I managed to get a little work done before the snow moved in the other day. I've been trying to clean up some dead trees and make a trail thru my woods. I had to cut down 4 small live trees to make room to drop the larger dead one. The smalls were white oak, red oak and a hickory. The larger dead one is a red oak. Anybody have any advise about the easiest way to make trails?
How are you trying to make them now? If you're making trails for that mower/trailer combo to run on, you've got a bit of work ahead of you for sure.
Years ago when we first moved here, I used a Stihl brush cutter and a chainsaw to put trails in. I followed the path of least resistance, meaning I went around large trees. I found that if you cut things close to the ground, the mower on your tractor can keep it clear of new growth. I may mow my trails 3-4 times per year. Here are a couple pics showing a bit of the trails in my woods.
Oh dang! I didn’t want to see a mattock! Looking to make some trails for walking and a 4 wheeler. Right now I’m just clearing a bit with the chainsaw. Thinking about renting a tractor to pull some brush but I’ve never done that before.
Eric B has the right idea. Brushcutter = trails. If your woods is more brush than woods, a tractor might be the way to go, but you will have to wait for a freeze or you will rut things up, its mud season.
I've got a DR trimmer with a Beaver blade. That may be my best option. I'm embarrassed to say that since I mainly use it with the trimmer head, I didn't even think about it.
There is no easy way to make trails. Also there is no easy way to keep them open. It is a never ending job, but the trails do make it better. A tractor can be a big help. I had to cut a lot of witch hazel so had lots of brush to contend with. We have a large weed whacker that has a saw attachment and I used that a lot. Generally tried to take the path of least resistance. One usually is constantly making new trails as you go in to get a downed tree or even just cutting another one down.
That is the ticket, right there. You can cut almost even with the ground and flat across the top. No sharp sticks to puncture a tire.
All depends on the quality of the trail you want. If you intend to use a mower to maintain, that trail requires time to get it that nice. Just a wheeler trail, the wheeler can claw over the logs where you dropped it. Use brush for the bad holes that hold water. I should get some pic of some of the wheeler trails. I make, they are rudimentary point a-b trails. Others that I am on all the time I take time to make them nice.
