Not one bid?

[Bowsnbucks]

My camp just had 22 acres cut this year - NC Pa. Our forester walked it about 4 times and marked trees for cutting. We kept the big, straight oaks for acorns and future saw timber. Most of what was cut was red maple - a few oaks, hickory, pines, too. The forester said the maple was in demand, the crappy ones for pulp, the saw logs for cabinetry and furniture. He said the red maple can be stained to look just like cherry - the grain is similar. He also said the lumber markets are very changeable - oak veneer logs get hot, then maple or cherry get hot. No clear trend. Don't know if that info helps or not - but there it is.

 

[Ben-WPA]

We did a mostly junk wood cut last winter. Had several bids. The pallet companies near us in western PA helped for sure. I am glad I did not have to do it myself!

 

[rocksnstumps]

Ruskbucks,
Yes, sounds like you will have to go back in and sweeten the pot to get some loggers interested. Being open on the timing can be a big one. Good loggers usually have the prime months already booked in advance a year or two. Lots of folks don't want to give up their hunting during the fall but that can create a window for some less value jobs to become attractive if you sacrifice that year to get er done. Your objective for this cut is to release crop trees for greater future value so getting a good logger who can do that is important. Some might do hack jobs and damage your existing trees, robbing you of future value.

Also keep in mind that those truckloads of aspen aka "popple" going by all the time are usually logged by clear cutting which from a logger's perspective is the easiest way to do things. . Those clearcuts can be done by mechanical processors much easier than picking and choosing stuff like in a thinning. It also lines up nicely that aspen regens the best from clear cuts and not select cuts since it wants max sun to send up all those shoots.

The processors they use these days are quite the game changer from the old days. One logger I met at a forestry field day passed along that his best productivity was not from guys with years and years of experience but with some of the younger crowd under 25 that driving and doing everything with a joystick and computers is second nature. One of his best loggers was a woman (his daughter actually). Those Ponse (spelling?) machines are really cool to watch.

So you want a thinning which requires careful logging and paying attention to minimize damage to the crop trees to remain. That raises the harvest costs and pulp is a lower value product to start with so again limits interest.

Another tactic is to be willing to include some good saw logs in the cut now to put some meat on the bone so to speak.

 

[j-bird]

When my place was cut a few years ago - we targeted lots of "junk". 2 tree types that made me any real money was yellow poplar and sugar/hard maple (they where not allowed to cut any oak, walnut or cherry - my decision). Hard maple has to be the right size however. Loggers want the maximum amount of sapwood and NOT the heartwood. The sap wood of sugar maple is almost white, while the heart wood is very dark. I was told they want hard maple to be about 6' in circumference is about the ideal size.......and boy did I get lucky! I told them to cut everyone of them they wanted! Mature sugar maple has very little wildlife vale to me and creates a dense shade and very weak understory. They met the chainsaw, my understory exploded and I got a nice check as well. The timber market changes however and can also be very localized. Talk with the timber folks to see if there is a decent market for it.

 

[ruskbucks]

I received a bid on my logging operation. I have to say my forester was pretty much right on with everything he told me. The actual cut area is only 30 acres, 6 acres of the 30 to be clear cut. Almost all the good trees were saved. Bids came in a couple grand less than what we thought, but the logger is going to remove all balsams and iron wood under 1"dbh. Which is close to 1000 I would guess. Bid came in at $13,000,but I actual get paid on tonnage so it should be a little higher. logging to start first week in December should be wrapped up by Jan 1. Logging company was highly recommended by the dnr forester from the area. I'm pretty happy with the results knowing that this cut is only taking about 10-15% of the trees and are the low quality trees,next cut in 15-20 years should be a lot better. The deer are going to eat good this winter.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Outstanding! Seems like they are ready to jump right into it. Gonna be messy looking for a year or two but by year 3 all the new green stuff covers up the logging remains on the ground. Big thing will be to check on how they take down trees without scrapping up the good ones to remain. Some loggers can do this pretty well, others don't seem to care.

 

[ruskbucks]

Outstanding! Seems like they are ready to jump right into it. Gonna be messy looking for a year or two but by year 3 all the new green stuff covers up the logging remains on the ground. Big thing will be to check on how they take down trees without scrapping up the good ones to remain. Some loggers can do this pretty well, others don't seem to care.

Thanks rocks,I'm excited but still a little nervous. How much did your logging change your deer pattern's. Was it good right after the cutting, or did it take a few years of growth where the deer had enough cover? My woods has a ton of cover now ,especially from the understory of balsams. The forester had in the bid to remove all of them. I like them for cover, I just didn't want to have a balsam forest take over after cutting. We are going to leave some strips along road and food plots for cover.

 

[chummer]

Year one may be ugly. I had my property logged this year. I had them leave all the tops as they fell. I went over two weeks ago with a little snow on the ground. I expected a thick mess with deer all over in the tops. Well, I could see 300 yards in every direction. I couldn't believe how wide open it was. I know it will thicken up with the canopy thinned but I was not prepared for how wide open it was. Hopefully I will be able to get in this winter and hinge what is left of the beech, birch, and soft maple. I will say you can really see the flow of the property when it is wide open. I have changed many of the plans and the overall layout of the property. Congrats on finding a logger it will be an interesting process.

 

[rocksnstumps]

The logging I had done in hardwoods was in multiple small pockets of maybe 1/2 acre more or less so not as dramatic a change as Chummer mentions. I did have some new bedding next to a few bigger tops/brushpiles in the first couple of years but not like it was a huge magnet. Getting even more use now that it has thickened up as time goes on. Have my best trail cam pics in an area that was logged but left "messy". The other spot is reworked waterhole from this summer which had some bucks looking a bit thirsty during the start of the rut with their tongues hanging out.

Another benefit of the logging was I had marked some wild apple trees to leave alone and now they have more light and produce way more apples.

 

[bwoods11]

I received a bid on my logging operation. I have to say my forester was pretty much right on with everything he told me. The actual cut area is only 30 acres, 6 acres of the 30 to be clear cut. Almost all the good trees were saved. Bids came in a couple grand less than what we thought, but the logger is going to remove all balsams and iron wood under 1"dbh. Which is close to 1000 I would guess. Bid came in at $13,000,but I actual get paid on tonnage so it should be a little higher. logging to start first week in December should be wrapped up by Jan 1. Logging company was highly recommended by the dnr forester from the area. I'm pretty happy with the results knowing that this cut is only taking about 10-15% of the trees and are the low quality trees,next cut in 15-20 years should be a lot better. The deer are going to eat good this winter.

Congrats on the bid!! What does land sell for in your area. Similar land to yours, has not been heavily logged??

 

[ruskbucks]

Congrats on the bid!! What does land sell for in your area. Similar land to yours, has not been heavily logged??

Wooded hunting land seems to average around $1500 acre.It doesn't e seem like there is ever much that goes up for sale thou. At $2000 an acre you can buy some very nice land.,Travel 45min north,south,or west land starts around $2500. I paid $1300 acre at the peak 9 years ago with 50acres of solid woods and 30acres of a old farmstead with a house and barn not worth fixing.I do have power, septic and a deep well.