Is logging still a viable career path?

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Anyone looking into this field it's hard it's tough but don't give up, the best advice I ever got is shut up and listen you'll learn something new everyday if you don't you're dead.
Now to what bitzer said I love my work like him or Matt the only difference is I'm 4th generation logger 3rd generation working for a company all the time. Now doing that is worth it's weight in gold the money is steady and work is I'm not sure what's out there but that's what I'd do.

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I cant tell you guys how much i appreciate all the advice. All the points you guys bring up are things im constantly weighing to make this decision. I know that no one can make the decision for me. You guys give me alot of perspective and things to thing about. All i can say is Thankyou!

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Ya know, the pure stupid **** i pulled 5 6 years ago frightens me today.

I honestly surprised i lived through it.

Don't worry, you have lots of company in that.
I was taught well by guys with a lot of experience. That, unfortunately, made the dumb mistakes I made even dumber.
Domino falling was my big weakness and I loved to see three or four or more trees all go over at once. A lot of times all it made was a big damn mess that took me longer to straighten out than it was worth.
I knew better than to try some of the stuff I did. I got away with it. Other guys weren't so lucky.
And, like so many others, it was just pure luck that decided the outcome.
I figure I used up all my luck early on.
 
Don't worry, you have lots of company in that.
I was taught well by guys with a lot of experience. That, unfortunately, made the dumb mistakes I made even dumber.
Domino falling was my big weakness and I loved to see three or four or more trees all go over at once. A lot of times all it made was a big damn mess that took me longer to straighten out than it was worth.
I knew better than to try some of the stuff I did. I got away with it. Other guys weren't so lucky.
And, like so many others, it was just pure luck that decided the outcome.
I figure I used up all my luck early on.

I did that a couple times and yeah it was fun to watch, however...
Knocking one over with another can be useful.
I did a few little jobs on my own, the satisfaction factor was high, mostly worked with small 3 to 5 man outfits, leaving the major headaches for someone else.
 
It works really well if there's a cluster and a few are back leaning. If they're dead ash it works really well as long as they aren't all wrapped in vines. When they all smash together there's no limbs left!

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I did that a couple times and yeah it was fun to watch, however...
Knocking one over with another can be useful.
I did a few little jobs on my own, the satisfaction factor was high, mostly worked with small 3 to 5 man outfits, leaving the major headaches for someone else.

I never did it on the coast. If I had tried dominoing some of that OG somebody would have probably shot me. And they'd have every right to. I don't even want to think about blowing up two or three trees at once.
Over in the Sierras was a different story. Piss-fir will stand up to just about anything and not go to shreds . That was the first place I ever saw anybody domino trees. I'd heard stories about it but never actually seen it.
Remember the red fir up around the high lakes above Sattley? You could bounce that stuff off of rocks or stumps all day long. Until it got rotten anyway. Then it would crumble like cork.
 
You guys ever read Dozer? AN elementary school book about sneaky Wiley ole logger?

So it's way up north, winter and the lakes frozen with thick ice. Poor bloke from a road crew parks his dozer a bit too far out on the ice overnight, it breaks through the ice, sinks about fifteen feet, the company writes it off n leaves it there sunk.

A few years pass, the ole logger discovers the sunken dozer, calls the road crew company, and asks for the dozer's title, if he gets it up on the beach?

Owner says sure, but how yu gonna do it without another dozer cables n blocks?

Wiley logger says come on out n watch me?

Precuts three huge conifer's at their base, after cabling them together fifty feet up, and attaching the slacked cable to the sunken dozer, trips the dominoes, yanking the dozer up onto the beach.

Replaces the water fouled dozer components, fires her up, and brags the logs off to his mill.

Gave me an admiration for loggers at an early age, 4th grade!

Jomoco
 
I used to like to knock down piss fir snags with a green tree so I wouldn't have to fall em. After a few chunks came flying by I decided that wasn't a great idea. It is cool to watch the helicopter fly around with a 1,000 ft. butt log and knock em down for you. Bappin snags. Prolly a no no in these ***** days.
 
Yeah, the old days were rough, puttin steel in yu to hold everything together.

These days they use titanium for such things, flexes a bit better, and doesn't rust at all.

Don't ask me how I know ole timer!

Jomoco
 
@thumbilly
To answer your question yes it it possible to make a living. The majority of the population will tell you that you "need " a grapple skidder, feller buncher, delimber
$300- $600k or more in equipment.
Well not me, I know several loggers personally here in MN including myself who make a living with payed for cable skidders and a hand full of chainsaws. Now are we making big money? Nope but we're supporting our families!
 

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