Buying Advice Bought 100 Acres. Upgrade my tractor or hire some work done?

[Olympus]

Alright gentleman, I need some advice. I just purchased 100 acres earlier this fall. It is mostly woods that has been select cut approximately 6 or 7 years ago. My biggest challenge now is that I would like to do some work on the land. My first priority would be getting some ATV trails cut throughout the property. I use the property for hunting, but would like to expand the use to ATV riding and hiking. As it stands now, I can't access the farthest half of the property to hunt because I can't get there unless by foot. So dragging a deer back to an area where I can access it by ATV would be a LONG drag. So I would at least like a trail to ring around the entire perimeter of the property as well as some trails that cut through the property is several places.

The woods are not very steep, more like gently rolling hills. I have tried using my brush hog, but trees that are about as big around as my ankle are too big to mow and I would eventually get to a point where I couldn't go any further due to the trees being slightly too big to mow. So I abandoned that idea. My next idea was just to take my ATV and a chain saw and start cutting myself a trail, but I expect that to be slow going. I started looking through Craiglist for some land clearing ads and found a guy that actually advertised cutting ATV trails. I has a heavy duty Catepillar skid steer with steel tracks, a grapple, and a Marshall Tree Saw. I watched a YouTube video of the Marshall saw and DANG that thing is legit. I emailed the guy and he said that his setup is IDEAL for cutting ATV trails with the Marshall tree saw. His rate is $100/hour.

Which got me thinking. Would I be better served by just hiring this job out or would I better off if I invested in the equipment so that I could do it myself and not have to worry about how long the job was taking and I could do a lot more for myself. Since the Marshall Tree Saw is a skid steer implement, I could likely upgrade my tractor to a skid steer quick attach version and get a Marshall saw and use it on a tractor instead of a skid steer. My current tractor is a 23hp LS J2023 that I also use around my house which is on 6 acres. I use it to pull a 72" finish mower to mow about 3 acres which is in the woods part of my house. It's too rough in the woods for me to use my zero turn mower. My tractor only has 160 hours so it's still practically new. But for $100/hour, I"m sure I could keep the guy busy for at least a whole weekend, maybe even more, just making a few trails. I'm going to call the guy later today and asks about how long it would take to cut a trail. My northern border is 1100 yards long, a little over 1/2 mile. So I'm just trying to see what would be the better option. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[jeff9366]

I purchased 100 acres earlier this fall. It is mostly woods.

I would like to do some work on the land. My first priority would be getting some ATV trails cut throughout the property. I use the property for hunting, but would like to expand the use to ATV riding and hiking.

As it stands now, I can't access the farthest half of the property to hunt because I can't get there unless by foot.

So TRAILS are your first priority. After clearing trails, what is next?

What is your age? How is your health?

Are you working or retired?


Tractors, which are designed to PULL, are not great at clearing trails. And trail clearing can be dangerous in several dimensions.

Skid Steers, especially TRACKED Skid Loaders, which are designed to PUSH, are much better at clearing trails. I would hire the Skid Steer professional. As Skid Steers do not have mechanical PTOs like tractors, they have high capacity hydraulic pumps to power hydraulic Skid Steer implements. Make sure your agreement includes removing all stumps or grinding all stumps below grade.


What is the ground clearance of your LS J2023 tractor? If it is 9" like a Kubota BX, you cannot do much in the woods.

 

[TripleR]

I'd hire the guy to do it. I've done stuff like that and even with a pretty good size tractor, it's still a LOT of work and it's unlikely you'll find a tractor with enough hydraulic flow to use a tree saw even if you could afford to buy one.

 

[Olympus]

After clearing trails, there isn't much more I would need to do. I'd like to put in some food plots, but my little tractor and tiller could work the ground up for that and I could broadcast seed it by hand.

I'm 33 years old and in good health.

Good point about the hydro pumps. Go to YouTube and look at some videos of that Marshall Tree Saw. I just assumed it would work on a tractor the same as a skid steer, but I may very well have assumed wrong. Here is a good video of the Marshall saw in action: Marshall Tree Saw - Highlight Reel - YouTube

 

[KubotainNH]

That's pretty slick. It uses some big pistons to force the cutter to spin slowly as it moves into the tree. No high speed hydraulic motors. Here's another video that explains a bit more. Marshall Tree Saw - YouTube

 

[ovrszd]

After clearing trails, there isn't much more I would need to do. I'd like to put in some food plots, but my little tractor and tiller could work the ground up for that and I could broadcast seed it by hand.

I'm 33 years old and in good health.

I say this with respect.

First thing you need to do is build a chainsaw scabbard for your ATV or tractor. Then get at it.

I first walk a proposed trail with a roll of orange ribbon. Mark trees that need cut. If I like the end result I then fire up the saw. About 50% of the time I'll change the route and have to relocate the marking ribbons.

Yep, it's kinda slow. But owning property requires a lot of time and work. I've cut at least 10 miles of trails in this manner. I'm 65.

 

[TripleR]

It would help to see some pictures, logging operations went on all around our property the last couple of years and with the junk and ruts they left a chain saw and ATV would take years to get through. I've seen some you can, but not the mess we have here, I won't let them on our property.

 

[nybirdman]

I wish I could find some-one with that equipment in my area.I called two different ones and they both stood me up without ever looking at the job.HIRE the Guy and save yourself a lot of work.There will be plenty to do after he is done.

 

[Xfaxman]

Don't think your tractor is big enough. Here are the specs: Marshall Tree Saw - Models/Specifications

The best way to run a tree shear on the front would be with a PTO pump and a hydraulic reservoir.

 

[Deere Dude]

I don't know the size of your trees but if you can almost get them with your mower but are a little big I would start by using a chainsaw. Just cut them and push them over and let them lay for later. Just make sure you don't cut into the dirt and keep the saw low and parallel to the ground. That way you will have 1" stumps and no sharp pointed trunks sticking up. I would think you could cruise doing it that way, but I don't know how thick your woods is and how big the trees are.