With every tree I cut I learn something new. Even today after 25 years of cutting timber, it’s still an ongoing learning process. It is my job to lay the trees down in such a way that there is no damage to other trees, fences, electric wires, or houses. On top of that, it is my responsibility to drop the tree without busting, splitting, or pulling splinters out of the butt. Then if that isn’t enough, I have to drop it in such a way that makes it easier for the skidder operator to retrieve the tree to minimize any damage. I’ve had many people watch me pull, drop, and top trees and comment on how easy I make it look! Well I’m here to tell you that it isn’t that easy! It’s a lot of hard work and it’s just that all my experience creates the illusion of ease! Over the years and still today I receive comments on what a good job our company has done harvesting their timber! Its comments like these that fuel my desire to do even better the next time and give us the reputation of careful skilled logging!

–Jim-

Like I always tell the boys, the shortest route to completion should be the goal, but not always the best solution! After the boys have harvested the trees then we have to process the trees either on the property or deliver them to our yard for processing. Either way you need to get the trucks to the trees without causing a lot of compaction to the crop fields or rutting up the roadways. When we use on site processing, we like to get the trees as close to the driveways, lanes, and roads as possible even if this means skidding them for a long distance. This gives us better and easier opportunities when it comes time to haul the logs to the market in the event of bad weather. We use yard processing when there isn’t enough room on site, the landing site is an unusually wet area, bad weather is coming or when we need to group the trees with other trees on the yard for marketing purposes! Managing trucks, with the rising fuel cost, is getting tougher every day. With that said, the longer the trucks sit in the mud stuck, the more money you lose! So truck route planning is very important!

-Charles-!

In our efforts to do as little damage as possible to the woods during the removal of trees, we have developed many different ways of retrieval. Some include portable Culver Pipe to cross small streams instead of eroding the banks. Others include placing what is called a Water Bar (Dirt Speed Bump) in skid trails after completion of that area. This is used to slow down water and redirect it, so it doesn't follow the trail and cause more damage. Using preplanned skid trails allows us to retrieve the trees with minimal damage.

-Tom-