The reason there is no foliage for the first 5 ft is deer. The problem is, if you collect it with no foliage, it may not back-bud in a container. If you chop it in place with the thought you'll collect at a later date, the deer will eat all the new foliage. You'd probably need to fence it to keep the deer away. A good strategy would be to cut the tree top off above viable branches & fence the tree after fertilizing well. Partially root prune next spring. Finish root pruning late next summer, and collect the tree in the spring of '12 if it has back-budded. It may help to cut back other trees in the immediate area if necessary to ensure it gets adequate sunlight.

Al

Loved Al's answer, we were discussing this part of collecting in another forum and I related this story. Stopped me from 'working' trees in the wild, no matter how 'secret' you think your 'special' place might be ;))

There was the far corner of an abandoned strip-mine in western Pa where I found a number of Scots Pines and Larch, all had been snowmobiled to the point that they were wonderful trees in the rough. For 2 seasons I worked six of them in the ground (the mine had been closed to snowmobiles and ATV's) pruning, wiring and pre-digging all of them. The spring of the 3rd year I returned and made preperations to lift them in early April.

I removed all of the remaining wire, made sure that they were ready to lift and planned to return in a few weeks -- with help -- to hump them out the mile or so to the nearest road. I didn't return for almost two months due to bad weather.

I had done a decent job, I guess.

When I returned with my little 'work party' we found six empty holes...not even a thank you note !!!!!

We did dig a few trees that day and, we took them with us.

Bob

No good deed goes unpunished... but think of how happy Bambi must have been!