Land Tour at Foggy's Place

[foggy]

You can't really see the pile of timber in the pics......but that one with the tire in the air was about 8 feet high and had a big "cavity" in the logs. Was wondering if some critter would come crawling outta those logs as I had my back turned and was changing that tire. Grin.

 

[sandbur]

I've got to say that the land tour and this thread has been very informative.

These land tours have been great and it does not take a big group-two or three guys can share lots of ideas. We had a great group at Foggy's.

 

[MNAaron]

Spent a few hours implementing part of the plans from the land tour the other day. Cleaning up a bunch of timber from my log landing and putting the logs and slash on piles. Gonna plant some corn and beans here this summer. Much better doing this work in the winter than in summer. Got my burning permit today.....and as soon as we get a bit more snow I am going to fire-up those piles of timber.

Made about 4 big piles to burn before turning a tire off my rim for about the tenth time. Took the tire into the tire store and (finally) had them put a tube in it. Thought I'd take a few pics of the process. Note how handy the Golf Cart comes in as a service vehicle. Beats walking with a tire. ;)
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Just like Rosanne, Rosanna, Dana, Sez : "It's always sum thing".

Foggy - Have you ever thought about piling that slash in strategy locations to help direct deer into the plot etc...

 

[sandbur]

Good idea right there ;)

Or to direct deer to a new swamp crossing!

 

[foggy]

Foggy - Have you ever thought about piling that slash in strategy locations to help direct deer into the plot etc...

Yep, and I have done so within limits. I'm gonna wager you guys have not piled old logs and slash. ;)

My tractor and loader is not huge....and hauling that slash very far is difficult at best. I don't want to cut those trees into 8' lengths or anything like that. Most of this stuff has been laying around for 8 years, or more. Some is getting rotten.....other is partly burned. Lots of the small stuff falls all over the place as you stack it up. Messy job to transport this stuff any distance. Nasty stuff.

Been thinking about my red pines becoming the cord-wood for my crossing. :D Could cut those trees to 12' lengths and lay them side to side (or have the road builder do it). :D

 

[sandbur]

Tom-be sure and share some pictures of this project at different stages of completion.

 

[foggy]

Tom-be sure and share some pictures of this project at different stages of completion.

OK, will do Art. Plan to burn these piles if it snows a few inches before I head to sunny AZ for the winter. :D Today, I loaded the UTV on the People Tram (trailer) and hauled it to my house for ice duty with my kids and grandkids. Busy, busy. Notice the antlers on my Jeep are gone. Return to "normal" here.

 

[foggy]

Foggy - Have you ever thought about piling that slash in strategy locations to help direct deer into the plot etc...

OK.....I suppose my first comment was a little "harsh".....Grin. To date I have piled most of the downed timber on my land. I feel like I'm knee deep in this stuff......and it really is a nasty job to move this stuff about. Mostly, I just want it gone.....and burning seems to be a quick solution to get ahead of the game in this spot.

If I had a bit more patience and seat time available, I'm sure strategically placing some of this stuff would be of benefit. When I'm in the tractor seat.....I become sort o a tyro.....and just want to get done with the job at hand. Especially when temps are in the teens....like today.

Your suggestion is valid Aaron. :) It's a good idea......but I'm gonna burn it if the weather co-ops :D.

 

[Jim Timber]

You have a trailer, you have a loader, and you have trails...

 

[sandbur]

I spend half of my time thinking about how best to do something and then the other half of the time rethinking how to do it. Especially since my back has bothered me for a about ten days or so.

 

[Riggsgwp->]

Your lucky we didn't show up with chainsaws Foggy I think there was a few of us that were itching to cut down all those red pines. I was envisioning piles everywhere and I think MBC was too;)

 

[sandbur]

For 60 years, I thought they were Norway Pines!

 

[foggy]

^^^ I KNEW you guys would gang up on me about those red pines. I think they are kinda pretty.....and they are a whole lot less work standing...than fallen. :D


I musta dropped hundreds of them by now.....and ground out stumps like crazy. I got back problems.....rotator cuff surgery looming......arthritits.....fallen arches......and a bad attitude. .....and you boys want me to log those beautiful trees? o_O ;)

 

[MNAaron]

I don't want to see you log those red pines either that is why I think you should buy the swamps on either side...put the food on yours and get them coming out of their beds heading to the food. Always fun trying to spend other people's money. Hee Hee

Oh yeah...no worries on moving the current slash piles. When you start dropping pines in those strategy places to create bedding areas you will have plenty new stuff to move around.

 

[foggy]

^ Yep. We never walked into a few small woodland swamps I have tucked away in the pines. I think I will cut some trees from those areas this year to improve the bedding in those.

Likely will have another logger take a look at my red pines and see what may be done next winter. Won't be time to shag this down this year. Some of these projects are pretty sizable......and will take some planning and co-ordination to get em done.

Same goes for crossing that swamp.....it's likely gonna be next winter before anything gets accomplished.

 

[bueller]

How many acres of mature red pine do you have foggy? If you do cut them what's the plan for regen? There is usually very little growing under them except for more small and scattered red pine?

 

[wiscwhip]

I think you'd be surprised at the amount and types of seeds laying dormant in that soil waiting for a disturbance to "wake" them up.

 

[sandbur]

We discussed that a bit. Some areas have decent regrowth and one area comes to mind that does not seem to have regrowth. Foggy can verify this, but I suspect it is an area of light soil.

 

[foggy]

We discussed that a bit. Some areas have decent regrowth and one area comes to mind that does not seem to have regrowth. Foggy can verify this, but I suspect it is an area of light soil.

Yep. A few areas remain somewhat sparse after the red pine was harvested some 8 years ago. I think the light soil in these areas, coupled with the remaining "seed trees" providing a bit too much shade....is the culprit. The moisture of the past two years has helped it bounce back much better. Cutting a few of those "shade trees" may help too.

Other areas have pretty good re-gen of red pine and some areas have a mix of birch, aspen, burr oak and a variety of brush (and some spruce, fir and some white pine). Some of the soil is pretty weak. Sooner or later the red pine takes over again.

 

[j-bird]

Foggy - I feel ya. Moving that stuff is much easier said than done, especially if you have a ways to go with it. I tend to move what is handy and other than that I pile it up and burn it or pile it up for other critters to use.

Now this takes a little more planning, but the critters seem to like it - I will cut the larger stuff into a managable length and put the larger stuff down first - I leave spaces between the logs and set them in the same direction and then place another layer in the opposite direction on top of those. Sort of gets a "funeral pile" look to it. I then toss the lighter stuff on top of that. This seems to encourage the rabbits and the like to get up under the pile and use it for cover and to escape predators. This also allows the air to circulate if you are burning it as well. I used to just toss and shove everything in a pile, but it doesn't harbor as many critters or burn as well for me if I just toss it and forget it.

When I am cutting managable trees I will use a chain or cable choker to drag the entire tree to the desired location and then cut it up there - that seems to help some what as well. I only have a 30hp tractor so I when stuff gets too big I have to cut it up into pieces. I normallyhave some help so I have someone running the tractor while I run the saw so that can be a big factor as well. Somtimes we simplycut the largr stuff for firewood and make a small slash pile and simply toss a match to it.