"What have I hit while bush hogging?"

frank_f15 · Jun 15, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

This happened a few years ago( about 20 to be exact) was cutting my mothers cornner field with my brand new ford 2n and KK RFM Now bear in mind i had been cutting this field for many years i so i knew there was nothing out there to worry about. So there i am out there , fat dumb and happy when all of a sudden i hear this god awful sound. slam in the clutch, and shut the tractor down. get off to investigate and low and behold don't i find my wallet(or what was left of it) credit card shredded, pistol permit shredded, drivers liscense shredded, and all this funny green looking paper shredded(about a $220 bucks worth.) /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif seems on the previous pass my wallet fell out of my pockect, but not to fear i found it on the next pass /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

_RaT_ · Jun 15, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

Oh yeah baby, those skunks have the fortitude I wish I had. They go to a yellow friggin jacket nest at night and obliviate the little stinkin yellowjacket larvae. I could love to like the smell of skunk when they have the fortitude to do that. Bravo Mr and Mrs skunk, terminate the yellowjacket and your my friend. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tom_H · Jun 15, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

( Needless to say, there is a 2'x2' place left unmowed.)

Good man. Havin' a soft heart is a GOOD thing.

Let's see Eric. The ones I can laugh at are the 3 times I've hit PVC irrigation pipes and created geysers. This stuff is so flimsy compared to the old galvanized pipe.

The one I still feel horrible about is this. I knew we had 2 ferrel cats around, a male and a female, both a beautiful gold. They helped keep the pocket gopher population down. What I didn't know was that the female had just had 4 of the prettiest gold kittens I've ever seen and they were nestled in a thick mass of tall weeds that I could not see into. Just as the tractor cleared the spot and just before the r.c reached it, I saw the female fly from below the 3ph. By the time I stopped, it was too late. None were cut, but 3 were dead from concussion. The fourth was too small to know how to eat or drink. I tried to give it milk and water, but it didn't know what to do. I tried really hard not to leave my scent and hoped the mother would come back. I thought the kitten's only chance was if she did. That little thing called and called for her. I tried my best, but the kitten died of exposure after 2 days. I guess I should've taken it to the vet instead of waiting for the mother. I don't flinch killing pest animals, but I felt bad about those kittens for a long, long time. Have Blue, you did the right thing. Sleepin' soundly at night with a clear conscience is a good thing. I'm sure you sleep very well at night.

JoeinTX · Jun 16, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

Ah, the perils shredding.......

Like above, I've run over the old forgotten fence and spent time unraveling barbed wire from cutter blades. I've learned to wear the worst, old nasty hat I have when doing this because I kill atleast one a year. I check for animals and give the baby quail plenty of lee-way to skitter about and away from my path.

Years ago I used to help the elderly neighbor fella with some of his jobs. One day I was using his MF 2705 to cut some reclaimed pasture land. He had a 10ft drag shredder that heused behind the thing, sort of an overkill. I had forgotten about the protruding axles that the tractor had for duals. I'm going along mowing normally and I make a near pass just like I would with any small tractor at a utility pole out in this patch......GGGGWWWWRRRHHIIIIPPPSSSSTTTT. I had caught the pole with the axle. By the time I had realized what was happening, reacted, and hit the clutch I had wrenched past it. I just sat and waited for the pole to fall... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

It didn't and I jumped out of the cab after a minute to check the damage. The axle was fine, but the pole had about a 3" gouge cut into and a couple of cracks from the impact. Felt like an a$$.

I let the owner know, he called the power company and they came out a replaced the pole.

One of the surprising things was how easily that tractor sawed off part of a pole without so much as a wimper. If I hadn't heard it, I never would have know it happened as the tractor barely studdered at attacking a telephone pole... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

DirtHauler · Jun 16, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

....A partial list of the things I have "found" while mowing customers fields;

A roll of about 6' of chain link fence.
A piece of 2' x 6' corragated aluminum.
A piece of 1/2" x 4' electrical conduit.
A whole bunch of green plastic fencing laid out flat.
A large metal wash pan (full of water)
4"x 4"x 12" post with pcv pipe and fauchet attached!
A 1/2' galvinized pipe and fauchet out in the middle of 4 acres!
Bailing wire
"T" posts (laying flat)
Partialy buried tire (standing up-right)
Large rocks on "clear" fields.
An old water well "head" pipe ( what a noise!)
Rattle snakes that won't duck for the mower!
Rats, mice and gophers. What the mower don't get, the crows and hawks get.

Every field is an adventure!

MOW ON! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Indydirtfarmer · Jun 16, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

( Indydirtfarmer, that sounded like a good topic to me! Here in New England hitting rocks is so commonplace it is hardly worth mentioning. I grew up in Illinois so this was all new to a flatlander thirty years ago when I first came out here. Probably the worst was a stretch of wovenwire fence that was laid down in the brush. That took some time to unwrap. I hit a guywire anchor that had been left for dead that made a little racket. I hate to say how many hats I've shredded trying to get just a little closer to the tree line. The old Woods chopper I use has no stump jumper so I really have to pay attention to things.

Eric )

Well, I guess since I "inspired" this thread, I might as well add my latest discovery to it.

Mowing yesterday in a residential area. (The worst place on earth to bush hog....) It was a 2-1/2 acre lot, just across the road from a middle school. A home builder owns the lot. He claimed that it was clear. No obstructions... (famous last words...) Weeds were over the hood of the tractor. I started off slow, made about 4 rounds, and decided that all was well.

Then reality reared its ugly head. The only vacant lot in a subdivision is ALWAYS the neighborhood dumping grounds.

Lo and behold..... CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!!!!

Buried in the weeds were 3 bicycles. I missed 2 of them. #3 wasn't so fortunate. It was a VERY expensive Mongoose "BMX" bike... (KEY WORD; WAS)

And so it goes................

kensfarm · Jun 16, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

A friend of mine moved to Kentucky.. bought a farm and a brand new JD tractor.. went to start bushhoging.. and hit a big rock that launched right at his plastic diesal tank.. it shattered the tank. I told him.. a least it wasn't his head!

have_blue · Jun 16, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

( seems on the previous pass my wallet fell out of my pockect, but not to fear i found it on the next pass /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

Ugh! That one takes the cake! At least there was no tractor damage like the rock and the old plow.

On the bright side, you got to smell that wonderful *money aroma* the rest of the day.

The other day, I went to the little drive-in bank. There was a new girl framed in the window. Uh huh, looking good too. I threw my check book and a check to cash into the drawer. This vision of womanhood picked it up and said "Good afternoon. Oh, I just LOVE the smell of leather" I didn't want to tell her it was vinyl. When a gal is that cute, you humor them, see. She gave me the cash, and I picked it up, sniffed, and told her "Now THIS is a smell I like"! She laughed sort of like a seal barks. Airhead... let me out of here.

Slamfire · Jun 17, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

I think she wanted you to run home and get your motorcycle jacket. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

DannyD · Jun 17, 2005

Re: \"What have I hit while bush hogging?\"

poor bird, let it live. mean ole tractor........heehhehehhe

kidding aside, is some places running it over could be illegal, seem to remember endangered........not sure though