Bush Hoggin' in the DARK?

Theowegian · Oct 5, 2004

Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

Sometimes the daylight is begins to disappear and I end up in the woods or pasture bush hogging long past daylight. I do have lights on the front and on the rear of my kubota L3130. Its kinda spooky out 'dere!

Anyone else do tractor work in the dark? Any bad tales?
Im wondering if that great horned owl thinks Im his supper....?

dwight

texastomtom · Oct 5, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

I work fairly regularly after dark.

I worry more about something making me hurt myself than anything actually hurting me.

I dont have to worry about bears and such but even a coyote will make you hurt yourself if you sneak up on him.

Do you live around truly dangerous critters ?

The worst thing around me is probably snakes but up on the tractor I dont worry about. Now if I am digging around on foot I try to watch.

Was working this weekend picking up some stuff and found myself with a handfull of snake.... Of course I had to almost make my friend hurt himself when I tried to hand the snake over to him.... ( i'm kinda twisted that way )

No big deal was not a posionous snake - but sometimes we do have rattlers around...

Guess I was lucky....this time !

/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

The worst part just around dusk and after is the mosquitos around here.... If you dont belt yourself in they will take you right off the tractor and do bad things with you. They cant lift the tractor but one time They did manage to drive it around to the backside of the orchard... ( or was I just drinking that night and forgot where I put it ) I think it was the mosquitos....

Gary_in_Indiana · Oct 5, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

I've mowed and brush hogged as late as 11 PM and have no particular problems doing so. I'd never go somewhere unfamiliar to me after dark but when I'm on land I've worked before I'm fine with it. In the summer it's actually nice to not be working in the hot sun. This time of year a hooded sweatshirt (or two) and some gloves come in real handy. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

soarkrebel · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

I've done my fair share of cutting at night. my family has a 120 acre farm that i help cut . i have spent a few nights on mine to get more done in a weekend.
Actually i kind of enjoy it i ain't scared of the dark. but then again i work graveyard! i ain't normal! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

SkyPup · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

It is easy to get lost out on our property in the dark at night since once you do a couple of turns every direction looks the same. A compass and a pistol is nice to have. I mounted a liquid fillled boat compass on the hood away from the dash electronics on our L-3130 and have my Ruger single action .44mag Super Blackhawk in a holster underneath the FEL joystick. Works great!

Soundguy · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

I frequently am finishing up a tractor chore at dusk. headlights and a rear worklite are usefull.

Speaking of animals. I pretty much make a practice to try to avoid hurting them, if i can, when mowing.. for instance if a turtle or rabbit is clearing out of my way when mowing.. If I can tur to avoid it without endangering myself I will.

This weekend I was mowing and looked back and noticed my toplink lynch pin was gone and i was about to loose the pin.. anbd knowing how hard it is to line that 10' mower up I stopped to go replace the pin before it came all the way out. Just as I was about to step down i noticed a snake coiled right behind my front tire... right eher I had to step off the ladder on my tractor... couldn't tell exactly what it was thru the grass.. but it had a head that looked venomous. I didn't want to move the tractor much due the pin getting ready to fall.. so I let the brake out a little and let the tractor roll back.. took care of the snake. Like i say.. I don't normally hunt down critters to mess with them.. but if they don't know enough to stay away from a huge diesel tractor.. they have survivability issues that don't need to be passed on to the next generation anyway...

Soundguy

slowrev · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

Yep, not enough daylight. Anyone know where I can get a weedeater with a headlight. Have been known to set up the generator and a couple of halogen lights to work an area late, cut wood up, etc... I have 2 300 watt halogen floods each fastened to a piece of board with a hole in it. just put a nail in where you want to hang the light, works good. Now that I have a couple of inverters I wont have to drag the generator around for that.

btw,
Whoever posted about having an inverter with the ability to hook two together, the ones I got at Sams did not have that feature /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Thanks for letting me know it existed though. And the 500W ones I got at sams were $29 and Vector brand.
Ben

SkyPup · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

We've shot two rattlers just this month after their dens were flooded from Hurricane Frances and Jean, one was a six foot canebreak with 8 rattles and another was an eight foot diamondback with 13 rattles.

Our large animal veterinarian and good friend (we went to veterinary school together) just had his Laborador bitten on the eye by a rattler, dog lost it eye after its head swelled up 3X, apparently the venom was injected directly into the eyeball, which saved tha animals life at the loss of an eye. Even a $500 dose of antivenom is not of much use unless administered in the first four hours to stop the tissue necrotization.

In the last two months we've had four alligators removed from our property after an eight footer killed our two year old Wheaten Scottish Terrier. Seen four more passing through that did not warrant killing.

Two Bobcats live on the edge of our property and have eaten many of our large geese, as well as numerous raccon, possum and fox attacks on the hen house.

Have gun will tractor.... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

chucko · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

Some of my best work is done in the dark /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Cacinok · Oct 6, 2004

Re: Bush Hoggin\' in the DARK?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( . . . have my Ruger single action .44mag Super Blackhawk in a holster underneath the FEL joystick. Works great! )</font>

What exactly do you have lurking on your property that you'd need the .44 mag for?

My biggest concern at night is the neighbor's drunk brother when he comes to visit the neighbor. No street lights on our road and the drunk brother often forgets to turn his truck headlights on when he drives home from the bar at night. Good thing I have a FEL for a bumper on the tractor.

As an aside: the drunk brother blew a tire about a mile away from his brother's place and figured it would be easier to get a new tire than to change the tire while drunk. He left grooves in the road for the last quarter mile until the turn off onto the dirt road that leads to our place which is a half mile long.

Clint