Best Rookie Questions

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:05 pm

1. "Why did you bring so much duct tape?"
2. (After truck stops and everyone hops out) "So, uhh, where's the land we have to plant? Past this part here (indicating the block)?"
3. "I forgot my rain gear, can I sit in the truck?"
4. "What's for dinner?"
5. "Seriously, I'm hungry, why can't you just tell me what's for dinner?"
6. "Why's it such a big friggin mystery what's for dinner? Can you please tell me? I hope it's (insert item never made in a treeplanting camp)."
7. "Do I get an extra (insert figure here) cents for planting this piece?"
8. "No, I cut my line straight. See, it goes over there, and then goes straight to that tree, then straight to that bushy thing, then straight to the treeline... what do you mean that's not the treeline? Huh? What's a residual? I don't have any trees left over."
9. "Where's my shovel, seriously I put it in the truck... I think?"
10. (Next day) "Okay, I made EXTRA sure I put my shovel in, who took it?"

Greg M. · Post by **Greg M.** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:37 am

Some of my favorites.

1.Ohhh!? That's not the back of my piece?
2. Holding the shovel the other way. And actually digging a hole even after rookie training day.
3. Do you have an extra shovel for me?
4. Where is my lunch?
5. Where do i go to the bathroom?

Scirolli · Post by **Scirolli** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:00 pm

My Favorite

I left my shovel becide the last tree I planted. Can you help me find it?

Tupperfan · Post by **Tupperfan** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:21 pm

"Can you show me where? I don't see where I would have double-planted." (The guy actually planted seven trees around a stump, not noticing the other ones...)

"How come you never hit rocks?"

(Asking the tree-runner at noon)"Do you have extra water?"

(During interviews) "What is a tree deliverer?"

(Heard at the bus station in Sudbury, at the beginning of a season, while waiting to head up to camp.) "You think I'll be good with these newspaper bags?" (Thankfully, there was two quitting BC planters from France in the Greyhound who wanted to sell their bags... The most interesting was that the guy's brother planted 3,000 trees/day, as a rookie, with an ax as a planting tool for a week!)

"When is lunch?" (The worst related line I've heard was from a guy in Banff who pretended to plant trees. He actually said they would ride the helicopter back to camp to eat lunch!)

Captain Slashpile · Post by **Captain Slashpile** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:50 pm

Year: 2003
Location: Rockies, between PG and Mcbride, brushmat helishow
Subject: Camp safety meeting

An actual exchange

Supervisor: We will have absolutely NO food in our tents as we are in bear country.
Simple Simon: Not even spaghetti??

Good good that guy was thick. Needless to say, his tent (with empty tuna cans inside!!) was destroyed within 3 days by a big momma black bear. We paid an old frenchman a dayrate to sit on a slashpile with a shotgun all day. I also had a heli, rotorwash a bear into my treeline. No tunes that day for me. As we were flying away, the mats which were improperly pinned started levitating from the wash. Ahhhh les memoires.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:44 am

Haha, I may be the 2nd year rookie responsible for a few of those questions Nate.

Not necessarily a question but a couple newcomers came to camp midseason and were “looking forward to getting some camping in this summer”.

Also from the same burnouts to our foreman in the morning: “Hey uhhh my boots are still wet from yesterday can I stay in camp today?”

They didn’t last long.

krahn · Post by **krahn** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:23 am

hahaha these are all hilarious.

the only common one i can think of off the top of my head:

ME: do you see trees?
ROOKIE: no...

(after me once again seeing them planting with their head down and forgetting that they're supposed to be following some sort of line.)

megamike · Post by **megamike** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:38 am

are bears usually a threat to camps in ontario where i'll be this spring? like will i have to not have food in the tent? (actual rookie question

)

kingjames_2nd · Post by **kingjames_2nd** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:18 pm

megamike wrote:are bears usually a threat to camps in ontario where i'll be this spring? like will i have to not have food in the tent? (actual rookie question )

Definitely. Don't let any food harbourers tent beside you either. Also, learn as much as you can about planting here so you will sound smarter than the rest of the rookies in your camp. Then use your superior knowledge to convince the girls to tent around you. In this manner, the hard part is already done (that is: getting the girls to your tent).

