The program follows the work of several logging crews in the second-growth forests of Northwestern Oregon, Washington and Montana and the rivers of Louisiana and Florida.
Following in the footsteps of other shows from Original Productions, like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, the series is considered part of a recent "real-men-in-real-danger" television programming trend.
Comments by employee Dwayne Dethlefs are often featured in promotional spots for the show; his son Dustin also works for the company.
Melvin's equipment is the logger's beginner set – a collection of rusted hunks of metal that stop at a moment's notice and shut down production without warning.
Michael is working alongside his childhood buddies at Stump Branch, but lifelong friendship won't get him anywhere when it comes to learning the logging business.
They specialize in "heli-logging": using a helicopter to airlift felled trees from terrain too steep or hostile to reach with an access road.
Founded by Jimmy Smith in South Cle Elum, Washington, S&S recovers sunken old-growth logs from the beds of rivers that were used by earlier generations of loggers to float them downstream.
Due to trouble with Washington state permits (see below),[8] S&S relocates to White Springs, Florida and begins working with Collins River Logging.
He oversees a team of southern-style aqua loggers, including boat captain Steve "Uncle Buck" Livingston, young diver Patrick "Pond Bear" Swilley, deckhand Geoff "G-Dog" Dunnam and U.S. Air Force veteran diver Jess Horstman.
He recovers abandoned logs from the nearby waterways with an ever-evolving cast of sidekicks—his dog Willy; his friends Earl, Bob, and DaVi; his cousins Jarvis and Belinda; his nieces Cheyenne and Stephanie; and his wife Donna.
They concentrate on harvesting timber from the remote islands off Canada's west coast, hauling in equipment and supplies by barge to allow them to live on the job site when necessary.
Headquartered in Craig, Alaska, this company was founded by Mike Papac as an offshoot of his father's Washington-based logging business.
The crew uses teams of horses to pull felled trees off job sites without the need for heavy machinery or access roads.
This Florida-based outfit is run by "Uncle" Buck Livingston, a Suwannee River logger who helped both S&S and Collins by killing an alligator that menaced the crews in an earlier season.
Rygaard, Papac, S&S, Swamp Man, Lemare Lake, and Big Gun appear in this season, which was filmed before the death of Jimmy Smith.
Jimmy and James return to Washington partway through the season, leaving Patrick Swilley and diver Brad Taylor in charge of the S&S boat.
Clint's crew consists of diver Dave Stone ("The Kraken") and deckhand Chris Miller ("River Guide").
Chris was replaced by Katelyn Sims, who plays the role of Dave's cousin, but in reality, the two are in fact unrelated, in Season 7.
Their main project is to dismantle the Globe Elevator, the largest grain storage facility in the world when it was built in the 1880s.
They focus on recovering sunken cypress logs from remote swampland, often calling in family members (including their brother Tommy and sister Brandie) to round out the crew.
Billy Ray Smith owns this company, which is based in Nanaimo, British Columbia and focuses on cutting down trees that pose a danger to private landowners.
He and his wife Joann ran it until Phil retired in 2002; their son "Logger" Wade now handles daily operations.
[8] DNR officers served a search warrant on the company to retrieve timber they had pulled from the Hoquiam River without a permit.
William Bart Colantuono, who appeared on seasons two and three of the show, was killed on September 18, 2013 when his helicopter crashed while attempting to lift logs in an Oregon forest.
Witnesses told Linn County deputies that the pilot released the logs before crashing, indicating he knew of a problem.
Melvin Lardy of Pihl Logging passed away December 2, 2024 James Lawrence Jackson-Smith, formerly of Ax Men fame, convicted of crimes against hotel clerk