There is no fast way of making this mess go away. As you said, a little bit at a time. I'm going thru the same thing at my place. I sold 100 trees off a small 5 acre plot and believe you me...they stacked those tops together tightly, and many layers deep. Be careful. Lots of unseen dangers in a brushpile. Crap moves when you least expect it. Dragging the tops out individually to a workable area is how I'd go about it. The best way to deal with branches? Answer is: Dont. Critters love brushpiles. Leave them where you can. As they rot, they return many thousands of Lbs of fertilizer/compost to your dirt also. Only chip what you must.
Good point Dennis, boss has 3rd function on his forks for width, keep thinking that's standard Jon_E what HP is tractor? Would a forrester winch solve the problem of course with some sweat blood and diesel
And one can still do a lot with just pallet forks or even just hooking onto the drawbar and skidding logs out like that. Grapples are really nice but few have them as they are sort of a luxury.