Tupperfan · Post by **Tupperfan** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:23 pm

megamike wrote:are bears usually a threat to camps in ontario where i'll be this spring? like will i have to not have food in the tent? (actual rookie question )

Yes, since they cut down the spring bear hunting season a few years ago, Northern Ontario has increasing problems with bears, even in urban areas such as Thunder Bay and Sudbury, and many bears are now used to human presence, so much that they won't fall as easily for bear traps as they used to. Last time I worked in Ontario, two years ago, we had to shoot down three bears, including two the same day, as they would constantly come back to camp and steal food and break havoc in the mess tent (and would never approach the bear trap, filled with turkey goodness they didn't mind eating before) . Thankfully, they didn't fuck up anybody's tent, but it happened the previous year.

So to answer your second question, you should never have any food in your tent, no matter where you work. There will be a bin for your personal items in the mess tent or cook shack, use it.

megamike · Post by **megamike** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:37 pm

thanks tupperfan and king james! ill bring bear mace with me

and i like the advice king james ill definetly attempt the whole ladies around the tent thing!

the_dude · Post by **the_dude** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:56 pm

Rookie (after blowing past flag line, thus making a ghost line): hey what the f*ck are you doing in my land man? get the f*ck out
My response varies from understanding to complete emotional dismantling of the rookie, depending on the day.
favorite follow up question you ask?
Same Rookie, moments after me yelling at him: Can i plant back to my land?

dave.a · Post by **dave.a** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:39 pm

on first day of the season:"where can I plug in my curling iron?"

on the block: "where can I put my sweater?" I callously asked them which hand they normally wiped with, a comment I thought suggestive of an invitation to examine their independence. They thought I was a jerk.

day 1 of season, hurry up and waiting at heli stage to fly into camp. Two rookies Brodie and Steve are examining some Gak piled up waiting to be flown into camp. Brodie and Steve are also the name of camp man and cook. Brodie, upon discovering a shiny new helmet with his name on it exclaims" Cool! I got a helmet! Look and see what you got." But after opening the cook's box marked 'Steve' the rookie of the same name morosely declares "All I got was some meat!" You just can't make this stuff up.

TheHamsterizer · Post by **TheHamsterizer** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:06 pm

Best rookie question: "Is this a good company?"

Best answer: "You're here, aren't you?"

Greg M. · Post by **Greg M.** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:19 pm

Ok so i realize many of you won't believe this, but...

"Is it ok I brought my bunny trixy?"

Seabass · Post by **Seabass** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:32 pm

megamike wrote:thanks tupperfan and king james! ill bring bear mace with me and i like the advice king james ill definetly attempt the whole ladies around the tent thing!

Leave the bear mace at home. Especially if you're not trained to use it. The last thing you or anyone else needs is to get some of that in the eye or to have it go off accidentally in a trunk, bus, heli, whatever you're in (or at the cache).

Tupperfan · Post by **Tupperfan** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:08 pm

Seabass wrote:
megamike wrote:thanks tupperfan and king james! ill bring bear mace with me and i like the advice king james ill definetly attempt the whole ladies around the tent thing!
Leave the bear mace at home. Especially if you're not trained to use it. The last thing you or anyone else needs is to get some of that in the eye or to have it go off accidentally in a trunk, bus, heli, whatever you're in (or at the cache).

Indeed.

Just be aware of your surroundings (as much as one can do), this could mean not planting with earphones on, and leave the area if you see a bear that didn't notice you/is not heading away from you. Don't pretend to be dead with a black bear.

But usually in Ontario, from experience, bears are more of a problem for cooks, during the day, than anybody else or that at any other time. They try to avoid humans as much as possible, but the smelly food source that is a bush camp, almost entirely empty during daytime, can be very tempting.

Bostock · Post by **Bostock** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:43 pm

after a forman showed a rookie the basic planting tecnique, she looks and him and askes, "so thats what I do all day?"

the best quote from a vet, and one of the best planter i've ever worked with, also the funniest planter of all time. early morning, some where around day 100,

"don't you wish you were one of those people who couldn't cut it"

"what?"

"you know, one of those people who quit thier first day."

