I wish there was a track of land never cut I could see. We do need to protect some of the Oak forest to see what they will look like un-cut in 150 years and maybe some areas of the Longleaf pines. You can't really put a price on preserving nature or our water.

They won’t look much different. Trees die - all the time. The biggest difference would actually be invasive species not being present.

The swamp land of the Upper Delta is mighty fine on the eye.

There’s spots on my lease in Fayette county that hasn’t seen a logger in over a 100 years. There’s a couple beech trees that are almost 5’ in diameter. Never put a tape on them. Might do so this spring

The Mobile/Tensaw river delta....

Daybreak in old growth hardwoods on the AL river is hard to beat.

I prefer standing on the bluff looking down into the valleys, but I'm extremely partial to one side in that conversation

I don't know how long ago or if ever, but a chunk of a couple hundred acres under our South bluff hasn't been logged that I know of. If it was, it had to of been well over 100+ years. There's oak trees in there that look like they are 150ft tall and big enough around that 3 men may couldn't reach around them. It's wild walking through that, every thing is huge, Huge tree's, huge limestome, huge bluff walls. I always feel like I'm back in time when I go through it for some reason.

Even though you hear the term "virgin timber" often , there's not alot of true virgin hardwood forest acres left. However, there's still some that the last cutting was right after WWII well before mechanized equipment. Back in the days of skidding with mules and on site sawmills they didn't cut the really big timber , they couldn't handle it. Nowdays if it grows, crazy hillbillies on skidders will get it. If they can't a helicopter can if it's good enough.

If it's really old and really big , when you're finished cutting what needs cutting , it'll look like a clear cut. It may not be pretty but those big settlement checks will be.

I’d like to know for the heck of it when or if it has been logged, but wouldn’t know if there are even ways to figure that out. My wife’s grandfather doesn’t remember of it being logged in his memory. He’s late 80’s but honestly probably wouldn’t of paid attention to it until he was back living in this area several years post Vietnam. So WW2 era is possible.

It would have to look wildly different. Most trees in there are too big to get a summit on. A man could walk around aimlessly trying to find a tree to climb. Once he found one he could go strait up as far up as he wanted, though.

If the whole tract hasn't been cut in decades your best timber should be off the east end of the point. North and East face above about 1'000 feet elevation is normally where the best timber is found. Best I remember y'all don't have any on the North face of the point.

If the whole tract hasn't been cut in decades your best timber should be off the east end of the point. North and East face above about 1'000 feet elevation is normally where the best timber is found. Best I remember y'all don't have any on the North face of the point.
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North of the bluff we don't anymore. Great Grandpa Estill sold all of that for something around the tune of a whopping $17/ acre way back when. We have a decent chunk of about 125-150acres due east of the point that runs north. It's good looking woods. I was talking to one of the Deans that live right by the property recently. He said they had logged everything on top for Estill years ago (seems like he mentioned 40-50 years ago) and said you could stand at the start of the property and see clear across the top. He mentioned the top may be getting ready again. How often do most folks log a property? or is there even a rule of thumb for how soon a property could be cut after a cutting. I'd guess someone may get 1 good cutting in their lifetime?

North of the bluff we don't anymore. Great Grandpa Estill sold all of that for something around the tune of a whopping $17/ acre way back when. We have a decent chunk of about 125-150acres due east of the point that runs north. It's good looking woods. I was talking to one of the Deans that live right by the property recently. He said they had logged everything on top for Estill years ago (seems like he mentioned 40-50 years ago) and said you could stand at the start of the property and see clear across the top. He mentioned the top may be getting ready again. How often do most folks log a property? or is there even a rule of thumb for how soon a property could be cut after a cutting. I'd guess someone may get 1 good cutting in their lifetime?
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Depends on were it is , North face, if not cut hard could be as often as every 20 years , South and top could be once every 60. All about soil and moisture. These river bottoms up here can be 15-20 years if managed right. Part of our North facing land was cut in '87, it was cut again in 06 . The way it's growing I may see another cutting. Some of the other that was cut in '87 but wasn't cut in '06 is ready now and heavy to White Oak $$$$$ !
My father and Estill were big buddies. I've heard several stories on the sale of the North side , all of which had Estill basically giving it away. That North face is some fine hardwood growing land as there is anywhere around here.

Several years ago I did some work on LeeRoy Jordan’s family property near Eutaw. They own around 7,000 acres. There is a section of it that is virgin hardwoods. They were setting up some tree stands in a huge hardwood bottom that had the largest white oaks I have ever seen. Some of those oaks were close to 3.5-4 feet at the base. They said it had not been hunted in over 20 years. It was honestly some of the nicest land Ive ever seen. I didn't go back but can only imagine the deer they killed in that bottom. They would only let family members hunt in there and it was bow kill only. I still think about that property when I hunt my leased pine tree farm.

It’s amazing where those old timers could log at with mules.