I do my cruise with my plan in mind. Figure out the intensity of the cruise and the method. My preferred method is to do a 5-10% cruise using prism plots. I also take regeneration plots of 1/100th of an acre. That's a circular plot.
I start off with making a map of the area. I have a starting point, and simply use the compass and pace method to locate my plots. I don't stick to any regimen that states a plot has to be exactly located. I also alter the map as I do the cruise. It will have any existing roads or trails, waterways, drainage, and timber type changes. I also number my plots.
At each point, I take the data as dbh, ht, species, condition, grade and figure if I want to leave the tree or take it. I do this for all count trees that fall within my prism plot. Regen is simply count by species. I will also take some growth samples of a few trees.
When I get back to the office, I will crunch the numbers for each plot. There you will find the species mix, and the timber classification. When you go to your map, you will see how well they fit together. Then I finish the map. I use a dot grid to figure out the acreage.
From there, I will take all the plots per timber class and figure out the average per acre volume, then expand it out to the full acreage of that class. I also will figure out what I would be removing. Important if you are considering any cutting. Then, bring the whole property together by adding all the timber types.
One important thing about which trees to remove. You cut the worst first. If the stand doesn't have enough for a decent timber sale, then you are looking at a non-commercial thinning or TSI. If you don't have enough regen, you are looking at a regeneration cut before you do any wholesale clearing out of trees.
That's my method, but I'm old school.
