w/o a pic.. its hard to say much.. but that never stopped me.. lol ...

brown is dead ...

dead stuff can come off whenever you want ...

the issue will be.. whether you are happy with what you have left.. based on where it is ..

my usual suggestion .. is that if this is the prime front door landscape.. perhaps you might not want an ugly old chopped up bush right out the front door ...

so one some level.. you will have to start thinking about removal ...

ken

Yews can be pruned at will :-) And about as hard as one wants. These are one of the very few needled evergreens that will resprout from basically just a stump. FWIW, yew hedges are classic components of English country houses and gardens and they get pruned routinely - multiple times a year. Regrowth is rapid but faster in the early part of the growing season compared to late in the growing season (like now).

I would not consider removal to be a significant issue at this juncture.

I'd limit the pruning to just the dead stuff in your zone at this time of year.

tj