Bear Grease - Ep. 420: American Loggers - Part 1

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

In this episode of the Bear Grease podcast, host Clay Newcomb visits Newton County, Arkansas, to talk to Cody and Caylon Villines. They're woodsmen, hunters, and the most recent line of generations of loggers cutting hardwood in the Ozarks. They talk about the craft of selective logging, the evolution from horses to heavy equipment, and the quiet code of contentment passed down from their fathers. They also talk about the danger. From freak accidents to lost friends to a moment witnessing a miracle in the woods, this is an honest, deeply personal look at life in one of the country’s deadliest professions. Thank you to our sponsor, Tecovas. If you have comments on the show, send us a note to [e-mail] Connect with Clay and MeatEater Clay on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube Shop Bear Grease MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. First Lights fieldware collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days and real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season.

Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new field. We still cut trees down by hand. We still hand cut trees down by hand. It still work. But I mean, what we do now, it ain't nothing like what it used to be. If you think about the industries that made America, it would be hard to argue that the logging industry was among the most influential in making this country. Wood built this place. This episode is a fresh look at some modern logger. Friends of mine, as a matter of fact, good friends. This is a story about the inherent danger in the logging profession. These guys share their own experiences, but they'll share accounts of others they knew who were killed on the job.

This is a biographical piece on one family of loggers in the Ozarks of Newton County, Arkansas, with the last name, Velines. And hey, Bear John Newcomb and I are starting a new Bear Grease YouTube channel. As a matter of fact, it's the old Bear Hunting Magazine YouTube channel. We just changed the name, and we're having some completely new content. We're going to have a weekly content on there, and the first piece drops on February the 11th. You can do us a huge favor by going over and checking it out. Going to be a ton of fun. My name is Clay Newcomb, and this is the Bear Grease podcast.

where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search for insight in unlikely places, and where we'll tell the story of Americans who live their lives close to the land. Brought to you by Tukovas, quality boots and western wear. Point your toes west. Have you ever been hurt bad, logging?

I have not. I broke my foot. I've been hung up a time or two. Got my arm hung up. What's that mean, hung up? Yeah, I got my arm stuck one time. This is Cody Velines. And don't be fooled by him saying he's never been hurt bad.

His definition of hurt is different than most. He's got a full salt and pepper beard, and it's kind of wild-eyed. When you first meet him, you can't tell if he's a little crazy or just really smart. After getting to know him, I think he's both. We're standing inside the global headquarters. of the Vlien's logging company. I want to hear what he meant by getting hung up. Me and Dad and Frankie Dale were logging,

and you don't know Frankie Dale, but if you even say, you even have to say Frankie Dale around here, you can just say Frank, and everybody knows who you're talking about. Okay. But I worked with him. I worked with him for several years,

and he was skidding logs. Way up out of this, like two inches down, and it was hot, and I'd been skidding. He was cutting, and I'd been skidding. And he said, if you buck those logs up, I'll give you a break on skidding them up out of there. Does it sound like a deal to me? So Frank went to skidding and I was cutting up logs by hand.

And we had a stick that was like, some people would cut up a stick 4-4, and some people would have a major stick that was a full 8-8, which is what tie logs are supposed to be. We had a stick that was 4-4, and I was cutting up logs, and I dropped my stick down in the log park. And at this time, I'm, you know, early 20s, probably middle 20s. You know, I've been doing it for a long time by then. And I wrench in there to grab my stick.

And when I stuck my arm down in there, the log above rolled and boom, fished me. And it was a big log, a big one, big old red oak. And there I was stuck. And it's hot summertime. And I can't even move it. By yourself? I'm by myself. Dad's gone with a load of logs.

And Frankson, the bottom of this canyon, coming back with you. with another drag of logs. Well, I can hear him. One old 518 caterpillar just pulling, pulling, slowly pulling, coming up out of that canyon. And it's starting to hurt. I mean, it's really hurting. And I can hear Frank coming up through there,

and I finally get to where I can see him. And he's coming up through there, and Frank smoked in. He smoked them all USA Golds. That's what he smoked. I can see Frank on that skier. He's smoking that cigarette. He looked over there where I was at.

