Hauling Firewood With My ATV

[DMan]

I love to get out in the woods and cut firewood. But until I got myself a 4 wheel drive ATV it was a hassle to try to bring the wood in to the woodshed. We used to use a tractor but it was hard to pull the big wagon through some of our trails. Now I have small cart to pull along and it works out perfectly.

 

[dinosaur]

I use a tractor but no wagon. Once you cut the tree down, you just trim it, back the tractor up to the base of the log, use a cant hook or a jack to raise the end enough to wrap a chain around it, hook the chain to the bar, raise the hydraulics so the end of the log is about a foot off the ground, and drag it out of the woods. When you get to the woodshed you cut it up and split it.

 

[DMan]

I forgot to mention that I like to pile the wood up and let it weather for a year or so before I bring it in. Our woodshed is too small to store much wood, so the green stuff stays out. Otherwise your idea would work for me.

 

[campclose]

We use both a tractor and a 4-wheeler. You are right some of the trails are smaller and the tractor is too big to get through. I like using the tractor better though - it hauls a larger wagon. We cut wood as a family, it's a lot of fun.

We also leave the wood for at least a year. When you don't it's too green and can cause gross stuff in your chimney.

 

[ppine]

I like to use a pick-up and a utility trailer. Skidding with a tractor would work well too. An ATV is too limiting in that it can handle such a small amount of wood.

I used to run a small logging operation with small CAT tractor and one logging truck. We had 3 guys falling and the one skidder which worked fine on slopes of less than about 30 percent.

 

[Bojib]

What kind of cart do you use with your ATV? Is it one your purchased somewhere?

I'd like to get a good one to use in maintaining some ATV trails, that would do good off road.

 

[jumpup]

We have a small trailer we can attach to our ATV. It's perfect for hauling "women's wood" from the woods up to the house. It doesn't hold enough to effectively haul enough wood for our heating needs, but it's perfect for the times my eight year old son wants to help out.

 

[campclose]

We have both as well. We use the tractors more in the woods. Cut the tree down, cut off the limbs, hook onto the log and drag it out. We then split the wood right in the woods. Toss the split wood into the truck and head home. When we cut at home we use the 4-wheeler and the winch.

 

[Cappy]

Down here in the deep South ya don't need much wood for heat, but I like to have a half a cord or so around for camp fires and out door cooking. As yall know we spend lots of time in our yard.:tinysmile_fatgrin_t Since I have a small wood pile I dry wood where it stands. I select trees, and ring them cutting through the bark and cambiam layer bout half inch deep and inch wide ring. The tree dries standing and next year I go cut it. This solves the room for drying green wood problem.

 

[CozInCowtown]

For such chores I have a "Carry-All" on my tractors 3-point.
Just a 3x6 pallet for carrying whatever is needed for odd jobs.
Similar to this....

DC

 

[carmen]

My husband would love something like that. We are thinking about relocating and he wants more land to do things like this. I told him as long as I get a wood burning stove he can have as much land as he can keep up with.

 

[IHeartDirt]

I grew up with ATVs - they were called ATCs at the time. We started with two Honda 110's and then got a 250. We used those in the swamps and pinelands of Florida. When we built our house in Lake Placid we used the motorcycles to drag in coral rocks that we would find on some of our excursions. My dad had a small trailer that we hitched to the 250. We also used the rig to get dirt and aggregate for a beach we built between our back yard and the canal.