Truncating trees

I took down this morning a poplar totem pole that was cut last year from about 80 to 25 feet.
The tree was still sucking up tons of water from its intact root system.
Truncating does not necessarily kill them.

Heavy pieces to roll over for splitting.
I'm going to leave a few to dry further over the summer before processing.

https://i.imgur.com/qjc0xgO.jpg

I have a dozen Poplars, 8"-10" x 25 ', that I topped off two years ago. I am hoping they haven't been drawing up water. I was counting on them to be dry. Will know in a few months.