Need advice for land clearing 70+ acres of timbered land
- Thread starter Vhayne
- Start date
dclynch
Silver Member
I have to reply. We had the same thing the 150 acres we lease for hunting was select cut and the guy that did it left it a mess. You can believe me or not but we cleared trails to drive a jeep, 4 wheeler. Side by side down by ourselves with no equipment other than 4 wheelers and a chain saw. Since then I have bought a tractor, brush hog and roto tiller as after the select cut it opened up a few areas for food plots. I can honestly say at first I was mad when it was cut but now after a few years it has made this property just beautiful. the hunting gets better every year. Dont know if you are a hunter or not either way we have trails that go all around the property.
scoutcub
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OK, I have to jump in here on this. Lots of great advice here thus far and several good options proposed.
I'm in a similar situation, I have 62 acres I bought 4 years ago that had just been logged, with tops and stumps everywhere. I bought a dozer (18,000lb) to clear the brush, clear trails, and dig stumps. The first 2 tasks it did well, but digging stumps is not the dozers forte....at least the bigger hardwood stumps that I have.
Soooo, I bought a 30,000 lb excavator. Awesome for removing stumps.
My plan is to clear an area for a house, pole barn, create riding trails, and open up the woods, as in clearing out lots of the undergrowth. I will leave some piles of brush in a few select areas for game. I dont think I will remove all the stumps on the property, there are just too many. I will use my brush hog, the tractor in the avatar (49HP) with the grapple, the dozer and ex. I also have lots of usable firewood logs, that I grapple into a clearing, and cut up there.
The first load I donated to the my church's angel auction.
It'll be slow going since I'm doing it alone, as I will just grapple/push the brush into one massive pile and burn it. Already had a few great burns. My problem with the stumps is they have clumps of dirt on em and the dirt is hard to burn...:laughing: This is the kind of stump I'm dealing with....
So once the burn is over I will move the pile around with the dozer, remove all the dirt, and repile the stumps for another burn, after adding more brush.
The only thing I still need to get is a root rake for the dozer blade.....would make the cleanup much easier.
For diesel, I have a 300 gallon tank with a gravity nozzle up on a stand, easiest way for me. I think the dozer/ex have approx 40-50 gal tanks, thats a lot of work.
As you said, it's theraputic, it's my getaway, and get a bit of a workout picking up sticks/logs, cutting and throwing firewood. I'm also a pyro, :fiery: so I love a good fire with a beer and cigar.
I got the 3 pieces of equipment for under 100K. I can always sell the big equipment for close to what I paid for it, whenever that might be.....
Sounds like a great project we can follow on TBN!
I'm in a similar situation, I have 62 acres I bought 4 years ago that had just been logged, with tops and stumps everywhere. I bought a dozer (18,000lb) to clear the brush, clear trails, and dig stumps. The first 2 tasks it did well, but digging stumps is not the dozers forte....at least the bigger hardwood stumps that I have.
Soooo, I bought a 30,000 lb excavator. Awesome for removing stumps.
My plan is to clear an area for a house, pole barn, create riding trails, and open up the woods, as in clearing out lots of the undergrowth. I will leave some piles of brush in a few select areas for game. I dont think I will remove all the stumps on the property, there are just too many. I will use my brush hog, the tractor in the avatar (49HP) with the grapple, the dozer and ex. I also have lots of usable firewood logs, that I grapple into a clearing, and cut up there.
The first load I donated to the my church's angel auction.
It'll be slow going since I'm doing it alone, as I will just grapple/push the brush into one massive pile and burn it. Already had a few great burns. My problem with the stumps is they have clumps of dirt on em and the dirt is hard to burn...:laughing: This is the kind of stump I'm dealing with....
So once the burn is over I will move the pile around with the dozer, remove all the dirt, and repile the stumps for another burn, after adding more brush.
The only thing I still need to get is a root rake for the dozer blade.....would make the cleanup much easier.
For diesel, I have a 300 gallon tank with a gravity nozzle up on a stand, easiest way for me. I think the dozer/ex have approx 40-50 gal tanks, thats a lot of work.
As you said, it's theraputic, it's my getaway, and get a bit of a workout picking up sticks/logs, cutting and throwing firewood. I'm also a pyro, :fiery: so I love a good fire with a beer and cigar.
I got the 3 pieces of equipment for under 100K. I can always sell the big equipment for close to what I paid for it, whenever that might be.....
Sounds like a great project we can follow on TBN!
scoutcub
Veteran Member
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- Yanmar LX4900//Cub 7532//Cub Yanmar SC2400//Komatsu D38//Cub Volunteer//Cub SZ60/CAT 289C/CAT 308
OK, I have to jump in here on this. Lots of great advice here thus far and several good options proposed.
I'm in a similar situation, I have 62 acres I bought 4 years ago that had just been logged, with tops and stumps everywhere. I bought a dozer (18,000lb) to clear the brush, clear trails, and dig stumps. The first 2 tasks it did well, but digging stumps is not the dozers forte....at least the bigger hardwood stumps that I have.
Soooo, I bought a 30,000 lb excavator. Awesome for removing stumps.
