Property being logged

[Fantail]

Having the property logged. Thought I might post some pics of the activity in case anyone else is considering getting it done. Property is about 50 acres, a little lost to swamp. From a hunting perspective I was concerned about the job's time and general disturbance. But having this done will get some light down where it's needed. New growth, trails, lanes, expanding food plots etc. After meeting with the logger he seems to know his jazz and can run a good crew. This is not a chip job even though the place was high-cut about 15 years ago. So not as much will get cleared out as I thought. Maybe 20% judging by what trees the forester marked, and getting to them. But then the job shouldn't take as as long either. We'll see how it progresses. I'll be able to post a few updates now and then.

 

Day one & staging area.

 

Front of the skidder - I'm thinking before they pack up shop I might have a side job or two for this thing.

[BizCT]

Yea, man.

 

[virgil]

I'm really curious about this.  I was thinking about looking into it for my land.  I have a few questions if you don't mind.  Do they leave a mess behind- tree tops, etc.  Also, does it cost you out of pocket or do they pay you?  My land was partially logged a few years before I bought it and could probably benefit from being thinned out a bit.  Thanks.

[thphm]

Looks like fire wood not lumber,Make sure the get rid of the tree tops also.

[jjb4900]

logging and creating new growth for the deer is a good thing..........too bad the state doesn't have the ability to log their land, I've watched areas go from new growth with good deer herds to old growth that doesn't offer the deer much so they move on to greener pastures.

[WesternNY]

Looks like fire wood not lumber,Make sure the get rid of the tree tops also.

Why in the world would you want to get rid of the tree tops. 

 

Logging is the best thing you can do for your property when it comes to increasinig the quality of habitat. 

 

Deer will bed like crazy in and around the tree tops, tree tops protect new growth trees by acting as a natural fence, and the deer will feed on the tops. 

 

You do not want your deer woods looking like a park, you want it to look like a thick nasty woods where you can not see past 30 yards with lots of sun hitting the ground.

 

Leave to the tree tops, unless you want in to look like  a park, and not hold quality bucks.

 

Everytime I have had logging done, the hunting that season and seasons after has been better!

[jjb4900]

Why in the world would you want to get rid of the tree tops. 

 

Logging is the best thing you can do for your property when it comes to increasinig the quality of habitat. 

 

Deer will bed like crazy in and around the tree tops, tree tops protect new growth trees by acting as a natural fence, and the deer will feed on the tops. 

 

You do not want your deer woods looking like a park, you want it to look like a thick nasty woods where you can not see past 30 yards with lots of sun hitting the ground.

 

Leave to the tree tops, unless you want in to look like  a park, and not hold quality bucks.

 

Everytime I have had logging done, the hunting that season and seasons after has been better!

yup, a lot of times, depending on when the logging is done....the treetops will produce or have buds for the deer to eat.

[growalot]

Good deal ...I hope the guys you have are good enough to honor the clean up stage of the contract...we were very lucky with our guys being excellent...though I tweaked the standard contract before signing...the poor older gentle man next door was not as lucky and is talking suing....they tore up his drive...and never smoothed out the logging trails nor the landing...and did not call him to come out and inspect before they moved equipment as he had requested...bit of a cut and run...

[Doc]

Logging is one of the best ways of improving deer habitat, and also getting some cash. But, it would pay to have certain requirements written down and agreed upon, or spend some significant time monitoring the activity. The reason I say that is the experience with one of our neighbors with some rather irresponsible loggers. The logging was done about 20 years ago, and there are still some very significant ruts (about 18" deep) that fan out across a rather large field such that it is impossible to drive or even walk across. That field will never be useable again. Apparently the time of the year created conditions where the skidder could not use the same trail twice across this field and so there was a pattern the fanned out across the field originating in one corner, and all the way across the length and width of the field to some higher ground. In the woods, there are some nasty deep ruts instead of what he envisioned as good useable roads. The rest of the job came out ok. Actually he had two crews. The first one was the loggers, and then a group of fire-wood guys came in to clean up the tops. The firewood crew had to circle around to come in from the back because the ground across this field was so ripped up. Access from the original side is just a complete mess that will be screwed up forever.

