Got my woodlot cut now what to do ?

[richardg40]

Looking for ideas because they used big portters and tore up the land pretty good but also left a lot of wood down on the ground . Mixure of spruce , poplar , hardwood. I own a ATV but i doubt my trailer could withstand the abuse of the landscape .

My dilema is i hate to see this wood rotting away in the next few years but how do i get it out . It's one mile in the woods and 100 acres with just one decent road .

Might have to buy a very tough small atv trailer and then a big trailer to haul to this woodlot 30 minutes from home ,

Anyways thats my situation .

 

[gmule]

Do you have a 4x4 truck?

 

[scooby074]

How big are the ruts? How big is the wood?

I ATV, so I know a bit about skidder (porter) ruts. They are REAL hard to cross if they are deep.

Can you get around the ruts?

As to what to use to get the wood out, what's your budget?

You can buy (or build) a log arch like the one Logrite makes, this is a relatively cheap option, but you still got to navigate the ruts:


All the way up to a dedicated, tracked mini-porter for considerably more money:

 

[Locust Post]

Get an atv trailer and do a little work to beef it up. Get a blade for the front and see if you can smooth out the ground a little to help matters. A couple guys on here have built drays to drag out a log at a time.

 

[ArsenalDon]

Get an atv trailer and do a little work to beef it up. Get a blade for the front and see if you can smooth out the ground a little to help matters. A couple guys on here have built drays to drag out a log at a time.

good idea!

 

[ansehnlich1]

give exact coordinates of the location and a couple of the boys 'round here'll git it outta there for ya

 

[area_man]

c/s/s in place, wait until seasoned, then haul dry wood to your home.

 

[Wood Duck]

If I had a lot of wood on the ground, I'd first work on cutting/splitting/and stacking enough to be three years ahead. After that I'd spend time getting logs cut and stacked off the ground. Put two logs on the bottom, them cross stack the other logs on top to keep them off the soil. They will last a lot longer that way and you can move them over time.

Maybe you need to rent or otherwise acquire use of a tractor and smooth out some of the ruts in the woods.

 

[nate379]

My brother had his land cut and part of the contract left him with a gravel road into the land and also had them clean up their mess. All the branches was ground and the non useable logs got stacked near the road. Also they had to smooth out the skidder trails.

IE not destroy the property!

Sounds like your guys left a mess!

He ended up with easily 5 cords of wood from just the "junk"

 

[Backwoods Savage]

First picture is a dray I built for around $10. Makes hauling logs out super easy and you would not need an atv as big as the one pictured because the dray makes moving the logs really simple and easy to pull. Besides, it keeps the dirt out of the logs. If interested I can get some more pictures and even describe how I threw this thing together. It does not take long nor does it cost much.




This picture is of an atv trailer. It has really wide tires which work great in snow or mud. It is built low so you don't have to lift the wood very high to get a load. In addition, if some logs are really heavy the trailer also has a tilt so you can roll the logs into the trailer.

 

[Waulie]

That's a real shame, but very common. At the risk of offending someone, you really have to watch out for those guys. They will offer you relative pennies while claiming it's good "management" and then completely destroy your lot.

I agree that processing and stacking on site is your best bet. That way, you can take your time getting it out without worrying about it rotting. A wheelbarrow works just fine if you're not in a hurry.

 

[Bret Chase]

All the way up to a dedicated, tracked mini-porter for considerably more money:

That's not a mini-skidder..... it's a mini forwarder! AWESOME!

 

[scooby074]

That's not a mini-skidder..... it's a mini forwarder! AWESOME!

yeah mini-forwarder or mini porter, depending on where you are.

Not bad, if your hard core and have a spare $70,000 kicking around!!

These "Iron Horses" are pretty cool too. Track drive and walk behind, Much cheaper at around $14,000. Still not "that" cheap however. They are available with grapples too, for more $$. Search Youtube for "Järnhästen" to see other video of them in action.

Also handy if you moose hunt

 

[Bret Chase]

That's still fricking awesome!

 

[scooby074]

That's still fricking awesome!

Its the Scandinavians. They got this personal woodlot stuff all figured out. There's a very high percentage of people who heat and harvest their own wood there.

We 're barely scratching the surface over here.

 

[milner351]

First picture is a dray I built for around $10. Makes hauling logs out super easy and you would not need an atv as big as the one pictured because the dray makes moving the logs really simple and easy to pull. Besides, it keeps the dirt out of the logs. If interested I can get some more pictures and even describe how I threw this thing together. It does not take long nor does it cost much.

View attachment 96638


This picture is of an atv trailer. It has really wide tires which work great in snow or mud. It is built low so you don't have to lift the wood very high to get a load. In addition, if some logs are really heavy the trailer also has a tilt so you can roll the logs into the trailer.
View attachment 96639

Can you please give more info on how you have the "log toboggan" hooked up to the atv? I'm thinking that keeping the atv pulling "up" on the front is important to keep this set up from digging in.

I recently got a new place with a mid 80's JD420 - RWD with 20hp Onan and hydro drive - do you think that would work pulling something like this?

 

[happycamper]

Looking for ideas because they used big portters and tore up the land pretty good but also left a lot of wood down on the ground . Mixure of spruce , poplar , hardwood. I own a ATV but i doubt my trailer could withstand the abuse of the landscape .

My dilema is i hate to see this wood rotting away in the next few years but how do i get it out . It's one mile in the woods and 100 acres with just one decent road .

Might have to buy a very tough small atv trailer and then a big trailer to haul to this woodlot 30 minutes from home ,

Anyways thats my situation .

hate to see good wood get wasted

i alwasy see tree trimers and wood on the side of the road
i alwas ask for it most of the time thay say i can have it