10 acres - Need guidance

[Frank Boyer]

Large tractors with large brush hogs go for $150+ an hour, but they get a lot done in a short time. You might check with local equipment dealers and see if they have rental units. If they don't have rental units look for the manufactures and ask who in your area has purchased one. $3K to $6K an acre sounds expensive. A large track loader/excavator can clear a couple of acres or more in a day.

 

[fuzz1500]

If not in a hurry...just use yourself and hand tools . Much cheaper...and way more rewarding . I learned alot...and continue to learn ! I agree about the brush hog ......they are very helpful indeed I would never pay anyone to take care of the big stuff for me....thats where all the fun happens !!

 

[HuskStihl]

I'm actually sad my 12 acres is cleared. I genuinely enjoyed the time, and ant bites, and thorn pokes, etc.. I've actually fallen to basically begging my neighbors to let me clear some of their property

 

[MrSchaeferPants]

Yeah the way it's going, guess I'm stuck doing a little at a time. Got my NE property line cleared, about a 10' wide path all the way down. Guess I'll let the goats do their thing, then go back with a saw, DR brush mower when I get the time, and just keep up with what I've cleared.

 

[HD2010]

We are about 20% done with my buddies 20 acres. The entire property as been greatly reduced of Honeysuckle and such. Still maintenance on that. Lots of fun. Learning alot. I'm not sure if we will ever get done. But now I look at woods in the area and think of how they should look. Honesuckle sticks out like a sore thumb to us now. Very satisfying to look back at what it was and what it is now.

 

[HD2010]

Yeah the way it's going, guess I'm stuck doing a little at a time. Got my NE property line cleared, about a 10' wide path all the way down. Guess I'll let the goats do their thing, then go back with a saw, DR brush mower when I get the time, and just keep up with what I've cleared.

I think you will enjoy the fruit of your labor.

 

[fuzz1500]

I'm actually sad my 12 acres is cleared. I genuinely enjoyed the time, and ant bites, and thorn pokes, etc.. I've actually fallen to basically begging my neighbors to let me clear some of their property

Hahaha..I hear that !! Actually thinking of buying some camping property in Western PA .....just to be able to feel that good rewarding feeling again !!

 

[Hellbent]

Put an electric fence around it and put some pigs in there. They will clean it up fast and will give you meat. Get some 80 pounders and they will do a number on it.
We have close to 20 pigs now and they can clear land in a hurry.

Ditto on the pigs! I just recently got out of pigs and let me tell you isaaccarlson is 100% right! I used them for the same purpose in addition to farming them and they will CLEAN a place out quickly.

Interestingly enough mine always preferred grass, weeds, shrubs etc to any grain I ever gave them. Plus anything they wont straight up eat they'll dig up and eat on the roots. They would even eat cedar bark and kill those damn things!

 

[Jim Timber]

What do you need to contain pigs? I've been under the impression they need more than a typical 3 wire fence to keep corralled.

(above) This is the beginning of some clearing I've been doing. It's actually 3 years old now, but I haven't been back to burn and segregate out the firewood from the twigs.

(below) This is what the rest of my place looks like for the most part. I dropped some bigger trees (the oak to the left in the middle is 16") for deer cover by one of my stands trying to encourage more daylight movement of bucks, but they didn't take to it as readily as the turkey and does did. Outside the wolf trees, my crop trees top out around 20". The land was harvested in the mid 70's and then a salvage cut was done again in the 90's after a tornado. My "big" trees are still tiny compared to the stuff most fallers are used to, but I'm happy with my land.

 

[Jim Timber]

This is what that first area looked like the weekend we started cutting it:

The only piece of advice I'd offer to what everyone else has said, is if you want the trees to die, cut them in mid to later June through mid-late July. The trees will have used up their energy stores leafing out, and will be in the process of growing (which pulls all the reserves out of the stump/roots) only to be cut off in the heat of summer to starve for water and croak.

If you're cutting for regeneration, or trying to thicken up a border with a neighbor's land, then you want to cut in late winter or very early spring before the sap starts flowing too much. That way the top being gone from the tree will cause a big push of new growth up from the stump/roots.

In deer habitat terms, we call the practice of half cutting a tree to then knock it over and continue growing "hinge cutting" (different than the hinge you cut to then fall a tree traditionally), this keeps the top alive for a year or two, as well as stimulating new growth where the top has been knocked over. I have some pics of how well that works for a physical and visual barrier if anyone want's to see them.

