Suggestions on milling and transporting wood from rural areas?

[gator]

Harbor Freight and Northern Tool both have power winches for less than $100.  Find a way to mount them on the front of your pick-up bed or trailer and pull the logs on.  If you feel strong they have crank winches for a lot less.

gator

[mr_skittle]

I think a come-along or winch will be part of the equation if you aren't going to use a bucket tractor of any kind. My first thought was a truck with a lift gate, likely a rental, but if you can mount a pulling device in the pickup box just bring a ramp to pull the logs up. A couple of people also mentioned using a trailer. That seems like one of the easier routes to take. Get a winch or something on the front of the trailer and pull the logs on. While I see the merit of gettin it cut up on site, that's likely to be expensive and possibly a hassle but it would be more efficent to get the most wood home and leave the waste and bark there.

The things we go through for our lumber huh?

[Souperchicken]

I've moved logs to yield a few thousand board feet of lumber, and it absolutely can be done with a trailer, a ramp, and a come along.  I've used cut up pieces of 2 or 3" steel pipe for rollers with good results.  I think it's a lot of fun even though it's time consuming and hard work, but you probably figured that out already!