[thphm]

Yep, what Doc said happened to me also,The firewood crew never showed up and I am still cutting tree tops that are bigger then the trees being pulled in the picture scattered all over the property seven years later.The deer do eat the leaves and buds for a while then the wood just lays there to rot.We have hunted a lot of county and co op land that had crews come in and do clear cutting,the deer were there right after the trees were downed and not touched a week later,they would have crews come in and clean up all of the downed wood,after that it was some of the best hunting areas with the young trees coming up.We have gotten many nice bucks and does from them areas.I have been doing some clearing for the last 2 weeks and at times the deer were there right after I downed the trees.

[Steuben Jerry]

I had my property logged in winter/spring of 2007. The logger didn't do top removal (and reflected it in the payout), but gave me contacts for "top removers" that would either pay me or do it free depending on their quote.

 

The first time I walked through it after it was completed, I thought I had made a mistake having it done.

The woods looked like a small nuke detonated on the land!

 

I did not have the tops removed except for some firewood for myself for a couple of years. I probably didn't even take 5% of the tops.

 

The following fall was the best deer hunting we had ever experienced, and over the 07/08 winter we found an active bear den in a particularly nasty area of tops. It took a couple of years to get all that succulent new growth growing and now it's thickened up tremendously. Previous to 2007 you could see a squirrel running on the ground at 150 yds in most places. Now the only 150 yd look I get is in the open fields!

 

Small game, particularly rabbits and grouse have increased exponentially. A grouse was a rare sight pre 2007. Now I can bump 10 in a half mile walk.

 

I would do it again in a heartbeat and let the tops lay!

[Doc]

Back in the mid 80's, I went down to Pa. to do some deer hunting. One area that we were scouting had a logged area that was about the worst situation I have ever seen. There was so many tops and debris heaped up, one on top of the other that it was pretty much impassible. I never saw a stretch of woodland laid waste in such a total fashion. I don't know if anyone ever came back in to clean the mess up, but if they didn't, I will guarantee there was at least the better part of a decade where no one could hunt that chunk of land. Not only could you not see more than a few yards, but you really couldn't even walk through it. This was a very extreme situation, and I have never seen anything like it before or since. But it did point up the fact that nothing should be left to trust. I am not saying that logging is not a good thing, but be aware that there are things that the landowner must protect against.

[growalot]

Our guys left the tops...but cut them down...No charge ..they said many accidents happen with land owners cutting fire wood from tops and having them roll....they also made sure all trails were clean of tops...it was great our son made a lot of pocket money in high school selling fire wood to locals ....with in 5yrs you couldn't tell it was ever logged...except for the amount of brush and native grass growth.....

[thphm]

Grow, They were right about what they said about land owners,Sh*** happens,been cutting wood for over 50 years,2 years ago on wet ground,knee high log right foot slipped and got the top of my left leg,Thoes  blastic leggins work only had 10 stiches.

A good example of what was left behind, one tree top on the side of the hill,had to make a trail to get to it, too steep,but that ting was an eye sore in the wrong place, three day and I had a trail to it so I could get the wood out,At the base where it was cut off of the trunk ( and no BS ) my Magnum with a 25" bar would not cut threw it in one swipe ,I had to cut 2 times in a 8 foot length to get to the fork. A week later I got all of that tree top cut up and piled by the splitter.

[G-Man]

I have had my property logged several times, tops are a good thing and make dens for fox. bear, coyote,as well as new growth for deer, grouse, rabbit.  The biggest thing is to have the cull trees (firewood /low dollar) cut! !!!! over 80% of nys forests have been highgraded, i am now in the process of removing"junk trees" from my newest purchase of land. its been 2 years 1500 cord of wood so far and 2 more to go at least! 120 acres of high graded forest in need of a lot of tsi . Finding a person just to do firewood is hard  and i hold on to the one i have tighter than i care to admit,you won't get rich but a forester or reputable logger/firewood man will be your best friend, 20 years from now my woods will be a top dollar timber and habitat forest, just in time for retirement !

