Yeah i need a dozer to make some shooting lanes.

Okay..I will give him a ring today.

Forgot the boundaries of the long leaf, but the way some of the younger trees grow and their look reminds me of long leaf up. There could be two kinds as the look of the bark and needles do differ.

There are a lot of 20-30 y/o pines but also some 60 and 80 plus. There is one very old pine that I plan to keep and it is 150-200 years old. It's base is wider than my truck and towers taller than anything in the area. My great uncle told me that it was one of several that towered on the place back in the early 1900's. Over the years his brother (my great grand father) took most of those and sold way before my time. He said that some were so big that they could't get the 2 man hand saw they were using through a couple.

They left a couple of old pines and a lot of the old oaks and about 4 sweet gum about as wide as a truck. One or two of the gums are hollow but they are still alive and very old.

You have to keep in mind that he's 92 and this was his grandmothers land. Around the time she first settled on it much of east Texas was still virgin, so not all of the origional forest was removed and much of the old native stuff was still standing on the place well into the 1900's.

There are not many sawmills today that can handle that kind of tree. Loaders are not setup for them either.

The ones that can will give you good $ though.

Of course transport costs cut into that $.

x2. Make sure they have a plan for cleaning up after themselves too, and get it in writing.

Yeah cus they did leave my uncles place a wreck took forever to get it looking good

As a timber buyer with 15+ years experience (out of the business now) and a graduate forester: 1) James Houser is a good consultant. 2)Individual brokers/buyers/loggers are not always dishonest, but its hard to say which are and which are not. 3)Timber companies (GP, , LP, IP, Temple-Inland which is now IP, etc) are only as good as the representative you are dealing with and are no better than individual brokers/buyers/loggers. 4) County agents would rather sit in the AC than help.

5 loads is not much and at current prices it may be hard to sell. Most of the small logging crews are gone.

Also, large oak trees are good for deer - only when the acorns are dropping. Clear-cuts with brush, briars, snags, etc. that are generally so thick you couldnt poke a stick in are IDEAL whitetail deer habitat, but how the heck do you hunt them!

My overall advice: Wait until the housing market returns to sell the pine, then call James Houser for advice. PM me and I will be glad to answer any questions in greater detail.

I actually think it's easier to hunt since it's your own property instead of timber company land where you are limited to what the company foresters will authorize for a hunting setup. Instead of worrying about the place getting cleaned up real good (which will be covered in brush and saplings soon) get them to clean out several 1-2 acre plots on the place (or turkey tracks along SMZs) and clean out a road getting into those plots.