A bee tree no more!

I got a call back in the fall about a "swarm" of honey bees.  Upon inspection, it wasn't a swarm at all but a  well established colony in a tree. The homeowner wanted them gone as she was worried that they were killing her tree. Half of the upper tree was dead already. I'm pretty sure it was dead before the bees moved in. At any rate, she wanted them gone even if it meant chopping down the tree. The tree was a bit bigger than I wanted to handle. I spend some time researching trappouts  with a plan to return in the spring to trap them out. When I looked back in March, the entire tree had been removed. :( bummer.