How Do You Work the Woods in Heavy Snow

[logbutcher]

With close to 3 feet of snow in the woods how to get to the trees and get it out. Late fall and winter is the time we harvest firewood, do the usuall T.S.I. ( Timber Stand Improvement), and haul pulp logs to the yard for pickup. The ground is hard, wet areas are usually frozen, no bugs.
This is a very small operation with ATV, trailer, saws, and goodbody; the pros did a nice 40% harvest 6 years ago.
With all this snow, it's near impossible to get into the woodlot with the gear we have.
Ideas ?
No, I'm not going to buy a skidder, Timberjack ,or get into horseflesh .

 

[Sprig]

Number 1 thing, do not cut blind! Dig you stuff out and get it above the debris to cut it, be extra extra careful. I have cut in snow a few times and its not just looking after your footing, walking 2ft with running saw etc. etc., but digging out the logs, I found it sort of stressful to tell you the truth and don't it willingly, not afraid just cautious. Best rocking I did was only a year ago cutting a small pine that I thought was above the ground, oh yay, it was sitting on a 2ft frikken rock, made short work of my sharpening job, about .03 of a sec. GAH! :bang: :bang (time for new chain)
Take your time and if you are cutting on site lay some cross pieces to drag your wood onto then cut with confidence, my opine.



Serge

 

[Corley5]

With this a 1975 5000 Iron Mule opcorn: Still have to wade snow carrying the chainsaw

 

[cjcocn]

With close to 3 feet of snow in the woods how to get to the trees and get it out. Late fall and winter is the time we harvest firewood, do the usuall T.S.I. ( Timber Stand Improvement), and haul pulp logs to the yard for pickup. The ground is hard, wet areas are usually frozen, no bugs.
This is a very small operation with ATV, trailer, saws, and goodbody; the pros did a nice 40% harvest 6 years ago.
With all this snow, it's near impossible to get into the woodlot with the gear we have.
Ideas ?
No, I'm not going to buy a skidder, Timberjack ,or get into horseflesh .

How big is your wood and how far in do you have to go?

In the past I have cut to carrying size and hauled far enough to reach with a couple of hundred feet of tow straps (and chains and cable), but we do not have big wood up here (and I only cut dry wood).

Another member here hauls with a Skidoo and a sleigh, but I believe he is hauling firewood that he cuts to stove length. If you are hauling pulp logs you'd need a double wide track to have a hope of budging any length of green log.

Can you rent a suitable piece of equipment or work out a deal with someone?

Is it feasible to hire someone to plow you a general trail that you can winch the logs from?

.... lol - I'm used to small, dry wood (not much here over 30" at the butt) so my ideas may seem like left-field ones.

 

[logbutcher]

How big is your wood and how far in do you have to go?

Firewood trees range from 8" to 20" DBH, hauled from 1/4 to 1 mile or
440m to 1.6 km for your metric people, from stump to yard.

Another member here hauls with a Skidoo and a sleigh, but I believe he is hauling firewood that he cuts to stove length. If you are hauling pulp logs you'd need a double wide track to have a hope of budging any length of green log.

Sled isn't a bad idea for firewood; the pulp can wait until the snow goes down some.


Can you rent a suitable piece of equipment or work out a deal with someone?

Not really.

Is it feasible to hire someone to plow you a general trail that you can winch the logs from?

Too many woods trails, have to use a front end load to getin and get the snow off. $$$$$$

.... lol - I'm used to small, dry wood (not much here over 30" at the butt) so my ideas may seem like left-field ones.

30" DBH is large in this coastal woodland. Not to worry, I asked for ideas, any ones are more than welcome. THX

 

[cjcocn]

It may be a long shot, but if one of these fellas is close to you maybe you can trade some FEL work for firewood?

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/northeast/

 

[Husky137]

I use a Kubota w/ a farmi winch, loaded rear tires as well. When it gets deep it is just plain slow, cutting , limbing and skidding.

 

[redprospector]

I generally stay home if it snows 3 feet.

Andy

 

[windthrown]

+1 to that.

After cutting in snow and ice here last year I do the same: stay home when there is snow and ice out there. That is some incredibly hard work, and for what??? Can it wait until spring?

 

[Blazin]

I always get next years wood out during the winter when the ground gets froze up, and it sure gets tough with the deeper snow. My dozer does pretty well in the deep stuff, but draggin the winch line 30 or 40yrds and 3 or 4 chokers thru deep snow gets to be a pain. As far as using an atv and a trailer I think your SOL Unless you can get some roads plowed or rent a dozer or skidder. I've used my snowmobile and sled for firewood lengths, but to try to get marketable timber out you'd be pizzin in the wind IMO........

 

[Mike Van]

With 3' of snow, productivity has to be about zilch - You have to ask yourself Is it worth it? If you have to be out there to make ends meet, I guess you have to - But, you're working 5x harder, just shoveling 3' of snow from around a tree to drop it? Where do you go if something goes wrong? Escape route? If I was 20 I might be out there, only 'cause I hadn't learned not to!

 

[JackD_ME]

Hey Blazen, I'd like to have your little J/D dozer about now! I know a guy who just bought one like yours for $1500 that needed a little work but it was all running.

See ya over on the MossyOak forums!

 

[Blazin]

Hey Blazen, I'd like to have your little J/D dozer about now! I know a guy who just bought one like yours for $1500 that needed a little work but it was all running.

See ya over on the MossyOak forums!

Small world ha Jack! Track machines are great, but can get costly replacing undercarriage parts. I've got around 9k in mine but all she really needs now is some paint. $1500 is a deal if it hasn't been whooped to death.

