I have no friends, so here are my pictures...

[willisl64]

My wife, 2 yr old son and I brought home 3 truckloads of white oak and shagbark hickory from Stephens state forest using our free permit. The permit allows for 5 cord of premarked standing trees or any down and dead we can find. Stephens is 14,000 acres altogether, and the site we are cutting from is 10 miles from the house. This will be for 2010-2011, note the buck shot that roughed up my chain in the last pic. Enjoy...

 

[bsruther]

Very nice...Like money in the bank.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Now there's 2 things that I find attractive in your post here....

One is the schweeeeeet piles of rounds ya got layin' there

Two is the fact you said your wife helped ya haul it in

 

[willisl64]

My wife is an awesome helper. She loads the truck as I am cutting, save a few of the biggest rounds, and helps unload the truck at the house. I do all of the splitting, but she stacks 90% of the wood in our "drying pile" and does more than her fair share when we load the wood shed for the winter. She hinted this week that she wouldn't mind having a small saw to do some small limbing while I am bucking the larger stuff. This may give me an opening to purchase the 7900 I want, and just give her my 510 with a smaller bar...hmmm.

 

[caber]

With wood like that, who needs friends.

 

[JustWood]

Must have been a target tree.

 

[willisl64]

This area is reknowned for trophy white tail deer, many in excess of 20 points - so buckshot in trees isn't really that uncommon, especially on public ground.

 

[Valhalla]

Willis,

You will find many new friends here on Hearth.com!

Great photos and an enormous wood supply. Well done.

 

[Elderthewelder]

thats alot of wood for 3 truck loads, must be a big truck

 

[Todd]

You got some serious BTU's there. Oak is the good stuff.

 

[willisl64]

Thanks Valhalla -
this weekend puts us up to 10 cord at the house, nearly enough for 3 years burning. I am finally getting to where I am more comfortable with having "enough" wood done, after trying to cut wood last February to make it through the end of last winter - never again!

 

[willisl64]

thats alot of wood for 3 truck loads, must be a big truck

She's a 99 dodge 2500 with a long box, but it has a tool box taking up the front 18 inches. We pile it high, and get about 3 cord for every 5 truck loads.

 

[chad3]

You must be loading it pretty high. I figure I get one cord per three trips with my short bed Dodge. That's alot of wood per load. The stacks are very nice however. Good take either way and great small helper there. My daughter is 2 1/2 and she will now knock each piece of wood and say "good wood". She knows that daddy cuts trees with a chainsaw and that the wood is for the stove. Does yours help loading the stove too? She crumbles paper and will hand me kindling (still making me knock each piece).
Great times.

 

[willisl64]

My little one loves to go to the timber with us....to watch daddy cut "oak wood" or "hickey trees" with his "saw". . . .He walks around the timber picking up sticks that he thinks would make nice additions to our wood pile, too cute.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

With wood like that, who needs friends.

x2

 

[Bigg_Redd]

thats alot of wood for 3 truck loads, must be a big truck

She's a 99 dodge 2500 with a long box, but it has a tool box taking up the front 18 inches. We pile it high, and get about 3 cord for every 5 truck loads.

I figure I get just over a cord per load with a 99 Dodge longbed and 1' side boards.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Nice score- nice pics- good to have you here!

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks Valhalla -
this weekend puts us up to 10 cord at the house, nearly enough for 3 years burning. I am finally getting to where I am more comfortable with having "enough" wood done, after trying to cut wood last February to make it through the end of last winter - never again!

Willis,

Yep, good planning usually produces the expected or even better results! Now you have some serious wood for the future. Real nice, a cute son and a nice truck.

Hey, you have a friend in New York State!

Cut and split safely, then burn wisely!

 

[Danno77]

Willis, what's it take to get a permit? I looked at the Iowa DNR website and couldn't find anything. I live in Hamilton, right over the river from Keokuk. In IL a permit is 10 bucks and good for one truckload. Your deal sounds much better, lol!

 

[boostnut]

Danno, you're the first person I've seen mention buying a permit from illinois. How and where?

 

[Danno77]

Danno, you're the first person I've seen mention buying a permit from illinois. How and where?

Here's a direct link to the PDF:
(broken link removed)

here's how to get there manually:

Go to:
(broken link removed)
--> (left menu) click "Parks & Recreation"
--> (right menu) expand "Regulations" by clicking on the "+"
--> click on "Firewood collection

 

[willisl64]

To get the permit, I just went to the local DNR office that oversees Stephens. There are nearly 3000 acres of Stephens that is around Unionville, IA, which would be closest to you - there may be a office in Centerville. I also think you may have to be an Iowa resident for the permit to be free, but don't quote me on that.

 

[raybonz]

Very nice high quality firewood haul!! I don't think Mass. allows taking firewood from state lands..

Ray

 

[moosetrek]

Dang - that looks nice (wood, truck, and "helper", not necessarily in that order) So you buck it there? We do the same deal, except pay $10 per cord for the US Forest Service permit. The nearest forest is 85 miles, so it's an all-day thing for my wife and the dogs and me. We have the same truck, also with the toolbox. We decided we could fit more if we loaded it in 8'-10' logs with the tailgate down. With some stakes in the side, I figure a little over a cord per load - she's sure squatting when we're done loading. Man it gets a little hard loading those logs into the truck bed - I miss the car trailer we left back in CA...!
Congrats and cut safe!

 

[savageactor7]

Nice haul of prime wood willis and props to your wife for helping out too.

Years ago my wife decided it was a bad idea to stack rounds ...reason being that since it was out of the way we be less likely to split it and it required extra handling too. The extra handling is the curse of the wood burner.