Mud Season Tips?

[Pete J]

Hi All,
Any tips on working through spring mud season?
Last year we had a bad mud season in Connecticut and buried a 4wd dump truck and 4wd New Holland tractor just trying to get logs to the sawmill. Just trying to avoid the frustration of not being able to work when work is available.

[AtLast]

What we do is use the first cpl cuts off the mill and use those to form a foundation so to speak. we also use them to place the logs on to help them from sinking into the mud. It works really well

[DanG]

I use slabs the same way. I don't usually have such a mud problem, but most of my ground is just naturally soft, due to soil type. My old forklift is so heavy, I have to be careful where I drive it, without using some matting.  

Preparation is probably the biggest key. Try to plan your mud season activities in a mud free area.(IF you have one! )  I rearranged the usage of some areas after I got the forklift, to minimize the bog-down problem.

If you're working off-site, you'll just have to educate your customers, I guess. Maybe a small discount to those that prepare properly would give them incentive, and the increased production would replace that money(and more) in your own pocket.  ;D

[redpowerd]

im tryin DanG hard to get my logs piled around the mill BEFORE muddin. there were two days where the temp was over freezin, and our creek crossins began bustin up. supposed to be in the 50s this weekend, makin for a loooong week.

[KDEC19]

HEY WE LIVE IN CONNECTICUT ALSO AND MUD SEASON HERE IS ONLY MILD COMPARED TO UP IN THOSE NORTHERN AREAS!!!.  i LEARNED THIS HEADING INTO THE WOODS IN NEW HAMSHIRE WHILE AT COLLEGE.  SUREFIRE METHOD.  38" TSL SUPER SWAMPERS!!!  LOCKING DIFERENTIALS,  LOTS OF CABLE ON THE WINCH!!!  hEY ONE GOOD WAY TO CURE THE LANDING IS WITH A LOAD OR TWO OF INCH AND A 1/4 CRUSHED STONE.  LAY IT THICK AND RUN IT INTO THE GROUND.  THIS STONE CAN ALSO BE LAID OVER LARGE FILTER FABRIC.  WE HAVE GOTTEN THROUGH SWAMPS THIS WAY.  THE FABRIC KEEPS THE BASE FROM SINKING INTO THE GROUND.  ALSO THE MORE YOU DRIVE OVER THE SAME AREA THE WORSE IT GETS!  TRY TO VARY YOUR ROUTES DAYLY IF POSSIBLE.  WELL GOT TO GO TUB THE KIDS HOPE THIS HELPS SEE YA ALL!!! 8)

[Frickman]

In these parts we don't really have the spring breakup and road postings like up north, but we do have our share of mud. I just try to get everything done now that I can, and when it gets muddy we pull equipment into the shop and do maintanance work. I found out a long time ago that I never made any money working in the mud, just more mud. Just like any other season, I know its coming, and I prepare in advance.

[Corley5]

Take a vacation somewhere dry for a couple weeks ;D 8).  Some of the loggers and truckers in this area shutdown once the frost laws come on.  They'll pull maintenance on their equipment then take the kids to Fla for Spring Break.  

[redpowerd]

mud season is for tappin trees and canoeing thru the feilds, not for chains and blades and tractors and ....... if sawing was my livelyhood, all my hard work would be done before and after, following corley5s method

[raycon]

I'm in CT as well -- the mud season is here but its not raining/snowing maybe we will have a dry spring.  
Ten ton winch comes in handy -- mud season might not end till first week of June -- stay on the high ground -- I'd like that Feb-June off. I get out early and when things soften up I saw logs.

[OneWithWood]

Mud season is here in southern Indiana.  I put down tons of #2 stone all around the sawbarn area.  I can get around there with no problem.  When I am felling and skidding trees out of the woods I spread the slash on the path for the crawler.  I helps a bunch.  Some places I just don't go until June.

[rbarshaw]

Mud season in the Low Country starts Jan 1 and ends Dec 31. : Only advice I know is to jump out and run for high ground when the mud starts covering the floor boards.

[Stump Jumper]

Set up a Run Way.  Charge admission and watch the mud fly.
Enjoy the fun.   :D :D

High school students enjoy this kind of fun and so do people somewhere up around my age. :D :D

[Frickman]

Hey stump jumper, I like the idea of charging admission. If we run the mill on the first nice, warm day this spring we'll have spectators all over the place. Mostly retired folks with cabin fever. Years ago I said that if I could put up a fence and charge admision I'd make more money selling hot dogs and coffee than sawing wood.

[Pete J]

It sounds like everyone has had the same experience we did. Putting the slabs down would be the best idea except that we use them to heat the house and garage with an outdoor wood furnace.
If only we could get the kids out of school for march, april and may, but we are "tied to the whippin post" as it were.

[AtLast]

Im gunna run that  " TAKE A VACATION" THING BY THE WIFE  ;D....ALL AND ALL ITS NOT too BAD FOR ME THE SLABS WORK WELL BUT THAN iM NOT IN THE SAME ENVIRONMENT AS MOST OF YOU. i WILL SAY YOU MAKE ME APPRECIATE only dealing with the mud that I do.......(DERN Cap lOCKS!!!!!)

[Ed_K]

 I'm still working in 8" of snow, but it gets slimy by noon. Won't be long till mud here in northern Ma. Thats when you pull out the sugaring equip, when that runs out I go to sawing. By the time I run out of logs it dry enuogh to go back to cutting and thinning, as long as the yellowjackets arn't to bad  :D.

[Minnesota_boy]

Being that I only do onsite custom sawing, I have to work it a bit differently.  We have amixture of soils here, sand, gravel, clay, and other (mud).  Most of the year, I try to work my rotation on a first in line basis, but in mud season, I get picky about the soil type and mud depth.  I refuse to set up on someone's lawn when I know that I will rut it up, instead putting them farther down the list until the lawn firms up, or jumping them up the list if their lawn will still be frozen when I have other places to go later.  I will try to do the jobs that have the proper soil type and sun exposure for the time of mud season.