Beastmaster in the hard lane... questions.

Fairly new to Dota 2, but obsessed.

I watched a pro game recently where beastmaster solo'd the hard lane. I don't remember which game it was, so I'm honestly not sure how old it might be. I've looked around online and found surprisingly little information on playing this hero in this role. So I have questions. :)

1. Is Beastmaster still considered a good pick for this position? I got the impression that his ult (and to a degree his passive) were his primary contributions to the team, and that the rest just allowed him to safely solo the hard lane (primarily on the dire side). Is it still a good pick?

2. What's the strategy? I watched the one video I could find and the guy literally just continuously stacked the ancients and axed them slowly down. His lane presence was 0. It seems like you could accomplish more given the hawk, boar, tree clearing etc.

3. Can you clear trees using axes and pull the ancients into your creep wave? I'm planning to go home and test this, but I'm bored at work and figured I'd ask.

Any other tidbits about this hero are welcome.