I'm looking for ideas on getting logs/bucks out of woods easier
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bassJAM
Feeling the Heat
After spending several years in college pushing mulch for a landscaping company, I always opted for the single wheel wheel barrows over the double. The extra weight and friction of 2 wheels made them really hard to push when loaded down, and any hills of obstacles made things even worse. If you end up going that route get a Jackson. It's $100 well spent and will hold up to the abuse better than anything other brand, even at similar prices.
I've also seen some motorized wheel barrows and carts, not sure how practical they are.
I've also seen some motorized wheel barrows and carts, not sure how practical they are.
Boil&Toil
Burning Hunk
Won't help much with uphill unless you have a tractor, horse, or ATV to pull with, but a skidding arch will get the log up out of the dirt and make it easier to move. There are ones made just for hand-use, this version looks to be a tractor/ATV version with a hand dolly in it. The old-timer trick was to cut (or at least haul) in the snow, where simple sledges work fairly well, and there's less dirt getting onto the logs.
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Getting easy access to the wood is probably the single biggest hurdle I have had to overcome over the years. On one hand it seems like it should be easy when we can get free wood permits for cutting wood on crown lands, and since crown lands actually cover 94% of the province, and most of that is timbered, you would think it would be a piece of cake. But that is not always the case. The problem comes down to accessibility. Any easy wood, wood that is wood that is right beside the road, usually gets taken right away, so that means you generally have to drive off road or pack your wood out. Skidding logs out of the bush with motorized vehicles is not allowed under the rules of the permit. Packing wood out of the bush is too much work for me, so I generally find a way to drive in to where the trees are. The problem with that is the terrain. BC is a pretty mountainous province, and even where it's flat the roads often have berms that are too high to comfortable navigate without bottoming out your truck. These berms might not be too bad heading into the bush with an empty truck, but coming out with a full load is another thing.
Over the years I have developed a sort of system that often requires a little bit of surveying skills, a little bit of engineering skills and a little bit of camouflage.
The surveying entails finding an area where I could conceivably access with a little bit of clearing work, and there is a large enough grove of standing dead trees to make the next couple steps worth while. Also it's important that the area be hidden from the road. This part is especially important if I end up putting much work into the next engineering part.
The engineering part usually entails cutting out saplings an stumps out of the way, but also often means a bit of shovel work along the road berm. Not too much to make it an obvious road leading into the bush, but just enough to make sure I don't bottom out on the way out with the load of wood. I try to make a curved path into where the wood is, this is important for the next step. When I'm doing the surveying I try to figure out before hand the exact path that I will be clearing in. The reason I like to find a spot hidden from the road and make a curved path in is because if I do it right I can often keep the spot for myself, and if there is enough wood in there I can cut from the same spot for a few years. To help insure I can keep the spot to myself I also employ my final step...
Camouflage. After I've cut my load of wood and successfully navigate it back out to the road I try to cover my tracks. After all the surveying, and finding a worthwhile grove of hidden trees that I can access, and clearing a decent enough path that I can get in and out with a full load of wood in my 3/4 ton tuck, I want to try and keep it secret so I can come back again and again to get the rest of the wood. If I don't try to cover my tracks the next time I come back all the wood will likely be gone. So on my way out I will pull dead trees and stumps across the clear path I made into my hidden area. Even out by the road where I've often knocked and flattened the road berm down I'll roll a couple big rocks across the berm, and rake or toss some loose dirt across any obvious tire tracks leading into the bush. The whole process often takes less that 10 minutes, but by doing this I sometimes manage to cut out of the same wood lot area for 3 years in a row until all the wood is gone.
I have only once had someone find one of my stashes and uncover my hidden path into the wood cutting area, but i didn't feel too bad, I actually had to give him some credit for being smart enough to find it. I just wish he had taken the time to cover it back up when he left.
The only downside of camouflaging my trail into the bush is I sometimes have trouble finding it again, but I have gotten around that now by marking it as a way point on my GPS.
Over the years I have developed a sort of system that often requires a little bit of surveying skills, a little bit of engineering skills and a little bit of camouflage.
The surveying entails finding an area where I could conceivably access with a little bit of clearing work, and there is a large enough grove of standing dead trees to make the next couple steps worth while. Also it's important that the area be hidden from the road. This part is especially important if I end up putting much work into the next engineering part.
The engineering part usually entails cutting out saplings an stumps out of the way, but also often means a bit of shovel work along the road berm. Not too much to make it an obvious road leading into the bush, but just enough to make sure I don't bottom out on the way out with the load of wood. I try to make a curved path into where the wood is, this is important for the next step. When I'm doing the surveying I try to figure out before hand the exact path that I will be clearing in. The reason I like to find a spot hidden from the road and make a curved path in is because if I do it right I can often keep the spot for myself, and if there is enough wood in there I can cut from the same spot for a few years. To help insure I can keep the spot to myself I also employ my final step...
Camouflage. After I've cut my load of wood and successfully navigate it back out to the road I try to cover my tracks. After all the surveying, and finding a worthwhile grove of hidden trees that I can access, and clearing a decent enough path that I can get in and out with a full load of wood in my 3/4 ton tuck, I want to try and keep it secret so I can come back again and again to get the rest of the wood. If I don't try to cover my tracks the next time I come back all the wood will likely be gone. So on my way out I will pull dead trees and stumps across the clear path I made into my hidden area. Even out by the road where I've often knocked and flattened the road berm down I'll roll a couple big rocks across the berm, and rake or toss some loose dirt across any obvious tire tracks leading into the bush. The whole process often takes less that 10 minutes, but by doing this I sometimes manage to cut out of the same wood lot area for 3 years in a row until all the wood is gone.
I have only once had someone find one of my stashes and uncover my hidden path into the wood cutting area, but i didn't feel too bad, I actually had to give him some credit for being smart enough to find it. I just wish he had taken the time to cover it back up when he left.
The only downside of camouflaging my trail into the bush is I sometimes have trouble finding it again, but I have gotten around that now by marking it as a way point on my GPS.
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Use a wheel barrow all the time. Very handy. I often pull it behind me rather than pushing...find it easier, and I don't end up tripping. Have fairly flat, but very rocky woods with many, many saplings, so few straight routes. My two wheel cart, which is great for gardening, would be useless in my woods.
Also use the wheel barrow to bring firewood from my stacks to my sliding glass door. Store it upside down over the Bilko door entrance to my basement = a lot less shoveling in the winter, no freezing of the doors, etc.
Simple wheelbarrow is a great tool.
Also use the wheel barrow to bring firewood from my stacks to my sliding glass door. Store it upside down over the Bilko door entrance to my basement = a lot less shoveling in the winter, no freezing of the doors, etc.
Simple wheelbarrow is a great tool.
12pack
New Member
I use a hand truck to move logs from the pile to the splitter. easier than lifting into a wheelbarrow for me
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