're all bur oak. 
You sawyers in the tropics have a lot more herbaceous variety than we do.
These posts have inspired. I'm going to jump on the quad and locate my 'champion' tree out here at the camp. 
It's NW Ontario, so white pine will probably be the top contender.

[WDH]

Is that Maintoba Ontario or Ontario Ontario?

Georgia has 20 different red oaks.  The frozen glaciated Northern has snow and ice and snow but few red oaks.  Some have none, just snow and ice and snow and a poor understanding of finely ground corn.  

[barbender]

Haha, on my property I have bur oak, red oak and Northern pin oak.

I like grits just fine, I'm not picky and my mom taught me to eat what was put in front of me😊

Magic, it would be interesting to see how much volume of wood actually comes from that monster. 2 or 3 cords? I was cutting northern hardwoods last fall, and while most of the trees made less than 1000 bf of logs iirc, the volume of wood in those tops was probably more than the stems. An interesting note, the forester on this one was happy to have the big woolly hardwood tops left mostly intact, versus the more typical "lop and scatter all limbs to two feet high or less" we usually see on timber contracts. The idea is that they form natural deer barriers. I've seen a move away from trying to make harvest areas look like a park on other ways, too. Messy isn't pleasant to our eyes, but it is often better in terms of wildlife habitat and seedling regeneration. I realize your's was blocking your trail in a major way, though!😊

[Andries]

Is that Maintoba Ontario or Ontario Ontario?
Georgia has 20 different red oaks.  The frozen glaciated Northern has snow and ice and snow but few red oaks.  Some have none, just snow and ice and snow and a poor understanding of finely ground corn.  

That would be Kenora, Ontario.
A touristy place in the summer, changing over to logging and lumber in the winter - when trees are meant to be logged.
The "your winter woodpile is smaller than my air conditioner" season is upon us. 😁😁
 At this time of the year, having a huge air conditioner to come back home to, after hunting for champion trees, now that would be the priority.