The more I think about this, the more I like the idea of weakening the roots opposite the direction I want it to fall... I have a nice long handle axe perfect for this task.
[edit-] I just went out and checked... three large feeder roots evenly spaced axially. One pointing exactly opposite the direction I want it to fall... roots are stronger in tension than compression, or twisting, so cutting the one root in tension should help nudge this tree down in the right direction. While out there I cranked in two more clicks tighter on the come along... Before the nylon tow rope failed it stopped stretching and for two days in a row I couldn't make the come along any tighter. [/edit]
it hasn't so far, but i hope I put enough force in the right direction to overcome gravity pulling it the wrong way.Being dead, I doubt it will give under the strap pulling.
The tree is pretty tall with no lower branches... I suspect it has been competing for sunlight with the other trees for a long time. It has branches up top. Ironic perhaps that it grew tall enough above the others to be the one hit by lightning...May be it will give if the ground is soft enough, weakening at the roots might help especially if they don't run deep underground.
Stumps suck, some are harder to remove than others... I look forward to this tree becoming a stump.Depends of trees. Some have a flat root system. Some have a deep pillar rooting, these are hell to extract the stump.
Still no hurry...
JR