Help! How to get Logger $?

Good luck! A neighbor of ours needed money, elderly woman with sixty acres. She did all the right things: asked the local Ag man for names of loggers / asked the local Forestry man for names of "honest" ones and there was even a list they gave her / she got a signed contact, etc.

They came on her land, cut it to the dirt, left a HUGE mess and paid her only $500. and then left. When she tracked them down, and they made no attempt to hide the fact they did not pay her, they said a wife or someone was "sick" and they did not have her money. No one could make them pay her. She had a lawyer, she asked the Forestry people for help -- it went on for years and she finally gave up. They basically stole her trees, ripped her off and don't even care.

Ask and ask and ask again and keep asking for references before letting anyone cut anything on your land. Yes, there are honest Loggers (like the poster above pointed out / maybe even most are honest) but at least around here it is hard to find.

Good luck and I hope you can get money back.

After everything I said about loggers, I took a mans word, and had an oral agreement, and a handshake. Not all are bad. I knew where the guy lived, and had been in his house before. Unfortunately, he hit the 'gas well came in' lottery and got out of the business. There's only one local honest fella left... he's a one and a half man operation... old beater tractor w/front end loader, and an ancient 'solid bed' logging truck, old as I am... he cuts slowly, cleans up, and has an honest reputation. Unfortunately, he's not working much.... only logs he can get are ones out of peoples yards (for landscaping reasons...) he basically gets the logs for free, and loads up the limbs and hauls them off... owners get nothing but a tree free yard (cost of pine is such that logging costs almost equal out).

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

I'm very sorry for your loss. My Dad was taken once by a dishonest logger when I was very young. As an adult, when I've sold timber, I've almost always got the contracted amount up front. They can cut when they want, and I'm not worried about the mess that is left. It's going to be a mess to clean up anyway, at least from my experience.

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"Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey

I appreciate the helpful suggestions and varying points of view, especially that there actually honest loggers who honor their word and can be counted on. I did have advice from a forester (cut the pines) and he's the one who recommended my logger!
Update. I found out where he was taking my big oaks he was not supposed to cut. I called them so when Joe came in with my logs, they set it up that they will issue split checks, one to the logger and one to me. Also I arranged. That they will saw me some boards so I can make garden boxes like a poster on here has.
Today in the mail I received an accounting from the pulp mill where he has been taking my pines. Now I have some figures to work from I can fill in some of the blanks. In Virginia we have a general district court where citizens can file a case pro se up to $10,000 so that's my next step.

You need a lawyer- now, not someday, but NOW!

WOW!!! Wow, wow, wow!!! Good for you, and how lucky that the mills took you at your word; I am very impressed! That was a super stop-gap, and has now set you up beautifully to DOCUMENT everything retroactively. I am very interested how this works out; please do keep the updates coming.

-Jill

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...'o shame on the mothers of mortals, who have not stopped to teach; of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes; the sorrow that has no speech... from -'Voice of the Voicless', Ella Wheeler Wilcox

One thing that is very helpfl on this forum for a loner like me is to be able to express something and get a response instead of having a thought that disappears into a black hole. I kept hoping things would get better but the person they got better for was the logger! He would make me a promise and not keep it and I would be thinking maybe..... Well, he can't read so I ought to give him another chance etc. But I keep my word. When the poster pointed out that there really are honest people who keep their word, it was a really big help to me because it put things back in balance for me somehow internally in that it gave me support that it is okay to rely on somebody's word.
The logger had agreed to be gone wednesday. It rained so no show. That was (sort of) reasonable. But this morning while I was trying to figure out how much money he got based on the figures the mill sent me, here he came and started loading logs!
I called the sheriff and we waltzed around the mulberry bush becase they had no record of the No Trespassing Notice I served on the logger last week but finally a deputy was sent out. I went to wait for the sheriff on my access lane but before the sheriff arrived, here came the logging truck! Whew! It stopped a few inches from me. Someone on here had suggested I block the logging truck and holy smoke, that was exactly what I was doing. Two very big furious black guys jumped out and Joe started yelling at me. My German Shepherd was sitting next to him and when he came roaring up to the window she leaned in front of me and no kidding, she smiled at him! He jumped back. He was shocked. He said, "I never thought you would do this to me!"
Hey, I never thought so, either! Somebody on HT put the idea in my mind and it worked!!!!! When the sheriff came, things worked very smoothly. HE wasn't a ditzy old lady easily yanked around! Joe coughed up $150 for the load, the sheriff told him "The lady does not want you here so you have to take your equipment and leave today." Joe advised us, that meant he had till midnight.
And now he is gone!!! Interestingly, he had cut another five loads after agreeing to leave so that's about $3,000 he's not gonna get from the mill. Of course, I probably won't get it either but, thanks to some wonderfully helpful folks on here, at least I shut the barn door before that horse got out!
Now if only I can find a logger whose word is his bond!!!
Thanks again.
I will be happy to have some more advice as to what to do proactively in setting up an efficient business fair arrangement with the next logger besides standard logging contracts which I sure will be certain to use!

Try Jason Rutledge with Healing Harvest Forestry Foundation. He is in Virgina. His phone # 540-651-6355. They do horse logging.

Thanks, AndyH. I met Jason at a forestry seminar down near Lexington some years ago. He gave a very impressive demonstration of what he can do with his two horses. I am pretty far from him. I saw what a big trailer he has to haul his horses in.
There would be no good place for Jason and his horses to stay overnight and they wouldn't want to commute.
A horse logger is a good idea for select harvesting and I know Jason is very good. There is another horse logger near me named Justin. He calls himself the Green Man. I saw Harvey Ussery last week. He recommended Justin. Great minds think alike! You and Harvey are on the same wave length!

Have you called the VA Forestry Commission and talked to them? Most states have a record of all the Sawmills in their state and it includes how much they payed and how much each log was soled for. They also have a list of loggers that work in your area and some of them are real good and won't mind signing a contract. They also have men that investigates tree theft and have the right to arrest the culprits.

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.