We hired Pcamper and his son, with their mulcher, to open up a bunch more huntable ground for us today.
They spent most of the day here and did an awesome job.

I'll post some pics of the new ground tomorrow. I was too tired to go back and take pictures this evening.
This Kubota machine did the trick and didn't leave anything but sawdust in it's trail.
It was great to meet two more aldeer members, Jon & Jesse, as well.

I watched a guy clear lots with one of those. Frigging awesome how good they do

I know it’s been discussed before but what’s the going hourly rate? $150/hr with a minimum I’m sure.

That's about right. Id rather let Jon discuss his rates specifically.

how big of a tree will it take down

He was taking down oak trees today that were 8" to 10" diameter and 40' tall.

Those things look like the Tasmanian devil on the old cartoons. They sling pieces everywhere.

If you think that one is something, which it is, you should see the one Gobbler has in action. I'd pay him to let me operate that thing one day.

Is this an area you will be planting? Reason I ask is I had a guy do some for me and I am sure it depends on the operator and machine but it just didn't turn out like I thought it would. Not complaining just haven't seen anything to compare it to. Thanks

Thanks Outback, we really enjoyed spending the day with you. That is a great place, Good luck with hunting!

We're not planting this area, although we could (now) if we wanted to. This was a combination of very large wild plum groves and a 5 year old cutover. After the mulcher finished, we can now manage it with our own equipment.

I've seen Ted's machine. It's bigger than we really needed. Although it would've done nicely. I bet that machine weighs 30 tons.

Awesome machines. I think it would be a thrill to operate one.

Any idea how much area can be cleared in an hour? i.e. - how many acres per hour can be cleared?

That all depends on what you're cutting and the terrain.
A good operator, like Jesse, can make it sing but it's still a factor of what he's cutting.

Can that thing grind up stumps of larger diameter trees that have been cut down as well?

Awesome. Looking forward to the pics. We had a mulcher at our place cleaning out some areas and if was the disk kind. It left it a lot more roigh with bigger chunks laying around, but like you said, now I can manage it with my own equipment.

I've had one on my place, reclaiming old roads, and opening up a few more food plots. Does a really good job!

The only thing I'll say negative about it is that I believe that it has the capability to bring in exotic invasive plants, tagging along on the machine from the previous job. I had some work done two years ago, and this summer, I spotted a dozen places where Japanese climbing fern has sprouted and grown. It's no where else on my 170 acres, but was found exclusively in the areas that were mulched.

It's not cogongrass (it very well could have been), but it's still some irritating stuff to deal with. If I didn't know what it looked like, I would have had a mess in a few years. I always carry some herbicide with me when I'm over there in the growing season, and treat the areas that need it or new sprigs I find. I caught it early, so I hope that I've corralled it.

I hired a guy from talladega back in August to turn 10 acres of 3 year old cut over into pasture. Over all I am pleased with what he accomplished. This was a skidder type with about an 8' head. $250 per hour clearing about an acre per hour. It was instant pasture, the mulch-dirt mixture left behind held the top soil in place & it greened up in just a few days.

I saw one in operation on Redstone Arsenal that was mounted on the front of a skidder. It was a drum about 30 inches in diameter, 10 feet long (horizontally) and had teeth all over it to cut/grind with. It was bad ass!

Have you still got that guys number or name? I have a friend who needs some work done.