Woods after logging

[ddd75]

i sold my first ky place to a logger b/c I couldn't find anyone worth a sh#t to log it. The one guy who I trusted said they were 2 years behind.

Everyone else tried to rip me off because they thought it was "grandpa's land" I was left for free. I had what I heard was one of "the best" foresters to come and survey my woods and give me a forestry report. His report showed around 800k board ft. if I remember correctly. He wanted to sell the entire stand to 1 logging company and not even bid it out. for 50k. I having logged for the last year at the place knew damn well that it was worth way more then that. I asked him why the bid was so low and how I knew exactly what these trees were worth and he just sat in silence.. then said.. What was that//? I'm losing you.. and hangs up.

to make a long story short a owner of a sawmill wanted to by my place not just for the timber but to live there as well. So I sold it to him for a DEAL.. I mean. I deal.... and ended up eating quite a bit of money (60k). So he ended up logging almost all of it except a real nice 40 acres above the house.. So he ended getting $195,000 off the logs and still had a lot of good trees remaining.

Logging is a pretty tough business not to get screwed over in!

 

[cowgirl8]

i sold my first ky place to a logger b/c I couldn't find anyone worth a sh#t to log it. The one guy who I trusted said they were 2 years behind.

Everyone else tried to rip me off because they thought it was "grandpa's land" I was left for free. I had what I heard was one of "the best" foresters to come and survey my woods and give me a forestry report. His report showed around 800k board ft. if I remember correctly. He wanted to sell the entire stand to 1 logging company and not even bid it out. for 50k. I having logged for the last year at the place knew be nice well that it was worth way more then that. I asked him why the bid was so low and how I knew exactly what these trees were worth and he just sat in silence.. then said.. What was that//? I'm losing you.. and hangs up.

to make a long story short a owner of a sawmill wanted to by my place not just for the timber but to live there as well. So I sold it to him for a DEAL.. I mean. I deal.... and ended up eating quite a bit of money (60k). So he ended up logging almost all of it except a real nice 40 acres above the house.. So he ended getting $195,000 off the logs and still had a lot of good trees remaining.

Logging is a pretty tough business not to get screwed over in!

This is why my husband bought a fleet of logging equipment and plans to log it himself. Its not like he has to do it all at once, he can pick an area and just take his time. Our trees are almost saw timber size now, I think there is just one thinning until the last cutting. He wants to go in and cherry pick trees to get the best last harvest. Loggers just go in and take what they want, but tell you they will only take double tops and small trees. But they don't....so annoying.

 

[ddd75]

they have paper mills around here.. so they'll take anything (pulp wood) .. the guy who worked for the paper mill said even if my place was nothing but pulp wood it would bring me at least 100k.

since I was in the hollers the trees were extremely tall. .I could cut 1 oak and get 5-6 logs off of it.

 

[jltrent]

One thing I have learned about the logging business is if you don't have quality logs there isn't much money in it. White Oaks and Walnuts that are good bring good money, red Oak is cheap right now. I see a lot of loaded log trucks with around $1000-$1500 worth of logs on them......not much money there.

 

[cowgirl8]

Wood prices are like cattle, up and down. We have many mills around us. One was a mill that made pine shavings for TSC.. So far all our pines have been for pulp wood.. But one more thinning, a large portion of is will be saw timber. Those trees were planted in 1988...

 

[kenny thomas]

i sold my first ky place to a logger b/c I couldn't find anyone worth a sh#t to log it. The one guy who I trusted said they were 2 years behind.

Everyone else tried to rip me off because they thought it was "grandpa's land" I was left for free. I had what I heard was one of "the best" foresters to come and survey my woods and give me a forestry report. His report showed around 800k board ft. if I remember correctly. He wanted to sell the entire stand to 1 logging company and not even bid it out. for 50k. I having logged for the last year at the place knew be nice well that it was worth way more then that. I asked him why the bid was so low and how I knew exactly what these trees were worth and he just sat in silence.. then said.. What was that//? I'm losing you.. and hangs up.

to make a long story short a owner of a sawmill wanted to by my place not just for the timber but to live there as well. So I sold it to him for a DEAL.. I mean. I deal.... and ended up eating quite a bit of money (60k). So he ended up logging almost all of it except a real nice 40 acres above the house.. So he ended getting $195,000 off the logs and still had a lot of good trees remaining.

Logging is a pretty tough business not to get screwed over in!

Its easy not to get screwed, bid the timber, sell for a check in your hand, with anything you want special in a written contract, if you have the money and a legal contract when they start it's hard to get beat.

 

[dun]

Friend of mine went through MDC and had a state forester mark what should be cut. They bid it out and the forester held their feet to the fire to insure they did only what they were supposed to and cleaned up afterwards. If I was going to do it that would be how I would proceed.

 

[skyhightree1]

There is a section of several acres of woods on this farm that was logged around 2004. It had oak, hickory, etc. Before that, the tall trees provides shade and there wasn't much undergrowth. One could drive around in the woods, and in the fall it had a blanket of leaves that looked really nice.

The loggers did a respectable job. They didn't just go in and scalp the land, but only took select trees. Today from a distance, it doesn't look much different than it ever did. However, more light has come in since the logging, and the undergrowth is basically a thicket of small trees. No driving around anymore. I really don't even like walking through it.

