Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Thinning small thick Pines

Rent the equipment and have fun custom clearing your lot a small excavator with a thumb or a bobcat with a heavy duty brush hog should make short work

This^.

The Forestry Service here in North Carolina will help you manage your trees for free. I bet Georgia is the same.

8s and 10s are too big for a hog.

You are correct about $$$ on a mulcher... but 15 acres ain't a small task.

Depending on end result desired... a mulcher could make some rows or working zones...

Mulching all 15 acres would be huge money.

If mine... I would work up access and do a combo of spray, cut and burn.

Regardless... It is gonna be a lot of work.

Selectively clearing 15 acres isn't THAT much work.

I clear much harder woody type trees and brush down here, and 15 acres would be a small project for me. I did one 15ac tract that was way overgrown, and pulled and stacked all the big trees (about 15 ft in height and 8-10" at the base), then came in with my HD batwing cutter and cut all the smaller stuff.

2 days total.

Also... Look into Habitat Creation Zone programs with your Forester.

The USDA pays me to cut trees for endangered migratory birds.

These zones are ALSO excellent habitat for grouse, turkey poults etc.

He should hire you...

That is the perfect application for a forestry mulcher. They'll eat it right up.

This is probably the best advice. Consult with the local forester. See what he suggests. I do a lot of thinning work locally and there is a cost share program for property owners. See if something similar is available in your region

If I was close, I'd do it!

I hate trailering equipment, even locally. My loader isn't much of an issue though. It loads and unloads quickly.

My 288 was a pretty good saw to run on my Alaska mill, likely because i didn't give a chit about it. Not worth a damn buckin' firewood though. My Stihl 362 would out cut it every time. Probably the coil went out. One of these days I'll break it down and figure it out.

I have never found pine stands to be of much interest to deer. Wind block and protection from snow aside.

I have a stand of tall mature pines on the back of my place. The deer just pass through them going to and from places they like better.

I'm in the process of removing pines & junipers[eastern cedar] on a piece of bottom land that's swampy.
Currently it's too wet[swampy] to use my tractor to push the cuts around.

The worst thing about evergreens is the quantity of limbs each tree contains!

Brush piles get real big real fast!

This.

A mulch head on a skid steer will eat that place up in no time.

I am currently thinning a pinion pine forest. The best way for my operation is a 4-wheel drive truck and a 3/8" chain and pulling them up by the roots. I burnt 68 slash piles this year. Several so large I fully expected the International Space Station to call in a 911 report.

8-10 foot pines is not high at all assuming the OP’s estimate is correct. Bet there is plenty of understory beneficial for all sorts of wildlife

I’ve had about 35 acres of property mulched. From too thick to walk thru to open enough to see from one end to the other. We run a fire thru it as often as we can which I’ve found is the best way to keep it from coming back with a vengeance.

My purpose for the mulching was more open understory for turkey at the expense of deer cover

Mulching is a great way to thin vegetation density and structure, making subsequent fire a realistic tool to manage the stand going forward.

Consulting forester should be able to steer you right, or you can speak with a county ranger or wildlife biologist employed by the state. Around here 15 acres is a marginal-sized tract, even with mature timber on it, but if there is a logging job going on adjacent to or near your place you might get it thinned eventually. But 8-10 foot stems aren't going to attract any interest on a commercial (positive cash flow) basis. So for a pre-commercial thinning you are left with your chainsaw, a fairly hot prescribed burn, or a mechanical job such as a KG shear, drum chopper, or a mulcher.

This is what I did with my place 2 years ago. I probably thinned less than 10% so deer habits and travels weren't changed but I see far more turkey sign and see birds using my mulched trails traveling.