This past fall I acquired a deer camp. It was the camp for the club I had been in for 14 years. The camp owner/club President owned land adjacent by to our lease 26.5 and 6.6 acres in two parcels. He passed away two years ago and his son, who inherited the camp decided to sell out of the area and find something closer to home.
The lease was not put up for renewal this last season and I suspect, but have not confirmed, may have been bought by Forever Wild. This isn’t a problem as we like the land, location and will use this area as a personal recreation property.
The 6.6 acre parcel was clearcut about 6 years ago and was not replanted. It’s a natural regeneration heavy in sweet gum. It is bounded on two sides by a public dirt road and a drive into a large gated property. There exists a 1/4acre(at most) “plot” with a feeder which I planted this fall. It is entirely incapable of supporting the pressure it gets and is also not easy to see from the cabin. I intend to expand this plot to at least an acre or maybe a tad more. The soil there is good, overall, and I’m hesitant to hire a dozier to come in and just push everything off. My first inclination is to break out the chainsaw and cut an area out, haul the trash to the middle and burn it but there’s property that isn’t mine nearby, I don’t want to risk a fire getting away.
Would it be well worth my money to have an area this size forestry mulched and then spraying the stumps after? Hire a dozier or someone with a root rake, etc.?
I do not, and will not anytime soon, own a tractor. I did my little plots with my UTV and a groundhog Max it it worked well enough so I think I can manage the extra area just as well. I have the time after the season to do this by hand but I’m wondering if the overall result will be worth hiring equipment out vs. saving my dollars but spending much more time on it.

Dozer and root rake are the only way to go.

Do it yourself. A chainsaw and a few hours, you can accomplish a lot. Good luck.

I second this opinion. If its just small growth and 6 yr old stumps a dozier with a root rake will make short work of it and it'll be clean enough that you will not have an issue not having a tractor. Honestly, on something that small, you'll pay more to haul the dozier to the site that you what you'll pay for time in the seat.

Most have a 4 hr minimum which should get you fixed up. $4-450 and you will be fixed up.

A skid steer with a bucket would probably handle 6 yr old regrowth. And you can rent them for about $500 for the weekend.

Make sure the bucket has teeth on it. A smooth bucket is useless for this application.

Depending on what kind of timber was cut and how big, a skid steer most likely will not get the stumps out. I'd rent a dozer with a root rake and get all the stumps out and do it right. You wont regret it.

A skid steer would be hard pressed on major stumps. Do it right the first time. Don’t forget to send some soil samples to Auburn.

So will a Dozier and no reliable rental company will rent a root rake on a bulldozer. Put a 100 hp skid steer against a D5 any day.

If my memory serves me right this area was probably 15-20 year old pines when it was cut last. Now it’s mostly sweet gum and water oak, etc, about 10-17 feet tall and maybe the larger trees are up to 3.5” diameter at waist high. I reckon I’ll just start but cutting out a path around through the area to see if there are any surprises and look into a local source for equipment. This is near Beatrice in north Monroe county.