best way to haul wood from woods??

['bert]

a small tractor (35 - 75 hp) c/w FEL and farmi winch would be the way to go as you said you were investing. Tractor will be forever useful on 200 acres. I don't have the winch (yet) but really want one. I also picked up a home made (pipe) bale wagon. I cut the trees and limb them, use the FEL to place on the trailer and head for my working area. I cut the rounds as I pull the log off the back of trailer. The pipe bale wagon allows the tree to slide nice.

I am currently trying to figure out how to catch the rounds as they are cut so I don't have to pick them up to run them through the splitter. I am thinking of an old truck box that I could then pick up with the FEL and open the tailgate to access the rounds. Sorry for the sidetrack.

Tractor is my answer.

BTW Subline, my friends from Whitecourt want that tarp back.

 

[RowCropRenegade]

FEL with grapple bucket rocks.

Backhoe with thumb works great too.

 

[quads]

I think you guys must be getting wood very close to home? Or maybe you have another vehicle for carring the quad and trailer? Or maybe you haul the quad in the trailer?

The woods begins at my yard, extending close to a mile away. I jump on the ATV at my front door and head out! Our trails in the woods are also food plots for the deer and other critters. Besides leaving a narrower wheel track on the trails, the ATV is so much easier off the trail to maneuver and get closer to the tree I am cutting and splitting than one of the tractors or truck. Many places in our woods are inaccessible to anything but an ATV, without cutting trees unnecessarily.

 

[Danno77]

+1 to QUADS recommendation. I have one like that and it is rated at 1000lbs, which is better than many trailers two times as big. It's 40 inches between those fenders, so it's small enough to maneuver between the trees, and it's also road worthy if you ever need to drag it behind a car/truck, etc....

 

[Jack Straw]

Where I cut wood it is so wet an ATV is really the only thing I can use. Even if a 4 wheel drive tractor could get in there, you would really tear things up.

 

[Tony H]

I also use a 4wheeler and trailer to haul wood around I use three different trailers a 6x8 tilt that can be pulled on the road, a 15cubic feet yard trailer with sides built up, and an old JD 4 wheel trailer built like a truck. The old JD trailer can handle a huge amount of weight I had over 1000 lbs of block in there before but it is impossible for me to back the thing up more than a few feet.
I also have taken the 4wheeler and yard trailer out on the big trailer ( 15' tandem axle) to pick up wood and bring it back to the trucks.
I got the yard trailer used for 50.00 but the next one will be longer and more heavy duty as I have twisted the frame and bent it up a bit from loading too heavy.

 

[er318]

Man I'm loving my Gator w/hydraulic dump bed!! Highly recommended!

 

[wazzu]

Man alive, I wish I could jump on my four wheeler and drive a mile or two for firewood. Out West (I have lived in Washington, Montana and Idaho) getting firewood is an all day affair. Getting all the gear in the truck, fueling up etc.. then driving 60 miles on paved roads then another 20 on dirt roads. No wonder you guys just use ATVs. I think riding my four wheeler is just plain fun too. Also when you are just filling up a small trailer you dont get burned out on firewood getting. I have had a couple of times where I am basically getting wood by myself or with my wife chasing the kid arround trying to keep him out of my way, and I just thought is this worth the effort. It is sooo much easier with a buddy.

 

[Cedrusdeodara]

We have use of a four wheeler and a Club Car 4x4 Side-by-side, but much of our woodland is very low and near tidal creeks, so we can't pull heavy loads of rounds out on trailers like other do here (we would if feasible) We generally felll the trees, cut them into a manageable length that the 4-wheeler or Club Car can pull(say 8-10'), wrap a chain around one end, and pull them out to a bucking and splitting area outside of the woods. It takes some time, but the machine is doing most of the work. If you concentrate on dropping trees and pulling them to the staging area.... then do your bucking and splitting later, it seems to work efficiently.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I have a trailer for my ATV but often can not get it to where I need it (steep hills in Pittsburgh). So I often have to load the ATV racks, front and back, and strap the wood down. I can get a pretty good sized haul out that way. The trailer is preferable. I just got an estimate to put in a road on my property so I could get a truck on it. It would cost about $4,000 but I think it would have long term benefits. I could buy alot of wood for that much, but improving the land has value too.

