Becoming the Outstanding Louisiana Logger isn’t that easy, really. A logger first has to be, well, outstanding. Then, colleagues in the logging industry have to notice. And finally, those colleagues offer nominations.
Although it is a long process, especially because most of the outstanding loggers — and there are certainly many from which to choose in Louisiana — are concerned with what they believe are the higher calling ... providing for the families who work for their company. Huey Malmay of Huey D. Malmay Logging in Zwolle is one of those loggers who doesn’t seek the limelight, but this year has been selected as the 2022 Outstanding Louisiana Logger.
The logging industry is a big part of the local economy in Zwolle, Malmay said. “It’s what everybody did.”
His father, Huey J. Malmay, had worked in the logging business as a young Huey grew up.
“As a young kid, I thought it was cool to get on one of those skidders and drive it,” Malmay said, who marks about 30 years in the business.
He began working with Pie Martinez with his father and brother Clifton.
“In 1988, I had a chance to drive a skidder for Mr. Pie,” Huey D. said.
He started with just one truck, then soon got a skidder. Then he and his brother bought out Martinez and began buying more trucks and equipment. Three years after the brothers took over, each ventured out to establish their own logging business.
In his early days, things were different, especially the cost of the heavy equipment and the speed at which trees were harvested and hauled to mills.
“My first skidder was about $95,000,” Malmay said, eyebrows raised. “Now, a new skidder is about $350,000.”
Chainsaws were still being used, he said, and a hard day’s work could mean three to four loads of logs per day.
The modern machines might be a whole lot more expensive, but the technology allows them to harvest about three loads an hour.
Malmay has four sons. His youngest, Landon, is a junior at Northwestern State University. Two other sons work with him in the woods. They are foremen for his two crews. Logan, the younger of the two, works a small, three-man crew. Colby runs the big crew, which usually operates a couple of skidders, a couple of loaders and some trucks. His son Hunter, although he doesn’t work for the Huey D. Malmay Logging, does provide a service to his dad’s company.
“(Hunter) is my salesman,” Malmay said with a smile. “Whenever we need a piece of equipment, he’s the one I call.”
Hunter Malmay, who spent his summers during college working for his father in the woods, now works for the forestry division of Doggett Machinery. So, he knows the business inside and out.
As with many loggers, Malmay said it can be a challenge to find good workers, but the crews he has now perform their jobs well and many have stayed with him for many years. He said the biggest challenge sometimes is finding truck drivers. Some have left log hauling for working in the oilfield. Some, however, have returned to logging, preferring to be home every night, rather than working away from home for weeks at a time.
Experienced loader operators also are a challenge to find as the knowledge base is extensive.
“The loader operator’s job is to know what to cut to get the most volume out of the tree,” Malmay said, adding that he’s happy he has had good operators for years.
At home is where the Malmays enjoy being, especially at supper time. After working all day, Colby, Logan and Hunter join their parents for supper. Colby and Hunter bring the grandchildren. They share a meal, talk about the day and just share some good family time. Huey and his wife, Lela, met in high school, though Huey was a little older. Lela was sure to show her assertiveness.
“I guess you could say I made the first move,” quipped the Malmay matriarch with a laugh. “We went to a church dance; our Catholic church used to have dances on Friday nights.” Huey jokes about Lela approaching him but said she knew he had already noticed that “cute little girl in high school that caught my eye,” Huey said as Lela giggled.
What sealed the deal on the relationship might have been when Huey asked Lela’s mother about marrying her daughter. “I said, ‘I promise you if you let her go with me, she’ll never go back home,’ ” he said to more laughter. “It’s been a wonderful 33 years and I couldn’t have it any other way. Don’t know what I’d do without her.” Although she might not have guessed she would be Huey’s wife, one thing Lela did expect was to be a logger’s wife as she was raised in a logging family with father and brothers all in the industry. She admits the long hours are a challenge, but she was prepared for it.
“Bookkeeper, secretary, whatever you want to call me, I do it,” Lela said. “I try to help out as much as I can.”
Some of those tasks are sure to be done as she has organized them.
“Even the guys who work for us sometimes say, ‘You know we have to do what Mrs. Lela says,’ ” she said with another chuckle.
And it’s not just the logging company that occupies Lela’s time. Lela heads to work each morning to the Grady Hill Repair Center. It’s another business the Malmays run, with Lela doing much of the ordering and payroll, “whatever needs to be done.”
At 4:30 each afternoon, she heads home to prepare for the evening suppers where most of their children turn up for a meal.
“We feed all them, entertain the grandkids and probably about 8 o’clock everybody starts leaving out,” Lela said.
When they’re not dealing with logging issues or spending time with children and grandchildren, the Malmays will go to concerts. Bob Seger is his favorite; Kid Rock is hers.
“We’ve seen most all the good bands from the ’80s,” Lela said. “Our kids ask us how old are those guys?”
And then there’s the wildlife. Huey is an avid deer hunter who also raises whitetail deer. He especially likes to sit back and watch the deer on his property, watching the bucks grow their rack and how the velvet on the antlers shed, but he also spends as much time as he is able to hunting their cousins in the woods.
There are many other things Huey does for the community, but Lela said it’s not to gain attention. It’s to help the folks out because of his understanding that to make it where he is today is a blessing.
“He puts everybody else ahead of himself,” Lela said.