He just stopped. Got off, here he come, just in a walk. He walked up there, he's still smoking that cigarette. He said, boy, you're in a trap, ain't you? I said, get me out of here. He never got excited, walk back over into the skitter, and come over there, and I'm thinking, he's going to tear my arm off when he starts pushing on this log ball.

He eased up there and he got me out. Running around with these guys, I've noticed that stories kind of gather themselves up around them, stories about people. We're going to hear more about this Frankie Dell later. And these guys are really good at telling these stories, and each one carries a value system that stands out to me as unique in modern times.

That's mainly why I'm here. Along with Cody, actually right beside us, is his slightly younger cousin, younger by six months, Kaylinvillines. We've now moved outside of their main, building it's a little windy but the view is noteworthy so Kaelin from we're standing right here and we can see like about 180 degrees big vista yeah have you logged with inside of here I mean we can see like miles oh absolutely yes any direction you look pretty much I've

I've logged maybe not all of it but any direction you you can look from here we We've definitely worked. What'd your dad used to tell you? Oh, dad used to say when I was a kid, we'd stand right here and he'd say, son, anywhere you can see I've been. He's either working or hunting, and I can pretty much say the same thing now. What I hadn't told you yet is these guys are also really good hunters. They're deer hunters, they're squirrel dog men, they're coon hunters, they've all got mules. They're just woodsmen.

You rarely see Kalin without a cup of coffee in his hand day or night. and he's always got on his light tan felt cowboy hat that's worn in so good you think he probably sleeps in it. But the Vlian's logging main facility is impressive. It's a 50-foot-wide, three-sided metal barn with a semi-truck, a John Deer Dozer, and a skitter and loader parked underneath it. There's no indoor office, no secretaries or printers. As a matter of fact, the parking lot is a pasture. The only employees are Cody Kalin and Teddy Valines, Cody's dad. The open side of the barn faces 180-degree view of purplish hills that look like a rolling sea

where giant waves rise out of deep troughs. To me, it's the location of this fine building that makes it stand out. It's its orientation to the sunrise. And how its open design gives one the feeling of freedom even while inside. which leads me to think that this building's designers must have been educated in America's finest halls of architecture. It's inspiring yet functional. But all you can see in any direction is trees. That's what the land has given this family, and that's what they've used to make a living.

So what kind of saw is that? It is a steel of 500 eye. And how long will this saw last you? I usually, if I can get a year out of one, I've done pretty good. Kalin and Cody have been raised within sight of each other and have worked together their entire lives. As a matter of fact, their dads, who are brothers, Eddie and Teddy, also live within a quarter mile of where we're standing

and have also worked together their entire lives in the log woods. Question of the ages for both of you. There's a lot of things y'all can do to make a living. why are you a logger? What are the benefits of it? For me? Yeah. The biggest benefit?

I mean, number one, if you're going to do it, you got to love it. You got to want to do it. And for the most part around here, the guys that do it are born into it, honestly. I mean, if you really look around, it's a family deal. But as benefits for me, the freedom. That's the number one reason why. Your own boss. That's why I do it.

Yep. That's the benefit. I mean, I like it. I enjoy it. Cutting timber? It's addictive. It's like a drug. Cutting timber is addictive. Why? Ask anybody. It's addictive. But the biggest benefit to the whole big scheme of it is the freedom. And what's that freedom look like for you? You wake up. If I want to go hunting tomorrow, then I go hunting tomorrow. I don't have to call the boss. I just say, all right, boys, we're going hunting tomorrow. and we'll go hunting tomorrow. Yeah. What about you, Kaelan? Yeah, he took the words in my mouth.

Dad always said, well, I was born into it. Yeah. Yeah, we were born into it. Though dad tried to talk me out of all my life. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was like, something else. But it was his fault. Try to talk you out of it.

It still made you get him going. Yeah, they made us get up and go, and people think we're exaggerating line, but we were probably eight, nine-year-old when we started going. Yeah. We didn't have a summer vacation. we went to the logwoods. I started the seventh grade with my foot in the walking boot.

Dad and Ed, I don't know who had what, but I think Dad had a McCullough. Dad had a 700 McCullough, and Eddie had an XL12 home lot. And they let us use those chainsaws. No, they made us use those. When we were like, you know, fifth, sixth grade. In the summer, between the sixth and seventh grade,

they bought us two brand, spanking new steel, 026s. And we started bucking up logs by hand. and I got my foot broke in the bucket ball. And I started the seventh grade with my foot in a walking boot. The first day of school we had a brand-spanking new teacher. She came from eastern Arkansas.