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:10 pm

What company do you work with that offers a 100 day planting season? Or is that going like March - September?

jono · Post by **jono** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:50 pm

Post by **Scooter** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 9:08 am

Hah! It burns, it burns ...

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 9:58 am

Real question. He said "Around day 100." Most of the companies I've researched say to expect about 60 days. If there was a way for me to pack 100 planting days in from when my exams finished ~April 25th to Classes Starting September 4th, I'd kill [metaphorically] for it. That's about 120 days, so I guess 5 and 1's with no downtime ever.

vacationer · Post by **vacationer** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:08 am

That's spring on the coast, spring-summer in the interior, and fall on the coast, most likely spread between two or more companies, beginning in late february/early March and ending around the first few days of October, with most or all of August off. But you won't need to know any of this for a few years, assuming planting is still a viable career then.

jono · Post by **jono** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:10 am

Post by **Scooter** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:18 am

I think the last time I had options on a 100 day season in pure interior summer planting was around 1998. We often used to work from May 1st to around August 28th or the first week of September, but that's pretty much impossible now.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:32 pm

Too bad. Is WW Wildwoods? Do they have an August plant still?

jimbrowski · Post by **jimbrowski** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 9:22 am

"Real question. He said 'Around day 100.' "

In 10+ seasons of planting, I don't think I've had a season that was ever less than 100 days.
Feb - Sept = 8 months = 160 days max. If you minus a summer month or two you still get about 120 days.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:04 pm

Problem is that I'm a student.

Exams end April 25th
Classes Start September 3rd.

Now if I could cram 100 planting days into that time period, that would be sweet.

vacationer · Post by **vacationer** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:28 pm

I'm afraid you'll be very lucky to cram any planting days into that period this season. And, assuming you do get a job, the best approach to your first season is to have no expectations whatsoever. Show up, keep your mouth shut and try to learn by imitation and osmosis. Ask sensible questions if you have any. If you want to make a demand, ask yourself if it's reasonable before proceeding, although chances are you'll have no real idea whether it is or not. I remember standing outside the supervisors trailer about two shifts into my first season whining to anyone going in or out about how badly I needed cigarettes and was a truck going in any time soon, etc etc. Finally the supervisor reaching into a carton, handed me a pack of cigarettes and smiled at me. The smile said, here's some cigarettes, now please leave us alone. It still embarrasses me a little when I picture it.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:09 pm

I don't know why expressing desire for a 100 day season gets people assuming that I haven't planted before (aside from the idea that it might be hypothetically impossible). Last year I planted with TPC and got a 44 day season from May 20th to July 29th. Which was substantially shorter then I wanted. I already have a job for this summer (estimating between 55 and 65 days, usually 60). Technically, between April 25th and September 3rd is 130 days. With 25 shifts of 4/1, that'd be 125 days; leaving 5 days for camp moves/bad shens happening.

Realistically, such an ideal planting season would be extremely hard to obtain, if not impossible.

But I'd still like it.

vacationer · Post by **vacationer** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:28 pm

This:

"... aside from the idea that it might be hypothetically impossible ..."

jono · Post by **jono** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:45 pm

Post by **Scooter** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:17 pm

44 days. Ouch. If I ever have a season approaching that short, it will be time for me to hang up the bags.

^^ Good point above. There ARE a lot of planters with at least 7-9 years of experience posting on this board. Much more so than less experienced planters, I suspect. That's pretty impressive. It's funny, but I only really think of myself as about a 7th or 8th year vet. I don't understand why, considering that this will be year 20. And looking at it a different way, I only planted two completely full seasons. I guess the mindset is an average of the two extreme characteristics.

Bostock · Post by **Bostock** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:23 am

most days in a single year i've ever worked with one compeny is 90ish. but as has been said, you've got to work the contacts a bit to get 100 between march and oct. I never even try to plant in august. way better things to do with my life.

44 days, sheesh, and here I thought the idea of activly planting less then a third of a year and spending the rest of the year telling people your a tree planter was ridiculous, that takes things to a whole new level...

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:25 pm

Lastly, you sound so damn chipper I don't often associate such a happy-go-lucky attitude with an experienced planter.

