A friend of mine has a 10 year old tree that he wants to get rid of it, he said he would give it to me if I can dig it up, its a 12 feet tall and the bark is around 11 inches thick.
my question here is, is it possible in such large tree to be replanted?
Has anyone tried it with great success?
If so, can you please explain to me what needs to be done pls?

Take a lot of cuttings, instead.

Yes, there is a member here who relocated his tree (that was several years old) and was successful. The tree did recover. I forgot who it was.

Congratulations
Jenny

Ask Jimmy Chau, he seems to do it a lot.

Hi! Figs4Life,

1. For the tree that big, it is best to wait in early spring in 2014 before the leaves come out. Dig it up, and replant at your house. It will grow back fine.

2. If you can wait for all the leaves to drop in this fall, then you can dig it up and replant at your house, but you have to protect it in the winter otherwise it will die.  

3. If you have to dig it right away or in a few days, I recommend the following:

Once you replant it at your house, you must cover the tree completely with a any thick fabric (fabric spreadsheets), any color white is better, but not black. Make sure you keep the fabric close to the bark. Everyday, keep spraying the water on the fabric to keep it moist at all the time during the daytime. You have to do this for at least 2 or more weeks.

Good luck to your new tree.

Best,
Tam 

Think of it as a giant cutting that has already rooted.  I agree, in your area wait for spring.

I would dig it up any time after it goes dormant.  First I'd cut all the branches way back to make it easier to move.  Then offer cuttings for postage here and become very popular  :)  Several of us have done it.  3-5 cuttings in a ziplock, sent in a small flat rate priority box.  People paypal you $7 and you make a dollar/box.  You could easily end up $100 richer.

I might be able to help out and I'm close by

>>> and the bark is around 11 inches thick.
Is that the circumference?
Or is it 11/[fig]pie = 3.5" diameter?

For a 10 year old; an 11" diameter trunk seems a little huge for me
(and much much harder to dig out).

Is it a single trunk tree or a bush?

It looks like a very good delicious fig, and for a few cuttings, I may be able to come help out too.

I would first trim it down and save ALL the cuttings.

The big job is digging the root ball out.
I would cut the roots, say 12-18" away and all around the stump, and then
somehow pry it loose; a good heavy duty crow-bar comes to mind (I have 2).
[also some 2' piece of a tree-log/4x4-wood/etc., will do as the lever-pivot-point]

Just cutting the tree to ground does not make your friend happy;
it will grow back pretty quickly [most likely as a thick bush].
I have heard that pouring some weed-killer on a freshly cut trunk
(splitting the trunk may be better) will kill the rest of the tree stump and roots.

Late in the season, one can also force dormancy by cutting all the leaves too.

I would cut around the rootball like gorgi said and if you are willing break your back taking it out, realize it's going to take some time and a lot of digging, a madock.  I wouldn't do it until it's dormant, march or early april, prune it back this fall to main branches and only 1-2 feet long on those branches.  When you replant it, you will need to water it in very well but if you do things right it should do just fine, just a lot of work, if you can, convince him to leave it in later and take a big air layer off on of the branches, if not take a bunch of dormant cuttings and you will save yourself a lot of work.  If you will kill the stump, mix some anti freeze with the weed killer, the anti freeze helps the weed killer stick to the vascular system and makes it much more effective.

Also, dooo ask your friend about the history of this nice fig, if any is known,
e.g., the name of the fig and/or its origin.

The pics do remind me of KK's 'Lyndhurst White' fig...

Figs seem to be tough......I bought a green Ischia that turned out to be a Latrulla.  It needed to be moved or disposed of and I could not make up my mind which route I would follow.  I hooked a tow strap around the trunk connected to the front end loader on my tractor and ripped it from the ground without any digging.  It came out with no soil and many broken roots. Moved it to its new spot cut it back severely and planted it and it leafed out this spring just fine though did not fruit.  It was not nearly as big as the fig you are talking about but as long as you balance the top with what roots you move, mulch it and keep it watered when it wakes up it should do ok.  

Many good advices. Thanks.

Best,
Tam

While you are at it; do take some pics of  some 'typical' leaves off the mother tree.
That will be much help for a (possible) fig ID, for the many fig experts here (not me!).

George: Your Welcome. Please share a few cuttings with me. Thank you.

Best,
Tam

>>> by the eye is 11 inches from one side to the other side and its not a bush

That is one large (11" diameter) tree trunk!
To pull it out, you will need more of a machine kind of help (rather than pure human muscle power).
Just cut all the cuttings you can and then kill the stump.

It so happens that yesterday; I watched a 2++ foot diameter tree (neighbor's sidewalk) being cut down
by some professional tree-expert co. There were 4 big trucks and 5 people involved :-
(a) Cheery picker bucket with a man wilting a chain saw.
(b) Pole crane to tie and bring down big branches tied and cut by (a)
(c) Wood chipper that turns ~1' think branches into little chips into the truck.
(d) A heavy load truck for the last two big-wide trunk pieces (good for lumber?).

and, then later #5 still came...
(e) a truck equipped with some stump 'grinding' machine (it rattled my house) -
at the end, I only saw a big pile mix of soil and chips - no roots and/or stump!?!

Quite an amazing synchronized job!!!!
This probably cost my town 1000's of $$$; partly paid by me off the local taxes...

I can do it and distribute cuttings. Have been moving a lot of trees, and my yard still have space for 100+ large tree.