What is the cost of clearing land for food plots in the Ozarks?
Filed under: Food Plots
Love your show and the amazing amount of information you provide to us all!
I watched the video from May 14, 2012.
My question is about clearing the land.
I’ve got some land just south of you across the Arkansas border north of Harrison AR. I’ve built a few food plots by hand but none are large enough to be “feeding” plots. I want to create some larger “feeding” ones but I’m concerned with the budget. Can I ask the approximate cost of getting a contractor in to do that type of work? Since our land is less than an hour apart…I just may be better off contracting the same folks that you did instead of getting some random dozer company that is used to clearing an area for a subdivision or roads etc…and not creating food plots.
Also, what about the large underground stumps and the inevitable HUGE rocks/slabs that weigh hundreds if not thousands of lbs…what do you do about those?
Thanks, Dr. Charles DC.
Charles,
I agree with you – many dozer operators aren’t skilled at clearing/preparing land for food plots. Here’s a couple of important tips.
I always have the equipment operator push/pile the debris up hill! Pushing trees downhill will cause the loss of more soil compared to pushing trees uphill. There is a significant difference.
I prefer a trackhoe (long arm and bucket with thumb) to a dozer. Trackhoes can reach up and push trees over using leverage and therefore remove trees with less soil disturbance. They also can create much tighter burn piles at they can stack trees versus just shoving.
In my area, it typically cost $500 to $1,000 per acre to clear medium to small trees and burn the piles. This should leave the area ready to soil test, fertilize and plant.
It’s often cost prohibitive to transport heavy equipment very far. I’ve had the best results by finding a local contractor that I like and sticking with them.
One final tip – I always flag very tree I wish to leave. Don’t assume the equipment operator has the same vision you do for the plot. Flag as high as you can reach so the operator can easily see the flags while sitting on the equipment. Blue flagging or paint seems to work best in timber.
I have the operator remove all stumps the find. If not, they will rot out and create large holes in the plot. I ignore slab rock if the majority of the plot is plantable!
Enjoy creation,
grant
