Haul logs with trailer, buy logs for firewood or hire a logger to move my logs?

[livemusic]

I have logs (limbed stems) on the ground, oak, at two landings on a tract, been there since last fall. Maybe 8 cords at one spot and 200 yards away, another 14 cords. Red oak, water oak, willow oak, a little white oak, probably 20" to 36" DBH.

I bucked and hauled out probably this many cords with my 5x10 utility trailer last winter for firewood sales. I need to get what's left and it sure does not dollar up well since I can only haul 2/3 to 3/4 cord per trip. What about... hiring a logger to bring a tractor-trailer log truck. Would need a loader and nobody around here has one of those all-in-one trailer/loader setups. Any idea how much this would cost? Another option is to forget these logs and buy a load of logs. But I do have alot of time invested in this tract... I did not fell them but I did buck the root balls and limbed them and these were big trees and my main focus was don't get killed. The dangerous part is done, they are just on the ground now.

I have seen people in various parts of the country quote about $100/cord for a load of hardwood logs. I have no idea if I could even get a load here. Also, I do not know if a trailer could be unloaded without a loader. Can they just dump the load by dropping a wing?

Only reason I did this is to help a friend who cleared the tract (trackhoe pushed them down) and I hated to see the trees go to waste. Yes, I sell firewood as a hobby but this amount of cords with a 5x10 trailer and just a chainsaw sure is alot of work, lol. I work alone or with a helper, paying him $10/hour and he can lift big rounds easier than me. I sell 12-20 cords/year just word of mouth. I like being in the woods, running a saw, and it keeps me active.

There's a lot of great firewood logs there. I have two loggers in mind. For one, it would be ten miles there. The other, about 15 miles. Good dirt access roads, sandy ground. Yes, I will call them, just wondering what you guys think before I do, is this is a dumb idea or what.

[rusticretreater]

Sounds like a real small profit margin depending on what the haulers would charge.  

Maybe rent a big trailer, put a tarp down for easy clean-up and to limit damage, buck the logs small enough to load and then haul-em yourself.

[thecfarm]

Before I built a house here, I use to cut my firewood here.
I had a trucker haul the logs to my house. This was a straight job with a loader, very common truck in Maine.
Made it very nice for me. I could work on the wood at home. Even if I just had a ½ hour. But it made a mess of the lawn. Was a lot of clean up. I did not have the room that I have here.
I only did that for 3 years. Then I would just cut and split here and haul it by the pick up load. 

[customsawyer]

Get a quote from a local tree surgeon type company. They should have a self loader type of truck that can load and unload. I think you would be better off splitting it on site and haul it home in your trailer. 

[kantuckid]

Customsawyer nailed it. 
I found over the years of cutting on my own property that there was one sole solution that works best and it's not trying to pay someone to move the wood in any form. It's an even worse equation nowadays given diesel prices!
 By leaps and bounds, I like cutting as close to where the tree fell or yarding tops to a clearing, cut and split directly into a trailer then haul to stack and use spot. Muddy wood from fall rains is not good. 
Don't I wish I'd had a FEL for the first zillion loads I cut... :D 
A 3pt hitch mtd splitter served me best by far as the tractor was the power to move the wood anyway and thus all was at hand back in the woods. A fairly mobile utility trailer is a VG means to make headway. 
In my area where many burn wood, area loggers often haul a large load of junky logs to a homeowners yard area for a very realistic price. Other than the seniors who cannot cut to length that's the better solution for many. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Buck them and split them right into a trailer where they are now.   Buy or rent a bigger trailer.   The cost of a trailer is minimal compared to what hauling will cost you and then you still have the trailer.

[C5C Tree Farmer]

If the landowner is agreeable the best is to process the wood on the landing. If that is possible here is how I would lay out the job.
1. Take your hired man, 2 decent chainsaws, and block up everything.
2. Rent a skidloader with a splitter attachment...the style with wedge and cylinder on the bottom side of the beam. With this attachment the rounds can be carried where you want them and the split wood can be windrowed about 6ft high. Split everything.

Now you have a salable product that is seasoning and will gain in value the drier it gets.

If you can arrange it the best return for you is to have the customer do their own hauling. Escort them to the landing and help them load.

[livemusic]

Thanks for your posts.

I have to get this wood out of there asap, the landowner has changed his tune. His sons want as little activity as possible there due to their soon-to-start deer hunting. All along, I thought I was to have two cool seasons. Now, they are wanting to take away now through end of year, which is when I want to do it.