Oh yeah....MO is ok, But these guys here can relate to us wood cuttin/wood burnin madmen more than some of the "Armchair" hunters over there!:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[logbutcher]

I always get next years wood out during the winter when the ground gets froze up, and it sure gets tough with the deeper snow. ...deep snow gets to be a pain. As far as using an atv and a trailer I think your SOL Unless you can get some roads plowed or rent a dozer or skidder. I've used my snowmobile and sled for firewood lengths, but to try to get marketable timber out you'd be pizzin in the wind IMO........

Winter is it on this dirt. Guess the word is S.O.L.

With 3' of snow, productivity has to be about zilch - You have to ask yourself Is it worth it? If you have to be out there to make ends meet, I guess you have to - But, you're working 5x harder, just shoveling 3' of snow from around a tree to drop it? Where do you go if something goes wrong? Escape route? If I was 20 I might be out there, only 'cause I hadn't learned not to!

Productivity is less than zero. 1/2 the goodbody is sweating prepping the butt and fall by getting snow out of the way. Another S.O.L. Think safe cutting huh ? It's not in the "book" to cut with snowshoes ! :censored: No escape is right.

Small world ha Jack! Track machines are great, but can get costly replacing undercarriage parts. Oh yeah....MO is ok, But these guys here can relate to us wood cuttin/wood burnin madmen more than some of the "Armchair" hunters over there!:hmm3grin2orange:

Timberjack and most other whole tree harvesters run on track treds like tanks: less ground impact, versalitility, etc... But like tanks the MTBR ( Mean Time Between Repairs) is a matter of days or even hours on the Abram tank.
Tanker and all-terrain vehicle developement for the military is going to all wheeled vehicles because of the high cost in time, manpower, materiale for tracks. Probably the same for logging.

 

[slofr8]

Hi Logbutcher,
talking to a couple loggers here a few weeks ago, even the skidders are having a hard time. They chatter in the soft snow.
I remember having to cut small mostly dead trees and lay them down so I could walk on them like a tight rope to the next tree. Then try to dig as much snow out from around the tree with my heels as we were on a butt scale. At night the old ham strings would start to cramp!!
Relief would come when we got a warm spell and the skidder guy would drive around the cut block, blade low, breaking trails. When they would freeze again he had nice hard trails to get in and out and I had trails to easily walk in. The older guys said contractors used to run small dozers around like this for the crews but I never saw that.
Don't know if any of this applies to your operation or not but good luck.
Dan.

 

[logbutcher]

Too Much Too Soon.

Hi Logbutcher,
talking to a couple loggers here a few weeks ago, even the skidders are having a hard time. They chatter in the soft snow.
I remember having to cut small mostly dead trees and lay them down so I could walk on them like a tight rope to the next tree. Then try to dig as much snow out from around the tree with my heels as we were on a butt scale. At night the old ham strings would start to cramp!!
Relief would come when we got a warm spell and the skidder guy would drive around the cut block, blade low, breaking trails. When they would freeze again he had nice hard trails to get in and out and I had trails to easily walk in. The older guys said contractors used to run small dozers around like this for the crews but I never saw that.
Don't know if any of this applies to your operation or not but good luck.
Dan.

Evening Dan:
Guess we've had it easy here for the past 10+ years for late fall and early winter snows. Older folks here say this is more like when they were kids in the 40's-50's; November hunting always was tracking on snow. But not this much so soon, so fast, so much.
Our work is small scale: ATV, trailer. We had 40% cut in 2001 with full rigs and gear.
The 3' on the open flat has insulated the ground: when you break through it is still wet. Most loggers will run a dozer or skidder over skid paths to "push" the frost down, so that the water freezes for traction. Too much snow for now even for that.
There will be that January thaw !
Take care up there.opcorn:

 

[slofr8]

Logbutcher,
you're right about the frost. After I posted this morning I went to dig a fire pit in a small clearing in the woods behind the house. Just a spot dug to the ground with seats carved in the snow to kick back and enjoy a nice fire and beverage of choice.
When I got down to the ground I came up with a shovel full of leaves and loose dirt. No frost at all!! It was -10F this morning and we've had several -15 in the weeks past.
Strange year!
Take care down there.
Dan.

 

[reaperman]

Small world ha Jack! Track machines are great, but can get costly replacing undercarriage parts. I've got around 9k in mine but all she really needs now is some paint. $1500 is a deal if it hasn't been whooped to death.

Whats hard on steel track machines is snow. Believe it or not, but snow (water) has no lubrication for pins and bushings. And your probably thinking dirt doesn't either and you would be right in saying this. But dirt doesnt get into the rollers as easily as snow does and what does get in is dry. Whereas the snow gets in and keep things wet. But a little dozer around the place has more uses than one could possibly imagine.

Personally I use a bobcat for wood cutting in the winter. I too would use a dozer if I had one instead. I'd say one has no advantage over the other.

 

[logbutcher]

Logbutcher,
you're right about the frost. After I posted this morning I went to dig a fire pit in a small clearing in the woods behind the house. Just a spot dug to the ground with seats carved in the snow to kick back and enjoy a nice fire and beverage of choice. When I got down to the ground I came up with a shovel full of leaves and loose dirt. No frost at all!! It was -10F this morning and we've had several -15 in the weeks past.
Strange year!
Take care down there.
Dan.

Morning Dan:
You mean it's so bad that you're drinking in the morning....and outdoors at
-15 F ? :monkey:
Hey, the January thaw is coming......