Stone Branch, build it, they will come.

[George]

I really enjoy watching this project George. Is there any market at all out there for firewood? Or is Hickory even a good firewood? There's not much here, so I have no experience.

I go hard at my property after deer season. I've got a 40 surrounded by un-hunted land, so it hunts big. I subtract the outer 100 yards on three sides of my property from improvement (with some wiggle there), so that only leaves me around 12-15 acres to do intense chainsaw work. I typically take nearly everything down, with the exception of oaks, paper birch, yellow birch, basswood, conifers, and good shrubs.

I've got pockets of native swamp grass that respond amazing well to sunlight, and after the brush comes up, that grass stands 5-6' tall through hunting season. There are not deer trails in there, but deer tunnels. I've talked with a forester, and they told me I have nothing of value, and too small of acreage for them to even come with machines for the firewood. So I have free reign to manage for deer and good deeds alone.

Most of what I cut down is aspen, poplar, tag alder, diamond willow, and black ash. I've been trying to use all of my black ash for my own firewood needs, which isn't much. Then I make as much as I can for my neighbor to use for his home heat. He uses firewood as a primary, and he really likes the ash, especially when I do all the cutting and he's just got to pull up to a pile and take it away.

Thanks Mark. That is nice of you to help your neighbor out, I have done that too in the past. Firewood market around here brings $75/pickup load, which works out to around $5/hour of labor if you're lucky.

Ash is pretty good firewood, here, I have burned through the white ash that was still available after beetle die off.

Hickory firewood is about as good as it gets. I will get after the stuff that is laying on the ground and leave the hinge cut wood in storage for a year or two.

I am a firewood snob, I like oak, hickory, walnut, black locust for my hardwoods in about a 50/50 mix with red maple. All of the wood that doesn't get burned is good where it is at for the environment. I burn about 3 cords as my only source of heat.

I planted aspen in Michigan, they are fun trees to grow up as thickets then clear cut for regeneration. You need twice as much aspen for the same BTU's but it works. I was heating my house with spruce and pine when I lived in Colorado, about 7 cords/year.

I enjoyed my time spent in marshy thickets of southern Michigan, dogwood- gray and red, and tamaracks. Reed canary was the conquering grass.

G

 

[dtabor]

Thanks Mark. That is nice of you to help your neighbor out, I have done that too in the past. Firewood market around here brings $75/pickup load, which works out to around $5/hour of labor if you're lucky.

Ash is pretty good firewood, here, I have burned through the white ash that was still available after beetle die off.

Hickory firewood is about as good as it gets. I will get after the stuff that is laying on the ground and leave the hinge cut wood in storage for a year or two.

I am a firewood snob, I like oak, hickory, walnut, black locust for my hardwoods in about a 50/50 mix with red maple. All of the wood that doesn't get burned is good where it is at for the environment. I burn about 3 cords as my only source of heat.

I planted aspen in Michigan, they are fun trees to grow up as thickets then clear cut for regeneration. You need twice as much aspen for the same BTU's but it works. I was heating my house with spruce and pine when I lived in Colorado, about 7 cords/year.

I enjoyed my time spent in marshy thickets of southern Michigan, dogwood- gray and red, and tamaracks. Reed canary was the conquering grass.

G

Its always a tug of war with me between habitat, leaving the wood there or hinging or firewood for the larger stuff. We heat with wood all winter so cutting down big trees and leaving them there, and then turning around and paying to have a load of logs delivered for firewood seems blasphemous. I will burn stuff down to baseball/softball size so thats always a conflict with hinge cutting as well. I have a big habitat project to start this winter and the big trees I plan to leave tops but I believe the wood will have to come out with me for future heat.

 

[George]

Its always a tug of war with me between habitat, leaving the wood there or hinging or firewood for the larger stuff. We heat with wood all winter so cutting down big trees and leaving them there, and then turning around and paying to have a load of logs delivered for firewood seems blasphemous. I will burn stuff down to baseball/softball size so thats always a conflict with hinge cutting as well. I have a big habitat project to start this winter and the big trees I plan to leave tops but I believe the wood will have to come out with me for future heat.

These slopes make a lot of what I cut impossible to get at.

I found a couple of deer back in my big buck bedding ditch.







The area where I am working over hickories.





G

 

[Mennoniteman]

My guess, 90 and 50, tally trees per acre

My paperwork looks like 35 and 55 trees per acre.
When I'm out in my TSI areas visually looking around the areas seem more open, having less trees than what your pictures appear to look like. But that's based on comparing pictures mentally, not actual measurement and count. I will take some current pics the next time I'm out there and see how they compare to yours.

 

[Mennoniteman]

These slopes make a lot of what I cut impossible to get at.

I found a couple of deer back in my big buck bedding ditch.

View attachment 29093

View attachment 29094

View attachment 29097

The area where I am working over hickories.

View attachment 29095

View attachment 29096

G

Nice. Are you flying a drone across there every day?

 

[George]

My paperwork looks like 35 and 55 trees per acre.
When I'm out in my TSI areas visually looking around the areas seem more open, having less trees than what your pictures appear to look like. But that's based on comparing pictures mentally, not actual measurement and count. I will take some current pics the next time I'm out there and see how they compare to yours.

Wow, I like it.

Nice. Are you flying a drone across there every day?

Every day when cabin fever has set in weather permitting. A pretty good picture of my back country.



Deer were all mid slope on the sunny side of the cabin ditch.









Above camp in the barn ditch. I'm repeating myself, the hills have eyes.



G