A couple dead sassafras trees blew over close to a trail we have. The problem is 1). they mostly landed in thorns, briars, scrub trees and whatever else can stick you. And 2), they are covered in a crazy vine that has sprouts coming off everywhere. I think this is the worse stuff I ever processed in! To be honest, I wouldn't even bother with it, except to clear the trail. BUT there's a couple reasons Im sufferin through this mess 1. I need some SS wood 2. I had plans to clear this area anyway and plant apple and crabapple trees for deer. 3. Its right on my property. 4. I am a hoarder after all!!. A few pics of the progress so far: The start. These was pic was from a couple weeks ago. Hard to see, but there were 2 trees down in that mess. I bucked the ones that were down and felled 3 others. I cut most into 4' sections. One tree was a little sketchy as it was a blow over but leaning on another. Dropped the support tree and got a 2 for 1. No tractor to help mow down the thorn bushes or scrub trees. So after I cut them at the base, I did the hillbilly run down with the quad . I think I need a flame thrower! End of the day. Behind this mess is another 40' of bucked logs. The 4' sections are rather heavy, so I'll have to cut them down more. Still have a rather large tree that blew down to cut up, but it's just covered in crap! Plus a few smaller to drop. Lots of work to do yet. But fighting the thorns and hoofing 4' logs up hill, tired me out. Plus my mix gas can cracked and thats done for. It sucks working in this mess. But I did find a BL log that was still solid, plus I needed some saw therapy time. That all put a smile on my face.
That was without a doubt one huge mess. Better you than me. The older I get, the less I like to play in jaggers.
I think I know the vine you're talking about. Light/almost white colored papery bark to it? It's a pain in the butt. I wish we had Sassafras like that around here. They're few and far between. Nice work.
My sassys all get to about that size and blow over or die. Try a battery powered hedge trimmer for that thick mess. I was actually clearing out something similar today for a food plot. Cut tons of those dark purple thorny mofos and wild roses and got poked a bunch. The deer dont like them either.
Yeppers, serious vine! My sassafras rarely make it to large size. I got one about 12 inches maybe that was dying. Most die before that, don't know why. I love the firewood, it's gorgeous wood. Dries out to be super light, very cool.
Reminds me of wht ill go through for BL. Way to be persistent sir! Sass is very rot resistant so has a long shelf life. A machete works pretty good on vines.
You and me both! Sounds like the same one. I'll try and get a better picture. I do have a couple larger sassys around. Im hoping the deer appreciate my efforts. From a distance it looked like BL, I was hoping! But disappointment set in once I got up to the trees.
I was off this weekend and was looking for some punishment, so back at it in the mess. I was in no mood for messing around and broke out the 7310 with 24" bar and grabbed a new chain. Still need to blaze a trail to pull these rounds out. Cut these into 4' lengths. These are right next to some of my stacks. Still need to make a trail here to . Got these out and staged to split. $hit ton of vines and thorns to deal with yet. If I had a skid steer with a brush hog attachment, I would be set. Quick guesstimate, maybe 2.5 cords.
