snow go loggin .aka . The Hard Way.

[tramp bushler]

This is how I was logging the winters of 08-10

this was one of my best sled loads.

This was a normal sled load.

. Truck loaded with 2 cord of beattle killef spruce . Mt. Drum in the distance

 

[Samlock]

Hard way indeed. It hurts my shoulders just looking at the pictures. Yeah, the fat chunk on top of the truck load... ouch!

That was some good load of timber for a snow mobile/sledge combo. A track left to harden over a couple of nights?

The landscape and timber looks a lot like the next province north from here, called Kainuu.

 

[tramp bushler]

Yes . I would put in the trails then the next day I would start hauling on them . I delivered mostly in 4' lengths . . My best winter was 140 cord working alone . Had a guy help with 20 or so more . .
There are some tricks to loading 300 lb wood by hand. I've loaded 8' wood 2' thru be hand but there are tricks to that too . When I hit 50 years old I figured I needed an easier way . So I got my

loader . This wood went to a boiler customer . 3' long some of it was 36" thru . I had saked him how big he could take . A young LEO . He said what ever u can handle . I said OO KK
He " repented" . He couldn't even split them with his saw . Too short a bar .

This is nice size wood . It adds up fast .

 

[MHouse1028]

thats some work for sure..but i like the dedication to the job

 

[tramp bushler]

Ya . I started loggin with a pulp hook with my dad when I was 11 .. At that time the mills took 4' wood for soft wood pulp . Grey birch wint 4' also . It was used for the centers of rolls of paper . We sold the pulp in Orono ., birch in Brewer . White Cedar in Pitsfield . I think the poplar went to Millinocket . Then we started delivering to a rail sideing I think it was in Stetson . Not sure tho . I haven't been south in 30 years so I kinda forget . .
We would fall , limb and buck in the brush then log with a converted old truck . They were called jitter bugs in that area . Later we used a farm tractor and trailer until the snow got too deep then a sled . At 12 I started working alone . Running a McColough Super 2-10 automatic 16" bar . The Cully's wern't as loud as the Lombards or the Homelites . But they didn't start as well either.

In a way it's too bad I learned to work so hard . I would have made alot more money if I started with a skidder and a self loading log truk .
I'm an above average bushler .
But pretty stupid as a gypo logger .

 

[tramp bushler]

No . Its a Peavey . I think its the 606 Favorite . Its a real good shape . But the Canadian style is the best all around .

I prefer this shape for loading truk . It hangs in the end better twan the Canadian . But isn't nearly as good in the side . Peavey is still in bussiness has been for around 170 years .
I actually need to order a peavey and a short can't hook from them .

 

[ShaneLogs]

I also log with a snowmobile in the winter to. It is really fun and I enjoy it. I log with a 4x4 four wheeler with a trailer I pull behind the trailer on it to. Looks like your having fun up there!

 

[tramp bushler]

Hey Shane , I see your Downeast . Is it spriing there yet ?? I used P Tex plastic , 3/8" thick on the runners of the sled . Makes a world of difference . !!

 

[floyd]

Boise Cascade had a test plot where they were thinning Western Larch from above & below in 100' strips or so. Hired me to do that yrs thinning after catching me skidding tops off some planted ground. So we went & looked. When they saw NO damage to the seedlings they told me don't do that anymore. Getting paid by them was better anyway. I got $90/M to put logs in the deck. Anything under a 6" top was mine after they scaled it. They deck scaled it.

It was about 1/2 mi up the rd from me. My stone boat had 2 12" fir runners. I didn't have a tongue in it so the gravel showing on the road helped keep it off the team on the way home.


The truckers were real good to us. They stayed on their side of the road. We stayed on ours.

 

[tramp bushler]

When I got up here in 08 I must have been hungrier than I am now . We had lots of cold and my snow go would start at 35 below so that was my temp cut off . When I built my 1st sled . The one in the pics I used some downhill skis . I found they didn't freeze down when I loaded the sled . . They broke up after 7 cord . So I put the 3 1/2" wide 3/8" p tex plastic on the runners . They lasted for between 130 and 150 cord . I used a rope bridle .

 

[ShaneLogs]

Hey there again, I am in downeast and it is spring time here, It has been in the 70's and 80's in the past few days here! I think we went right from winter to summer here and skipped spring all together. I used some older style down hill skis for my dog sled and I have sides on mine so I can carry gas, oil saws and etc. Long story short, The downhill skis broke on the front and now i'm searching for some new ones for next winter.

 

[tramp bushler]

The White plastic that they use in fish houses for table tops and bins is just right . I think it is a nylon , not sure . We call it P Tex . We can get it in 4x8 sheets . It's the same stuff used on dog sleds for the taboggan bottom .
I'm hoping to have the time to make a caribou hunting sled this summer . 16" wide x 8' long . Narrow enough so it will stay in my snowshoe tracks but long enough so I can put a quartered up caribou in it .

 

[ShaneLogs]

The White plastic that they use in fish houses for table tops and bins is just right . I think it is a nylon , not sure . We call it P Tex . We can get it in 4x8 sheets . It's the same stuff used on dog sleds for the taboggan bottom .
I'm hoping to have the time to make a caribou hunting sled this summer . 16" wide x 8' long . Narrow enough so it will stay in my snowshoe tracks but long enough so I can put a quartered up caribou in it .

How much does that stuff cost you ? Could you send some my way ? lol

 

[tramp bushler]

I talked to a friend yesterday . He just bought a 4x10' sheet of 3/8 , it was around 440$ . Which isn't bad considering all the things it can be used for . And how tough it is .