Ax Men makes me want to puke

[twobears]

i,ve always wondered why the dnr,ect is so worryed about somebody working around a stream.last i know a yearly spring flood pretty much changed the whole stream bed anyhow.. pulling a few logs out of a stream bed won,t do any damage compared to a flood.
i had a job that required me to work on every stream and river in my area.it didn,t take long to see how a flood changes the waterway.
another note.over the years i,ve taken people on the logging jobs.i just went to work and did my thing.all the people i took loved seeeing how logging was done.these tv shows don,t need to play things up to draw veiwers in..just go and film the everyday workings of a logging crew and it,ll sell.
one job i did was cleanup after a very big ice storm.i worked in several town and i always had people watching me and taking pic,s and videos.all  i was doing was using a dump truck with a log loader to pick up brush and trees to big to chip.

delbert

[Fla._Deadheader]

Do-gooder environmentalists, and older women, are what causes the lack of removing sunken logs. The wildlife experts don't want to harm the fish habitat  : : :

  Ever see fish eating-spawning, UNDER the sand and silt ???

  Too much young women teachers, "Teaching" the under 15 year old students, their "OPINIONS" instead of researching the facts, just like happened to Paul-h's kids.

  We were constantly being questioned about "Stealing" the logs, by the over 50 crowd, especially women.

  DEP agent got REAL tired of all the complaints, and, finally told the people to stop calling.

  WE had permit signs displayed on both sides of the boat, and were even told, "Anyone can make up signs".  : : : :  It's *DanG hard to educate people beyond their thoughts.

[Blake22]

You think they would get that upset if you pulled a Plymouth out of the river? That's a lot better habitat than a 1/2 burried log.

Erosion from a flood really does make changes. That's why they're so peculiar 'bout what you do on the bank. Suwannee River Water Mgnt won't let you cut a *DanG thing on the bank. Dead or alive. That they know of. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

It doesn't seem to be strictly enforced around here when there is suppose to be a 100 foot set back and 30 foot no machine zone from a water course or wetland and you see the new cutover goes to the water and not even an alder left standing. The logger sometimes gets free wood when he tells the owner he can't pay for wood he can't harvest. Yeah right! They gutted 10 acres of stream side on dad's farm, beavers moved in and the size mushroomed into 25 acres.

[Blake22]

Most of what I was talking about is 1/2 acre vacant lots. Water Mgnt has bought most of the large tracts form the private land owners and that hurts the county by taking the property off our tax rolls. The only benifit is they allow some hunting on that land but not all of it.

You're right about a logger cutting all the way to the water but they need all they can get. If you don't cut it the river will take it or it'll die of old age and fall in the river. Then you need to wait 110 years to harvest it and we're right back where we started making some old woman mad.

[WDH]

We do not cut to the watercourse.  We honor the BMP's.

[chevytaHOE5674]

We do not cut to the watercourse.  We honor the BMP's.

As do we. Its the right thing to do.

[SwampDonkey]

Twenty years ago I seen the worst mess I can ever remember for operating in a wetland. The skidders utterly destroyed the area. It was heavily aldered and looked like scattered softwood had grown up into it with the stumps that were left. The ground was very mucky and a stream channel used to traverse and meander through it with feeder springs off to the sides. It was also trout bearing. Well you couldn't tell where the brook was with all the skidder ruts cris-crossed all through it. There were pools of water that got dammed up by the ruts and brook trout were trapped in the pools. You'd walk by and they would be squirming in the mud trying to hide. This was on industrial freehold timber land. Things have changed a lot since then, but there are still violations that aren't hard to find.

[Bill_G]

We can cut 50% of basil area here, but most of the time it is better to just leave alone. If you get mud running into the water it gets expensive quick.

[Ron Scott]

Ditto! to what WDH and ChevyTahoe said. We stay out of any wetland and riparian areas with Hydric soils.

[twobears]

 can somebody tell dwayne to bring his hardhat and lunch pail with him the next time he walks  off the job...he,ll catch a ride much quicker that way... ;D
ooo,the ryyquard crew needs to clean the evergreen neddles out of there machines more often too...it saves on those $$$$ engine fires.

delbert

[timber tramp]

   I finally got to watch the first 2 episodes (my MIL tapes it for me, as I don't have cable). Personally I like the show alright, but the language is pretty severe in places. I especially like the J.M.Browning crew, seem pretty professional to me, most of the time anyway. ;) Anyway, just figured I'd throw in my 2 cents.                  TT

[a old timberjack]

id say there is WAY to much drama in the woods on the west coast for me. i will stick to new england ( east coast ) . just my 2 cents, browning and mike pihl seem down to earth and professional, they did not get where they r overnite, the ryguard crew.......you could not pay me enough to work for them. around here, all that yelling,screeming and cussing you would have no help. all they would get is good slap in the kisser!!! they r trying to be camera heroes. we need melvin back and let them go belly up. they suck!!!