 

[fossil]

Seems to me this thread would more appropriately reside on "The Gear" forum. Movin' it on over there. Rick

 

[bambam]

That milk crate attached to the front of the trailer on Quads set up is a good idea, makes a nice place to carry gas, saws, and extra chains. Make sure the tongue of the trailer is long enough to avoid hitting the crate with the rear rack of your fourwheeler when making sharp turns or backing up.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I just got an estimate to put in a road on my property so I could get a truck on it. It would cost about $4,000 but I think it would have long term benefits. I could buy alot of wood for that much, but improving the land has value too.

Do you have enough timber to selectively log? The loggers will get you pretty close to having a road without the out of pocket expense. My logger let me flag where I wanted the road. It still took some work with the tractor and blade when he was done and I am still dealing with drainage in a few places, but it was a lot cheaper than having a road put in.

 

[quads]

That milk crate attached to the front of the trailer on Quads set up is a good idea, makes a nice place to carry gas, saws, and extra chains. Make sure the tongue of the trailer is long enough to avoid hitting the crate with the rear rack of your fourwheeler when making sharp turns or backing up.

Yes, that milk crate is very handy. I put my maul, gas, oil, straps, tools, etc. in there. For the saw, I put a scrap piece of plywood in front of the plywood wall of the trailer and spaced it out with a couple 1" boards. That makes a slot that the bar of the saw drops down into.

The milk crate never comes close to the tires when I'm going forward. Backing up works ok too, as long as I pay attention and don't jackknife it. Which has happened many times actually. So far the crate has survived though. I have some old metal/wire milk crates around that I can replace it with if I accidentally destroy it someday, but it's been on there a long time so far.

A picture of it from a different angle:

 

[sublime68charger]

a small tractor (35 - 75 hp) c/w FEL and farmi winch would be the way to go as you said you were investing. Tractor will be forever useful on 200 acres. I don't have the winch (yet) but really want one. I also picked up a home made (pipe) bale wagon. I cut the trees and limb them, use the FEL to place on the trailer and head for my working area. I cut the rounds as I pull the log off the back of trailer. The pipe bale wagon allows the tree to slide nice.

I am currently trying to figure out how to catch the rounds as they are cut so I don't have to pick them up to run them through the splitter. I am thinking of an old truck box that I could then pick up with the FEL and open the tailgate to access the rounds. Sorry for the sidetrack.

Tractor is my answer.

BTW Subline, my friends from Whitecourt want that tarp back.

Have your friends stop over and get it any time they want from December to March.

Just make sure they brush all the snow off first LOL

 

[MofoG23]

I am in the process of bringing back to life my old 1986 Yamaha YFM 200 and will be using a 4 wheeled trailer as shown below (my model does not have the 4 wheel steering option). I hope to have everything together this weekend. Quad is just about finished, just needs a battery and oil change.

Quad (not the actual quad, mine is rougher shape)
http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/crop/200708/2008-yamaha-raptor-250_460x0w.jpg


Trailer/Cart

This going to save running the truck into the woods and moving wood around using a wheelbarrow.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

If I lived on a wooded 200 acres I would have a 35hp (at least) tractor with a loader, log yolk, a winch, and a utility trailor.

Just so you know - there is no easy way to get logs out of the brush. Just use your head, and be prepared for hard work.

And 4wd with chains on all 4 tires so that you can skid in the winter. Skidding when the ground is frozen keeps the wood clean and is easier on the tractor.

Agreed. Like on a truck I take 4WD as a given on tractors.

