Finally got a logger on my place to harvest my timber but a lot of hardwood stumps are going to be left where I want to put in some plots. Which option will do the better job for my money and if you've hired someone recently what did you pay an hour? I like the idea of the trackho using its thumb to sort everything.
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Dozer or Trackho???
- Thread starter Bushape
- Start date
Track hoe/excavator for sure. You can rent a good size machine for like $3k a week or $8k a month. I had a couple guys quote the job but could not afford to pay someone to do it
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I can't remember what we paid an hour, but find the most experienced dude at whatever piece of equipment you decide on. A good guy can move quick. We had planned to do a track hoe and bury everything, but the equipment and experienced dude weren't available. We found a dozer and an experienced dude, so went that route. Stumps and trash are on edge of fields now, but will be running fires soon, so hopefully a lot of it will break down quick.
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
How much ground…acres?
I initially read this title as "crackho"
Just made contact with a guy. He quoted me $1500 per acre to sheer and pile. I'm looking at 4-8 acres so I about swallowed my phone. May very well be what I have to do.
PickettSFHunter
Well-Known Member
It's more trouble to deal with stumps than it is the whole tree so that will increase your cost.
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
4 or 5 years ago to remove stumps and enlarge two log loading decks we hired a large dozer. Think it was $200 per hour.. one plot was 1 to 2 acre and other plot was 2 to 3 acre and most of the trees were already gone. Stumps were pushed out and pushed into bottom of steep hollow. Plot area was smoothed out and ready to disk and plant. We just had to get up the small stuff and trim a few roots. But one reason we chose a dozer is because we had road improvements to do as well...expensive work...but rewarding.
Good luck with your project.
Good luck with your project.
Mattt
Well-Known Member
Hardwood recently cut u need at least a d6. Not saying it cantbe done with a smaller machine but it'll cost less with the bigger one. Ideally you need both. Remove with the hoe then clip and smooth with the dozer. 1500/ac is cheap.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Good point. That's another reason we went with a dozer. We put in about 3 miles of new roads / watering holes.
If you decide on a dozer, make sure and plan out other projects to complete for the spare time you have with the machine, or even rent another day to complete those needs. We did all we could think with the dozer we had, only as soon as we got rid of it, we came up with 500 other projects we wished we had thought of.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Wow, that's a crazy low bid. I have client that is taking bids to destump a clear-cut section to turn it into a food plot. Low bids are $4,000/acre.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
For small plots (half acre), I'd prob go with the excavator. I didn't even know a dozer could rake and shear mature hardwood timber stumps???? That would be awfully hard on the dozer.
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
The guy I use has one of these with a thumb on a trackhoe…he moves way faster than I ever would have expected.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
They for sure will IF you have a good operator. We rented one between a D3 and D4 in size for 1 month and got 14 acres cleared (de-stumped, pushed off and leveled). All had been clear cut within 2 months prior. A D5 or D6 would have really sped up the process lol
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
As someone who operates heavy equipment every day, if youre not building roads, GET A TRACK HOE! I dont care how big of a dozer somebody is running, a track hoe will pop out 2 stumps to his one. Plus if the operator is worth his salt, he can backfill those holes by sidesweeping his bucket.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Yeah the operator is everything. I could watch dirt work being done all day. It's fascinating to me
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
LOL you would lose that fascination pretty quick if you sit on one long.
BSK
Well-Known Member
This will sound childish, but learning to operate heavy machinery - especially a bulldozer - is on my bucket list. What I wouldn't give to know how to use one. I have so much need for bulldozer work, yet can't find anyone who wants to do it.
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
Uhhhh....hope you have good insurance on your equipment!
