Last nights episode Bobby was shut down by the mill saying he had delivered more then his quota,when in reality he hadn't even got half the loads in. My question is if they get paid by the ton or bd.ft. why wouldn't the mill have a exact count on truck loads or tons or bd. ft. and put two and two togather and see the truth. How in tar nation could you get paid whats coming to you or what the mill was losing by paying the wrong producer ?
I pondered that for awhile also but the answer may lie in who he is working for. Several times on the show there has been a fellow out on the site with a white hard hat that wasn't part of the crew. They showed him as being with some kind of timber management company. Basically I think the management company gets the quota from the sawmill and then is supposed to relay that to the logger. Since the management company gets paid by the mill and the logger gets paid by the management company the logger is at the bottom of the barrel. The management company either doesn't tell the logger about the quota or simply just lies about it. The logger then gets the hit from the saw mill for delivering too much wood. As you watched the show the owner of the logging company was on the site most of the time, at least when the cameras were running. From what little experience I have with loggers, this seems to be a problem. The guy running the company is also out in the woods. When things like this come up he can't react to it and clear it up before it starts costing him money. I would have thought the owner should have run right to the saw mill to find out what was going on. Instead he called the management company and delivered a rigging fit and then appeared to let the whole matter go away. I wonder how many logging companies have gone away because of these situations. I really like the show for its day in the life type of story telling. It's probably not telling the whole story about the logger's life but it is a lot more interesting than the phony competition being played out on the other coast of the country.
I think that maybe the mill cut the quota or changed their minds and then no one told bobby and he sent too much. Or corbet logs had so much of a quota and someone else who is logging for corbet hauled more then their fair share and corbet said they would take some loads away from bobby to balance it out and then no one called bobby. I have a lot of respect for him and this show, trying to keep his guys employed, dipping into his savings to keep the company going. I like this show much more then the one that takes place on the other coast.
I'm not a logger but this is most definitely one of my favorite shows, it and American Loggers. Ax Men is an abomination if you ask me.
I watched but did not pay a lot of attention - I thought they cleared it up by saying he delivered to much of a weekly quota in the first two days- They wanted loads delivered everyday and he tried to send loads in as quick as possible in case mill shut down before end of week
logging This also is one of my favorite shows and having some logging experience, I would say the show is true to form, but it is a show and the producers show what they want. I am from the area that they work in, even though I dont know Bobby personally, I know of him and his reputation and from what I have been told, he is just like the show represents him and he does stay on the job a lot. As in anyone that owns a company, the hands on method works better than depending other people. I have two other friends that own logging outfits and either they are on the job always, or their son is there to watch the job Im trying to get in the Ax Man show, but its not like this show
I agree with One welder. They were trying to get their weekly quota in as soon as possible and the mill wanted the weekly quota divided by 5 and delivered every day. Goodsons contention was he wasn't told he could only deliver so mant loads a day. Jerry
When the first show aired on Extreme Loggers it was suppose to be just that one time. They had so many request they came back. The first focus was on Bobby, Justin and the equipment. As they moved along with the show more of the drivers and crew got involved with the filming. This was also at the request of the fans. For what's real and what isn't. For the most part what you see is what you get. Sure they edit. They could probably do a bloopers of the show. As far as the attitudes of the boss. He is who he appears to be. A good Godly man who loves his family and cares a great deal for his crew. The inner workings of the mills get complicated and yes we moved as much as it showed we did. Maybe someone else can explain the mill, I don't want to misrepresent so that's all I will say about the mill. Glad your watchin and hope you'll keep on. We'll be back on with new shows in April! I'm Bo, American Flag hard hat and I love my job!
Swamp Loggers is a great show, and the guys on the show are all professionals and they care about there jobs, and just like most of us here they are being hurt my the down turn in the construction market. but its a great show and great people and equipment u fell like they are the kind of guys u could have a beer with after work.
It's cool that you took the time to post some info. Best logging show on T.V.:drinkup
Last nights show Bobby was at a few repair shops and junk yards. I am always looking at the back ground to see what kind of iron they have laying around. Nothing more fun to me to scarf around a equipment junk yard and drag something home to rebuild. I always told guys if on one side of the road was all the playboy bunnies standing behind plywood naked and the other side was a bunch of log trucks with knuckle boom loaders on them I would rather look at the trucks
I think Bobby and his boy are good men. What i like about the show (being a small buisness owner also) is that i really feel for the guys and want them to succeed. There out there in the field busting there backs right beside the crew every day with everything on the line (so it appears). I try to do the same thing and it gets really hard and its nice to watch other people going through the same thing and making it happen!
