This thread needs its own spin off........ but anyway.

I bought all those good logs off of Bill, and I’ve been all over those “steep slopes”. That’s honestly the gentlest side of the mountain tract I’ve ever set foot on. I was impressed with Bill he’s one of the most knowledgeable loggers I’ve ever been around. I don’t know if he ever studied in Paris or not but from what I understand he’s a
former Green Beret. I really enjoyed working with him and I hope he gets back up this way soon but honestly there are very few tracts up this way gentle enough for him to get his equipment on. He ended up having to leave about 1/3 of that tract standing and pull out and head back south. No shame on him; he did an excellent job but some of that is gonna have to be worked with a chainsaw and a cable skidder just like most of the rest of Jackson county.

The problem for loggers up here is not so much steep...... there is steep ground everywhere. It’s the big country and the rocks and the long drags. Most aren’t prepared to have to drag logs upwards of a mile to get em to a suitable bunching ground that you can get a truck into.
I know a real good logger in Tennessee that cuts stuff way steeper than we have here with a dozer and and little 440 skidder no problem; but thats the difference in hills and mountains. Don’t matter how steep a hill is if you can drag it right to the foot and load it.
Same guy bought a good tract in PRV and struggled bad because of the rocks and the long drags. It’s just different country.