Another decent afternoon scrounging on the ATV. Went out to take down a standing dead white birch I had spotted last fall however it was too punky. Drove over to where I had spotted a small standing dead red maple and after dropping that, started to look around and found a half dozen or so standing dead red oak! No large trees however standing dead oak is my favorite kind of oak because it doesn't take three bleeping years to dry. Ended up with just over three trailer loads of (mostly) four-foot lengths (I couldn't load the trailer any higher due to steep inclines being traversed and I didn't have any straps...not funny being smacked by sliding oak logs). Perfect sized trees for hauling to the trail by hand to load in the trailer. I also noticed the black bear are definitely getting active; saw prints all over the place.
The plan is that the firewood I'm scrounging now is for the 24/25 season at the earliest and ideally for the 25/26 season. However, it's nice to know this stuff will pretty much be ready to go by next winter if needed. I'll take all the standing dead oak I can find.
It's deceiving from the pictures however there is a lot of water around...still at the tail end of the snow melt-off. Unfortunately though, with the early snow melt we had this year I wouldn't be surprised if we end up in some kind of drought this summer.
We went through a long dry spell last summer, the water levels in the brook for the month of June were late August levels which is pretty low, hopefully we don't go through that again.
I would love to have an ATV and trailer for scrounging wood. I have a tractor and a larger trailer but most of the property is too steep/rocky and dangerous for the tractor.
I always see where people say they like pictures, so here's a few from today's ATV scrounge. Went out this afternoon to tackle a red maple that had the top snapped off in a windstorm over the winter. It was a good distance back in the woods, at the end of the established trail system, and you have to go up a long, steep, leaf-covered section of trail before you get to a flat area (when I go up this section of trail on the snowmobile, my front skis hardly ever touch the ground all the way up). Once at the flat section of the trail, the tree was about 30 or so feet back down the slope. I've hauled trees up this slope before with a capstan winch but was hoping not to have to do it this time. Luckily the tree dropped right where I wanted it to (perpendicular to the slope) and took out a rotting beech widowmaker in the process. Then it was the process of tying sections of trunk onto the ATV (before cutting so they wouldn't roll down the slope) and then dragging each section up to the trail. It was steep enough that you couldn't even see the ATV in the picture looking up from the base of the felled tree. Decent bit of work but ended up with five 5' 4" sections and two 4' sections as well as some limb wood from the top that got blown off (base was about 15+ inches in diameter). Started raining pretty good so only got one trailer load out (the trail going up is slick enough when dry) so I'll finish it up another day. I realize it doesn't seem like a lot of wood for the effort to those that get trees by the dozen. However, when you scrounge for each and every tree, and these are free, it was a good day.
Nice retrieve on the red maple EODMSgt As someone who also gets his firewood a little at a time, I can appreciate a nice (and free) straight tree like that, with a little work involved in getting it out. I’ve been known to scoop up almost anything at times. Even on Sunday I saw a couple rounds discarded on the side of a backroad. Weeping cherry, probably someone’s yard tree. Those things have a short life span. It was only enough for a couple stove loads but it came home with me regardless
It was definitely a good workout. Not sure if I hit a rock yesterday however I noticed the chain was not great when I felled the tree. Ended up driving back to the house to grab another saw. Now that I'm a few years ahead I can be a bit more selective on what I scrounge. Still, like you, it's tough to pass up free scrounges (and after so many years in the past of having just enough for the next winter it is tough to break the habit of not passing up any scrounge I find). I do the same thing in that I'll look at possibly less-than-optimal wood and say to myself that I can get so many hours of heat out of it so it's still worth the effort. Keeps the propane delivery guy from having to visit.
EODMSgt , when I was cutting that uprooted maple I've been working on, it had a cavity on the opposite side that was full of dirt so after hitting that chit with a freshly sharpened chain it was back to the Rhino for another chain. I just sharpened that chain so it should be ready for some rounds.
Sometimes the hard ones are more fun. Always enjoy a good challenge. How’s the atv ride down that steep hill with a trailer load on the back? Skis in the air all the way to the top sounds steep. I guess lug depth makes a difference wether you’re lifting or spinning. Hard to find a real steep hill to conquer in the woods near me. Finally found one. Took a few trips to muster the courage to go down it first. I knew I’d be in big trouble if I couldn’t turn around and get back up LOL
It seems like none of the scrounges recently have been easy, but as you said, the difficult ones are more rewarding in the end. The trip back down the hill (it's actually the base of a small mountain) is dicey with the trailer, which is why I can't load it too heavily. Even yesterday's load had me more sliding down the slope than driving (only used light rear braking for control). Granted the leaves were wet, but it definitely adds to the challenge of the scrounge. I have dragged logs down the trail before to buck at the bottom (to avoid having to deal with the trailer on the slope). I'm just trying to avoid getting the logs covered in mud/dirt this time so am hoping to buck them at the top. I may just make extra trips with fewer rounds to get everything to the bottom and then reload the trailer for the trips home. More work but safer. Yeah, going up on the snowmobile is fun...standing up, leaning all the way forwards, and the skis still don't touch the ground (and I have a 155 track which makes the sled 11 1/2 feet long).
granted, no land no use for a log arch. But I love that thing. Pull out trunks in one shot, cut them mostly in the air right where I want them. Even my dump cart requires work to load and unload. One good log would be 2-3 cart fulls. The electric 4500lb winch is a game changer. I’ve pulled hickory logs through rocky sections I couldn’t get the atv into right to the arch. Back one tire into a tree or rock for an anchor and pull away.
For the first few years here, learning how much wood I would burn a year, I only ordered 5 chord. But with this old shack I needed twice that for winter. I would go out in early winter and when the beaver dams were frozen enough I would cut the dead standing trees there. They were dry as a bone. I could load up about 3 day load every trip. When the wood goes from standing to stove within an hour and give off a blue flame, it's dry wood.
Not ATV-related but I guess the firewood gods were smiling down on me today. The day after I mentioned that there were no easy scrounges so far this year, I got a text asking me if I wanted a dump trailer load of oak, beech, and birch! A neighbor's son runs an arborist business locally and brought by a free load this afternoon of logs that weren't good for the mill. It's all good wood and he said he'll be able to bring more by throughout the cutting season (he brought me a couple loads last year). Definitely stoked! I thought I was off to a slow start this year however things are looking up and this might be the year I finally get to that 2o-cord plan I've been wanting to do for a long time. Scrounging is my favorite part, but I'll need to start splitting soon.
