Should I believe this guy or................?

[BlueRidgeMark]

Good for you! It takes some guts to play hardball with family sometimes, but sometimes that's what's needed. He sure didn't ACT like "family" means anything to him.


And, by the way, thanks for your service to our country.

 

[Ryan Willock]

D@mn ya'll are hard on loggers!:angry2: From the way this thread has gone you would think we are all crooks! You are offering advice on the price of a man's timber and you haven't even seen it nor do you know what current prices are in that area. Maple in my area is worth $300mbf tops NOT the $5,000mbf mentioned before so if someone offered me $4,500 for 81 maples on MY property I'd ask "when ya wanna start!" after I got my $$$ of course but hey what can I say down here thats a sh!t load of $$ for a sale that size. I must say that I am extreamly offened by this the attitude of this thread. I've never cut across a property line nor stolen timber, to listen to ya'll talk you'd think all loggers are crooks! If you've gotten ripped of in the past then most likely that YOUR D@MN fault for not doing YOUR home work on the guy you hired! You wouldn't hire some one to do a major repair to your home or car without checking the guy out first so why would you do any differant with your woods???

I make all of my landowners mark their property lines and make THEM responsible for ANY mistakes in the location of the line. I further have them agree to hold me harmless in the event of a boundry line dispute and you know what???? I've NEVER had a problem because of it!! Landowners are just going to have to get over the fact that their timber is not worth what it was two years ago (at least in my area anyway) because of the rising cost of fuel. The mills aren't paying any more for the logs (they're paying less acutually) as thats the place that they can controll their costs, same with the loggers. The only place a logger makes money is at the stump! I'll say it again, AT THE STUMP! We have to make a living to. I fully agree that if you have no experinance dealing with timber that you should get a forester in there to help you determine what you've got and what the fair market value is. Just remember whats woth $1,000 might be worth only $750 to the next guy, everyone looks at things differantly and has differant operating costs.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Further more how many of you that were offering advice have any PERSONAL (not second or third party,well my granddad had 20 acres logged..... none of that crap! YOUR first hand experiance only) experiance in dealing with timber sales and logging. I don't mean cutting a few trees on your property and getting them out yourself either! NOW lets have a show of hands!:angry2:

 

[Newfie]

Deep breaths, Ryan!

Loggers are like any other profession. Some are great, some are crooks. Unfortunately in our society we only b!tch when we've been screwed, so you rarely hear about the good guys out there. There are a few loggers in my parts who ought to be in jail.

 

[turnkey4099]

Further more how many of you that were offering advice have any PERSONAL (not second or third party,well my granddad had 20 acres logged..... none of that crap! YOUR first hand experiance only) experiance in dealing with timber sales and logging. I don't mean cutting a few trees on your property and getting them out yourself either! NOW lets have a show of hands!:angry2:

Personal experience no. Have seen several lawsuits covering NE Wa and N Id in the news where timber was outright stolen by ignoring bouindaries. Several of them so obvious that there was no possibility of using the "I didn't know that was the boundary". That is over the past 30 years.

Does it happen? Only someone with blinders on would deny it.

Is it common - no.

Harry K

 

[doggonetrees]

Well, seems I have ruffled someones feathers with this thread. If you will look at my bio, you would see that I have been involved in the tree farm business since 1990, when I inherited my fathers share of our already existing tree farm. Was established enough to get the timber cruised and have been actively involved in coordinating the mechanical thinning, aerial and boom spraying for privet hedge infestation, and re-seeding the thinned timber. Have done the leg work on all but this last cutting, which was done WHILE I WAS DEPLOYED!! That said, we also were an active timber purchaser and cutting company until we saw the light and got lucky enough to get out of the purchase/sales of timber tracts. The boundaries on our property are clearly marked with a 9' firelane maintained for control burning around the perimeter of our property lines( 460 acres ). The uncle in question was involved in part of the placement of this firelane. All I can say is if it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk- don't get downwind of it 'cause it probably is a skunk.

 

[wmthrower]

I'll tell you what really bothers me around where I live, and it happens more than just once in a blue moon, is when a logger asks if I'm interested in selling my logs. He tells me what I have on my property. How the he** does he know what my logs are? You can't come on my property without permission. And yes, this did happen to me, not a third cousin's friend. My woodlot is 2000' feet from the road and over a hill. You can't see that from your truck driving by.
It happened just yesterday to my cousin as well. He's about 2 miles away. I know that all loggers aren't crooks, but with the price of logs around here, everybody and their brother is a logger now and most landowners are trying to get a quick buck so there is a lot of bad practices being performed.

 

[lxt]

Ryan,

I think we all understand the need for logging, we may not understand the detailed finances or other aspects of this trade. BUT what we do know(personally am witnessing right now in my area) is the total disrespect that many in your trade have for the property/property owners. The company logging in my area leaves the tops lay wherever(nice in the woods, but not by roadsides leading to your local schools) adjacent property owners are irate due to the felling of trees with no regard to the ones not being harvested. RESULTING in severe canopy damage, partial uprootings, severe bark & trunk damage, ETC.... Its a complete eyesore these loggers are leavin in my area. BOTTOM line they get their money, we get to see their mess and try to repair what they`ve screwed up. The TWP`s around here are going to impose regulations for loggin, hopefully this will help!!!
Take Care, Be Safe LXT.........................