![]() Skidding cones are an excellent investment for landowners interested in minimum-impact harvesting. These are especially handy if you’ll be pulling a lot of logs around an obstacle, but you’ll still need to walk back to fetch the block and strap after you have pulled in the final hitch. Self-releasing snatch blocks have a mechanism that releases the block from the cable once the log reaches the block. For instance, you can use a snatch block to pull a log around a thick clump of regenerating softwoods rather than right through it. A snatch block is a block or pulley that you attach to a tree with a strap and use to change the direction of pull of your winch. In instances where there’s an object between you and the log, use a snatch block to circumvent the object or hard corner. To avoid scarring up the woods, learn winching skills. Trees between two feeder trails can be felled in whichever alignment will make them easiest to pull to a feeder. Trees close to your roads can be felled away from the direction of skidding and slightly off of perpendicular to the trail. Use your directional felling skills to minimize damage to adjacent trees while felling and fell trees away from the skid road you’ll be pulling them on to minimize problems with slash. Late summer to late winter is when the bark is tightest on the tree and most resistant to damage. Also, keep in mind that as spring sap rises in a tree, the bark becomes looser and more susceptible to damage from felling or skidding. Though it may be obvious, it can’t be overstated: solidly frozen ground handles wear very well wet, muddy ground does not. Or perhaps you want to pull firewood out to a landing with your tractor winch, but you’re worried about scarring up boles and making a mess of the woods. So you’re planning on doing a crop tree release or a sugarbush thinning this winter. ![]() ![]() Below image: Snatch blocks and bumper trees allow you to cleanly navigate tight corners. Loop-shaped trails allow you to avoid turning machinery around. Top image: Lay your skid trails out in a way that minimizes skidding distance. ![]()
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