Would like some Hoarder Advice…

Here's the background info… in 2007, my son and son n law and I started whacking away at the woodlot on our small piece of land. We first cleared where a cabin would be built, then some more toward our "view" direction. In 2011, we spent every weekend the guys could get, and we got our cabin built. There wasn't much opening at all in the treeline then. In 2012, the crew dropped a lot of trees in an area of about 150' x 200'. We dropped them across each other to keep them off the ground for a while. We knew it was going to be a mess but there was no time available. This last fall of 2013, we rented a bush hog and the guys did a great job of opening things a little so we could see what we were now dealing with. The 2 photos show what it looks like now after they finished up. Down behind the alders and brush are many 12" diameter maples laid down. Yup, it's all tangled with new growth of brush, etc. A real mess.

The goal for this coming summer & fall would be to get this entire 150' x 200' area cleared, leveled and seeded. And… it sure ain't gonna happen without something big hapnin.

If this was your lot, how would you attack it? Go big and hire it out , or keep whittling away at it. The guys are incredible and love thrashing around down there, but neither has a lot of time away from work. (and, I figure I only got another 40 or 50 years left in me)

 

A combination of:

1. Get what you need for firewood for the next several years.
2. Have a very big bonfire.
3. Give some away if there is too much for you to get to.

 

Good ideas. What about equipment like an excavator with a blade and a bucket w/finger. Do you think in a day, a good operator could move the good stuff to the side (maybe with both guys limbing out the mess as it comes to them), flip out all of the stumps, push the stumps and debris down below, and bury it? Then, level up as much as possible. We'd seed it to get grass on it asap to keep it from eroding.

It's something like that or… just keep picking away at it. Man, it's a lotta brush, limbs and alders.

 

I don't think you want to bury stumps, they will eventually rot out and give you a sink hole. I have no real experience with hiring excavators but I think a backhoe and blade could get every stump out in a day. I would want to get any firewood out first though, pushing it around is going to make a mess of it.

 

Along with a splitter, my 2 guys are the "wood processors" , and one has buds up that way. Not a bad plan. Will run that by him and see what he thinks.

I'm just trying to come up with a way that we can get the most cleared in the shortest time, without spending crazy $$$.

 

Thought for future tree removals . The easy way to get stumps out of the ground by hand!
Not enough room to turn the truck and travel trailer around so this tree had to go !

Have done this with trees slightly bigger.



Dig out and cut roots off.


Pull tree over ?

Once root is out of the ground cut off!

Fill hole.

Nice campsite!

 

If your dimensions are true then what you have is less than an acre. If the ground is rather level you should be able to clear it by hand in a couple days max and then keep it mowed.

Start a fire have one guy draggin brush to the fire another one or two clearing brush shouldn't take long.

Unless the boys are in AA, you can motivate with 'em beer

I've taken down literally dozens of trees on my 4.5 acres, I always clear out around the stump, then brush it down good with a stiff bristle brush, then cut the stump at or below ground level so I can mow over it. Obviously not the right way if you want to plow a field for crop growing though.

I've hand cleared multiflora rose, the worst thing on planet earth, along with raspberry, blackberry, wild grape, tartarian honeysuckle, poison ivy, and who knows what else.....

You bring a dozer in and push it off you still have to burn the pile. With less than an acre, a dozer operator would have that patch cleared and level in time for lunch.

Last but not least....fence it in and put 2 goats in there, that'll clean it out pretty good too.

 

Nice pics Camp. I've removed a few just like that in the past. Some juniper stumps were sumthin. I was near enough to the house and was able to use the hose to clean off the roots enough to use my small saw. Works pretty slick doesn't it? My ole back couldn't and wouldn't take that kind of bending anymore now though, and the bigger issue for us is, we'll have hundreds of stumps from 3" to maybe 14". I've told the boys for years that, the only way they'll ever be able to maintain an opening in the trees there is to get it to "pasture/field" level so they could mow it once a year, maybe twice… or they'll be looking at this same mess every 3-4 years. That does open the possibility of taking all of the bigger stumps down low enough to get over the remains with the mower deck.

Then, there is the 2nd phase of all this… there are probably 50 10"-14" trees that still have to be taken along with many smaller alders etc down below. I keep saying "in good time" but, whew, slotta trees and no time.

 

If we can somehow get times to synch up, you're thoughts might have convinced me. We already have a burn pile started and we cleared around it with the bush hog for that very thing to happen. You know, no matter which way we go beyond that, taking care of as much of the brush and branches ahead of time should be a job that could happen before all of the snow is gone. We have to plan our spring and fall trips because of the road getting soft on us.

All good ideas…

 

I agree with Anshnlich1.

Focus on limbing & burning. Just move the trunks & larger limbs you have stripped clean off to the side to process for firewood after doing the clearing. It will be faster than having to run around picking up the scattered rounds. A good weekend should have it whipped. Then you can worry about the stumps, process the firewood, & Leveling/seeding the ground on your next trip.

 

Thanks guys… I think we ought to go that way for now too. It might also be the only way to get a good look at what we're really looking at… if you know what I mean. Can't see much of anything now down through there. I always was able to make a huge mess in no time…

 

Hey believe it or not, I got an old push mower I use as a bush hog

I've been known to start with that old beater push mower and just shove right through anything I think it would handle, stallin' it out from time to time, but hey, that's maybe the first thing I'd do with that plot you have there, get an old riding mower or push mower in there and just have at it, knock down whatever she'll take.....I'm talking an old beater now, so when she throws a belt or starts smokin' you really don't feel bad about the thing.

 

Oh yeah, if you'd be so inclined, we'd like to see a pic of that cabin

 

I'm the DIY . I'd get after it.

Drag out the logs,
Best :Rent a stump grinder/ or 2nd best: cut the stumps to below ground level, (May have to sacrifice a chain or 2)
run the brush hog over everything , the brush, limbs, saplings a couple-3 - 4 times setting it lower as you go.
Soon as it's thawed & dry enough to work the soil, plow/til/disc the area
pull a drag over the area to get it reasonably level
& add lime & plant grass seed & drag to cover the seed, add water ;

If you don't have time, but have the money & need it done soon, hire it out.

Hurry before the bugs start to hatch

 

Hehehe… if you only knew… … it started as a young lad… I'd be up at the barn and all I could hear would be the faint sound of a mower in the distance when SUDDENLY… AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGcrunchhhh… #^%&$*#@%&$… huuummmm… Dad, down in the orchard with our "bush hog" sharpenin them blades on a fine rock, er stump, er bone… sumthin… a little growling and then… back at it. I didn't even know lawn mowers were fer grass until I was in my late teens… … thought they were walk behind grinders.

I'm afraid even Dad would frown trying to mow down through this lot I'm showin. See, it used to be a pasture about 150 years ago (really) and it's got just about as many rocks floating on the surface as those stumps we be makin… but, we won't know how bad it really is until we can see em. So… gotta keep picking at it I guess. BTW… even got one a them beater mowers that'll prolly live up there someday. When it's running you'll be able to hear it… where ever you are.

And then there's the damm bugs… why did I want to do this again?

 

Yup… what he said

 

Okie dokie… one from the "jungle", one from the road




Now ain't that cunnin … our little piece of heaven.