Urban yamdori Juniper?

[pyrohamish]

I've got a chance to collect some large and old what I assume is juniper.

Can I get an ID; is it worth collecting; is it possible at this time of the year; and what's the best way to collect?

[Raging Bull]

Some pictures of the whole plant would help a lot more to i.d. it. The tip of that branch looks like it may belong to a ground cover juniper. If it is you will find that they take forever to grow their main trunk to any thickness. They tend to spread and elongate without thickening the trunk much at all.

[pyrohamish]

The tip foliage was common of the whole plant. I didn't get a look at the trunk as I only had a look for moment and the foliage was very dense (and prickly).

I think it's possibly Shore Juniper Juniper conferta

[shibui]

There are so many ground cover junipers and many look visually similar. Sometimes the older growth is a key, sometimes the new shoots like your first photo. Sometimes the growth habit as shown in the new photo can give a clue to ID. Point is the more info we get the better the ID.

I assume from the photos this is a juniper. Most junipers are treated in a similar manner.
I prefer to dig junipers in late winter or spring and have good survival but I see more people reporting success with digging them 'after summer solstice' so now may be a good time.
When I dig junipers I reduce roots substantially to fit into a reasonable sized container. The more usual advice is to 'retain as much root as possible'. That may be safer but adds so much more to the process and years of root reduction in the future if you plan on getting the tree into a bonsai pot.
I can report that retaining some growing tips seems to help with recovery. i do reduce the foliage mass substantially when digging junipers but I now retain at least a few entire branches with growing tips.
Many people also recommend retaining as much field soil around the roots as possible. I have read so many articles about root problems traced back to garden or mountain soil in the roots that I have always shaken the tree gently to remove as much garden soil as will drop off without root damage and find really good survival without retaining native soil.
Aftercare is also contentious. Some say shade and protection is paramount. I tend to allow much more sun straight after transplant but I do have relatively sheltered conditions here and I recognize that one person's full sun is not the same as someone else's full sun. Again you will have to follow your instinct with position afterwards.

You can see there is little consensus in either timing or technique but i would be happy to try for juniper transplant even now in mid summer.