[dirt_a_KISS]

Yea, man.

Lol, i thought i was done with TRIG!!!

[HectorBuckBuster]

Wow those are some small trees in the picture. When I have my property logged I will not take anything less then 20 inches across. The last time it was logged I had 29 walnut trees taken and they brought in $12,000 and then I had another 54 maples trees taken that brought in just under $12,000.

[Fantail]

Well it feels good to start a good thread.

The property is fairly flat as far as woodland goes. That skidder should have no trouble. I think most would agree getting this done is good for the managment. This isn't a real high value cut, in fact most of it will wind up as firewood logs - honestly they can make fuel chips or toothpicks for all it matters. It's mostly maple, birch, cherry & hemlock. Try talking to some of the guys in the logging trade about planting apple, hazelnut & goosberrys and you'll probably get strange looks. It occurs to me although a good forester - logger should respect the land it's all product to them. I'm ok with that. The job is getting done and alot of the junk trees will go with it.

[Geno C]

Fantail, do you think you will make some decent money off the logging? and will he be making any clearings for you for potential food plots for the future?

 

hope you have them leave the cut tops placed around for some browse and bedding for some deer and small game.

 

hope it all works out the way you want it

[Fantail]

I'm really curious about this.  I was thinking about looking into it for my land.  I have a few questions if you don't mind.  Do they leave a mess behind- tree tops, etc.  Also, does it cost you out of pocket or do they pay you?  My land was partially logged a few years before I bought it and could probably benefit from being thinned out a bit.  Thanks.

 

Well I think the mess question has been addressed.

I think others who have had this done before & posted could better answer your questions. A good deal-contract should spell out what the pay out/split will be. I would think if you just wanted your property looked at a forester would cost you. You mentioned your place was partly logged a few years ago, to that I can only add I asked these guys about returning in a few years to snag a few more trees not quite ready / marked. They didn't seem to like that idea.

[Fantail]

Geno C; I hope it all works out to. The logger was recomended. Have lost a little sleep though thinking about it all now that it's in progess.

Part of the deal was leaving most of the cut tops. About 1/3 of the trees shadding the clover plot(s) will be gone letting more light in. That mix seems to thrive in partial shade. I am already working on expanding them. There is nothing in the contract about leveling feild/plot areas, unfortunatly. But knowing the sun's canopy so to say and judging by what will be cleared I think I will wind up with at least double the available plottable area. And then there's some of the new lanes and paths I can in time turn into something like I did with the winter rye plots. If the operator is open to a little extra work before they pack up shop with the equipment already there I could have some of that going sooner then I anticipated. But honestly I think 2-3 acres of plots is plenty of work for me inside of 50 acres. Hopefully this job will help nature do the rest.

Ontop of that a bunch of these trees being cut will open up a path to a part of the property - at least an acre in size that is wet/soggy but not swamp. It is already open, gets good sun, has some overgrowth, some bushes and cattails and it;s a little lumpy. Could become something, say 5 years from now.

[Geno C]

thats great, try not to lose to much sleep over it. im sure the end product will be what you want. Do you live close to the property so you can keep an eye and make sure things are going to plan?

[Fantail]

Update for end of June. Temporarily parking on my neighbors place - 40 or so yard walk into camp. Because my driveway - trail is a mess. Not happy about that, some work went into getting it drivable - making arraingments to get that flattened back out. Went for a walk around the place - seem to have pissed off a doe in the area, on the way back I bumped her fawn. Sure hope they find one another soon. Also, several fresh tracks in and about where the logging is taking place. Also spotted two turkey hens close by.

 

[G-Man]

looks like they are doing good job so far, it gets messy but as long as straitened up at end of job you'll be in real good shape , great hunting for next 7-10 years for sure

 

[catskillkid]

The next time you have it done, you may want to have the logging done in the winter when the frost is deep and ground is hard,  Saves the trails and almost no ground disturbance. You will not be able  to see any evidence of logging except for the tops and stumps. Tender tree tops are fed on heavily by deer when they need it the most also.