Really? What deal? And then the whole lot about this way of life around here. And she said, what did you do your foot? And I said, I was cutting up logs and I got one on my foot and I broke it. And she said, what do you mean cutting up logs?

I said, I was cutting up logs with a chainsaw. And she said, you were running a chainsaw? And I said, yeah, yeah, I was working in the woods. The rest of the teachers around there really wasn't that big of a deal, I mean, but it just blew her mind, you know. Cody points at a bulldozer and starts telling me what they've been doing today. See that rod? Right here? Yep.

That's new. Now that's new. So this is your dozer that you carry all over the place, for cutting rows. Now it is, yeah. He bought this dozer last year. So the reason, tell me why a logger has a dozer? Well, we didn't for years, and we've done all the road pushing with a skitter. And we've got a little nicer equipment now.

This dozer makes it a whole lot better getting a good road in and making a good bed in area of landing spot for your logs. So you may have to cut logs in a spot way back in somewhere. Oh, absolutely. And you just got to get a road in there to get your logs. trucks in there and right so you need a dose of so how much of logging is taking care of your equipment because it's like you didn't work today but you did work you didn't lock work you didn't cut any trees today we didn't make

any money today but we had to work today yeah you have to maintain your equipment I tell me about this truck over here well let the boss tell you about the truck he drives the truck Cody come tell me about your truck that is a 21 2021 international H-S six. Five-twenty is what there is. Are the logs that you're hauling shorter? So it's a, how would you describe that? I mean, it's not like a semi-truck you'd see driving down the road carrying a big.

It's not a trailer truck. Like, how big is that bed there? I can't tell you the exact measurement. But I can haul two munks of ten and a half footers. You know what I'm saying. You're in the business of the shorter wood. 10 and a half is a, well, I say that. We've got some that are 21 foot.

And you can carry him on that trailer. 21 foot will go on that. And then my trailer, my pup trailer, the hook behind it. Oh, okay. It's also a double bunk. I'm just not a, I'm not a traditional tractor with a trailer behind it. You can get around, butter. You can get in and out, but it rigged up like this.

Yeah. Then you can with a trailer truck. But this is just the way we've always done it. What's the necessary equipment for what you do? You need a dozer, you need a truck, you need a skitter, and you need Kalen to cut trees. That's what we have. In all honesty, around here, you can make a living with a skitter, period. Just a skitter.

Wow. No, no Kalin. You mean you're going to get rid of Kalin? No, I mean equipment-wise. Equipment-wise. Just equipment-wise. You can get by. It would be really cool if you fired him on air.

You can get by with just a skitter. Because there's enough guys around here that have what we call picker trucks. Would you say that you guys are doing with newer technology, but kind of doing the same style of logging that your dad and grandpa did? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, same thing, just more modernized. Even cutting the same kind of trees.

Cutting the same, yes, cut the same kind of trees. Same kind of ground, same places. We have been saying tracks of timber that our ancestors cut on. So you guys have cut tracks of timber that your dad and grandpa cut and the trees have regrown. I can take you to one track of timber that I've been on twice in my life. And I'm 42. You might be surprised to learn that the Valians have practiced select cut logins since the beginning. They don't like clear cutting.

And these guys have a land ethic and an appreciation for trees. that the average person will never understand. They've witnessed the resilience of natural systems when well-managed, and they've seen how families use timber for generational financial input like cashing out a 401K. I once heard an Ozark farmer say

he's seen the same stand of timber put multiple generations of kids through college. And as we know, as wildlife managers, select cutting timber can be incredible for wildlife. To put this login into a wider context, the early 1900s marked the peak of America's wooden age when the demand for lumber exploded alongside rapid population growth. By 1910, annual consumption of wood peaked at roughly 38 billion board feet. And wood was, as historian Kenneth Smith wrote, second only to food as a basic life-supporting commodity.

