Sure you can, but not knowing the sizes of the plants in question handicaps our ability to offer more in the way of advice. So, what are we talking?

+oM

I am looking at moving a 1.25 inch pin oak and around a two inch Princeton elm tree.

you can hand dig a 100 foot tree .. but the digging usually isnt the problem ... its moving the darn thing after ... and when bare rooting ... making the darn thing stand up .. with what amounts to a sail boat sail in the wind .. after replanting ...

if you want to move them.. i would ball and burlap them ...

but if you just want to look at the roots.. i would go all howard carter on them.. and get out the archeology tools on them.. and do them in situ .. to look at the roots ...

in my experience.. one inch.. and about 6 foot tall is my max.. and i have experience ...

if you have no experience.. it can be done.. but i think the odds are against you ... but if you dont mind the odds.. and dont mind the experiemnt ... and the long odds.. go for it ...

below is a pic of a cherry i moved years ago ... in my sand.. falling over was not an issue... but i had dozens of them.. and failure didnt bother me ... i owuld never contemplate a 2.5 incher ... unless i had no alternatives ...

timing is imperative.. it has to be done.. 6 to 8 weeks prior to leaf out ...

what is your base soil ... it matters ..

ken

Yes, by size factor, both are movable.

+oM

Use a very sharp shovel (grind it and file it). Start about 18" out from the trunk on the smaller one, and dig in a circle around the trunk. Then go around again only deeper. Try to shake the dirt loose from the roots without breaking them. Gently rock the trunk so you can see where the roots are that are holding it in. Worry more about keeping the finer roots intact than the coarser, deeper ones. As you can see from Ken's photo, you really don't have to go very deep on an 1 1/4" tree (depending on species somewhat). If there is a "tap" root holding it in, you can slice through it at about 18" deep with your very sharp shovel. On a 2" elm, I would start about 24" out from the trunk (4' diameter hole) but the same depth. Like Ken said, timing is important. The sooner the better. 2" is getting a little big for bare root but it can be done with care and luck.

How long have these trees been in the ground? I have wasted much time moving trees when the box store would have sold me a replacement for $20....then again I am 100% successful somehow.

I just bare rooted his Japanese maple. Dug it, put it on a dolly. bare rooted it with my fingers and a hose to get rid of the grass.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and advice. The Pin Oak was planted in a field as a small $10 container and I have a neighbor who may take it. The soil is Michigan clay (first few inches are more loam like) the elm was a B&B 1.75inch transplant (the smallest I could find) and I was considering replacing it with a smaller 1 gallon or 3 gallon size due to some exposed girdling root issues and Experiment with correcting the visible girdling root and checking for others before I moved it to a new less visible location.

I will think about it and provide updates of my success or lack thereof if I go through with it :)

Classic nursery technique when hand-digging involves first digging around the tree-just like said above-but (this is important) with back of shovel towards tree. Don't shake the soil loose, try to cut through roots cleanly. Then face the shovel the other way, but dig out a little further, thereby starting to form a trench that you gradually go deeper with until you can undercut the ball you're forming, using a "sharpshooter"-type spade for the undercutting work.

I should know-back in my formative days, I must have dug a couple thousand arbs and other trees using this exact method. First thing though-turn that shovel away from tree.....and cut through small roots.

+oM

you could do it by hand, but I'd use a shovel. lol.

I generally do them like ken and toro.

Here's a nice Youtube video...more work than I'm likely to invest... but looks like the Cadillac versions of hand-digging a b&b specimen. Hand-digging

I have dug a lot of trees over the years. I see a few things wrong with the video. He's digging forward rather than backing up. By backing up you keep any low branches out of the way.
The other thing is, he's using a short handled flat edged shovel . That's a back breaker in my book. I can do the job a lot quicker with a construction shovel with the same results and not bend over so far. At the end of the day, it makes a big difference. Also, a flat edge shovel is harder to dig with if you encounter rocks. Unless you're under five feet tall I see no reason to use a shovel with a short handle.
+om's right in that you should keep the back of the shovel facing the tree when you're first cutting the rootball. I do it a little different in that I have the back of the shovel at about a 45 degree angle as I back around the tree. The shovel doesn't push against the rootball as much and the motions are more fluid and faster.
Mike

I dug a 13' tree within the last week and after it was bare-rooted I used my hand pruner and clipped off the tips of each root until I saw a clean & healthy "white center" in each. I also removed a root that had wrapped itself around the entire root-system in a circle - which is precisely what you're talking about with your elm and clipped off other roots that were "J-shaped" and heading back into and toward the center of the root mass. I clipped those off at a juncture so they were headed back away from the root-mass when applicable.

The photo of Tornado's Japanese maple where the roots are twisting and 'grafting' together is great. That's good. You wouldn't want to cut any of that out. What I removed were roots that made a complete 180-degree turn from the outside of the mass.

Clipping off the tips and revealing fresh flesh will stimulate fibrous root production from each root-tip and will allow the root-system to better take up water and nutrients at the same time.

Don't let your newly transplanted trees dry out. Water them to continue keeping the soil moist but not drenched this entire year. And, add a layer of mulch.

Dax