Yesterday, I got on this idea of renting a dump trailer. But then I realized I only have a half ton pickup. Plus, I have a 50hp Mahindra tractor with FEL but no grapple. If I could use my half ton to pull a smaller dump trailer, could buy some forks I suppose but I doubt using forks would be precision loading. Beats me, have never done it.

I am now thinking that a getting a logger with a tractor-trailer to do it is the best way IF his price would be acceptable, and I have no idea what it would cost. But think of the labor, time, and cost it will take me to make, say, 30 loads of rounds on my small trailer.

I also know two tree service guys that could do it but they're pretty pricey and with the Florida hurricane, they may be gone for months, they both do disaster work. I will call them.

Lastly... the sons are amenable to me hauling the logs away from this site to a spot farther away on their land... and then I could bring my splitter to the new landing area away from this deer hunting cleared site... and the new landing would be, say, 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile away (I am not sure how far the new landing would be)... that seems a long way to use my tractor to skid logs that far. That seems it would take a long time! I might would need a log arch. Also... if I had my druthers, I would have the logs or rounds at my house where my splitter is... I prefer NOT splitting at his land... at my place, I can split any time I wish. Every time I go into his land, I have to coordinate with him, as he has a locked gate. He can open it with his cellphone, but still I have to get ahold of him.

Without a lot of equipment, nothing is easy!

[btulloh]

Hope you get it sorted out. Like you said, nothing is easy.

You'd never convince the sons of this, but logging activity doesn't bother deer at all. Hunting pressure does though. 

[charles mann]

A dump would be good but what about a car hauler trailer? The wt. dif between a auto hauler and dump would get you a an extra log or two and might be cheaper than a dump. 

Im guess you dont know anyone with a 3/4-1 tn that you could pay them to drive their tck and if need be, rent a 20k gooseneck? 

How far are you from texarkana, tx? 

[barbender]

Your activity cutting and loading that wood will draw deer almost like a pilenof corn, in my experience. They are curious and something about logging really puts them at ease🤷‍♂️

[livemusic]

A dump would be good but what about a car hauler trailer? The wt. dif between a auto hauler and dump would get you a an extra log or two and might be cheaper than a dump.

Im guess you dont know anyone with a 3/4-1 tn that you could pay them to drive their tck and if need be, rent a 20k gooseneck?

How far are you from texarkana, tx?

That's a good point about, say, find someone with a 1-ton and rent a gooseneck dump trailer. Will have to try to think of someone. I am about one hour from Texarkana.
I spoke to a logger friend who is to get back to me on this. A problem I see is that he could use his skidsteer with grapple to load, but then we have to unload at my house. And would have no way to do it if we are using his tractor-trailer to haul. Maybe I could just hire him and his skidsteer to onto a rented large trailer. Heck, they may have a 1-ton.

[C5C Tree Farmer]

If you're up against a short term deadline here is another idea. Buck up the pole length wood into 100" lengths. Locate a trucker with a self loader and let him sort out his agreed on hauling fee in saw bolts with the balance of the wood hauled to your residence. You would be done with the situation in a day or two after the poles are cut to length.

[Southside]

I believe that wood has been on the ground far too long for any mill to buy it that way, in addition 100" wood is a thing of the past down south.  

Like the other said, your splitting activity will have zero negative impact on the deer.  I have no idea how many I could have shot from a skidder or tractor cab.  I have a video of me coming out of the woods one time and yelling at the deer to "get out of the way" as it was greasy, I was driving a 2WD row crop tractor that I had been brush hogging with and decided to take the cut through path back to save time - not the best choice,  anyway I didn't want to stop and get stuck.  

Compare that with a 6' guy trying to sneak through the woods wearing a quart of the latest "buck buster scent killer".

[thecfarm]

I use to ride the fender and my Father would drive the tractor.
We were driving along, and a deer was walking on the other side of a stone wall. We were all heading for the opening in the wall.
I told my dad, If you don't stop, you are going to run that deer over. The deer was on the side that I was. It was quite the sight to be that close to a deer, 20 feet. seem like we all were going the same speed.
I see more deer when I am driving the tractor than walking.
But I am cutting wood and they know that means food to them.

[ehp]

there was no deer in the bush I am cutting which I just started on the weekend , Wed morning I already got 20 plus deer running around now in the cut . Deer love logging and noise