A couple of years ago my neighbor had his place logged. I was on my way to Hilton Head when they walked what they thought was the property line. He was over 100 feet on my property and they tried to intimidate my missus. She had the Dog on a leash when they talked to her so i asked he to give the owner the phone. the short conversation I had with him went like this

Do you see the dog my white has on that leash

yes


Do you think you can outrun it

No

Better do what she says then because if the drops that leash that dog will turn your pants inside out with you in them.

Silence and the phone was handed back to my missus.

The two guys were ever so friendly after that and she had them pound in stakes along the property line where she pointed out they needed to be put with a survey map we had done in hand.
Zero arguments and his property looks a complete mess.

If they had come over to my place as they had planned I would have had their heads on spikes along that property line

They should on done a survey to find out were the line is before cutting.

Its easier to intimidate a woman I guess than doing things the right way.

But the prospect of having a 110 pound German Shepard rearranging the creases in their pants made them turn all Christian in under a minute.

I was a logging contractor for over 30 years with a degree in Forestry. The last 20 years worked as a contract Industrial Forester for 2 of the largest Timber Investment Management Organizations in the northeast. (Close to 500,000 acres under management ). I would not sell any hardwood timber at this time, markets have taken a big drop. I’d wait a few months and see if they improve during fall or winter.

With that being said, Sounds like many here have a bunch of fly by night logging contractors ? Here in northern NY most logging contractors have cleaned up their act. Most are now NY State logger Certified, and are professional. After reading some of the posts here, I think most here do not know what’s involved in managing and harvesting timber. Having your timber harvested is simple, but the onus is on the landowner. They must deal with a professional contractor with references, have a iron clad contract where you address all of your special concerns such as payment schedule and job close out etc.., get multiple offers, and best to hire a consultant Forester who works for you.

Also, there are many factors that may dictate a wide swing in stumpage prices besides tree species. Timber quality, access, land operability, distance to black top and markets, etc..

Leave the tops for regen. Skidding out tops does a lot of damage to the residual stand of trees remaining after the harvest. The tops also protect the regen from deer browsing.

Cut and log it yourself will be much happier.

Yeah I think so 200 for maples no I'll open the sky up.

Logging looks like (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) but done right the results are great for timber and wildlife. Stumps should be cut low 12” or less or less than the diameter for smaller trees to promote stump sprouts. Deer love stump sprouts because they are pack with nutrients coming from the old root system. Leaving the tops is beneficial because it protects some of the regen from browsing. Deer are lazy and won’t work to get to all of it. If you want slash cut down that is something you can get in the contract just like the other things I mentioned. The only thing a logger should clean up unless specified in the contract are the skid trails and roads. Even then you should have a contract that specifically states how you want the roads to be when they are done. Whether you want water bars put in, the roads seeded in, or you want them smoothed up for riding atvs.

Pole size maples 6”-10” dbh should respond good to a thinning. Deer like maple browse and with maple being shade tolerant they shouldn’t have much problem regenerating under the shade of the bigger trees.

That size maple will be hard to sell unless you have a strong pulp market or a really good fire wood market. Even if you decide to cut them yourself which may be a good option, I strongly encourage you to talk to a forester of some kind. Whether it be a consultant or a DNR forester.

Buddy of mine got hosed on a logging deal.

Make sure there's a hard start/finish date in the contract, And change the locks on the completion date.
Is he gonna sell tops for firewood or worse let his friends, etc. help themselves? You can sell it yourself, or hire somebody to put it up.
What about clean up? They can leave a swell of a lot of oil cans laying around and all those firewood cutters will load up the truck with trash and dump it on your land.
Roads? Landings? Where and what condition will they be left in, Seeding after?

What species of maples ? Big difference in stumpage rates between hard and soft maple . I agree cutting it yourself, if experienced, you will be happier, if you can do it and stay out of the emergency room or worse , the morgue. LoL

I was wrong the maples trees I have in the back are not 10". I have a 20" bar on my chainsaw if you start the cut in the front it can't make it to the back! So more like 15 25".

Has the walnut market tanked also?

Cut it yourself maybe if you want it done right.

I have been a logger in central Wi for 47 years. If I understand right you have 10 acres to be thinned. That is a fairly small job. Which is something to be considered. I also assume you are in northern Wi if you are around Hwy 64. If so I'm assuming it is northern hardwood. Most likely hard maple, Ash, Basswood. Prices very according to species and product. Logs, Bolts, Pulpwood. Logs are usually bought by the MBF (thousand board feet) or sometimes by the cord. Bolts are usually by the cord. Pulpwood by the ton or cord. I don't believe the Wi DNR sets up anymore private timber sales. They would most likely refer you to consulting forester.

Im haveing mine logged in a couple weeks. Talked to a forester, he looked at the property and gave me names and #s of loggers. Its only 10.6 acres. Out of the 3 that I called 1 showed up to look at it. Gave me a quote, will pay me in advance. Leave the stumps and tops there. But he did give me the option of him removing the tops or cutting them in some pieces so they layed on the ground and would rot up a little quicker. He is only select cutting mostly white oak,some red oak, poplar and pine, he marked every tree that he is taking down so I can see whats going on. I didnt want it clearcut and he doesnt do that anyway because he said too many people complain about the way it looks when finished. Hope that info helps you out a little.

I think this is sound advice- what's left in the woods is more important to me than what's in my wallet. I also traded infrastructure for timber last fall, put in a main logging road with fords and culverts and created more patch openings for plots so I won't have a good cord comparison, I structured the contract so net-net we weren't trading checks back and forth,
Here's what I can tell you for this year, timber value is way down and the summer contracts that were recently issued to loggers are lean, that could be a leading indicator that winter mill contracts will be lean to nonexistent. I'm sure the swings form region to region are more dramatic but since you're in Wisconsin- I can't imagine the experience will be much different. I have more earth work to do but I'm not sure the current contract price will cover my cost if I trade timber for it this year.
I thought that with all the wildfires in Canada - timber prices would be higher- just not the case, It seems like logging is going the same route as farming and consolidation is occurring where contracts are being shared or managed by fewer, bigger players. If your sitting on $1million of captial equipment that you can't keep operable.... the bills keep coming in when the trees stop coming down.

Stump diameter means nothing, volume estimates are made at diameter at breast height,(DBH), approximately 4.5’ from ground.

How about a picture of a few with something for scale?

Here the front I'll get a pic of the big ones .