Were you when you first went to the woods? Who took you? What were they doing?
I grew up in a logging family, my first trips to the woods were on week-end or off time fire wood gathering. I'm pretty sure my older brother and\or dad took me. No idea what age this started, but I'd imagine around the same time I was potty trained. :) TT
I didn't go to the woods but I was stacking tropical hw shorts every w/e when I was 8 was grading them at 12 and was sawing tropical h/w when I turned 15 I did everything the old man didn't want to
Chico
I have been in the woods since I was able to walk behind Dad, and I started cutting trees with my own chainsaw at 12.
I'm don't make my living in the woods, I mostly just cut firewood and take down trees for friends and neighbors. I remember as a child being in Maine and going out into the woods with my grandfather and uncles to cut firewood for the winter. I would mostly just sit on the tailgate of one of the trucks and hand the water jug to whoever just ran out of gas and had to walk over to fill up. When I got a little older, my grandfather taught me how to sharpen chains, and refil fluids. I had a big job then, I would hand the person who came back the jug of water, and the spare saw that I had already sharpened the chain, and refilled with fluids, then get to work on the one that just came in. Some real fond memories!
I was about 8 years old when I started following my grandpaw into the woods behind his mules. Started dropping trees myself at about 10. Now at 24 I run my own select cut crew and sawmill.
I started going to the woods and mill with grandpa as soon as I could walk. I learned various jobs until age twelve when I started felling smaller timber on my own. Now I cut timber and run a circle mill.
got my first axe at age 5, would limb pulp logs for my dad. somewhere around age 8 was using our tractor to skid pulp for dad at piece rate. went to school, dropped out of college build houses for many years, now back in the woods cutting beetle kill spruce and pine.
Didn't do much in the woods until age 20 when I went to the NYS Ranger School in 1958.
Since then I have hardly gotten out of the woods.
Had a very rewarding career as a consultant forester.
Am now retired but keep busy with my wood-lot holdings, hunting and my WM lt40hdd51.
A friend asked me a couple of years ago if I did anything that didn't have to do with wood.
Not much!
I remember going to cut wood when I was too little to help. They tell me I went when I was too little to walk around and get in trouble, but I don't remember that far back. I used to go to the mill with dad and go on loader rides in the 966 at night when I was under 10. He ran the kilns and had to make schedule changes at odd hours sometimes, and he would take me if it was slow. Then we would take a couple laps around the log yard if the loader wasn't busy. I started doing work and running a saw soon after. Also we were always fishing and hunting, and we lived with national forest on 2 sides, so I roamed around a lot out there.
I was in an bassinet while my parents run the buzz saw.We did firewood for my Grandmother and us.I have no idea when I started helping.
Pretty much always, as far as I remember. Weyco family and all, don't you know. Except for a few years in the Navy, I've worked my entire adult life in forestry.
I was always in the woods, pretty much as soon as I could walk I think. I helped stack firewood as soon as I could lift it, and around 10 or 12 I starting running a chainsaw.