Winter Logging Footage

George,

Great looking video. Looks like nice wood. Do you find it a pain to switch between the d-ring shackle and hook for twitching wood then undoing the shackle to go back to the pin on the evener for forecart yarding?

I want to redo my evener so it has a welded hoop on the back so the d-ring and twitching hook can stay on the evener while yarding. Then I can just hook the evener onto to a welded hoon on the forecart tongue.

Horses are looking good. Nice grapple attachment too. Looks like a handt tool on the landing.

ED

Great video George.

Over the years I have tried different configurations of hooks and swivels. I have found the Bitch-link on a swivel to be fail-proof. Easy to hold onto, doesn’t bend, and it is very easy to hitch on chokers. The challenge of keeping hooks and swivels on eveners on carts is the hammer-strap often doesn’t offer enough room to accommodate everything. Like George, I think the time to connect or disconnect a clevis is insignificant in the scheme of things.

However, I find I rarely disconnect the horses from the cart. If the snow is too deep to use the cart, I generally use the bobsled, or scoot, and on those devices I have room to leave the even all set up.

This has been a challenging winter for sure. I have a tendency of more work than I can get done, some of which is forestry consulting, so when logging conditions are difficult to manage, I get started on other projects, then when weather is suitable, sometimes I am knee-deep in another project. Then when I complete that project we get another 20″ of snow…. thank god I have an old crawler to bust open trails.

Carl

You know George, I have a favorite coffee cup and a large table spoon that I measure sugar with, but sometimes I dump sugar in, or maple syrup, and stir with a fork, or (god forbid) I use a different cup…… 😉

I am not completely convinced it has to do with the type of the cart, as I have a high-wheeled version as well. I think that if I know I am going to be ground skidding because of terrain, or conditions, then I am likely to just take the sled….. something about being on the ground already that leads me to want to roll bunched logs onto a sled.

Additionally, there are times when I will bunch for the sled using a cart.

For me I think it comes down to the way I see the work, and woods. I will fall trees differently when I’m using the cart. I have long chains, rings, and tongs that I use to reach long distances, and of course the lay of the tree must have taken those into consideration.

Just for an example of the personal perspective on this, at 2012 BWW I was chopping blow-down hardwoods for 3-4 teams in a woodland bowl with moderate to steep slopes. Near the end of the day I had finally worked my way up to some very difficult trees….. but of course having done this kind of work before, I had “worked” my way there with an eye toward functionality, as everyone was using an arch. One of them just wouldn’t do it, one other nearly had a tragedy, and Chad Vogel and Jim Brown just drove up, backed around hitched, tightened, and drew them away.

I have marked a lot of trees for all kinds of loggers, and we each have our own way of seeing how to get them out…… so whatever feels the best, usually is.

Right now I am working in a pine plantation, cutting 26-32 foot cabin logs, in 2-3 feet of snow. I pushed open a main trail with the crawler, but most of the trees are not close to the trail, and they are specifically selected for the project. I will find the best fall toward the trail, use a long chain if I have to, pull the whole tree if we can (20 feet or so) cut off a log, back and rehitch, those kinds of things….. I suppose that’s what you refer to as “futzing around”…. which in my mind keep me in the groove that makes it work for me.

Thanks for sharing, it is great to see other ways to do things.

Carl