This isn't going to be a big deal for many of you who live where oak and other hardwoods grow everywhere. But where I live, oak is very scarce and hard to come by... so I was out in national forest with my wood cutting permit...it only allows me to take dead and down oak-no standing oak. Period. No matter how dead. 
So about 7 years ago there was a major forest fire that roared through the spot I was at. So I am driving along on a forest service road scanning for oak and I spot a clump of Gambel oak off in the distance --all dead but standing. Can't get that. But I notice something in the weeds and had a hunch it might be a decent sized branch that had fallen. So I parked and got out and hiked about 100 yards across a ravine climbing over rocks and logs. When I arrived I was amazed at how things looked different once I was actually standing there. Hidden among all the wild weeds that had grown over them were more than a dozen 8-10 inch diameter oak branches that had already been cut to carryable size length by US forest service fire fighters 7 years ago! BOOYA! All just laying there on the ground no rot and solid as could be, bark falling off and within eye sight of the road! I could not believe that after 7 years I was the only one that must have walked over there to take a closer look. From a distance it looked like twigs laying there. But if you look in the distance of the ninth picture you can see my Ford Explorer in the distance at the top of the photo on the dirt road to see how big the branches are and how much. Sometimes it pays to follow a hunch! A little here a little there. It all ads up. In fact, there was enough that I couldn't get it all before it got dark. So I had to go back the next morning to get the rest. Once I got it all home I took a moisture meter to a fresh split. Came in at 14-15%!
. Yeah, it was a little work but sometimes when you are willing to do the work that others aren't you get rewarded for it.
Needless to say, I was pretty happy.
So about 7 years ago there was a major forest fire that roared through the spot I was at. So I am driving along on a forest service road scanning for oak and I spot a clump of Gambel oak off in the distance --all dead but standing. Can't get that. But I notice something in the weeds and had a hunch it might be a decent sized branch that had fallen. So I parked and got out and hiked about 100 yards across a ravine climbing over rocks and logs. When I arrived I was amazed at how things looked different once I was actually standing there. Hidden among all the wild weeds that had grown over them were more than a dozen 8-10 inch diameter oak branches that had already been cut to carryable size length by US forest service fire fighters 7 years ago! BOOYA! All just laying there on the ground no rot and solid as could be, bark falling off and within eye sight of the road! I could not believe that after 7 years I was the only one that must have walked over there to take a closer look. From a distance it looked like twigs laying there. But if you look in the distance of the ninth picture you can see my Ford Explorer in the distance at the top of the photo on the dirt road to see how big the branches are and how much. Sometimes it pays to follow a hunch! A little here a little there. It all ads up. In fact, there was enough that I couldn't get it all before it got dark. So I had to go back the next morning to get the rest. Once I got it all home I took a moisture meter to a fresh split. Came in at 14-15%!. Yeah, it was a little work but sometimes when you are willing to do the work that others aren't you get rewarded for it. Needless to say, I was pretty happy.
