Choker setter

A choker setter or choke setter is a logger who attaches cables to logs for retrieval by skidders or skylines.

[1][2] The work process involves the choker setter wrapping a special cable end (choker) around a log and then moving clear so the yarding engineer (e.g. skidder operator) can pull the log to a central area.

[3][4] In clearcutting, fallers will typically cut down all the trees and limb and buck them into logs before the choke setters and others arrive to remove the logs.

[5] New chokers are often radio controlled, making the job both easier and safer.

Choker setters at work attaching a log to a skyline in Cowlitz County, Washington (October 1941)