Though I am an owner-operator of a small land clearing and chipping company, if I had to work for someone I could be loyal to a guy like Bobby Goodson. Seems to me that his crew is dedicated to the man and the company no doubt because he treats them with respect and tries to keep them working even if it costs him a little more. Kudos to the whole crew. My family can't wait for Friday night's Swamp Loggers!
I am just in awe that you guys keep your equipment running with the conditions that you operate in. The cutter and the skidders do an amazing job staying on the sunny side of the mud but what really amazes me are the conditions of your haul roads and you guys, and girl, keeping those trucks moving. Around here we would be replacing clutches, u-joints and differentials more often than we would be putting fuel in the trucks. Y'all do an amazing job working your trucks through that mud and muck and keeping them looking as good as you do. It is readily apparent that you take great pride in your job and in the equipment that you work with.
That is so cool that somebody who is actually there on the show is posting on here. When are they filming the next season of the show? Swamp Loggers is a cool show, it is just amazing how many problems that they seem to have. They can never catch a break, its either rain, mill shut downs or machine problems.
yeah some of their machines look like the skidded logs out of the swamps to build the ark with, but thats how people make fortunes, with old equipment thats been paid off for a long time
Welcome to HEF HOTRODNC !
Show brings back memories, I was Southeast service rep for Clark Ranger Skidders from 78 to 92, then for Bell 3 wheelers 94 to 2004. Spent a fair amount of time in the swamps. Hard to believe the conditions unless you have been there.
Could you by chance post any pictures of your blue Kenworth? Man that thing is sweet lookin! Great show...sad to see it go off until April though!
I've just found this show it airs on tuesday in canada and it is now in direct competition with deadliest catch for being my favourite show on t.v which is saying something. would love to do that kind of work for a living especially with a boss like bobby. hope you guys are able to get through the tough times. Would be really cool if we could get bobby to post on here.
Very cool show it definetly seems alot realer than alot of other shows i know that has to be a struggle dealing with that type of terrain and the economy
Swamp Loggers Show I enjoy my job so much. I really appreciate all the fans and comments. I never thought I'd have Fans. I'm so flattered and it just don't seem real. If anyone would like to post on the fan page. Facebook has one for the show, you can comment to anyone. It's almost certain you will get a reply. Just look for groups and Swamp Loggers (The Show). They also have allot of photos and there are a few of my Blue Kenworth. I will ask Bobby to come and post! Thanks again and keep on watching. We love the support you've given. HotRod :usa :notworthy
Hey, HotRodNC. We thank you for a show that we can tell is "real" not like some of the other logging show on TV now-a-days. U can tell that u guys are not "acting" for the camera and just doing your jobs, and it would be great to get Boddy to be a member of HEF and thanks for the posts.
Hey hot rod NC when is the new season of the show starting, in April?
Answer I believe there will be 5 episodes and I think there is 5 Fridays. Should be on Friday nights again at 10pm.. will post for sure dates when I get them. Have you guys been on the facebook fan page? You should check it out if not. It has allot of photos of the whole crew and you can post comments and ask anyone questions. Just search for Swamp Loggers (The Show) Fan Page :usa :notworthy Thanks to all our fans!
Don't do facebook or tweet or any of those things. Enough of my computer time is wasted in places like this:bash
I searched for the group on facebook and noticed the boycott Swamp Loggers group. it's a private group, guess they don't want a dialog on the subject. :lmao Some people can't grasp that without reforestation, loggers would have been out of the job a long time ago. ointhead Anyway i love the show, the producers did a good job of presenting the operation without all the misleading editing and animations of stick figures dieing.
Swamp loggers is the best show of the bunch. Then i go axemen cause it's west coast and yarding, etc. then american logger last, what a sleeper. I dont get axemen in canada anymore, maybe this is why, running a power saw all day with no eye protection? Running around in the F&B setting chokers on a wet foggy day wearing camoflauge rain gear? Throwing tongs into the slash while there are guys standing where you are aiming? These guys would get shut down here in about 1 minute until they got up to speed.
Hi I can understand that! If not for facebook though our fans could not have a voice. Hope you keep watching and thanks! HotRod:usa
Glad I found this site and to know we have fans all over! Thanks for watching. I expressed to Bobby about this site and he's very busy; so I'm sure when he gets time he will try and get on here. He and Mrs. Lori do appreciate all thier fans also! HotRod
HotRodNC, I was in your neck of the woods last week. I went to White's heavy equip. in Burgaw to get parts. Yaw keep NC proud.
