Pulling wood out of the bush, lots of quesions.

[kevin j]

1. DR power wagon

2. 'Muck Truck' that is here on CL at about $2500. Both of these are small powered hopper type boxes on wheels.

3. There was (is?) a track type machine specfically for the forest industry. About 5 hp, has two tracks, with a log arch type hoist point to pick up log end. The operator drives with a T bar type of handle, sort of like a warehouse pallet jack handle. Going down hill is the limiting factor. Also tiny, maybe 500 lbs or less, but able to drag maybe 1000 lbs. I have seen it in Diesel Progress trade magazine several times. Might have been Bombardier, but I thought it was from Norway/FInland maybe. SawTroll ever seen this thing? This would be my first choice.

4. Dingo walk behind skid steer. Dingo was made in Austr, now Toro owns the design. Under 30 inches wide and tiny.

5. Make yur own powered something from an old snowblower (do you have those down there?) with either tracks or wheels.

All small, but fit on the trailer and haul big wheelbarrow worth of wood at a time. You did say you just hauled a load back without the trailer, so taking any equipment on the trailer and giving up some space is not a deal breaker. STill way more productivity and wood hauled on pickup plus half a trailer than just in the pickup.

Anyway you go, it will require some tradeoffs and cost some investment. Else, just continued back work doesn't sound too fun.
I never cut alone for safety reasons, or drive to a site with only one vehicle because I will get stuck or stranded, or want to cutin an area where I need to have Mr. Colt in the chaps. Hats off to your efforts.


k

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Man, I gotta say... And this is nothing against you good Kansas Folks... Is Kansas overflowing with criminals? A really good buddy of mine is originally from Wichita... Now I can see why he left.

I'm not saying we are crime-free here... But most are afraid of getting a bullet for such behavior.

Sounds like you need Wyatt Earp to clean up again............

No, it isn't overflowing with them. I sleep soundly with the door unlocked in town. All it takes is a few "ne'er do wells" to rustle cattle , haul off anything of value or to just be up to no good in general that will keep you on guard when you only go on your place once or week or less. You dont know what element you are going to run into. The kind that shouldn't be missed.

They are the sort of low-life that an alarm in the middle of nowhere means nothing to them. Putting up a sign that says "Trespassers will be Violated. Survivors will be SHOT." only serves to antagonize them. It means you know they are there but not much you can do if not there to back it up.

 

[sawinredneck]

No, it isn't overflowing with them. I sleep soundly with the door unlocked in town. All it takes is a few "ne'er do wells" to rustle cattle , haul off anything of value or to just be up to no good in general that will keep you on guard when you only go on your place once or week or less. You dont know what element you are going to run into. The kind that shouldn't be missed.

They are the sort of low-life that an alarm in the middle of nowhere means nothing to them. Putting up a sign that says "Trespassers will be Violated. Survivors will be SHOT." only serves to antagonize them. It means you know they are there but not much you can do if not there to back it up.

You seem to know my vermin quite well!!! For all I know, no more often than I can get out there, I may end up walking up on a home made meth lab, or end up in someones pot growing field. You just can't make the time to be out there every three days like you need to!

Now the poster asking about trailer space, NO!!! The truck bed is the only space for hauling tools and equipment!! The trailer is for wood ONLY!!!

Well I'm off, try a run with the trailer by myself.

 

[aandabooks]

I've got a Suzuki Eiger 400 4x4 and since I bought it, I've been amazed at the load it will pull. The trick is to get the log moving. One of those ATV log arches would be really nice for lifting the front of the log but the budget doesn't currently allow for it.

I bought my quad primarily to get into cut when the truck won't make it. I cut in plowed fields and when it gets soupy the truck doesn't stand a chance. I have yet to get the quad stuck though. The truck is an '07 Silverado 4x4.

