> ..do you pretty much have to bet on clearing the underbrush over the whole site to provide enough visibility to shoot all of the trees.?
No. as long as you can find a photon sized clear path between gun and glass there will be no need to cut brush.
Rodman moves around until he can see the lens of the gun, then puts the glass exactly where his eye was. If the gunner can't see the glass or even the rodman (as is often the case if the gun is semi open and the rod is deep in the woods),and the gun has autotracking, aim it in the general direction of the rodman's voice and set it to search. If there is even a tiny clear path, the autosearch will find it. If the gun does not have autotracking give the rodman a flashlight to shine at the gunner.
Nevertheless you will want a machete along to knock off the occasional branch. But widespread clearing is not required.
Tree Tags
I have done many tree and topo surveys myself, as well as supervised many more. Our way is to go through initially and measure all the trees that meet the grade (in this area it is usually 6 or 8 inches and above, it also means measuring the trees just short of making the grade). We will tie two streamers of flagging on each tree that makes the grade, one being either white or green, the cheap stuff, and write the diameter of the tree on that flagging. We also tie the second streamer of flagging, either pink or orange glo (for visibility), and stripping it off when the tree is tied (and putting said stripped off flagging in a pocket or pouch for proper disposal). This makes it much easier to see which trees need to be tied, as well as which ones have already been tied. As to cutting grid lines, I have not done that in years.
In an answer to Bow Tie, we do place numbered tags on each tree we tie to help the contractor know which trees are to be saved and which will be taken out. The remaining flagging, being of the cheap type, usually degrades fairly quickly. Oh and our point numbers do include the tag number, fortunately our data collector and office software allow Alphanumeric point numbers so tree #1 is numbered TR1.
Tree Tags
> In an answer to Bow Tie, we do place numbered tags on each tree we tie to help the contractor know which trees are to be saved and which will be taken out.
Yes, exactly. The value of tagging trees is so much greater than the minor cost of the tag that in my opinion it's a no-brainer if you have five or six hundred trees to keep track of on a site. If there are five or six total, though, maybe the tags aren't really needed.
Absolutely. There is no reason to walk 8 times what it already going to take you 4 times to walk.
Tree Tags
How about 1200 trees, and that is only on approximately 1/2 of a 200+ acre site! Pretty sure we will be doing the other half sometime in the future.
Oh, and the realtor is already using the tree tags while showing potential buyers where proposed lot lines will be using preliminary plats plotted over our tree and topo survey. (Oh, that is tree #523, a 34" Pecan, and your proposed lot line would be about 30' east of there) Yes they are selling lots before the subdivision has been platted!