12 gauge Tree Trimmer.

[Adam Helmer]

I live on a rural 60-acre farm with my closest neighbor 350 yards away. I have a 120-foot pine tree in my front yard with branches 20-25 feet up brushing against the electric wire. A tree guy wanted $150.00 to trim them back.

I got my favorite 12 gauge trap gun and a box of 7.5 reloads and am trimmed enough for the next 5 years. Country Matters.

Adam

[35 Rem]

Oh yeah, trimming trees with a 12 gauge just makes sense. The 1st time I tried it I was amazed how well it worked. Not only is it fast, safer than climbing a ladder with a saw, it's a LOT cheaper than hiring somebody. I did some big limb trimming a couple years back with my 35 Remington. There were two limbs hanging down right in the way of my shooting house. I stood so that the main trunk of the tree was behind the limb I wanted to shoot off and whaled away at it. It took 80 plus shots and didn't fall immediately but did fall later. This was right in the peak of the big ammo shortage so /I know neighbors were wondering what was going on. Shows that keeping a good amount of components on hand and buying when cheap pays off.

[cwtebay]

I had heard somewhere that is how mistletoe is harvested!

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[Adam Helmer]

35 Rem,

Many thanks for your amusing support! I use small shot for all my tree trimming business. It works IF you STAY 2-3 feet AWAY from the electric lines!!!

Be well.

Adam

[Electrod47]

322529
Try the Winchester 8 gauge

[TurnipEaterDown]

8 ga Kiln gun. Same gauge used to be used to hunt. Most think it's illegal to hunt with an 8, but that's only true for waterfowl as I understand after reading the legislation.

[HWooldridge]

Slightly OT, but I thoroughly enjoy blasting wasp nests out of trees during late summer and fall, right when the nests are as big as they are going to get for the season. That also tends to bring down limbs, depending on where the nests are hung.

[cwtebay]

8 ga Kiln gun. Same gauge used to be used to hunt. Most think it's illegal to hunt with an 8, but that's only true for waterfowl as I understand after reading the legislation.You are correct. A landlord I had in school hunted pheasants with a Greener double 8 gauge that was as pleasant to look at as it was unpleasant to shoot.

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[Adam Helmer]

I ONCE shot a BIG hornet's nest in the woods on Jack's Mountain in Mifflin County, PA in 1961. Happily, I was fleet of foot and outran the hornets.

BACK to my topic, I bet that 8gauge would cut down BIG trees. LOL.

Adam

[TurnipEaterDown]

You are correct. A landlord I had in school hunted pheasants with a Greener double 8 gauge that was as pleasant to look at as it was unpleasant to shoot.

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My grandfather had, for a time, a WC Scott & Son double 8 that came from his father (died when he was young). Came from England with his father. Had to hide & then sell it because disgruntled family members kept sniffing. Sold likely in early 70s when no one wanted. Quite a shame.
Had a heck of a story about winning a $20 bet somewhere around 1919-20 on shooting multiple pidgeons at once flying out of a barn loft. Neighbor farmer lost his bet, and not too happy...

[Johnch]

Years ago I did some work at a local Limestone quarry that also made Lime

Each of the kilns had one of those 8 gau kiln guns
Several times I collected the hulls
As my uncle has a 8 gau side by side that was only proofed for black powder ( not sure what brand )
The 8 gau kiln gun slug hulls worked great 1 or 2 times reloaded with black powder
After he cut them down a bit
If I remember right his standard hunting load was 1 5/8 oz of shot
But I remember he would load like 2 1/2 oz of #5 shot when he hunted turkeys

John

[longbow]

Not 8 ga. but .45-70's...

At the family's summer place many years ago there was a maple tree with very large branches that were becoming a hazard near the house so my mother wanted them trimmed off. My sister had a friend with a brother who was a self proclaimed faller so she invited him to stay for a weekend if he would trim these large branches (8" to 10" diameter). He got there and looked at the tree then said he couldn't do it. I had a friend visiting with me and my two .45-70's so I said we'd take care of it to which he laughed. He wasn't laughing a few minutes later after about 20 or 30 rounds were shot through large branches in strings of three or four in each branch then they would break off. Problem solved!

The versatile .45-70 Marlin pruner!

Longbow

I just realized I was reading a shotgun thread! Oops!

I have not used a shotgun for tree trimming but have used one for wasp control as mentioned above, except this nest was in a well pump house. I used a 20 ga. cylinder bore with 1 oz. of shot. They didn't stand a chance! It was a huge nest so an 8 ga. would have been a better choice but thousands died in the first round of attack and hundreds if not thousand more in the 2nd wave.

[Texas by God]

I’ve been getting mistletoe and trimming trees with a shotgun longer than I can remember.
It works well, and is safe(don’t stand under the limb) and fun!


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[pipehand]

I pruned a 6" chinaberry limb off just a couple of weeks ago. Used O and OO buckshot . The main trunk was the actual backstop.

[CLAYPOOL]

I have harvested mistletoe with a model 37 20 GA. Sure wished i had that one back....

[William Yanda]

I had heard somewhere that is how mistletoe is harvested!

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I am not certain of current technology but I did witness such an event over half a century ago.

[Adam Helmer]

longbow,

All is forgiven with your rifle comments. We GO with what works. I used an M1 Garand and a bandoleer of ball ammo once to remove a big tree limb at our cabin.