It was used for nearly everything. Wood made all the buildings, railroads, tools, wagons, the frames of cars even, and even iron ore production, which relied on charcoal to fuel smelters. Around this peak, deforestation spread, and that's what we hear about the negative things about logging. But this is when Americans began to reckon with the cost of unchecked extraction, and the counter movement rooted in conservation. slowly took hold. In 1905, Gifford Pinchot became the head of the newly formed Forest Service, and he brought these European ideas of sustainable forestry to the United States, and he helped usher in a new philosophy of managed forests with the idea of sustainable yield. And since that time, the American forestry industry has revolved around regrowth and sustainability.

Cody and Kalin have seen it with their own eyes. and Wood hasn't gone out of style, and it never will. Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls in building each of our own favorite turkey diaphragms called Prime Cuts. Now, I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that gobblers are looking for.

I have a great turkey hunting track record. If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to win calling contests, right? That's who I listen to. I can make those sounds on my cut. I also hunt with Phelps's cut, and I hunt with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out Prime Cuts at Phelpsgamecalls.com.

I think you'll be glad you did, and you'll find out that the Steve Ronella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good. turkey noises and getting action you guys are primarily cutting hardwood regrowth timber yeah and where is that what's that hardwood being used for it's got all kinds of purposes i mean the good your good lumber logs you know of course they're they're making that the lumber for furniture and flooring but then there's always the tie market and that's for railroad ties

seven-ben-nine railroad tie and then you have your walnut which you know it's a higher in, and white oak. I mean, you're good white oak. That's whiskey barrels. That's where the money's at is in the white oak and the wallent. And,

I mean, you've got cherry. Some people even separate it because you can get a little more out of cherry. Hickory, you can separate it if you want to. We have before because they, they use it for smokers. I mean,

they'll just chip it and make smoking chips. But for the most part, it's lumber, ties, pallets, everybody benefits from the palace because that's what everything's shipped on. I'd say there's not anything in the country that don't get put on a pallet and ship somewhere. This is just what's done with hardwoods and the Ozarks, but pine timber is primarily what's used in making paper and cardboard, at least down here. Just try to go through a single

day without using paper or cardboard. You almost can't. And the good thing about it is that it's biodegradable and you can recycle it. And it's generally cleaner than making plastics. Still, today, almost all residential structures are framed in wood. And this stat is a few years old, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics say the average American uses wood and paper products equivalent to what can be produced from 100 foot 18 inch tree every year. That's a big old tree. but talking about the history of logging, something that stood out to me from the first time I heard Kaylin say it was that his dad, Eddie and Uncle Teddy,

and their other brother, Hillard, there were actually 10 brothers and sisters. All of these guys logged with mules and horses all the way up until the 1990s. Dad and Ted, they were, to my knowledge, I know there's still people around that use a horse or mule. around here my dad and ted was the last two that i know of that was still using a horse and a mule because i'm i'll be 42 in just a month or so and i can remember them skidding with horse and a mule

i wasn't big enough to actually help but i went to the woods with them and so it would have been in the 90s 1990s yeah early 90s and they they weren't they weren't good to try to be folksy or traditional no they did it because it's just the way they skid logs Yeah, it's just the way it was. And I mean, they didn't have the money, you know, at the time to improve what they were doing, you know, so they were still just with the old way, you know, that's the only way they knew. And they could make a living doing it. They could.

And that's all it mattered. That's all that mattered. Yeah. They could still make a living. But, I mean, yeah, they wasn't getting the production that the people with a skitter was getting, but they didn't have all the expense either, you know, cheaper to feed a mule or a horse than it was put fuel in a, skitter, you know. But they finally had to, you know, if they were going to keep up with everybody else,

they got a skitter. They finally got to where if they were going to make a living, they had to do this. Right. Teddy, Eddie, and Hillard eventually upgraded to a skitter, but they were 30 years behind much of the industry. And I think that we'll see that this was very much on purpose. These guys marched to a different drum than the throb of much of modern. society. What about you, Kaelan? Have you ever been hurt bad? No, bad enough. I've not been

late in the hospital like I should have been several times. Yeah, I've broke bones and stitches and cut myself, stitches in my head. What's a, like, do you have a story like that? I mean, it's like a scary, just a story. Well, I mean, I've had lots of scary encounters. Usually the ones that don't get you is the scariest ones when you've had tree-touches. cops fall out and bury up in the ground beside you that you know would have killed you graveyard dead if you you know we would have step over twice i've been hit hard in the head like knocked out like knocked out cold oh yeah hate to even bring it up but him talking about frankie dale which frankdale's my cousin and we lost him a couple of year ago he got killed in the woods yeah like three years yeah been been probably three year ago frank got killed been in the woods all his life Yeah, he's just like most people around here who logs, you can ask them, they got the same story as me and Cody. You know, they grew up working in the woods. Probably hadn't anybody cut any more timbre than Frankie Dale.