I've pulled 16" elm cut to 10' lenghts uphill out of the ravine before. Log chain hooked to the hitch. Get it moving and don't stop. I also have a 2500# winch on it. The problem there is it will pull the quad to the log before it pulls the log up. Generally have to chain the quad to a tree or the truck to use the winch on anything too heavy. It sure does raise and lower the snowplow slick though.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I know OF them well enough. They like the hilly rough country that is seldom traveled. Their kind sets up shop in a vacant (abandoned) house and feels right at home. They do the same on unattended rural property. Vermin is about right. Their kind breeds more of the same and soon an area isn't fit for use because of them.

Don't be a boy scout when out there but do be prepared.

Have a great time working your place for the firewood. Thats where I would rather be going but the job first.

 

[woodbooga]

I've only skimmed this thread, so I apologize if this is redundant or not helpful.

I don't have the means to afford much anything that would make hauling from site to pickup easier - and one of my main cutting sites was a patch of recently logged woods. Lots of red oak, maple, and black birch tops next to skid tracks that ran through some borgerline wetlands. I could get my Ranger about 100 feet to the tops.

I brought with me several 8x2 planks and made a path through the muck. Enough so I could wheelbarrow my rounds to the truck. It was a lot of work and time consuming but worth it.

Fortunately, the site is on my commute route so I left the barrow there and picked it up on my way home one day.

Like Shoer suggested early on, I plan to go back after the ground freezes and I can back right in. But this strategy don't work in March/April when we're in the grip of the dredded "Mud Season."

 

[Mike Van]

3. There was (is?) a track type machine specfically for the forest industry. About 5 hp, has two tracks, with a log arch type hoist point to pick up log end. The operator drives with a T bar type of handle, sort of like a warehouse pallet jack handle. Going down hill is the limiting factor. Also tiny, maybe 500 lbs or less, but able to drag maybe 1000 lbs. I have seen it in Diesel Progress trade magazine several times. Might have been Bombardier, but I thought it was from Norway/FInland maybe. SawTroll ever seen this thing? This would be my first choice.
k

Iron Mule I believe it's called - Made in one of the Scandanavian countries. Kind of pricey If I remember.

 

[sawinredneck]

I think that meth has changed rural areas everywhere, Kansas included.My neighbor is a Sheriff's deputy.He told me that he sent his boy to Texas to work construction as soon as he graduated.He said that within five years most of his classmates would be in prison or dead.I'm a weekend guy down there, and everything looks perfect sweetness and light.The cows outnumber the people by a huge margin.I strap on for the coyotes...

Watch that speed trap in Leon, now.

Yeah, the "drug culture" ain't like it was for sure!!!

Those SOB's in Leon, MAN!!!! Came back today and they have TWO unmarked BLACK Tahoe's with the mini light bar sitting at the cemetary!!

I got out there, decent weather, pulled into the field drive and hoofed it. WAY to muddy to do anything!!! I had to back out 200 yds. through an overgrown "driveway" onto a road with truck and trailer. Even then I damn near got stuck!!! Had to find some brush to put under the tires for traction to keep moving.
Scared up some NICE Deer, had a Doe maybe 40' in front of me, probably 275#'s, big for this area, and seen a Buck, he couldn't have cared if was around or not, crazy!! Six pointer, pushing 235#'s!! Nice deer for the area!!! If only it was rifle season, if only I had a tag with me, if only I didn't just have my 10mm (.357mag is the "shortest cartridge" you can use in KS) if only...............
I came home with nothing but some pics.

 

[sawinredneck]

First pic is a Township building not far from where I cut, look close and you can see the bars on the windows and doors. The rest are the woods I work in, the laid over tree is 32" to give you an idea. Camera phones suck, sorry!

 

[MR4WD]

You've rejected all of the ideas offered. Why don't you tell US the best way to yard wood out of the forest.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Yeah, the "drug culture" ain't like it was for sure!!!

Those SOB's in Leon, MAN!!!! Came back today and they have TWO unmarked BLACK Tahoe's with the mini light bar sitting at the cemetary!!

