NIck, are you on the right or left? I can't tell, quite.
I like cutting stumps AHAP, as high as possible. The one I"ll cut today will be above 8-10' up, just above the top of the cracked inclusion in the 4' dbh maple. We leave them at least waist high so that people, especially while bending an elbow while camping, can't trip over them in the dark. They just bump into them.
That, plus root-diseased trees have better wood higher up. I was able to cut a 4-5' doug-fir with a 346xp- 20" bar because of the root rot had eaten out the center of the tree. That was head high on the front, and I realized after putting in the face, and going around for the back-cut, that the ground was lower, making the backcut an overhead cut.
I like seeing old decayed stumps around forests. We usually make the tops jagged for a more natural look over time, and leave bucketed-down spars as tall as possible in relation to targets for wildlife habitat. I might try mashing the jagged top a bit with the back side of the ax to accelerate the process.
I think that it will be cool to see them decay over time. I just missed smashing a high, aerial rooted hemlock stump with the top of the maple yesterday. I'll try to get some pictures today on my camera. My cell phone just doesn't do the job.
What is unfortunate is when the powers that be leave a nice tree out on the edge of the campground forever, turning into a great wildlife tree, then get nervous when its all rotten, and full of holes, then want to stand away as a safe distance, doing nothing (well, controlling the very minimal traffic during the winter, and talking to the few campers around, possibly) and send us in to cut that rotten puppy down. This happened last week. A 40+" x 150'ish doug-fir that was left for possibly decades after it died.
We got refillable air horns for warning each other. Whistles don't do anything when you've got on hearing protection and a running saw. Just can't hear 'em. Getting grazed by a 4"x 20' branch and side stepping another, both coming from about a 100' up, prompted the air horns.
http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Made-Products-Blast-Rechargeable/dp/B000MTXZME Like this, but we got them on close-out for under 10 buck a pop.