And, yeah, that's all he ever did. I mean, is that, is that something that, I mean, how many people do you know within kind of arms reach of you that have been killed in the woods? Oh, I mean, I could name four or five, some that I didn't know. I mean, I knew who they were, but didn't know them personally. You know, some before me and Cody's time, you know, that we're killed in the woods. Frank is definitely the closest one that we, you know, somebody we both had worked with and around, been running all their life. It's clear that this is a way of life, and these families, especially when Cody and Kaelan were growing up,

their dads were making the living off the land. And that term is thrown around loosely in modern times. I think you're going to see these men who are both still alive had a unique version of living off the land. Well, Dad's always, he's always got his own sayings, I guess. Some people around here call him Edisms, but Dad always said a poor man's got poor ways. And, you know, in the wintertime, same for me and Cody today. I mean, it's what we're not working today. You know, it's wet in the woods so we can't work.

and dad you know me growing up which they always had had cows you know that's extra income but dad he'd have to get by any way he could and of course he dug ginsane he coon hunted mostly for the purpose because hides i mean dad always enjoyed hounds don't get me wrong but i mean when the hide market went away he didn't coon hunting there like he did you know and then he he trained horses of mules, you know, just to make enough money get by and cut firewood. All my life, we were cutting firewood for other people. Mom would complain because we'd run out of firewood and have to go get in snow. But Dad was supplying four or five other people with firewood at the time.

The hard work is, yeah, all he knew. Dad always said an honest man would never get rich. You know, and Dad believed that, that if you're being honest with everyone, you know, everyone you're dealing with, that you'll just make a living. You're not going to get rich. You're not even going to get ahead. You're just going to pay the bills. I know that's not 100% accurate because I know honest people that's done well for

their self, but there's a lot of truth in it too. I recently heard a political analyst, presumably a fairly wealthy one, say that they were beginning to believe it's impossible to be a billionaire without being corrupt. with the outrageous corruption that we see in today's America, it's hard not to think that thought. It's going to be easy for me and you to keep guessing about that, but Eddie's words are worth thinking about. And as a matter of fact, old Jesus weighed in on the topic too when he said it's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to fulfill his requirements. I think that would be a gutsy thing to say in modern America because it points to a flaw in the dominant ethos of this country.

I don't think that's a license to not work and try to better your family. But it'll make you think. I asked Kalin what he thought about this billionaire corruption thesis. I would probably have to agree with that. They obviously need more to satisfy themselves than Eddie Villains ever had. Dad was content with a good cup of coffee and sitting on his back porch. That's what he wanted to come home to was peace and quiet. Have a good dog and a good mule.

He was satisfied. Money didn't drive dad to work. Is that the way you are? Pretty much, yeah. Are you as content as your dad was? Probably not. I mean, that's just the honest. I worry about probably more than he ever did.

dad wasn't a warrior I would like to think I had that same peace of mind as dad's God but probably not to that extent no life's more complex it is it really is yeah and the more you have

the more you have to worry about I mean not saying I have that much more than dad ever had but I do and it's from wants not needs dad never had much but dad didn't want much either that just had needs, you know, and that was it.

And that's what he would tell us kids growing up. He said, well, you want it or you need it. You know, if it's a want, it's probably not going to happen. But if you need it, we'll make it happen. The issue here is contentment, not about how much money you've got. I think this is interesting as it's compared to the context of information that surrounds it. Good luck finding a podcast about being content, but you won't have any trouble finding one, giving you strategies for getting rich quick.