I agree Swamp Loggers is the best show out of the group. I watch it whenever its on! But I can't seem to stay awake for American Loggers.:beatsme
i really wish that it would get moved to an earlier time slot...i have to work early on saturdays and find myself an episode behind becuase i can only stay up and watch the repeat from the week before!!:Banghead
New Episodes Start April 30th... Keep watching and thanks so much. By the way, were trying to rev up support for the filming company. Without them we would not film. Google.. Pilgrim Films and Television! Let'em know how much you appreciate them. HotRodNC Bo
Just heard the great news via Facebook. Looking forward to it.
Swamp Loggers Thanks for posting the good news HotRodNC, Truly a good show, hardworking people, we are watching season 1 here in Canada, hope that season 2 airs too! Good luck to you, Bobby and the crew, sprntpshr.
Do you have any pictures of your equipment? You guys are running some real neat stuff down there. Keep up the great work.
Welcome there Hotrod really enjoy the show kindest regards from the emerald isle,pity but the show won't air here till the Autumn but keep up the good work.. Stock
GREAT SHOW!!!! I Love the fact you guys are just plain old good hard working folks. If you guys ever need anything in Atlanta I got your back just drop me an email. Thanks Wolf44
It was kind of funny last week, I was breaking in a new driver and as we were going down 6 miles of wet clay road he said "Wow, this is almost like on 'Swamp Loggers' " I said "well, we are going into the Pee Dee river swamp and you are probably going to haul pulpwood to IP Riegelwood which is the papermill they go to a lot." He finished the day and did good but he quit the next morning cause he said he didn't think he could take the swamps.
Hey, i just got a email saying that "Swamp Loggers" new season is going to start this Friday April 23rd @9:00pm so i know what i am doing Friday night, making some popcorn and watching "Swamp Loggers" love that show and keep up the good work.
I hear that they are filming in Georgia this season, is that true?
Yeah, I just saw the ad for the new season which starts tonite.:drinkup
Maybe I recorded the wrong one last night, but it was a repeat. What gives?
Yes, it was a repeat last night but they said the "new" season of Swamp Loggers was going to start on April 23rd now i see they are saying April 27th at 10pm for the start ???
Yeap, that's the way I read it too.:beatsme I did not see the last few any how.
saw the new one last night....great show!! they werent in GA as far as I could tell..but I dont know that for sure...pretty sure they were at that tract of land that bobby hated last season....
That was a great show for sure! A friend of mine said they were in GA but I knew they Bobby was not leaving the swamps of NC, he seems to be a tarheel for life! That tract 421 is one hell of a site, it looked like the equipment could sink into the river at any moment.
Its a great show with no "he's doing it wrong" armchairing. I really enjoy the old school work ethic and do it yourself attitude. This even got me looking into a welding course during layoff because I need alittle help in this department .
I like the Swamp Loggers show, it's better than American Loggers, I watch both shows. I could do without the commercials in the American Loggers, you know Mack gave them a deal on those two new titans...just for the advertising....
For sure it is a true to life work site,but I wonder how some of the fellows get away with a ball cap with a hard hat sitting on top of it. With everything being filmed I would pretty well make everyone abide to all saftey rules so something wouldn't come back and bite me in the butt !
I really wish that discovery would come out with all the series that you could buy. I enjoy watching the show and hope that it stays on. But I wonder if Bobby is really going to make his old fellar bucher another back up? Or if he will put someone on it? I know that if I had 2 fellar bunchers they would both be running....
If Bobby can get more tracts to cut i'm sure that he would put the second fellar buncher to use.
The thing is, in decent conditions with good operator one buncher can stay ahead of the crew. They have been keeping up with three skidders with that one. There are fellows around here that have three crews but only two cutters, and some with two crews and two cutters but only one operator who will cut for one crew one day and the other tomorrow.
Swamp Loggers is a great show. I can tell that Bobby cares for his crew and his crew cares for him. They know that if they screw something up, they will man up to it. But if they do something above and beyond, Bobby will treat them right. That's the way to run a business. Thanks for sharing with us, Bo! I hope business goes strong for you guys!
So, did anyone else watch "Swamp loggers" tonight ? Great show and i hope they keep it going next season ?? And i have a Question for anyone who may know: Do the loaders have saws on there heads ?? the skidders are draging full trees out and they are loading short logs on the trucks wonder where/how they are being cut ??
Hydraulic buck saws on the ground beside both loaders.
I watched it...I love the show it's great and I hope they keep it going. To the best of my knowledge it's basically three pieces of machinery....the stumper, which cut the trees, the skidder which drags them out to the deck and the loader which loads them on the trailers. I think the stumper is able to cut the trees to shorter logs....someone correct me if I am wrong.
