Prepare the new planting site first and then just dig as large a rootball as you can manage and replant promptly. And if the vines have been established for a while, the root system may be quite a bit larger than you expect :-)

I had to remove a gold flame honeysuckle once and it was so so big in the root system. The only thing I can think is put a tarp nearby so you can slide it to its next home. They transplant easily for me , just so large I decided to leave my mistakes in place from now on

gg and lily,

Thank you, yes, the vines were larger than I expected and severe severing took place. I have a honeysuckle that looks like a piece of driftwood, but I'm told by the owner of the house that it will come back. I'm planting it today, along with the much-less developed clematis.

Since the roots were, in order to extricate it from the soil, cut off below the soil level, do I wait a day or so before watering (the soil's a little damp at our house now)?

Thanks again!

tiger, thank you, that's actually a helpful FAQ!

If you haven’t watered them in well, you should do that at least to settle the soil around the roots.

I know watering's better for that, but I tamped it down with the handle-end of the weighted-head shovel (I think it's British, got it at a garage sale) on account of just-this-day cut roots and the potential for infection of same. I'll water it in with some starter tomorrow or the next day.