The fixation that money is the solution to all human problems is ancient. However, I think we can understand this without taking a vow of poverty, and I think it's a biblical mandate to be wise with our finances, invest, and save. I appreciate the clarity in what Eddie said, and I like people that just know who they are. Here's more from Kalin on his upbringing. him. Growing up, you know, me and my brother and Cody, we thought everybody was like us, you know, just because it was a way of life. You know, we didn't know any different. We thought every kid, you know, grew up going to the woods with their dad, you know, working. We didn't know what vacation was. I said before, you know, dad, he tried to talk us out of it, or for sure me. I mean, he eventually did get out of it. But dad said, boy, there's no future in it. And he'd say, well, my dad said that, you know.

So there's not a future and it'd find something else to do. And it's dangerous, you know. We always knew that. You know, I grew up watching, you know, dad. He got hurt. I seen him, you know, break a leg and arm and get hit in the head. And, you know, I knew the danger. But it was just the way of life.

We were born into it. Kalins brought us to the topic of danger in the woods. In the 1990s, logging deaths peaked, and it was by far the most dangerous industry in America with 128 deaths per 100,000 workers per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's gotten slightly safer with modern numbers between 50 and 100 deaths per 100,000, but has dropped closer to some of the other industries. The top five most dangerous jobs in America that I could find were loggers, commercial fishermen, roofers, small aircraft pilots, and iron workers. Logging has gotten safer partly because

there are fewer people cutting logs by hand. Many large operations have mechanical cutters, but I'll remind you that the Vlions, along with many others, are basically still doing it the same as the 1990s, you know, excluding Teddy and Eddie with their mules. They're still cutting trees by hand. On blood trails, the stories don't end when the hunt is over. They just get darker. I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping bag.

And there was a full of blood. Oh my God, he doesn't have a hit. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors, where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush and silence. Indications were he should be right there, but he wasn't. This season, we're going deeper. From cold case files to whispered suspicions, from remote mountains to frozen backwoods.

Each story begins in the wilderness and ends in darkness. Because out here, there are no witnesses, no cameras, just fragments and the people left behind trying to piece them back together. He's not an honest person. He's incapable of being honest. Somebody somewhere knows something. I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 of Blood Trails premieres April 16th.

Follow now on Apple, IHeart, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. I want to ask Kalin about getting hurt, and you're going to need to remember the first story that Cody told us about when he mentioned a man named Frankie Dale. You're going to want to remember his name. Just tell me what you're going to tell me. I mean, Frankie Dale was just, he was just, He's basically a legend around here. Nobody, there's nobody that don't have a frank story. Whether it was in the woods, seeing him at the gas station.

There is nobody that doesn't have a frank story. And I just got to work with him for several years. But he was, several years. But I had spent the biggest part of my life in the woods. And I went up for a stretch there where I drove for a couple different guys. And when I went back to the law, Frankydell was helping dad and I had been in the woods my whole life I had never seen anybody I mean dad got after it cutting timber got after it went in a run

well I hadn't ever seen nobody as wild as Frankie Dale what does that mean what did he do I came around through there on the skitter one day like I said it's probably my first week back in the woods after I've been trucking and they were both cutting timber and I skidding and then dad would haul logs and leave me and Frank in the woods and he keep cutting, I skid and whatever. He was bucking them up my hand then. I came around the skid drill and I could see Frankadale and he was cutting a tree.

It wasn't a big tree, but I mean it was a decent sized little tree and it was in kind of a little old post oak flat and there wasn't a really big timber there and there's lots of brush. He cut that tree and it lodged. It didn't go all the way to the ground.

You know, it was like halfway down or on an angle like this, you know. The top of it was probably 12 or 15 feet off the ground. Frangadale cut that tree, the tree lodged, and without even thinking about it, without even stepping back and looking at it,

he just took off up that tree, limining it as he went, and when he got up there to where you would top it, like normally top it when it was laying on the ground, he just ran back and sawed it off. And the tree takes off to the ground. Failed 12 or 15 And Frank just rides it

And right before it hits the ground He steps off And walks over to the next one And starts cutting it Just like this is how he does it every day And I thought I mean I knew You know

You hear all the stories about Frankedale got hurt again Frankedale's wild And I was like Oh my God He is wild He slowed down a bunch you know that he was in his

prime i guess you would say then you know i was 20 whatever like i just said well ago he was we had the same birthday he was 21 years old where did he live from right here right straight across the canyon just like mile from here i mean he's not as a crow flies he's just right over there uh he was in his 40s so yeah he was in his prime then i don't know if i'd call that prime uh in his 40s like me and you in our probably He was still in his, Frank was still in good shake.