I am rather chipper. The job had it's bad parts, but it definitely had it's good parts, and was rewarding. Especially the 250$+ days (and the 400$+ day). I'm sure when I eventually am doing that daily it won't leave me feeling so ecstatic; but a sigificant part of me is looking forward to going out planting again, pushing myself to the limits, and seeing how much I can put in the ground.

I think that will be my goal in tree-planting [aside from make enough money to stay in school and then some]. To see if I can squeeze a 100 day season between late April and Early September. I won't this year (given that it is my second year, plus I'm extremely pleased with who hired me) --- but once I have a few more years under my belt? Yeah, I'm going to take a shot at it.

Duncan · Post by **Duncan** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:44 am

funny stories, not my best rookie quote or question but a good rookie story

1st day of planting my second year as a foreman, only 1 planter made it for Day 1, which was a rookie, which was alright, train her then deal with other rook or two on Day 2 when everyone else showed up, less hassle then a usual Day 1 of the season.
So of course I'm going to plant with 1 rookie on my crew, but I spend a lengthy time before I let the girl go down the trench without me over her shoulder, I plant a trench down giving her tips and watching her, on and on, so I go off and finish my bag up as she got up the trench and back.
We meet up on the road and I say " Now let's go check out your trees and we can see what's wrong with them before anything else" and we step back off the road and look at the first tree.
"Now ya see this one hear, it's what we call shallow, the plug needs to be covered."
"Ohh yeah I see" says the rookie and she looks at the next couple trees and says "Those ones have that shallow thingy too."
"Yeah, so" I said "your going to have to check all your trees to make sure they are not like this" and off she goes to the 4th tree and where she finds a nice new foot long blue flag beside it.
"Actually, I think this is your trench" the rookie says "because this isn't mine" holding my flag in her hand.
Who uses flag in a trench I thought? Then I realize I just came back from the coast with habits. Damn.
"Yep sure is, now go fix your two trenches." I told her.

Haugen · Post by **Haugen** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:44 am

Duncan wrote:funny stories, not my best rookie quote or question but a good rookie story

1st day of planting my second year as a foreman, only 1 planter made it for Day 1, which was a rookie, which was alright, train her then deal with other rook or two on Day 2 when everyone else showed up, less hassle then a usual Day 1 of the season.
So of course I'm going to plant with 1 rookie on my crew, but I spend a lengthy time before I let the girl go down the trench without me over her shoulder, I plant a trench down giving her tips and watching her, on and on, so I go off and finish my bag up as she got up the trench and back.
We meet up on the road and I say " Now let's go check out your trees and we can see what's wrong with them before anything else" and we step back off the road and look at the first tree.
"Now ya see this one hear, it's what we call shallow, the plug needs to be covered."
"Ohh yeah I see" says the rookie and she looks at the next couple trees and says "Those ones have that shallow thingy too."
"Yeah, so" I said "your going to have to check all your trees to make sure they are not like this" and off she goes to the 4th tree and where she finds a nice new foot long blue flag beside it.
"Actually, I think this is your trench" the rookie says "because this isn't mine" holding my flag in her hand.
Who uses flag in a trench I thought? Then I realize I just came back from the coast with habits. Damn.
"Yep sure is, now go fix your two trenches." I told her.

I'm pretty sure I watched you flag mounds as well....

I think you were coming back from the coast at that point as well.

barnbill · Post by **barnbill** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:37 am

When do we stop for lunch?

skibum_ · Post by **skibum_** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:13 pm

" where am I?" It is almost funny finding a rookie close to tears wandering the block looking for their cache.
"can you tie my boots?" enough said

I once had a note left at a cache that said "Hicks (me), we be walking east, peace. Love AJ and Ben". The bus was 15 minutes late picking them up, so they decided they were going to walk to the highway and hitch hike back to camp. Luckily, east was the direction of the highway and the bus picked them up on its way out of the block. They didn't realize the highway was about 50KM down the bushroad. Suffice it to say, we had a good talk about how leaving the block is super sketchy.

