[PhilG]

I looked into te easy boots also, I don’t think they make a draft size – 7-8 ?

[PhilG]

Hey Foresters,
my intent was not to get any one riled up, I am also a staunch supporter of forest improvement, in the last sixteen years I have been dealing solely with the pine beetle in Colorado. I have never in all that time cut down a live tree! My encounters with the “foresters” in my area have been a little unique, there are several ranches and ski resorts in my area that I have been scavenging logs from for over nine years, I think if they had cleared more trees in the begining, instead of marking random “infested” trees they could have maybe lessened the impact or at least not logged the same hillsides year after year after year…After a couple years doesn’t it seem obviose that that approach was not working ?
Scott, what is the best way to deal with what is happening to the LP ? What do you advise land owners to do ? Can you possibly cut to many trees in an infested area?
Carl, a-men brother, the ONLY way to log is with horses!!!! those 1,000,000’s of acres of dead Colorado Lodge Pole Pine should be employing hundreds of horse teams for years to come.

[PhilG]

Matthew,
I have had good luck with some joint ventures with other poeple, most the timber fallers I know don’t have horses or a self loader, and many foresters only consolt land owners and don’t do any tree falling, skidding or hauling. try contacting others in your area to see if you can just contract out the skidding part, or hit up foresters and sell them on the low impact easy move in and out, lots of jobs are too small to lowboy a skidder, harvester and all the crap that goes with them, look for those jobs. There is a lot of value in getting the logs to a landing with horses, there is a lot of value in pulling up with a selfloader and getting logs to market, there is a lot of value in knowing what to do with what log, there is value in managing the forest….. if you can find some honest folks that are wiling to part out there portion of the jobs value it might be a start. I agree with Mitch, don’t call yourself a forester unless you are, I’m not an eucated forester either, so I do my part and let them do theirs. I have also seen a few educated foresters with some pretty screwed up motives (the almighty $) driving there decitions vs. my un-forester-educated common sence, but that is a different topic, read that healing harvest web sight ,it is right as rain. Have fun logging.

[PhilG]

Nice article,
Matt is 24 and his bank account is near empty, I am 45…my bank acount is near empty, the path I have been on has increased the bank accounts dramatically of insurance agencies, workmans comp extortionists, permiting goverment agencies, tax collecters, oil companys, John Deere,Caterpilller…. the list goes on and on. I am glad to see these young hardworking guys heading down this alternate road of horse farming and living cheap , it took the great depretion of 2009 to kick start me down that path and I have never been so content. It is great to see my kids on the draft horses or cleaning the chicken coop and colecting and cooking eggs.

[PhilG]

here is one we welded up for logs

[PhilG]

Can a crack make them limp when they walk?

[PhilG]

Jason and Scott,
Thanks for the feed back, I have really learned alot from this forum and look forward to ramping up the horse logging as the snow melts. I did Join CFP 8 or 10 years ago, but I think they have me in the wrong catagory or something, I will update it, I also joined Colorado Proud, they have a cool logo also that we can use.
With all the renewed interest in the sustainable aspect of building hopefully I can make a go of the horse logging part of it like you all have.
Phil

[PhilG]

In colorado for the last 15 years or so, I have not had to cut a “live” tree, there have always been plenty of dead trees, blowdown and fire kill ( worst first ?) . I got into logging ( scavenging would be more like it) and sawmilling just to supply my own building comany and get away from trucking everything in from 2000 plus miles away, support the local economy, have faster turnaround, total quality conrtol…just comon sense. I agree with adding value anywere you can, trees they use to stuff in a dumpster and take to a landfill I would pickup with my short self loader, peal or saw it, grade stamp it, and sell it back to the local contractors. We have been wasting so much in this country for so long it is catching up with us, we need to get those 30 portable sawmills back into the countrysides, along with 60 horses, and take back our economy. I called a guy to skidd some logs to a building lot and he wanted $250 an hr, seems like 4 guys and 4 hourses could work for that, do you think ? and do about the same amount with much less impact and pollution.
I think a large part is educating people, architects, engineers and designers to use what is available to us, ( worst first….beetle kill..) instead of bringing in stinkin bamboo flooring from across the world or using coastal Dug fir inland just because it has some how become ” the standard” for every piece of structural wood, why not standardize 3 x 6 Lodgepole Pine, Spruce or Aspen instead ? There are millions of dead trees from the whole lenght of the Rocky Mountains that would fit the bill for this purpose. People need to change their attitudes, and fast, we need to help them, none of the people I have timber framed for could tell you the species of three different timbers you lay in front of them, yet their plans call out #1 free of heart center dug fir from clrear cuts in the North West!
I think there needs to be a healing forest foundation in every state of our union.
thats my 2 cents
Phil
http://www.handcraftedlogandtimber.com

[PhilG]

If you are cuting timbers, you might be better off with a sharp broad ax

[PhilG]

I tried it with one horse today, it seemed a bit much, I’ll try the team this week, do you tink it can be pulled with a double tree, or do I need a shaft?

[Author]

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