But, yeah, he was wild. Yeah, no, he died on January 21st. I'll never forget it. I know. I could tell you right where I was at when they called me and told me that he had passed. January 21st. I think it was three years ago. It's 23 when Frank died.

This kind of reminds me of these extreme sports guys, these rock climbers and free divers that have all had friends that have tragically died. But the difference is huge. These loggers aren't recreating, but rather they're trying to make a living and maybe only the way they know how. And Frank was just like, I, he had that personality, you know, he was just, we were cutting one day. And dad had told me, he said, when you get down there skidding off Frankie-Dill, he said, watch for there, there's an old fence down there. He said, don't get across that property line. He said, you'll see it.

It's an old, old fence. He said, it's marked. So I come around through there on a skitter And I haul gas and oil for him on my skitter with me And Frank came up through there He was out of gas I pulled it up there and shut the skitter off And I don't know

He said something, you know And he said, boy, it's hot or whatever he said And I said, hey, did you find that line down there? And without missing the beat He said, no, but I seen a tiger You know, he was just that guy He was quick-witted And he always had

some little old one liner like that. And a lot of your, a lot of your old time loggers, they all kind of had that personality. You know. Would you see that consistent? I mean, you would see guys that were just characters

and storytellers. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you left from right here and went in any direction, you can interview old loggers for days on each. end. Guys that, you know, did it for their lifetime and did it the hard way, the hard way. I mean, it's still work. We still cut trees down by hand. We still hand cut. It's still work.

But, I mean, what we do now, it ain't nothing like what it used to be. It's clear these guys had a lot of respect for Frankie Dale, a man that used to live about a mile from where we're standing. but it just goes to show you how dangerous logging can be. Here's more from Kalin. A man down there at Kingston, we both known all over life. He actually watched his father get killed. That's for our time, yeah. He was young and was in the woods with his dad and watched him get killed.

And he went ahead and pretty well all his life logged after that. and I thought about that. I don't know if I could have done that or not. Is there a, in some things, when you're in it long enough, you know the risks and if you heard that somebody died, you could have probably almost guessed what happened. With the kind of logging you guys do, if you heard that someone died, would you pretty much,

would you be like 80% chance a tree top fell on him, Or 80% chance a log, teaboned. Like, what would you say? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Depend on who it was. You know, if I knew it was the timber cutter, yeah, I could. What would it be? What would it be, what would happen to it?

It would be a limb falling out or a tree top. It's a limb that you can't, that you aren't watching? Right. Yeah. So you're cutting trees and like it breaks the limb. Like, describe for me what would happen. Oh, it could be, it could be in the tree that you're even cutting and you not see it. I mean, a lot of that depends on the time of year.

I always, I would a whole lot rather cut in the wintertime when the leaves are off and you can see. For sure, big timber. Big timber in the summertime. So many leaves, you can't see what I was up there. And if you don't, you know, if you don't take your time and pay attention, just even grapevines, you know, from one tree to another, will jerk a limb out from a tree behind you.

you know, or a dead snag. That's what, you know, I've been hit once or twice. Once, when I got stitches in my head and got knocked out, it was actually a snag that was behind me. And I already had the tree on the ground and was, back then we marked them as we went. We marked the logs. And I was on my second log, just marking it.

And it was like somebody walked up behind me with a baseball bat and hit me right over the head. and it had come from a tree behind me. Top broke out of a dead snag. But there's, I mean, there's danger in all of it, I mean. But it's rarely like when you're cutting a tree that falls on you, because I mean, the tree you're cutting, you're paying attention to. It's rare, but I've seen it.

