I have a resurvey, in WV river bottom lands, one adjoiner corner should be a "huge old oak in the original line"; found a 34" DBH pin oak, old rusted barbed wire broken off, sticking out about 2" near the center; deeds are vague, but position seems right. An guess as to age of the oak without core borings or cutting into it?
34" tells me it is O L D! The wire tells me it's the "intended" corner.
There are folks that are using sonar tomography for imaging soft tissued construction (timber and trees). It's 'spensive and probably out of reach for the typical surveyor. A good guess would be to find a wood cutter familiar with the area and pick his brain.
I like Paden's idea - you might also see if there is a University in your state that has a dendrology department.
Coring the tree and counting rings is out of the question? That seems like that would be the simplest solution.
The conveyance description is vague and did not call for a tree...I presume it was accepted as best available evidence (probably supported by bearing/bearing intersection of pieces of the fence).
Is there anything to gain by questioning the validity of the already accepted monument? Is it being disputed by affected land owners?
gschrock, post: 431139, member: 556 wrote: I had to do that once with a native maple here. Had a lot of age range to play with so did not have to be very accurate; might be different in your situation Can't remember where I found some rough instructions, but it went something like this one for oaks.
That works really well for oaks. I found one a while back I figure to be 250 years old using Gavin's posted method.
BSA, post: 431126, member: 1122 wrote: I have a resurvey, in WV river bottom lands, one adjoiner corner should be a "huge old oak in the original line"; found a 34" DBH pin oak, old rusted barbed wire broken off, sticking out about 2" near the center; deeds are vague, but position seems right. An guess as to age of the oak without core borings or cutting into it?
I'm going to say that it depends upon the annual rainfall and the specific environment where the tree is growing, but just to throw out a number, I'll guess a growth rate of between 8 and 10 years per inch of diameter. In Central Texas with about 32 inches of rain per year on average, that would be more like 14 to 20 years per inch.
BSA, post: 431126, member: 1122 wrote: I have a resurvey, in WV river bottom lands, one adjoiner corner should be a "huge old oak in the original line"; found a 34" DBH pin oak, old rusted barbed wire broken off, sticking out about 2" near the center;
One thing worth considering is whether even 34-inch dia. Oak of any sort would be unusually large in that setting, much less one of the size that the 34-inch specimen was at the time it was mentioned in the description. You may in actuality be looking for the stump hole of a huge Pin Oak.
Could it be second growth?? When was it first called for.
I have found several in the past that we second growth
In modern terms (data collector description) it would be "BFO". That caused some head scratching the first time I saw that from a crew.
Stacy Carroll, post: 431434, member: 150 wrote: In modern terms (data collector description) it would be "BFO". That caused some head scratching the first time I saw that from a crew.
I worked with a crew chief one time that put "BMFYJNITW" in the field book (with location). The draftsman asked what it meant. "Biggest M***** F****** Yellow Jacket Nest In The World". They had boiled out and covered him up, literally.
Andy