Adam

[longbow]

Thank You! I am sorry I digressed to discussion of a rifled firearm for pruning and pest control on a shotgun/tree trimming thread!

I have to say that powder operated pruning and pest control devices are far more fun than manual, electric or even gas powered devices!

Longbow

[HWooldridge]

Thank You! I am sorry I digressed to discussion of a rifled firearm for pruning and pest control on a shotgun/tree trimming thread!

I have to say that powder operated pruning and pest control devices are far more fun than manual, electric or even gas powered devices!

Longbow

And you get to stay on the ground - much safer!

[jjamna]

10 gauge with large steel shot does pretty good on the real high ones :-D

[Adam Helmer]

It never occurred to me to use it in that way before. I should give it a try :grin:

entina,

Welcome to the Campfire; I see this is only your 4th post. Living in a rural area, I was told by the tree guy he had to bring his high lifter, etc., and a few small limbs cost "about $150.00." No, thanks.

A box of trap loads later, NO MORE LIMB Problems.

Welcome.

Adam

[GooseGestapo]

I’ve used several different cartridges to prune trees through the years.
Best I’ve found is/was my Winchester M94 “Legacy” in .45Colt.
I use the Lee .452” 255gr RFN over 8.2gr of Universal. It’s profoundly accurate and busts limb’s taking 1/2” swaths out.

[gunther]

When I was a kid, dad and I walked off Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner by taking a walk up the hollow behind the house. Mostly we found and harvested hornet's nests in the top of trees.
A 12 gauge is a good thing when you want to make astronauts out of tent caterpillars.
For serious limbing work nothing beats a 50-70. At 20 yards a moderate load took the back out of the target 6 inch poplar.
Worked a lime kiln job with a couple of contractors who were Civil War buffs. We walked past the burner end of the kiln and they had a fit. Seems the Winchester kiln gun (think vintage) was very similar to a Williams gun. The supervisor was not amused at the "Can we please fire it? Just once?" request.

[pworley1]

For many years I would "cut" our Christmas tree with a 12 ga. We had a large amount of cedar trees on our property that we mostly used for fence posts. The post size trees were not nearly as pretty for Christmas trees as the top 6 0r 7 of the 20 foot tall and taller trees were. I would shoot them a few inches below where they needed to be cut so I could make a clean cut. The trees would continue to grow and still make barn post or split post for the fence.

[Texas by God]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240125/7b4135e0f5c328d84f273e87f8206d68.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240125/a5cd148776baed0f3d1dc2699af4b594.jpg
While walking this morning, I came across a broken but still attached hanging limb on our ATV trail. Cab height and in the way….
One shot of 7-1/2 1-1/8 oz 12 gauge dropped it easily.


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[WRideout]

I had heard somewhere that is how mistletoe is harvested!

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I have done that.
Wayne

[WRideout]

When I lived in Knoxville, TN a neighbor told me about his experience growing up in Mississippi. He said there had been a bad ice storm and tree limbs hung over the power lines, causing an outage. He walked the power lines with his 22 rifle, and shot down the offending branches.

Wayne

[missionary5155]

First year we had our 1st 43 Spanish Roller took it to a pastor friend's home near Decatur, Ill-nois. We went out to a relative's farm to do some shooting. There was a large cotton wood tree along a fence row that extended put into the crop area far enough it was a tractor issue.
Well our solution was 400 grain 40-1 slugs about a foot from the trunk. Took 15+ rounds but those BP loads did the trick. Limb area where shot was about 8".
Happily we did not have to drag it away.

[alfadan]

I've taken down small cedars with a 12g. Not the most efficient method, but fun.
Oh and had an old bird feeder with a paper wasp nest in it. I told em to come out peaceable but they wouldn't do it!

[beagle]

Grandson got a new drone for Christmas a couple years ago. About his second flight, it landed/crashed on a walnut limb about 40 feet up. Went to the house and grabbed the .357 Marlin and a box of .38s. Boy was crying, "grandpa, don't shoot my drone". About a dozen well place shots and the limb sagged easily to about 6 feet off the ground. Reached up and picked the drone off the limb. Faith restored in grandpa./beagle

[JoeJames]

I thought I was the only country feller who did that - high brass 6's in my 12 gauge 870 work just fine. But during the last ice storm I talked to a feller with the power company about it. He said most of them had 12 gauge pumps in their trucks and used them often.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Thank You! I am sorry I digressed to discussion of a rifled firearm for pruning and pest control on a shotgun/tree trimming thread!

Longbow

Don't feel sorry, LB, I'll back you up:

While I was still a teen, a friend's father complained of a branch on a large chestnut tree, interfering with the flag on their flagpole.
Always willing to help, I fired a couple of 3006 - converted from FMJ to hollow points - through the base of the offending branch.
Nothing happened, and we turned to walk away, when BAMM!! The branch came crashing down!

Years later, a logger told me that they always treated chestnut trees with outmost respect, as branches and trunks would snap without
warning when cutting them down.

[dogrunner]

Darn FEW chestnuts of american origin left..........thanks to an imported asiatic infection that in effect wiped out that species in the first half of the 20th century. Kind of a super covid epidemic for forests! What a shame we can't respond in kind.