Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, and machine learning methods and systems, including one or more Machine Learning (ML) based moisture level detection models, are used to accurately identify moisture content and the specific locations of the moisture on an entire surface of a veneer sheet or other wood product and provide moisture level prediction data for the veneer sheet or other wood product. Based on the moisture level prediction data for a given wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to wood product to ensure the wood product is put to the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.