Place in the woods

[BringinHeat]

Hi All,

This is a great place with tons of info.

This is my first post. I've been lurking for a while and thought I'd finally chip in.

I love being in the woods. Whether I'm cutting down trees, splitting or stacking wood - it's very enjoyable for me and not like work at all (even though I'm pretty tired when I've spent the day out there).

Just wanted to share some recent pictures of the wood stacks I had this past fall. We have a cottage with an insert fireplace that we love to use. Although I don't completely heat the place with it, it works pretty well keeping us warm in the winter and it's a wonderful thing to have.












The stacks are quite a bit smaller now after the long winter and I have more rounds to split and stack to get ready for 2017.





Here is a recent pic of a tree I took down on our property that I need to get spit and stacked





I got some work to do...

 

[Woody Stover]

Welcome. Looks like a nice setting, and looks like you've got your wood supply well in hand.

 

[stephiedoll]

Welcome. You have a very nice place, bet you are loving it there. Keep up the great work and thanks for the pictures.

 

[Mag Craft]

Looks great.

 

[BringinHeat]

Thanks guys.

I split all of what you see by hand using a newly acquired Fiskers X27. I really like using that compared to the old maul I used to use. I love the feel of wood handles, but the Fiskars really makes the job easier for me I think.

I never seem to have enough time up there to do what I need to do and the winters are pretty tough. This year we haven't seen the snow we usually see but the cold has been brutal. So when the weather permits I try to get out there and get as much wood processed that I can.




I'm actually pretty new to felling trees (and especially since all of them around the place seem to be "hazard trees"). As you can see from the above picture I have to be extremely careful when felling these trees or I will have a major problem on my hands if they happen to go the wrong way But I have learned a lot and continue to learn and I'm always very careful before I attempt to cut one down (if it's too dangerous I just walk away and get a pro to do it).

I'm starting to get near the end of all that now so I mainly will be just keeping the property and forest maintained and use the wood I get from that.

One day I hope to build a nice wood shed so I don't have to have stacks scattered all over the place.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

Thanks, we all love wood porn here.

 

[Seanm]

nice pictures, nice looking stacks. What we need to know next is what kind of fish are you catchin in that nice lookin lake?

 

[Paulywalnut]

Very nice setting. You look ready with the stacks. Plus you have plenty of trees to pick from if you need it. Looks like a leaner there in your pics.

 

[zig]

Beautiful setting. You've put some work in by the look of it. Where is this at? Most lakes in Mi. look the same as this.

 

[Andy S.]

Welcome! You sold yourself short. "Place is the woods" is nice enough, of course, but you have a "place on the LAKE." As someone whose "lake house" in the woods is a golf cart ride away from the water I had to point it out.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Very nice looking lake cottage/house. I have a place like that as well, and spend every weekend I can there in the summer.

Most of those trees are pretty easy to fall. I'm learning to drop trees that are in close proximity to my home as well. My cutting technique is not perfect, but I have found that wedges are the best way to perfectly dial in where that tree goes. I'm likely stating the obvious for the more experienced here (almost everyone lol) but that is my experience.

 

[BringinHeat]

nice pictures, nice looking stacks. What we need to know next is what kind of fish are you catchin in that nice lookin lake?

HA! good question....this has been a bit of a sore spot for me. We've only had the place for a couple years now and I am really having a hard time with the fish. They say they're in there, but I'm not having much luck finding them. Mostly what I've caught are some small and large mouth bass, the occasional blue gill and a perch here and there. But there are supposed to be lots of walleye and some pike too. I just need to spend more time out there I think.

The lake is near Kalkaska MI

 

[BringinHeat]

Very nice setting. You look ready with the stacks. Plus you have plenty of trees to pick from if you need it. Looks like a leaner there in your pics.

Thanks guys.

Yes that picture was the first summer we were there. Many of those trees (including the leaners) are gone now. We just had to get more sunlight on the place because it's so heavily wooded. Just doesn't seem right to have to wear a sweatshirt in the middle of summer not to mention all the dampness that it creates.

Don't get me wrong I just love the trees and being surrounded by them. The peace and tranquility there is just wonderful. In fact when I first started to drop a few of the trees I literally felt sick. But the more we were there and saw how it effected the cottage I had to make some changes and clear some out.

I have planted some Walnut trees along the perimeter of the property but it's going to be some time before I know if they took.

It's much more open now and I have firewood to boot.

 

[peakbagger]

You may be interested in some of these back issues of Northern Woodlands magazine. They are mostly based around New England but the tree types in Michigan are similar.
http://northernwoodlands.org/issues/archive

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Love the dog. More of those pictures need to feature the do.

 

[BringinHeat]

Thanks.

Yes that's our little Daisey. She just loves it up there too. Chipmunk and squirrel hunting is a full time job for her there.




Here are some before and after pictures when I started my "micro logging" operation.









...during....







... and after...







I've taken down about 28 trees - 10 of which I had done professionally because they were hanging over the cottage and just too dangerous for me to tackle on my own. A man has to know his limits sometimes...

 

[mark cline]

HA! good question....this has been a bit of a sore spot for me. We've only had the place for a couple years now and I am really having a hard time with the fish. They say they're in there, but I'm not having much luck finding them. Mostly what I've caught are some small and large mouth bass, the occasional blue gill and a perch here and there. But there are supposed to be lots of walleye and some pike too. I just need to spend more time out there I think.

The lake is near Kalkaska MI

We travel up that way in the spring and fall , to fish the Platte near Honor and the Betsie river near Thompsonville , for salmon and trout . Beautiful country up there. Great fishing and hunting .