Globalforester

21 hours ago, renewablejohn said:

I use a little alpine tractor (Holder A15) Ride up attach tree to hydraulics lift off ground then low gear and will pull nearly anything down the hillside. Small enough that you can steer tractor without being sat on it. Bigger stuff can be lifted off the deck with forward motion wheel jack.

Wow, I used to drive a Holder when I extracted timber over 40 years ago. Great machines but you have to watch the side slope!

Anyone used Pfanzelt remote-controlled mini tractors and mini felling tractors 

 - they look a bit pricey but interesting

On 26/07/2021 at 21:27, openspaceman said:

Sorry no and I have googled a few search terms with no luck either.

 

I attended every APF show from1974 to about 2000 so if anyone has a collection of show programmes...

We used it when I worked for EFG in Fort William - the name used was the 'Snake' but I don't recall the manufacturer but fairly certain it was Swedish. 
The additional features were that you did not need a straight drag as the strap was passed through open pulleys. When the sliders got to the tractor, there was a fixing on the strap that dropped the slider off the strap so technically several sliders could accumulate before the operator had to walk back to the tractor, take the sliders off and walk back out repeating the process. The main issue was that the load could catch on stumps but if I remember correctly a cone could be used if this was a big problem. The trick was to get the route to snake thus avoiding obstacles.