View attachment 324515
My plan is to clear an area for a house, pole barn, create riding trails, and open up the woods, as in clearing out lots of the undergrowth. I will leave some piles of brush in a few select areas for game. I dont think I will remove all the stumps on the property, there are just too many. I will use my brush hog, the tractor in the avatar (49HP) with the grapple, the dozer and ex. I also have lots of usable firewood logs, that I grapple into a clearing, and cut up there. View attachment 324516View attachment 324517
The first load I donated to the my church's angel auction.
It'll be slow going since I'm doing it alone, as I will just grapple/push the brush into one massive pile and burn it. Already had a few great burns. My problem with the stumps is they have clumps of dirt on em and the dirt is hard to burn...:laughing: This is the kind of stump I'm dealing with....View attachment 324518View attachment 324519
So once the burn is over I will move the pile around with the dozer, remove all the dirt, and repile the stumps for another burn, after adding more brush.
The only thing I still need to get is a root rake for the dozer blade.....would make the cleanup much easier.
For diesel, I have a 300 gallon tank with a gravity nozzle up on a stand, easiest way for me. I think the dozer/ex have approx 40-50 gal tanks, thats a lot of work.
As you said, it's theraputic, it's my getaway, and get a bit of a workout picking up sticks/logs, cutting and throwing firewood. I'm also a pyro, :fiery: so I love a good fire with a beer and cigar.
I got the 3 pieces of equipment for under 100K. I can always sell the big equipment for close to what I paid for it, whenever that might be.....
Sounds like a great project we can follow on TBN!
I'm in a similar situation, I have 62 acres I bought 4 years ago that had just been logged, with tops and stumps everywhere. I bought a dozer (18,000lb) to clear the brush, clear trails, and dig stumps. The first 2 tasks it did well, but digging stumps is not the dozers forte....at least the bigger hardwood stumps that I have.
Soooo, I bought a 30,000 lb excavator. Awesome for removing stumps.
View attachment 324515
My plan is to clear an area for a house, pole barn, create riding trails, and open up the woods, as in clearing out lots of the undergrowth. I will leave some piles of brush in a few select areas for game. I dont think I will remove all the stumps on the property, there are just too many. I will use my brush hog, the tractor in the avatar (49HP) with the grapple, the dozer and ex. I also have lots of usable firewood logs, that I grapple into a clearing, and cut up there. View attachment 324516View attachment 324517
The first load I donated to the my church's angel auction.
It'll be slow going since I'm doing it alone, as I will just grapple/push the brush into one massive pile and burn it. Already had a few great burns. My problem with the stumps is they have clumps of dirt on em and the dirt is hard to burn...:laughing: This is the kind of stump I'm dealing with....View attachment 324518View attachment 324519
So once the burn is over I will move the pile around with the dozer, remove all the dirt, and repile the stumps for another burn, after adding more brush.
The only thing I still need to get is a root rake for the dozer blade.....would make the cleanup much easier.
For diesel, I have a 300 gallon tank with a gravity nozzle up on a stand, easiest way for me. I think the dozer/ex have approx 40-50 gal tanks, thats a lot of work.
As you said, it's theraputic, it's my getaway, and get a bit of a workout picking up sticks/logs, cutting and throwing firewood. I'm also a pyro, :fiery: so I love a good fire with a beer and cigar.
I got the 3 pieces of equipment for under 100K. I can always sell the big equipment for close to what I paid for it, whenever that might be.....
Sounds like a great project we can follow on TBN!
Ken45101
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Nice equipment, I'm sure it's lots of fun 
One thing I've heard about buying used dozers: it helps a lot if you can repair them yourself, they need a fair amount of maintenance and field service is very expensive.
One thing I've heard about buying used dozers: it helps a lot if you can repair them yourself, they need a fair amount of maintenance and field service is very expensive.
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
scoutcub
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Nice equipment, I'm sure it's lots of fun
One thing I've heard about buying used dozers: it helps a lot if you can repair them yourself, they need a fair amount of maintenance and field service is very expensive.
Ken is quite correct. Right after I got the dozer, a got a transmission temp warning light.....obviously not a good light, and "red" to boot. I fiddled with it, but it never went away. Called in the tech....took them a few hours to track it down, was just the sensor.
A sensor, with labor and field visit, cost $500. :bawling: Good think was, after talking to the tech, found out about 2 guys that live rght next to me that work heavy equipment on the side....and the cash price is muuuucchh less. Definitely a good resource to find/have if you have heavy equipment.
scoutcub
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It was such a good post, it deserved to be stated twice.
Haha, thanks Kyle!
One thing I forgot to mention...
regarding waiting till winter. As you can see in the equipment picture.....wintertime, lots of mud in the tracks....which is not good for em. Wears em out much quicker. I basically shut down working in the winter, or rainy/muddy conditions, and prefer working on the dry ground. I'll take my chances with bees and varmints....:bumblebee: :snake::laughing:
bigdeano
Platinum Member
Be sure to check out the burning regulations in your area. Here in Western Washington we have to have a permit and the piles can only be up to four feet square. It's a bummer if you make a huge pile and then can't burn it.