Buying 25 acres of woods....

[FxdGrMind]

3K is not a bad investment, but $200 on a "Week" rental will get you what you want (a Clear look of the land) if you spend it brush hogging. The rental will also give you the insight as to what you "Realy" need for working your new property..

I'd say the rental is your "Best" investment other than your time.

When I bought my land, I walked every inch I could (yes I was cut/bruised/bashed and covered in thorns) to find the "Lay of the land" and determine how I wanted to proceed. Plans change when you do that. Even after my initial walks, I ended up doing something completely opposite of my first intentions. Just goes to show that seeing it and contemplation over time makes a BIG difference.

One thing was that I should have purchased a Tractor up front, I realize now that with large areas of land you realy NEED the proper tools to do the jobs properly without killing yourself in the process.

But if you just want a quick look and want to spend the time, Rent the walk behind, survey the land "YOURSELF" and it will lead to the right decisions down the road. But plan for that Tractor ASAP! I wish I had...

 

[dodge man]

I'd agree with renting a tractor, figure out what you need, then buy a tractor sooner rather than later. You will find a walk behind brush mower will be alot of work when you are going to buy a tractor anyway. My guess is that once you buy a tractor, your walk behind will sit and not get used much.

I understand your urge to jump in slowly, but sometimes you just have to take the plunge. The way you describe your property, a good tractor would be a very wise investment, one that you won't regret.

 

[msjwebb]

Thanks for actually understanding what we are looking to do. We are going to rent one for a weekend to see if we like it before we buy one. We are planing on buying a TLB as soon a we figure out where we will be putting the barn to store it in or we get to know the neighbors enough to park it and not worry it will drive away. We have walked it several times and have fallen in love with it. We know it will be a lot of work but it will be how we want it when we are done. And I know we will never be done with that large of a lot. We are also not in a big hurry to develop it, so we are able to take our time and do things right.

 

[CurlyDave]

When we bought our land, it was a lot of scrub oak and other trees. We really wanted a view and got a really good one.

I started off with a "save as many trees as I can" belief, and have come to regret it. There are 6-8 trees which I think are blocking the view, but DW insists stay. And, now that we have cleared the ones around them, they are growing faster.

Some thoughts to consider on house placement. Building driveways is expensive. There is always a trade-off between the best site and a nicer house closer to the road.

Secondly, think long and hard before clearing too much land for a house site. Every square foot you clear around the house is a high-maintenance square foot you have to take care of. I would far rather spend my time clearing out the undergrowth and maintaining paths through the woods than doing lawn maintenance, but that is just my preference.

Another thing to do is check out cell phone coverage while you are considering home sites. It is always worse inside a house than outside, and if you have a choice between good reception and bad, take the good.

 

[msjwebb]

LOL! Thanks Curly! You made me laugh. It will be a learning experience, that is for sure. The 4 acres around the home site will mostly pasture for my horses. =) There are some things we will have to do a certain way because of the soils that are on the property. Like the house will have to sit at least 100' off the road to be within code for the sited out drain field. That could change after we clear the under brush and we can walk the property easier, as it costs about $60 an hour for the soil guy to trudge around the property. Because of that we went to an area we were pretty sure we would get a drain field approved, but will make a longer driveway. Also another thing we need to consider is that a tractor will "damage" the soil and our chances of finding a "perk site" closer to where we want to build. We were given detailed instructions on how to clear the area that is already plated out for the drain field. And one of the big no no's is driving a tractor or other vehicle across it. The trees have to come down by hand and the stumps ground down in place. More work then just pushing them down.

 

[atgreene]

Make sure you stay well away from your lines as well. The last thing you want is to have a neighbor build on the line right next to you. Keep plenty of buffer for your dream home.

 

[newbury]

To the OP -
Have you closely looked at your land on available aerial imagery, soil maps. etc.
Where is the property?
ocean side of 17?
If so you probably won't have to worry to much about views, since most of that land is between flat and level. But I agree that as soon as you remove any topsoil you've got a sandbox.

We were given detailed instructions on how to clear the area that is already plated out for the drain field. And one of the big no no's is driving a tractor or other vehicle across it. The trees have to come down by hand and the stumps ground down in place. More work then just pushing them down.

Does this include getting a tractor close so you could skid pull logs out w/ a light arch on a long chain?

I got my ride from a guy who bought it from Stevenson Tractor, Inc. in Chesapeake. When I got my ride there were several others on craigslist.
My ride w/ all in sig EXCEPT the Woods BH was only 11.5, and it's a DARN good trailer. So I expect you could pick up a lightly used SCUT for under $10K or a TLB for about $15 to $30K.

Good luck.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I would recommend a small used 20+HP tractor and a small rotory. Might not cost a whole lot more than what you are looking at.

 

[RBD]

We have 13 acres of mostly hardwoods in East Texas. Although the use of our tractor is seriously limited from October through March I wish I had bought my tractor ten years ago. Our 15 hp DR Mower works well in loose soil where I would never take the tractor, but if you are not dealing with mud I would scrimp/save/do whatever it takes to get a small (30hp or so) tractor with a front end loader, rotary mower, box blade, and pass on the DR.

 

[Carykong]

Alll things considered. A walk behing brush mower will get very old very quick with 25 acres. At least ,rent one for the day for your personal discovery. You are acquiring a tractor anyway,right? Get a tractor agile enough to navigate your property. Your tractor will be a fine tool for skidding logs,brush mowing,brush moving,all things related to land management. A compact tractor will have a far more gentle impact on your property than a bulldozer. A compact will be far more gentle on your body than any walk behind gear,too. good luck.