I got out there, decent weather, pulled into the field drive and hoofed it. WAY to muddy to do anything!!! I had to back out 200 yds. through an overgrown "driveway" onto a road with truck and trailer. Even then I damn near got stuck!!! Had to find some brush to put under the tires for traction to keep moving.
Scared up some NICE Deer, had a Doe maybe 40' in front of me, probably 275#'s, big for this area, and seen a Buck, he couldn't have cared if was around or not, crazy!! Six pointer, pushing 235#'s!! Nice deer for the area!!! If only it was rifle season, if only I had a tag with me, if only I didn't just have my 10mm (.357mag is the "shortest cartridge" you can use in KS) if only...............
I came home with nothing but some pics.

Like you cant spot those from a mile away. They would do a lot better if they drove something that looked a bit more like the locals decked out with a pair of big FireStiks on the mirrors and a 9foot whip off the back bumper. It's called camoflage, you see.

Most of them are out of their element and not even aware of it.

Now if they were parked and had a cooler popped open and a couple of lawn chairs with mud on the TOP of the cab they would blend in a bit better as long as they weren't in $600 suits.

They might have been there to make their presence known. Let everything get quiet for a while and then they can go, their work there is done.

 

[sawinredneck]

Like you cant spot those from a mile away. They would do a lot better if they drove something that looked a bit more like the locals decked out with a pair of big FireStiks on the mirrors and a 9foot whip off the back bumper. It's called camoflage, you see.

Most of them are out of their element and not even aware of it.

Now if they were parked and had a cooler popped open and a couple of lawn chairs with mud on the TOP of the cab they would blend in a bit better as long as they weren't in $600 suits.

They might have been there to make their presence known. Let everything get quiet for a while and then they can go, their work there is done.

Seriously, I would have rolled right by and never given it a second thought, they blended right in!! Two of them, one facing East, one west like lost travlers!!

 

[mattmc2003]

I say if you gotta drive 90 miles for 2 cords of wood, and back, its not worth the time to sell. Unless it brings a buttload more out there than it does here. Cause the way i figure....180 mile trip, average of fifteen MPG. If not less. Thats twelve gallons of fuel. Plus your time for a day. Wear and tear on vehicle (tires especially). Saw and chains and gas and oil. And then add a 4wheeler and tractor into the mix.... I'd stay home. IMO. I don't know the measure, but a long wheelbase F250 stacked to the brim brings $150 around here. I'd guess about a cord. Not sure though.

 

[sawinredneck]

You've rejected all of the ideas offered. Why don't you tell US the best way to yard wood out of the forest.

I am not "rejecting" anything, I am stating the problems I forsee with these methods. I am a pessimist by nature. The DR looked good, but I would rather drag most of the tree to the truck rather than have to cut and load a bunch of pieces, then load them again. The game with firewood is the less you handle it, the more you make.
I don't know the BEST way, I haven't a clue. I am leaning towards a used tracked mini-skidsteer. I can find these for less than a quad, and make more money using it for other uses.
But even then, I "THINK" it will work, I have no gaurntee that it will!!

I was hopping that another member here might have run into this and come up with some crazy off the wall trick that I had no idea about, or would have never thought of!!

Sorry if you feel offended, but I was hoping to hear from someone that had found a system that worked, not a theory.

 

[coog]

I say if you gotta drive 90 miles for 2 cords of wood, and back, its not worth the time to sell. Unless it brings a buttload more out there than it does here. Cause the way i figure....180 mile trip, average of fifteen MPG. If not less. Thats twelve gallons of fuel. Plus your time for a day. Wear and tear on vehicle (tires especially). Saw and chains and gas and oil. And then add a 4wheeler and tractor into the mix.... I'd stay home. IMO. I don't know the measure, but a long wheelbase F250 stacked to the brim brings $150 around here. I'd guess about a cord. Not sure though.

