Timber Cruise Value Estimates Pushed Me Into a Bad Deal

I used to trust third-party timber cruise reports almost completely when evaluating forested land. Paid good money for them, figured I was being diligent. Then I bought an 80-acre addition to my property based on a cruise that valued the standing timber at numbers that looked real solid on paper. What the cruise didn't capture was species quality within the volume. It counted board feet accurately enough, but a significant portion of those red oaks had ring shake — internal cracking you only find at the mill. Looked fine standing. Cruiser wasn't cutting wedges on every stem, and I didn't ask hard enough questions about defect methodology. I ended up netting about 60 cents on the dollar compared to what the cruise implied once that wood actually hit a buyer. Now I walk timber with someone who buys stumpage for a living before I make any offer that relies on timber value. Not a consulting forester — an actual log buyer with skin in the game. Anyone else found that standing timber valuations from standard cruises consistently overshot what you actually recovered at harvest?