Back in '78 (or was it '79) I had my sugarbush land logged, long before I ever thought of getting into sugaring. Unfortunately I was to young and inexperienced to know anything (during the planning stage) but what money I was going to get out of it and found out too late that a written contract should have been in place. It was done on a handshake. After the logging was done I decided I'd do all my own from then on. The logger skidder driver drove over anything in his way, even if an easy alternative was near by, and he left ruts up to 30" deep. While I liked the check at the end I had learned a valuable lesson.
While I do all my own now with either a 36 HP tractor and a 3 ph log arch along with an excavator, there is a better way to get a logger to do a cut. First get a forester up front to mark the trees, generate the contract and supervise the contract, boots in the woods. He will address the issues I had problems with in my case. Even then you will get some damage, but the forester will plan the log roads and likely the skid trails.
Since I started doing all of my own, I have never damaged a crop tree, but have skinned some trash trees. I skid with the tractor and log arch when conditions allow and drag with the excavator the rest of the time. (I also have not used a wedge to drop a tree since getting the excavator, I just raise the bucket up high and put pressure on the tree as soon as I've cut the notch, it has never failed to fall the way I intended it to go with that method. I find an excavator to be an excellent skidder. I just hook the log chain to a hook on the back of the bucket. With that I can steer the log anywhere I want by just swinging the bucket (and/or cab) left or right as needed. The tracks on the excavator don't tear up the woods like the tires on a tractor do either, when on fragile ground, and as the rolling ground keeps going up and down I can always hold the log as high as I want. In most cases I just limb the whole tree and pull tree length if the needed path allows.
While few have an excavator, a tractor works fine too, just be super careful and don't pull the load from too high. When I pull with the tractor, if the load is heavy, I use an extra chain. When I lift the log with the log arch I place a nearby log limb under the lifted log and set it back down. I then hook a second chain under the log to the lift chain and short couple it to the low drawbar on the tractor. My tractor is a hydro drive and the final step I take is to just push on the edge of the hydro pedal to go, if anything catches my foot is ready to slip off the pedal and the tractor stops instantly. Then I lit the log again and tow. Now the log is up but the pull is from down low. The other alternative is to just drive rather slow. It only takes a fraction of a second to flip a tractor if the towed log gets caught on a rock, stump or something else. The instant it stops the tractor flips up and over on top of the operator.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.