Nice mini yew haul, could have been far better!

[WillS]

Not sure if you guys in the US have "forestry commissions" but in the UK it would seem the people responsible for looking after our woods are (judging by who I met yesterday) 18 year olds with chainsaws.

I was field shooting in Dorset yesterday morning, when in the woods next to the farm we use there was the sound of machines ripping trees to pieces.  Turns out that some genius wants to chop down all the yew and holly growing next to the old oak trees to save the oaks.  Of course, as soon as they do that the winds come and knock the oaks down anyway...

Point being, we were wandering around looking at the carnage and they had felled this gorgeous English yew, 8 feet long, perfectly straight and with so few knots and pins that each billet should have a perfectly clean face.  Too good to be true? Yup!

They had chopped it into 3 foot lengths, because they're clever like that.  Anyway, managed to salvage what we could, and ended up with quite a nice haul of yew billets for longbows and flatbows! 

[Pappy]

Looks like a good haul to me,sounds like our US folks also.I had them look at my place and tell what I needed to do to manage the woods,first thing they wanted me to do is cut all the Junk wood [they called it]Hickory/Hackberry/Beach/HHB and keep only Poplar/Oak[white/red ]Ash and selected Elm.I said Ya right. I will manage it myself. 
   Pappy

[WillS]

What stunned me is that one of the guys who was chopping the stuff down said he was an archer.  I looked at him stunned, and it turned out he was a compound archer who had no idea whatsoever that yew was any good for making bows with. 

[Sidewinder]

Nice save Will. I would follow those guys around if I were you.   Danny

[WillS]

It does make you wonder how often they chop up perfect bow staves, doesn't it?

[Olanigw (Pekane)]

Government org's are similar everywhere.

They get rid of the "trash trees" that provide valuable biodiversity.  Except for invasive species, if it doesn't bring something to the ecological table, it wouldn't still be there.

Here we always have issues because my municipality hacks old growth, and replaces it with imported trees every time there's a construction project.  25ft high powerlines weren't a problem when they were 30ft under the canopy, but now they've planted trees with 50ft or more genetic potential directly underneath them.

[Olanigw (Pekane)]

I'm very glad you got there in time to salvage as much as you did.  In most places those would have been chipped and burned/ dumped in a pit to moulder.

[Parnell]

At least, now the fella knows.  Did you give him your contact info. for the future?
Looks like some very pretty Yew.

[osage outlaw]

Nice haul.  Hopefully your new connection will lead to much larger hauls.

[ErictheViking]

An Englishman who doesn't know yew is good bow wood?  a crying shame

[Squirrelslayer]

Great haul. SS

[Del the cat]

Grrrr ftzzzz hissss.
Hopefully you educated the chainsaw wielding idiots so that any future Yew will saved and flagged up to you.
Were they forestry commission guys? tell 'em you don't mind paying £30 for a decent 7-8' length.
Drives me to distraction, on the one hand we have old biddies who won't let you break wind near a Yew tree, then there are nutters who have no concept of either their value to the environment or the bowyer... calm calm.
Still you sholud get some primitives from the billets. A nice wideish flatish shortish Yew bow is a thing of beauty and great for field shooting.
Jeez 'compound archer' ... <slaps head with paw> I hope you spoke slowly to him so he could understand
Del

[WillS]

Aye, I'm planning on making a Meare Heath-ish type primitive with the wider ones (a friend of mine went to see it in Taunton the other day, and they let him fiddle with it which blew his mind! He was allowed to draw around it on some paper and take away measurements, although I'll have to make the handle quite a bit thicker as it's 20mm on the real thing which once spliced would be very risky indeed!) and some longbows from the thinner bits. 

They just seemed completely clueless about the worth, but annoyingly I got so into telling them how hard it is to find decent pieces that I think a couple of them saw dollar signs and although I left details with them I would imagine anything else they find will probably turn up on eBay at some ridiculous price.

[Squirrelslayer]

Hey wills did you get my PM? SS

[WillS]

Yeah, just checked it now.  Sorry mate, I don't have enough to give you some, there's only a few bows in this lot and I have too many to make!  If I could help I would.  It's around, you just need to check the obvious places.  Try contacting tree surgeons or gardeners in the area, you never know.