[SwingOak]

I wasn't going to say anything, but - maybe it's just me, or the editing, or something - but it looks like those Rygaard owners are literally trying to kill their new guy. I mean, sending a guy who had never climbed before 80 feet up a tree to set a block? Then whining about how much time it was taking on national TV? Looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

And that aqua logger guy? I think enough has been said about him already.

I'd say the History channel is doing their best to show the world that logging is dangerous mostly because of unsafe work practices and unqualified/untrained/inexperienced workers.

The heli-logging is interesting, but I suspect that if it wasn't for Browning and Pihl still being on the show, I probably wouldn't be watching.

I liked last season better.

[twobears]

your right on how there treating the greenhorn.if a new guys isn,t keeping up just unhooking chokers and your all worryed about him getting hurt why in the world would you send him down in the brush and/or send him up a tree.i hope he toughs it out and does well.
i laughed my butt off when,the ryyguard boy tryed!!! running acrossed the landing to the fire...cripes man get in some kinda shape.i was already to call 911 for ya....lol

delbert

[WH_Conley]

If that kid is as bad as they say, why is he still there?

[twobears]

because new guys are fun to torture... ;D

delbert

[chevytaHOE5674]

If that kid is as bad as they say, why is he still there?

Because the producer wants in there to induce drama.

[WDH]

To me, the new guy is doing a pretty good job.

[twobears]

i feel the same..atleast he,s trying.

delbert

[thecfarm]

I would not want to climb no tree with 5 minutes worth of training. I feel they are way to hard on the new guy.Maybe if they spent the time working instead of standing around complaining about how slow or bad the greenhorn is they would get more work done.But I suppose that makes better TV in someone eyes.  :  I noticed this year they are not spending much time on showing how things are done.Like how the yarders are set up,or doing the guy lines or showing how the sky car works.If you watched last year than you can understand how it all works.

[SwingOak]

I would not want to climb no tree with 5 minutes worth of training. I feel they are way to hard on the new guy.Maybe if they spent the time working instead of standing around complaining about how slow or bad the greenhorn is they would get more work done.But I suppose that makes better TV in someone eyes.  :  I noticed this year they are not spending much time on showing how things are done.Like how the yarders are set up,or doing the guy lines or showing how the sky car works.If you watched last year than you can understand how it all works.

You're right about that.

[stumphugger]

i feel the same..atleast he,s trying.

delbert

He is getting special treatment.  A new guy has to work down in the brush hooking chokers on the crew.  Then if he can handle that, and shows promise, he might get to "pimp" the hooktender and start learning rigging.  West Coast logging is not that dramatic.  Usually, the carriage goes down, logs are hooked, the carriage comes up, logs are unhooked...  There are breakdowns, and bad language, but not every 2 minutes (breakdowns) or who could afford to log?  Riggin' fits happen, but that too is exaggerated on the show. This season looks like there's been some extreme editing and a lot of acting/staging of scenarios.  I hope the production company compensated the crews for time lost.

Another note..tail trees are usually rigged ahead of time.  The rigging crew keeps choking logs while the hooktender rigs trees for the next setting.  There shouldn't be any waiting for a tree to be climbed, although it has happened when the crew is shorthanded.  That crew is not shorthanded if the hooktender has a pimp.   When the next setting is going, the hooktender goes back to the old tail tree and derigs it..either climbs it again or cuts it down to get the blocks and straps off.  Once again, no long wait should happen. 

Bear in mind, that last fall, when this was filmed, there was a surplus of experienced loggers looking for work.  The logging slowdown was in full force.  I doubt if anybody would have had to hire a new guy, or wanted to, what with all the unemployed loggers around.   

[twobears]

 
STUMPHUGGER:i was wondering why the ryyguard crew would hire a greenhorn like,you said there has to be a bunch of experienced loggers looking for work.
even last year i wondered why the crews didn,t seem to plan ahead.i wouldn,t want a whole crew standing around just to putup a skyline for a new move.

delbert

[a old timberjack]

i have no respect for ryguard, ( the father & son who owne it  ) i know everyone needs a job and has to put food on the table, but come on!!!, u want the kid to produce, teach him and show him resspect and he will respect u, also, going back to the 1st epsiode, you r telling me, knowing he is "green" theydid not told him he needs a hard hat, calks and gloves????? the show is staged!!!