Logger walked off the job yesterday.

[WoodChuckDad]

I was getting 25 acres logged (clear cut) so I could have a few fields, and plant about 15 acres of apples....only trying to plant 3 right now...the rest is to come. I had hired a forester to market it and he found a young guy who seemed like a go getter. Small operation with old equipment. He started out with a bang and made short work of most of the first 5 acres. There is a ton of slash there and it looks like heck, but there were some massive oaks and poplars and he was eager to get those.
From the very first day I met the logger, when I walked the property with him, I made it clear that the reason I was having anything cut at all was to get my apples in....that I needed about 5 acres cut right away. for the last 4 weeks he has been promising to clear a pine hill. The first weekend I showed up he said he was having trouble with it. The pine forest was so thick that the trees were getting hung in each other and he was having trouble with them....I noticed that he kept cutting past them and was pulling large hardwoods down. over and over I have articulated that this had to be done There was one week where his skidder was down for a rebuild of the transfer case, and multiple other equipment issues. But over all he just hasn't been doing it. I used my excavator to push down the trees on 2 acres..I stacked them and laid them out so all he had to do was cut the stumps off and drag them away. He hasn't done it....This is pulpwood and I don't think it is worth his time.
There is also an issue of him not showing up on good days... He is young and does a lot of Raccoon hunting with his friends and I think he is too tired afterwards to work. So wednesday when we clearly established that he was supposed to get the trees off the pine patch, I showed up yesterday morning and he hadn't moved them. But he had cut a new trail around the backside, heading down toward the big poplars. When he showed up at 11 I walked over to his landing area and told him what he wasn't to cut another tree on my property until the pines were off that 3 acre patch so I could get my trees in. I could tell from his face that he was mad....I asked if it would be done "today". and he said all he could do was try. He drove his skidder over to the logs, pulled two across the property and then left. He called the forester and told him that I had knocked the trees down so "jackstrawed " that he couldn't do anything with them....couldn't get them out.

At 5 I called the forester and left a message. Said I had texted the kid twice. He hadn't shown up so I see it as quitting the contract. Said if he talks to him, tell him to get his equipment off my property.

 

[davesl708]

Wow, I guess that is the way things are going with young workers.
I had a dozen walnut trees that needed to come out. I offered the wood for them cutting and removing. They showed up and after watching them cut one tree I told them I will fell and buck the trees to 6 to 8 ft. lengths for them. To dangerous watching them work. I then loaded their trailer with the BX.
They said they wanted all the wood I had. I told them to come back and would cut some more for them. That was last fall. Never heard another word from them.

 

[smstonypoint]

Re your clear cut.

Was your contract "pay as cut" or "lump sum"?

You are paying your consulting forester a commission. It seems to me that he/she should have been more involved in resolving these issues.

Steve

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Re your clear cut. Was your contract "pay as cut" or "lump sum"? You are paying your consulting forester a commission. It seems to me that he/she should have been more involved in resolving these issues. Steve

Pay as cut.

 

[davesl708]

I think the forester owes you a new feller.
I assume the feller is also getting the benefit of the wood. Must be the reason he is only interested in the good stuff.

 

[Citydude]

Got to agree with Steve, it's odd that the forester you hired hasn't been on site monitoring the progress.

 

[kevin37b]

Well he is certainly building a good reference background !

 

[Professor Marvel]

Unfortunately I think you are experiencing an all too common woodchuck situation. Also agree that your forester is not doing his job. I have had a couple properties timbered and am always fearful until it is complete. I have had pretty good luck but I emphasize LUCK because it is a crap shoot. I try to use someone that has done successfully work for a person I know but that is not even a guarantee. I notice you describe how he keeps going for the money wood but leaving the rest. Possibly you could have the next one go for the least profitable first then save the good stuff for last.
Good luck and put more pressure on the forester. I think if you are not the squeaky wheel you will not have the results you are looking for.

 

[s219]

Sounds like an amateur with his own interests -- the valuable lumber/veneer trees -- and not focused on the big picture. He may need money which is why he's going after the valuable trees first and ignoring the pines. A guy like that might take the good trees and then pull out and never deal with the pines.

 

[RickB]

Sounds like an amateur with his own interests -- the valuable lumber/veneer trees -- and not focused on the big picture. He may need money which is why he's going after the valuable trees first and ignoring the pines. A guy like that might take the good trees and then pull out and never deal with the pines.

Might??? Seems he already has. Get a lien put on his equipment tomorrow.