I'm in a dilemma. Thus far I've been gathering wood (albeit only since fall) by using my 35hp cab tractor on stuff that's close to the driveway. Then this winter I used my utility snowmobile and a otter sled.
NOW.. It's getting toward mud season. I'm "ahead" about 8 cords.. but I really think I'm gonna burn that and more per year. Especially as I have a lot of hemlock in this first year's wood.
My initial thought was to get a dual axle cart with walking beam suspension. My dad loves to come play with my wood, and he has a Polaris 700 atv. I could have that for the summer. I've already got lots of skid roads from a previous logging. The land is pretty wet though, and I think half of my 70 acres would be best left alone till freeze up and snow for snowmobile logging. The other half I can access by narrow bridge. Tractor can't get over it, but ATV can. I COULD build a bigger bridge, and add one culvert to get tractor over there. Bashing about in the woods with the kubota is LOW on my desire list.
OR...
I have a line on a nice, used farmi winch. it's really bigger than I want, but I think I can get it at a good price (and more important could get OUT of it if I didn't like it) That would allow me to log a much larger portion of my land in any weather. I could access quite a few acres with that 165' winch. I have about a half mile of driveway, then another call it 1/4 mile of old road and trail that's dry enough to get on any time. That opens up a lot of timber.
The cart would be a bit cheaper, but would have more uses than the winch. The winch and wet ground means more saw sharpening.. Or waiting for rain to clean some of the mud from logs.
Eventual plans would have me replacing my borrowed ATV with a ranger or RTV. I promised myself no more "toys" till I had a barn for them. As it is I'm tight on garage space with 4 vehicles and a Kubota vying for space in the 2 bays. * the tractor always goes in, it cost more than all the others.
Thanks for the input.
JP
NOW.. It's getting toward mud season. I'm "ahead" about 8 cords.. but I really think I'm gonna burn that and more per year. Especially as I have a lot of hemlock in this first year's wood.
My initial thought was to get a dual axle cart with walking beam suspension. My dad loves to come play with my wood, and he has a Polaris 700 atv. I could have that for the summer. I've already got lots of skid roads from a previous logging. The land is pretty wet though, and I think half of my 70 acres would be best left alone till freeze up and snow for snowmobile logging. The other half I can access by narrow bridge. Tractor can't get over it, but ATV can. I COULD build a bigger bridge, and add one culvert to get tractor over there. Bashing about in the woods with the kubota is LOW on my desire list.
OR...
I have a line on a nice, used farmi winch. it's really bigger than I want, but I think I can get it at a good price (and more important could get OUT of it if I didn't like it) That would allow me to log a much larger portion of my land in any weather. I could access quite a few acres with that 165' winch. I have about a half mile of driveway, then another call it 1/4 mile of old road and trail that's dry enough to get on any time. That opens up a lot of timber.
The cart would be a bit cheaper, but would have more uses than the winch. The winch and wet ground means more saw sharpening.. Or waiting for rain to clean some of the mud from logs.
Eventual plans would have me replacing my borrowed ATV with a ranger or RTV. I promised myself no more "toys" till I had a barn for them. As it is I'm tight on garage space with 4 vehicles and a Kubota vying for space in the 2 bays. * the tractor always goes in, it cost more than all the others.
Thanks for the input.
JP