They call them the "Great Plains" for a reason.Redneck,KsW.M and I live in an area that originally had Cottonwood as the only tree.Our ancestors planted a little bit of everything, and they do grow huge here.About an hour and a half East is where the great Eastern forest ends.Worth the drive!(ask any guy burning pine in Alaska) Nothing easy about cutting/hauling/selling firewood.

 

[Kazpian]

I was thinking about the hauling aspect of firewood and I was just curious what you fine folks thought about hauling it by the semiload. I am guessing it could hold 10 cords or possibly even more. Just curious what you all thought about that. Seems like one of the big issues hauling is the horrible cost of fuel when loaded - any thoughts ?

 

[sawinredneck]

They call them the "Great Plains" for a reason.Redneck,KsW.M and I live in an area that originally had Cottonwood as the only tree.Our ancestors planted a little bit of everything, and they do grow huge here.About an hour and a half East is where the great Eastern forest ends.Worth the drive!(ask any guy burning pine in Alaska) Nothing easy about cutting/hauling/selling firewood.

That and he missed the post about Oak going for $125 a face and rising.
Even at four face, subtract $80 for gas, not a bad days work. ( I can split that in three hours the next day)

 

[KsWoodsMan]

Sawinredneck, I haven't had any thoughts that weren't a trained hog, burro, horse, draft mule, 4-wheeler, winch of some kind or cable trolley.

I know the type of ground you are on. It looks solid , but when you fall through the grass you are stuck.

For packing it out by hand a shoulder harness to drag out small stuff would wear you out less since you aren't having to hold onto the wood. You are still walking all of it in and out though.

I guess claring back the grater ditches has me spoiled. All of the wood is within 10 - 20 feet of the truck.

 

[sawinredneck]

I was thinking about the hauling aspect of firewood and I was just curious what you fine folks thought about hauling it by the semiload. I am guessing it could hold 10 cords or possibly even more. Just curious what you all thought about that. Seems like one of the big issues hauling is the horrible cost of fuel when loaded - any thoughts ?

I gave that VERY serious consideration a couple of years ago.
A couple of problems arose. First and foremost was the cost of fuel. That is several trips out cutting and not bringing anything back, you need a fuel effecient vehicle to make that work so no equipment can be brought along. You also run the risk of coming back and everything is gone the next trip.
Geting a semi and trailer in and out of this place would be a logistics nightmare! The weather would have to cooperate like Mother nature ever has!! Easy two weeks of dry, or three days of hard freeze, and even then you are not garunteed you wont sink the rig in the sand.
But beyond that, the sheer manpower, or equipment needed to load it in a timely manner negates ANY and ALL profit you stood to make. Even if you could get a truck running empty getting paid for fuel and mileage and my stop isn't that far out of his way. He isn't going to sit there for long waiting to get loaded.
Add in the fuel cost and...................
I really thought that was the ticket until I did some leg work on it. I found out fast I was wrong!!
Somebody just off the highway that has equipment handy, that would be the ticket, but each trip out there, such as today, is money lost.

 

[sawinredneck]

Sawinredneck, I haven't had any thoughts that weren't a trained hog, burro, horse, draft mule, 4-wheeler, winch of some kind or cable trolley.

I know the type of ground you are on. It looks solid , but when you fall through the grass you are stuck.

For packing it out by hand a shoulder harness to drag out small stuff would wear you out less since you aren't having to hold onto the wood. You are still walking all of it in and out though.

I guess claring back the grater ditches has me spoiled. All of the wood is within 10 - 20 feet of the truck.

Those pics today, maybe 40 ft., but NO WAY I could even think of getting close today!!! 2-300yds was a stretch!

Yeah, dry in one spot, marsh three feet to the left!

I am liking the Mule idea more all the time. But my luck I would get one just as dumb and stubborn as me, then I would have to haul the azz around!!!
Gotta give me a bit for that one