Hey guys?
  Any loggers here? I was thinking it might be something fun to do while I am young. I don't mind hard work, as long as the pay is decent. How does one become said person? Any tips? Just looking for some genereal info. Thanks!

-Jared

Fuck, why don't you club seals while you're at it.  ECO-TERRORIST!!

Well I am not a logger,  but I am a forester.  Logging is hard, hard work and dangerous.  Depending on what part of the country you are in depends a lot.  I am familair with logging practices in the Appalachian mountains and in the southern coastal plain.  If you don't have much experience now you would most likely be hired as a "choker boy" I know lots of people who have lost fingers and hands doing this.  Most of the machinery is complex to use also but if you are interested contact a state forester for any logging companies.  It is fun to watch and cut down trees though.  If you don't want to do that....go to college and become a forester!! If you want to check out my company co to http://www.ridgerunnerforestry.com

Hey Raven,

Maybe before you shoot off your mouth, you should take a look at how much energy it takes to produce steel or aluminum structural materials compared to producing wood construction items.  It ain't even close.  

And some of us don't live in a state that has oil revenue:)

Yes, the forest products industry has done some shitty stuff in the past, but this is like saying that all rec shooters are another Stockton Massacre waiting to happen.

I really appreciate your prejudice, but I believe if you hung out with forestry workers, you'd find flesh and blood humans with good and bad qualities just like the rest of us.  

Joker,

As far as logging, Michael Vick has it 100%.  It is a hard job.  It can be enjoyable, and it can suck shit.  As far as upward mobility, forget it, it is kind of a dead end, like ranching and farming (sorry you ag boys and girls). All of us in the natural resources are obsolescent and living with one foot in the past.  

If you are looking for thrills for a couple of years, though, it could be an enriching experience.  I guess the thing to do is try it out.  Don't forget to GET A COLLEGE EDUCATION.  

I'll let you know how my first day as a choker setter goes.  

Raven, I'll buy you a beer or soda pop the next time we meet.  I'll even bring a Lucite chair for you to sit on.  Wouldn't want to offend you with wood products  :)



 

Jared, I used to log. Things have really changed in the last 10 or 15 years. First and foremost anyone with a stamp can file a law suit to halt a timber sale (logging contract). Second, "piss fir willy" - government types on the ground watch you butt more carefully and the complextion of a crew has been cut in half.

There are three types of 'shows' - Helo, yarder and cat. Yarder (used in steep ground only) shows mean that you are harvesting the logs by using a large crain essentially. A heavy wire is strung from the yarder to a tail stump either up hill or down hill from the yarder and then the trolly rides on this guide wire and the haul back line. The trolly has a bull line and that is what is drug over and connects to the choker. A chocker is the wire that goes around the log. These are still man power intensive - 5 to 6 guys.

A Cat show is where real change has come about - these were 5 -6 man crews (or more). Now these are 3-4 men. They have machines that drive up to the tree (still growing) grab it, cut it down, spin it - cut all the limbs off, and then buck it to the length that the mill wants. Then a skidder - big rubber tired tractor with articulating steering and hydrolic grapple hooks, comes by and grabs them and pulls them into a landing area. A loader then puts them on a truck. Not much work here if you don't know what you are doing.

If you really what a job, contact an outfit. Maybe you can get on as a choker setter or a chaser for a yarder crew or a helocopter crew. There are a WHOLE lot tricks to make the logs roll the way that you want to and do what you want when you hook them up.They will teach you. Becareful - it really is as dangerous as you have heard.

People I know have done it. It's hard work and dangerous. You're usually setting chokers, which means clambering around on downed trees on a slope while dragging around a cable. The cable can snap, the logs can roll on you, you can fall, and in short death and dismemberment is always a factor.

The workman's comp rates for logging are astronomical.

Hey Raven, this IS my new job. That and cracking skulls of EARTH FIRST! types. I still owe them for a few spiked units that I worked in the late '80s. Nothing like going to work with "Loggers will die" in red paint as you drive into the unit.

Oh, I'm just joking.  I think half the appeal of being anti-anything is that you get to say really strident stuff like that.

Logging is some really tough work, and it seems like the industry is always on hard times or on the decline from what I read in the papers about.

If you're into working outdoors, being a surveyor is something you might want to look into.  All you need to get into it is some entry-level civil engineering courses.

Forget the whole logging bit.  If you want excitement and good pay become a hard rock miner.

I'm a logger.

I don't know what you guys are talking about it being hard work. I just eat some Taco Bell and pizza and the next day I drop logs like you wouldn't believe!

Although I do believe they are bad for the planet.

I've always wondered how many of the people upset about the logging industry own land, and then how many of them have ever done something as simple as planting a tree on thier property? And I mean a real tree, not some dwarf, decorative tree. I'm betting almost zero!

Ex-logger...mostly cutting pulp in northern Wi. but some hardwoods experience
Its dangerous work..most dangerous job on the planet.. Suggest if you didnt grow up at least safely using a chain saw.. get some tech school classes on safe tree felling
get some experience running and maintaining heavy equipment. this time of year in norhtern wisconsin and the UP of Mi. there of lots of small operations looking for cutters..hope you have health insurance

Having worked on a cat crew in the great Northwest while young and stupid:

1) If you think it would be fun you probably think pounding your testicles with a hammer is fun too.

2) The pay is barely decent for 6 months out of the year which is typically how long the season is in big timber. If you count in your unpaid travel time to get to the site you are probably making minimum wage.

3) One becomes said person by being too dumb to do anything else.

4) You want a tip? Find something else to do that has a future!