I want to cue you up for this next story. Honestly, it's the reason I'm here. Last fall, when Kaelin and I were driving, down the road going bear hunting, he told me a story that I'll never forget. All of this has really led us to hear. Oh, it's been seven, six, seven year ago now, and me and Cody weren't working together. We were actually, I had my own crew or working with another guy. And our, our buddy is working with us. He got, he got mashed and, well, he got killed. But good Lord wasn't done with him because

I know I've told you before there's between praying and begging and I was begging and I've seen life to be brought back into him but he was mashed by a tree that he was cutting it had actually jumped off the stump which he

had cut up about chest high it's a forked sycamore I mean it wasn't no monster sycamore but it was probably 24 inches or better and the time I got there I actually I was supposed to be cutting that morning and Ethan was he he's his name he was wanting to cut that morning and I gave in let him

cut and I ran the skitter with him Paul both were cutting and I had made I know for sure two trips to Paul normally if you're skidding behind two cutters you'll just rotate you'll go to one and then go back to the other mostly I mean to stay up with them but to check on them. I mean, that's always in your mind, you know, check on them. Well, I didn't go back to Ethan. I went back to Paul twice. And I was headed back, and I seen Paul come running around the hill, and I knew immediately something was bad wrong. So I hurried more than normal.

And when I got to that sycamore, I mean, like I said, it's been seven years ago. It feels like yesterday, because I can still see it. All I could see was Ethan's boots barely sticking out. and the whole the whole tree was on him and wasn't at the butt it had actually went over him he was probably 15 feet back up back up that tree but his just his boots was sticking out and I backed up there with skitter which we use a grapple skitter and I rushed down and pinch that tree the best I could but out doing any more damage and picked it up off of him and drove forward of course paul he He went straight to him.

And I can still hear Paul scream. He threw that chain saw as far as he could throw it. And I shud the skitter off, and he said, you're dead. And of course, you're just sick. And I had no doubt. I mean, I could see from off the skitter, I thought there's no way he could be alive. Well, we were down in underneath the hill,

and Paul he just took off running to get out to go get service to call. And I got off and went to Ethan, And then I got down and checked him. And sure enough, I mean, there's no life in him. He was even cold. We don't know how long he'd been there is the thing. Paul had just shut his saw off. He got just kind of, he had that feeling and shut his saw off.

And he could hear Ethan Saul idling. But, you know, he wouldn't running it. But he could hear that chainsaw around there just idling. So he went to check on him. And I checked him. He's cold. I mean, of course, wasn't breathing, but I checked for a pulse, and there's no life in him. You know, poor old dumb logger, I don't know CPR, nothing else to do afraid to touch him anyway.

We don't know what kind of damage it was. I've done the one thing I know how to do, and that's pray. And I turned my back to him. I don't know why I done that, but I turned my back to him. Sorry. And I begged. I got done on my knees and put my face to the ground. And I begged and bleated.

because I knew that's all I could do for him. We say that's all I can do for him. That should be the first thing we go to. And I don't know how long it seemed like forever, but probably wasn't just a minute or two. And I heard him take a breath, deep breath, sucked air back in. And I turned around, went to him,

and it was just shallow breathing, but he was breathing. And right then I said, I know the one who can take breath, but he can also give breath back. Of course, it seemed like forever before the ambulance got there, and I noticed he had blood underneath his head, and they wouldn't let me move him forever, and I told him, I said, he's bleeding outside of his head. I want to stick my hand there there, and they said, well, we'll let you help us put him on this

backboard, and I run my hand underneath his head, and when I rolled him over, His ear wasn't completely off, but it was off enough. It stuck to my hand when I rolled him over, kind of peeled off. But that was a rough day that I'll never forget. After being in the hospital for an extended period of time, Ethan would live and would later even go back into logging. I appreciate Kalin telling that story. A man makes himself vulnerable when he's a man.

he says he's seen a man come back to life. Kalyn doesn't just believe that God answered the prayer and spared this man's life. He knows that he did. I believe God let you live through things, not to keep to yourself. I mean, something like that, you have to tell it, you have to share it. Because if it wasn't for him, none of us would be here. I've always said, I don't know, I don't know how a man. in our business.

No. Could live without God. You know, a non-believer. You know, I... These days that even I still get scared, you know, been in all my life, but... I mean, if I didn't have God to depend on, I couldn't do it.

It's just, it's too dangerous. I can't thank you enough for listening to Bear Grease. On the next episode, we'll meet Teddy Villines, one of the men who started all of this for Cody and Kalin. And I can tell you, he's one of a kind. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please share bear grease with a friend this week. We really appreciate you listening. Brent, Blake and I, thank you. Keep the wild places wild because that's where the bears live. First Lights fieldwear collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends.

Products built for early mornings, full days and real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season. Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new fieldwear gear at firstlight.com. This is an IHeart podcast.

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