 

[dboyd351]

In deer habitat terms, we call the practice of half cutting a tree to then knock it over and continue growing "hinge cutting" (different than the hinge you cut to then fall a tree traditionally), this keeps the top alive for a year or two, as well as stimulating new growth where the top has been knocked over. I have some pics of how well that works for a physical and visual barrier if anyone want's to see them.

There's another thread on here (or is it SH?), on "hinge cutting" for deer habitat.

 

[fuzz1500]

This is what that first area looked like the weekend we started cutting it:

I remember starting the same way..takes me back !! I tell ya though....my property actually burned about 25 years ago due to another landowners brush fire on a windy day . So I have kind of the same size tress and transitioning as the photos you posted . Once I cleaned up a lot of the fallen stuff...and did some management cutting.....the remaining trees took off like crazy !! Canopies got bigger...and without a lot of the smaller stuff hanging around..the remaining trees just looked bigger

 

[fuzz1500]

P.S. I really like this thread...brings back fond memories of me taking a vision in my head..and making it happen !

 

[Jim Timber]

I'm in a situation where my neighbors don't understand the value of TSI and active management. So we're growing into an over-mature stand for the animals many of us desire. The understory is getting thin where the trees are transitioning into early maturity. I plan on encouraging that in my savanna, and setting it back in areas with poor growth (I'll be planting conifers in those spots too). The oaks I left standing are actually being released for the time being. Eventually I'll cut them for firewood or saw logs. In the meantime, I'm letting them grow.

I love these threads too. It's one of my favorite subjects over on the QDMA forums.

 

[fuzz1500]

I'm in a situation where my neighbors don't understand the value of TSI and active management. So we're growing into an over-mature stand for the animals many of us desire. The understory is getting thin where the trees are transitioning into early maturity. I plan on encouraging that in my savanna, and setting it back in areas with poor growth (I'll be planting conifers in those spots too). The oaks I left standing are actually being released for the time being. Eventually I'll cut them for firewood or saw logs. In the meantime, I'm letting them grow.

I love these threads too. It's one of my favorite subjects over on the QDMA forums.

One of the areas I "messed" up in...was clearing too much in certain spots . Took all the brush and thick areas out . When I did that..I lost the rabbits , grouse , and deer bedding spots . The deer are still there a lot..but dont hang around for too long anymore . I was too narrow minded and young when I started this adventure..but its all part of learning . So I have let some areas grow back into brushy/scrub junk . All of a sudden I have some rabbits and turkeys back ! I also have an area that I would love to make into a pine grove . Maybe some Ponderosa Pines..or something like that !!!
I hope this thread never ends !!

 

[fuzz1500]

Another lesson I learned...was dont just leave your pics on your computer . Print em out or put them on a cd or zip... My laptop's hard drive actually broke due to it being dropped . Lost most of the pics stored on it..including the pics of the very first day I started crawling around cutting my way into the property So Ill have to just see those in my mind...but I still have a few pics from that point forward !

 

[fuzz1500]

Ok..Ill stop now !! BTW..It helps to have a good chainsaw....weadeater with brush blade...old 8n for draggin logs..pushing dirt and brush hogging !! Also helps to have a dad that has a skid steer , a mini excavator and dump truck !!! But I can say..even if I borrowed a few things...it was all done by me . Im darn proud of that !!

 

[Jim Timber]

I've spent much of my time up there the first 3 years just getting the swamp crossing passable. I used the trees and brush harvested from the clearings I've started working on to corduroy the trail from the beach road (where the in-laws cabin we stay at is) to my high ground on the other side. It's 260' of hard won turf. Most of the logs laid down were carried there one at a time on foot while sinking up to your knees in muck doing it. Last summer was the first time I could drive the atv through without winching at least part way.

Now that it's nearly passable with dry feet (you still need muck boots - 75' of it is still 8-10" under water), I should be able to use my new trailer to finish the job and get working on where my hunting outpost/shed is going to go. I hope to be building that this summer.

 

[fuzz1500]

Some early pond pics !! Next year..... finish up the little dam to raise the water level about 14 to 16 inches.....tidy up the rough edges..and get some grass growing !!

 

[Jim Timber]

Did you rent the mini excavator?

I want to buy a skidsteer so I can use it for habitat, logging, milling, and firewood processing. I was thinking a tractor would give me more options, but I think the skidsteer is the better choice for what I need done most. I can use the atv for food plot type stuff.