 

[JeffRey30747]

I am in the process of bringing back to life my old 1986 Yamaha YFM 200 and will be using a 4 wheeled trailer as shown below (my model does not have the 4 wheel steering option). I hope to have everything together this weekend. Quad is just about finished, just needs a battery and oil change.

I used to have one very similar to that about twenty years ago. It was light and fast as it had good top end power and didn't waste much time getting there. The downside was it would stand up on the rear wheels with very little encouragement and didn't have much suspension so it rode rather rough. Nice little ATV.

 

[MofoG23]

Yep, it should be perfect for what I need to do - pull'in the wood trailer around. I actually received this quad back when I was 8-9 years old as a x-mas gift from my parents back in 1986. I've had many quads since (racing ATV's) and they have all come and gone, but this Yamaha has sat in my dad's barn out back for many years. I just cleaned the fuel tank, pulled the carb apart/cleaned it (jets were packed full), put in a new plug and it fired up - purred like a kitten.

 

[REF1]

Does anyone live in/on the mountains? I'm on a pretty good set of inclines and am wondering how I'm going to harvest firewood. At this point it looks like I'll be cutting trees into 5' lengths and just picking them up, end over end until they find their own momentum to hurtle down the slopes. I'll get them closer to the house and cut and split from there.

(Ugh. I'm beat already).

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Hi Solarandwind. I have had several companies and forest rangers that have walked my property and would like to log it, and put in logging roads. The two problems are that the price of lumber really sucks now, like 1/2 price of what it was worth a couple of years ago. Second is that I know they will probably make a mess and getting the wood out is not easy in suburban Pittsburgh. It is nice knowing that the trees are worth more than I paid for the property, so someday I will cash it in.

 

[SolarAndWood]

The two problems are that the price of lumber really sucks now, like 1/2 price of what it was worth a couple of years ago. Second is that I know they will probably make a mess

Depending on how busy they are, it may be a good time to cut all the cull out, get a few roads in and get a pile of logs dropped near your woodshed. The best way to haul wood from the woods is behind a loggers skidder. Selective logging can also be very good for the long term value of your stand if done right.

 

[Ken45]

For those of you using trailers with your 4wheelers, you might want to check your owner's manual regarding the allowable hitch weight. For example, my Honda Foreman (432 cc) has the following trailer limitations:

tongue weight: 30 pounds!
tow weight limit (trailer and cargo): 850 pounds

Thirty pounds on the tongue isn't much. Now I know a lot of people exceed these limits, but when I look at how the hitch is mounted (on the rear end), it's certainly something that I don't want to crack! I try to keep my cart balanced with very little weight on the hitch.

Even the allowable hitch weight on my Kubota RTV utility vehicle is pretty light.

Ken

 

[golfandwoodnut]

The two problems are that the price of lumber really sucks now, like 1/2 price of what it was worth a couple of years ago. Second is that I know they will probably make a mess

Depending on how busy they are, it may be a good time to cut all the cull out, get a few roads in and get a pile of logs dropped near your woodshed. The best way to haul wood from the woods is behind a loggers skidder. Selective logging can also be very good for the long term value of your stand if done right.

Why would they cut all the cull out if they are not making money on the good wood? I will give them a call, or one of the forest rangers and see what they think. Thanks.

 

[MofoG23]

For those of you using trailers with your 4wheelers, you might want to check your owner's manual regarding the allowable hitch weight. For example, my Honda Foreman (432 cc) has the following trailer limitations:

tongue weight: 30 pounds!
tow weight limit (trailer and cargo): 850 pounds

Thirty pounds on the tongue isn't much. Now I know a lot of people exceed these limits, but when I look at how the hitch is mounted (on the rear end), it's certainly something that I don't want to crack! I try to keep my cart balanced with very little weight on the hitch.

Even the allowable hitch weight on my Kubota RTV utility vehicle is pretty light.

Ken

That's why I'm going to use a 4 wheel trailer to keep the weight off the hitch and prevent the front of the ATV from lifting...