We met the owner as arranged.  We talked about how long he had owned the land, how long we’ve been hunting up north, etc. And we talked about price.  About the same price as the price we had been discussing for the last piece of property we were serious about.  Last time, timber harvest could offset some of that price. Then, he told us that he had a logger joining us because the land could certainly be logged and he had considered that in setting the price of the land.  As my husband and I mentally ticked through the concerns we had previously, we were encouraged by what we saw on this piece of land:

• This was on a county gravel road, solid and wide. 
• There was already an approach into the land, wide enough and stable enough to allow semi-trucks and other large equipment to turn into the land. 
• There was a widening of high ground just off of the road, perfect if a truck needed to turn around.
• The land had appeared (on the satellite view we had checked) to be mostly high ground, areas could be logged and there would still be plenty of high ground to use for hunting.
• The logger was willing to do a walk through with us and listen to what we wanted. 

The owner mentioned that the land had been logged about 40 years ago, but it did appear mature enough to log it now.  When the logger got there, we chatted about our interest in the land.  Logging was a way to not only offset some of the price; it would open up an area or areas where we could put in food plots.  During a walk through the woods, we discussed what trees could be harvested, the softer wood trees – much of it popple.

I had never been sure I knew what popple was.  BH had always talked about popple trees.  Somewhere along the line I had thought it was poplar being discussed, but then I wasn’t sure.  After talking with the logger, I had to look it up.  Turns out my confusion was the result of calling the same tree different names.  Popple and poplar are basically the same tree.  It’s also called quaking aspen or trembling aspen and many other names across the country.  This tree with the different names is more dominant in the northern parts of the country and into Canada. 

Popple grows fast, this was why popple trees are frequently logged in the area we hunt. It is also said to have a shorter life expectancy than many other trees, still average ages of 50 – 80 + years is more the norm in our part of the country.  Wetter ground or low ground will shorten the life of the tree.  Considering the property we were looking at had been logged 40 years ago, we were looking at some pretty mature trees, there wasn’t a lot of tree fall that we could see.  When walking through a stand of very mature popple, there are usually several trees that have fallen to the ground and you end up winding back and forth between the large root balls with dirt that come up when the tree falls down.  The smooth pale color (like a dirty white or light grey) of the bark with dark/black lines in it does make it look close to a birch tree.  However,  a birch tree bark will peel away, popple does not peel.

The logger was interested in the softer wood trees, which was good because that was a majority of the trees in the woods we were looking at.  He had a contract to provide wood to a local paper mill.  His company would harvest the wood, chip it on-site and transport it to the paper mill.  This sounded good.  One of the things we often saw after a piece of woods was logged was the piles of branches that got left behind.  Some of that is good to provide year round shelter to smaller animals and birds.  Piles and piles of branches was not something we wanted.  If the wood was chipped, much more of the branches would be harvested and we would have less to deal with later.

There are some hardwoods in small groups. There are some clusters of birch trees.  No oak trees.   I would have liked to see some oak trees.  I love the look of oak trees and we don’t have any at our home.  Oak trees are good for acorns too, deer and bear would like the acorns.  Will have to do some research on what we can plant that may produce something edible. 

This was an easy decision.  We had finally found the land we were waiting for.