Montana logging

Did some documenting for a western logger while on a hunting trip to Montana. Thought my eastern friends might find it interesting. Nothing like our eastern logging toys here. Cool machines. My kid bro on the skidder.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• western
• rocky
• mountains
• logging
• tree
• trees
• mountain
• skidder
• processor
• hillside

[pbunyon2002]

Oh yeah, my other job is fireline faller for the Kalispell dispatch whenever fires get going up there. So I get to be on the job out there too.

[ramdslpwr]

@pbunyon2002 Congrats to you. Are you under USFS or a private contractor? I am working on my B Fallers cert and hope to take my B fallers final field class in a few weeks. I'm Asst Chief on a small rural department and we face a lot of Urban interface threats with wildland fires. I enjoy felling a lot and cut a good bit of standing dead timber for firewood that I sell on the side. Last year my brother and I cut, split and delivered well over 20 full cords of dead standing Larch.

[pbunyon2002]

Nothing like eastern logging?? Hey man, there are many crews that do it just like that right here. Several outfits use exactly those machines here in Tennessee and Alabama. That Timbco buncher was designed and purpose built in the east for "eastern" logging operations. That Cat skidder was built in the east. The timber I cut would absolutely destroy those processors you see in this vid anyways. They are cutting very soft and easy to process timber as do some operations here.

[ramdslpwr]

@pbunyon2002 I admit my exposure to logging was limited at the time I took this video. My reference to "Eastern Logging" was pointed at upstate NY where I lived at the time. There 95% of the logging we saw was oak, maple, hickory etc hardwoods and were all felled and length cut by hand and cable skidded out with small machines. Almost all logging operations are selective cutting and very low impact approach to the countryside. I know landowners that only allowed skidding by dozer.

[goatmen]

Since when has logging ever been safe? My point is just because you have a guy in a machine doesn't always mean he's a logger. Most, may not even know how to hook a log, physically cut down a tree or do anything that has been past down through generations of woodsmen. Men, blood , sweat and tears founded our timber industry.

[realfacts]

Goatmen, I have to disagree. We have very little waste utilizing a variety of processors. We hand process anything that our mechanized processors can't handle, which is maybe 3 to 5 percent of our cut volume. Everything now is about optimization as margins are so tight. If we leave any merchantable timber behind, we pay a huge waste assesment penalty. Anyway, I do respect your opinion although I disagree you.

[skifreak243]

nope different guys.......same machines tho haha

[ramdslpwr]

@skifreak243 Northwest Lincoln County. Up close to the Yaak..

[skifreak243]

@ramdslpwr where was this video taken? I think i know the crew

[oregonkid911]

We logged up in kalispell a while back, we were loggers in Laurel but moved to oregon

[pbunyon2002]

@ramdslpwr Also check out the vid "Southern Logging Huge Poplar". I dunno if you got that vid response but I cut that tree and a bunch more like it just Friday, June 10, 2011.

[pbunyon2002]

@ramdslpwr The job up in Kalispell is for a contractor. When forest fire goes through some larger timber they have to hire in professionals to cut "hazzard" trees which are still burning much of the time. We mainly work on "mop up" crews. The contracts run in three year intervals and this is the first for this cycle. I am in TN but will take a plane or even drive up with enough time. Main requirement to get this job is you prove 3000 hours falling trees. I have about 20,000.