That's it exactly, the buck saw lays beside the loader and is connected by hoses. It has a frame to measure the logs against (because on doubledeck sawlogs most mills only give a 3" tolerance on length) and a large chainsaw bar(the one in the pictures is 42") What you're thinking about is a CTL (cut-to-length) harvester, which cuts the trees to log length in the woods. They are common in the northeastern US but rarer than hen's teeth in the southeast. I have worked in and around the timber industry for over twenty years and have only seen one and it was a demo. The three step process you're describing is typical of a dry land logger here but swamp loggers also have shovel machines which are very similar to the track log loaders he uses on the deck. The shovels have several duties. When the cutter goes through the woods his first pass is made where they want the skidroad, and the first trees cut are layed down to make a road that the wheeled skidders can run on. The shovels help make this road and then when the cutter moves out away from it they move the trees back to the road so that the skidders can reach them cause if the skidder gets off the log road the shovel has to recover it. The clambunk skidder, (which is the big one that carries the logs above the rear axles instead of pulling them behind), can't pick up it's own logs so the shovel has to load it. The shovels are also constantly repairing and patching the skidroad as the logs move from the skidders dragging logs over them. Swamploggers will start pulling the logs from the back of the tract, (farthest from the deck) and as the operation gets closer to the deck the shovels pick up the back of the skidroad so those logs can get used. Pictures of a bucksaw, also called a groundsaw. The chainsaw bar is housed in the vertical box on one end and is driven and lowered hydraulically from the loader cab.
i love this show, they need to just keep going and not have a season ending show...
Thanks, mitch504. Now i know how they cut them to length. I have been thinking about this for awhile we see them throwing the butts of the logs into piles and i don't think they have shown the saw? Also what is Corbertts part of this, they buy the land or the trees and hire Bobby to cut/process/truck them to the mill do they own the mill? or are they a middle man between Bobby and the mill ??
I have never dealt with any of the Corbett companies (I do work for other dealers in that area)but there are two listed with the NC Div. of Forest Resources; Corbett Package Co., which is a hardwood sawmill and crate and pallet manufacturer; and Corbett Timber CO., which seems to be a typical wood dealer. I am not sure how closely related the two are. Normally the way it works around here, and it fits with what I've seen on the show, the dealers find standing wood, cruise it to determine how much wood is on the tract and how valuable it is, and then buy the wood from the landowner, either as a lump sum sale, or per ton with different prices for the different grades recovered. The price the landowner gets depends on many variables such as whether the dealer or landowner is responsible for such things as, replanting, road construction or maintenance, deck cleanup, and site prep(making the tract ready to plant again). Once the dealer gets the contract he usually has to get all the permissions from the landowners whose land they have to cross, and then will call someone like me to build or repair the road, and then get a logging contractor like Bobby to fell and delimb the wood then cut and sort it into the different grades. Right there is where the loader operators determine if the dealer makes a profit or not. The logger is usually paid a flat rate per ton shipped regardless of grade. The fastest and easiest wood to process is the pulpwood (Bobby's probably usually goes to International Paper at Riegelwood NC) because the standards are much less strict, but the dealer and the landowner probably only gross $3-7/ton each. Then there are different grades and species of logs that the dealer gets various prices from. It is not unusual for there to be 6 or 7 different products going to 4 or 5 different mills off one deck. A pallet mill like Corbetts usually just buys the cheaper hardwoods and then other mills buy the pine and higher hardwoods. It is the dealers responsibilty to negotiate the best price from all the products, and it is not unusual for it to change from day to day what mill is taking what or who has the best price. It is common for a dealer or mill to own some timberland but not near enough to supply 100% of their production. Even the giants like IP and Westvaco only took some of the wood off their land to their own mills. The rest was sold to whoever offered the best price. There was an earlier question about quotas. The quota is given to the dealer who may have 2 to 20 loggers. When quotas are tight the competition among loggers under a dealer can get fierce. Probably what happened on that show was another Corbett contractor stuffed that mill with that grade of wood to get all that quota. When quotas are tight you see bunches of loaded log trailers outside the mill gates and then at the moment the quota resets you'll see trucks dropping and hooking trailers like mad, sometimes filling a weeks quota by lunchtime. I hope I didn't tell you way more than you wanted to know. rofessor ointhead
Thanks for the correction and clarifing the the functions of the logging equipment:drinkup
Thanks, mitch504. Never to much info, i like to learn how they do things around the country.