Having taught logging safety and environmental awareness workshops for many years, I can assure you that logging is the most dangerous job on land.  My first recommendation to you is to take a felling safety and protective equipment workshop; your state logger training organization can help you (http://www.wvforestry.com/lsca.cfm?menucall=lsca).  If you have a small tractor or four wheeler, there are several attachemtns that can be used to pull logs out of the woods.  You can see them in action at any number of local Forestry, Logging, and/or Agriculture Expos or Field Day events.  Best of luck, and be careful.