These are from a rookie foreman I had a couple years back...

foreman: "do you guys think this is the block?"
planter: "no, this is a forest, you can tell by the 15 foot trees that are 3 feet apart"
foreman: "can you guys plant it anyways"

"think we can push it out?" after she backed the bus into the 4 foot deep ditch on the side of the road
"think we can push it out?" after she got the truck stuck sideways on the road in door deep mud

newb · Post by **newb** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:39 pm

This is going to be my first year tree planting. How many training days will i get? Will the foreman give feedback on my technique and style?

newb · Post by **newb** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:53 pm

if i do chin ups every morning for the next 2 months will that help me plant faster? i cant wait to go tree planting for the first time.

Post by **Scooter** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:00 pm

How many training days will i get?

All of them.

Will the foreman give feedback on my technique and style?

Do you mean your own foreman, or the foremen of other crews?

if i do chin ups every morning for the next 2 months will that help me plant faster?

I can't answer this, because I don't do chin-ups going into the season. I will try, if I can find time, and let you know how it worked. I think that leg work would generally be better though.

i cant wait to go tree planting for the first time.

You must. And once you start, you'll say, "I can't wait until it's over ..."

newb · Post by **newb** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:17 pm

I need the money so bad. I really hope i can pull it off. Whats a solid number of trees per day for a new planter at 10cents a tree in Prince George?

Post by **Scooter** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:57 pm

Day 1: 250.
Day 2: 400.
Day 3: 800.
Day 4: 400 (let's assume some replanting of yesterday's trees).
Day 5: 750 great trees.

After that, it will continue to climb quickly. By the end of three weeks, you should be able to consistently put $125 of quality trees into the ground, less camp costs. You'll suffer slight setbacks when you move to your second contract, because of learning to deal with new specs. By the end of six weeks, you should be able to frequently hit close to $175, less camp costs. By the end of your season, you should be having some days where you clear $200 to $250.

This varies a lot from individual, but I'd say that all but the bottom 20% and top 20% of first-year planters might be somewhere close to those numbers. And this is based on being on a contract where you learn to plant good quality trees from the start, and you're not just slamming sloppy trees into the ground everywhere.

newb · Post by **newb** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:54 pm

Shit son!!! i wanted to hit 800 on my first day . snap!

skibum_ · Post by **skibum_** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:31 pm

Scooter might be lowballing it a bit. I work 10cent land and the rookies on my crew usually trend something like this...

Day 1: 100-150 (constant supervision and mentoring)
Day 2: 500 (last couple hours of the day checking trees)
Day 3: 1000 (last hour or so checking trees)
Week 2: majority hitting 2K with a couple hour or 2 replants
Week 3-6: everyone between 2-2.5K consistently, some hitting 3K
Week 7: all rookies have hit 3K and some are closing in on 4K
Week 8: majority of rookies have hit 4K

This has been the trend for the last 3 seasons. The couple before that were a little slower. The land isn't great, but the atmosphere of the crew is to go big.

Post by **Scooter** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:48 pm

Whoa there, don't let them know that it's that easy!

krahn · Post by **krahn** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:24 pm

skibum_ wrote: Day 1: 100-150 (constant supervision and mentoring)
Day 2: 500 (last couple hours of the day checking trees)
Day 3: 1000 (last hour or so checking trees)
Week 2: majority hitting 2K with a couple hour or 2 replants
Week 3-6: everyone between 2-2.5K consistently, some hitting 3K
Week 7: all rookies have hit 3K and some are closing in on 4K
Week 8: majority of rookies have hit 4K

This has been the trend for the last 3 seasons. The couple before that were a little slower. The land isn't great, but the atmosphere of the crew is to go big.

who in god's name do you work for skibum?? you're trying to tell me that the second shift your rookies are mostly breaking 400/day? if this is humour, it's too dry for me to decipher! the only rookies i've ever heard of planting that many trees by shift 2 were on 6 cent sandy brackies, and they were the exception not the rule.

skibum_ · Post by **skibum_** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:34 am

It may be because our contract is only 8 weeks long. Planters don't need to pace themselves as much. But yeah, the last 2 seasons, every rookie but 1 or 2 hit 4K. Most are not consistently making $400 a day in the 8th week, but 25% probably are. I don't know what it is, the last two seasons we have gotten rediculoul rookies. Our rookie highballers have hit 5K the last 2 years. I knock it up to the rookies not knowing any better and overall smooth operation of the contract.

jono · Post by **jono** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:48 am