Everyone says it will regrow and in time be like it once was, but that probably won't happen for 200 years. Right?

Is anyone here a fan of logging? Is it something you've ever had done on your land?[/quote]

Logging im a fan of for many reasons... I grew up doing it and I like selling timber off my land.

I would add that some folks get screwed by logging company paying and showing you tickets that they get from the mill or whatever and pay you per load... NOPE NO THANK YOU ... stroke me a check for the timber and lets do a contract on the other items I want you to do then im good no paying per load.. Its funny how many load tickets can get lost

 

[cowgirl8]

We used game cameras, several...It kept count of the loads going out.

 

[skyhightree1]

We used game cameras, several...It kept count of the loads going out.

Yea that is one way but id rather just have my check first.

 

[greybeard]

The mill is 1 1/2 miles from my place..I got my tickets right from them. Unless the mill was in cahoots with the logging company, I don't think anything crooked was going on with the tickets, but that has happened lots of times around here.

 

[dun]

We had a 120 acre farm that had been clear cut in 2001. We bought it in 2013 and the oak/hickory brush had grown up so thick that if you stepped off a trail to pee you wouldn;t be able to find the trail again. The openings that we made were excellent deer hunting. One advantage was you could here them coming from a couple of hundred yards as the fought their way through the brush to get to the openings.

 

[True Grit Farms]

We need to have some timber cut at the house the trees have grown to much. Once the trees get to big and have a canopy the woods aren't good for anything besides raising trees and looking at. Cows and deer do real well on cutover land.

 

[kenny thomas]

It's not gonna look like it did before but each landowner can control what they want done, get a good contract and make them stick to it. Get the money up front.
How many of you would let someone you barely know come load up your calves and tell you they will give you 50% of what they bring. What they bring where, how are they marketed, what's the expected Payment? I bet nobody does, so why sell your timber that way. Most states have a Forester than can come help you at no charge. I have helped a couple on here and never been in their Woods.

 

[cowgirl8]

It's not gonna look like it did before but each landowner can control what they want done, get a good contract and make them stick to it. Get the money up front.
How many of you would let someone you barely know come load up your calves and tell you they will give you 50% of what they bring. What they bring where, how are they marketed, what's the expected Payment? I bet nobody does, so why sell your timber that way. Most states have a Forester than can come help you at no charge. I have helped a couple on here and never been in their Woods.

Most places are remote and very hard to keep up with. When loggers are here thinning our trees, they'll be here over a month. At first, we think we'll monitor their every move.. but when they are way back in the woods, aint nobody got time for that. We've found that grabbing a card out of a game camera daily to keep up with how many trucks leave, keeps them honest and us happy. What you run into is them taking trees they aren't suppose to. Clear cutting isn't where you have problems, its thinning of pines. THey are suppose to take crooked, double top, smaller.....but you go in and see they've taken bigger trees and leave the double tops and crooked ones where you cant see. You can go in and complain, but what is done is done.... That's why my husband bought all that logging equipment. He'll just do it himself...maybe, he's not sure yet. I keep telling him its not like he has to go in like the crews do and work till its done. Just do a couple loads a week, a load a day, whatever suits him. A crew has to do it in one sweep because of time...

 

[Turkeybird]

Does the mill require you to be bonded to haul to them

 

[cowgirl8]

Does the mill require you to be bonded to haul to them

When our trees were smaller, husband thinned them then. Used a skidsteer and a tree attachment. Hauled them on our hay trailer that he converted to hold trees... He did it then, if he was bonded I have no idea but had no trouble doing it. I think they did the first several thinnings. Once the trees got bigger, his skidsteer was no longer big enough and our trailers not adequate. BUt now we have the semi and trailers, and all the cutting equipment. We are about 30 min from mills..

 

[ddd75]

Does the mill require you to be bonded to haul to them

no, anyone can haul logs in.. but don't expect a very good price.


ex.. they were goign to give me about 300 for some stave white oak logs. I argued with them and they bumped it up to almost 500.

 

[cowgirl8]

Does the mill require you to be bonded to haul to them

no, anyone can haul logs in.. but don't expect a very good price.


ex.. they were goign to give me about 300 for some stave white oak logs. I argued with them and they bumped it up to almost 500.

YOu get the same price..

 

[jltrent]

On the flip side it must be tough being a logger. They do one of the most dangerous jobs there is, nobody trusts them and logging is hard work, expensive. Try carrying around a 25-30 pound saw and cutting a 75 feet tall tree that you are no for sure which way it will fall. Also good money timber is few and far between. A lot of people think any log will bring good money. Unless somebody is clear cutting to clean up land popular and pine logs barely pays the bills. It takes hardwood, size, almost blemish free, and they have to be straight and knot free high up to bring good money. A few loggers have gave all a bad name.


Here is my Stihl MS660. With a 36" bar at the end of the day you will be tired carrying it around. Bar and all easily 30+ pound and the saw will do 170+ compression which is like having a small riding mower in your hands. With the modification I have done, it is a cutting beast and you have to really try for the chain to even stall while cutting.