Can I Clear This by Myself?

[scesnick]

My wife has been bugging me to clear some of our property to make a bigger field.
I have been wanting to clear this spot on my property for quite some time anyway. It is pretty much just useless property right now. It was clear cut 35 yrs ago by my grandfather but now it has some pretty good growth on it. It has cherry, white/red oak and locust on it. Would it be possible to sell this as pulpwood? or is it not worth the effort?

I do have a 25 horse farm tractor and a Case 580B Backhoe. But, since I have yet to hit the lottery, I can probably only swing one more piece of equipment. I would imagine a good solid crawler would be the logical choice. Since I have never even attempted to clear any land before, I was wondering if this would even be possible for me to clear by myself?

The land I want to clear is just to the right of the pond in front of my house (The green roof tops are my house and garage) all the way to the small field on the far top right and to the left of the field in the pic. Kind of a triangle shape. It is roughly 30 acres I would guess.
Oh and Yes, I do live out in the boonies ... lol...
Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland - Google Maps

 

[QwikDraw]

I say yes you can.

BUT.

30 acres is a large area to clear. Without any experience clearing land you may find it a bigger task than you may be thinking. Clearing is dangerous and seasoned veteran get hurt and killed everyday. Taking down a few trees is one thing but this is a huge job for one man.

Do you have a time frame? Are you chipping brush? Burning? Removing stumps?

You may be able to find a company that will pay for chips or even chip it for you just to get the chips.

.

 

[20 20]

Old timers did it with a team of horse's and an axe

 

[scesnick]

I was thinking of burning mostly. any idea what it would run me to get this done. ( ballark of course) I haven't a clue what the going rate would be.

 

[kthompson]

My thoughts based upon my experience I would say yes if time is your friend. Would make the following suggestions: selling pulp wood would give you some money and get the tree trunks out of the way. Chippers would leave your land cleaner than normal loggers do. Then you are left with stumps. This to me is where you need to think carefully. Will your backhoe dig your stumps? You can dig a bigger tree than you can stump. But if you will have only a few stumps you are not able to dig, sell the wood and use that money to rent or hire a big excavator to dig out those few stumps or if you have time use it.

You will find cleaning up 35 acres say on weekends and after work will take much longer than you may think. You need to also find out are you able to burn the trash or must it be hauled off. A lot of this of course depends on how thick your trees are and how large. Don't forget dug stumps leaves holes.

 

[kthompson]

Make some calls and find people in the business of logging. Depending on you may find someone who will trade the work needed for the timber. At same even with the market get someone there to cruise the timber and know what it is worth. It may more than pay for the work.

 

[QwikDraw]

Cut, stumped and removal of everything from $3000 to $5000 per acre

 

[scesnick]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will get someone to look at the timber and see how much I can get for it as kthompson suggested. Then, possibly use that money towards clearing the land. Of course I'm gonna have to wait till the 3ft. of snow is gone before I do that..

 

[kthompson]

You might find a Tom Sawyer or was it Huck Finn approach could work. Set up a contest and pay say $15,000 to the one who does the best job of clearing their acre. Then only charge $500 per each contestant.

 

[20 20]

I agree with Kthompson, check with local loggers, you make some $$$. Also ask around about those in need of fire wood.

An experienced operator can easily take a whole tree{roots and all} down much easier then it is to just dig up an old stump. As Kthompson said, roots will need a lot of fill when done. Plus you'll have to find a place to get rid of the roots, they won't burn until dry and that can take some time.