@bruceha2000, on occasion we've had the tow straps and log chains strung up like lights on a Christmas tree..I think the last time while we were clearing out scrub trees around our pond. I was on the Mahindra and when DH yelled PULL, I did.
Now we just cut down the trees in the direction that we want to drop and hope it decides to fall that way when DH takes the chain saw to it.
Speaking of DH he wants to know what you are using to pull that tree.
As for Oak, the tree we dropped last year died last June/July. We dropped it in the fall and let it lay all winter. The main trunk is still oozing sap when we split it but we have found that the sooner we get it split and piled the faster it will cure. It should be ready to burn by fall, especially since we have it piled on the south side of our barn and there is air circulating around it. Not to mention sun hitting it. We also discovered that the smaller the pieces of wood, the faster it cures.
The second dead tree we dropped died early last year, probably April. We saw sap oozing on it from the main trunk also.
The older the oak the better it burns. We've harvested dead fall that has lost it bark and has been standing for 2 years dead before falling and it still cranks out the BTUs. It all burns. We try to save our higher BTU wood, Hickory, Oak and Honey Locust for super cold weather. We've burned everything from elm to poplar though and kept warm.
I'll have to get some pictures of some of our old growth oak and Hickory.