Finally bought some decent land

Tailhunter said:
Wish I could say that they are everywhere. Last year not so much.
Click to expand...
that's why I kept looking for property with a creek and possible springs. I plan on building a small pond if at all possible. In the one spot in the creek that held waterz there were a thousand hoofprints
 
Ikarus1 said:
that's why I kept looking for property with a creek and possible springs. I plan on building a small pond if at all possible. In the one spot in the creek that held waterz there were a thousand hoofprints
Click to expand...
Those beans and corn really help. None of that around here.
 
Ikarus1 said:
that's why I kept looking for property with a creek and possible springs. I plan on building a small pond if at all possible. In the one spot in the creek that held waterz there were a thousand hoofprints
Click to expand...

There shall be bambi's then. At our mountain place we have two springs and they join together to form a small creek that always has some water. We always have deer. There are a few wimpy apple trees and some other good plants as well, but it seems the deer always find the water. The other available water is closer to houses and main roads so I suspect they like our area better. Plus we haven't harvested any of them. Yet. :D
 
Last edited:
Well, until we close next month I don't have much news on my escaoe plan except we found out that on our current 2 lane country road, the town we live has OKd a 175 home development on 60 acres that will increase traffic about 500%

No Bueno! Already too much traffic speeding up and down the Pine Bluff as it is. Hope they like hitting deer at night!!

My incentive for getting out of here and getting started on our new beginning is running at an all time fever pitch.

We have been fixing up my current property in anticipation of my upcoming appraisal, and I have been working day and night plus my day job. Lord willing, we might just list this home as soon as we close on the land purchase, purchase an RV and start drilling a well.....
 
I’m looking to acquire land in the near future to shoot, ride dirt bikes, and hunt. Probably between 10-30 acres. I noticed you said you were zoned for agriculture, is that what I should be looking for?
 
So it's been a while since I updated this necro thread. We have been busy as of late, just in time for my first tax bill. It is 1/3rd of what the property tax on my 1.3 acre 2,000sq/ft house that is my current residence, in the SAME COUNTY lol. For 10x the amount of dirt. Unencorporated.
It's amazing what knocking off city taxes (greedy little podunk town) and their "license plate fee" per vehicle extortion does for your tax bill.

What do I get for that extra 35% on the hundred dollar? I get trash pickup and 'po-leese pro-tekshun' y'all. Whoopty effing do. I can do without both thanks. Seriously trash pickup in the unincorporated county is like $125 a year. and I have a county dumpster (for the other county) about 2 miles away. As long as I don't haul off motor oil, they don't care where it comes from.



This week, I hired a great guy by the name of Chris Rousell of Boom Brush Control in Waxhaw NC to come and mulch about 4 acres of our 11. This is going to be pasture and homesite in the long term, but a hunting area the rest of this year.


4c4e52c852cb22f4f633b2dc931d5c85.jpg

Fecon+ Bobcat T770 = a glorious timesaver and soil saver. Now I just need some grass seed and fertilizer!
 
Last edited:
CHRIS_WNC said:
Cool. Get some good before/after pics if you can. I’m curious about those little shredders.

CHRIS
Click to expand...

He had a professional drone videographer come and do before and after footage. I'll post it up when I get it. This IMO is the only way to clear land that you care about.
An excavator would have destroyed the topsoil of this grown-up pasture and required A LOT of grading touch-up.
This way everything that nature put into those trees from the soil goes BACK into the soil as mulch. And it doesn't require much if any erosion control.
Plus he burned about 1/16th of the amount of fuel per day, and there's no huge piles of stumps to burn. The price per acre cleared was competitive, and Chris and his son are great people.
 
Last edited:
Does he grind stumps up? We are having 10 acres cleaned up after some logging. Big equipment, removing stumps, grading, then drill seeded. We needed a quick turn on establishing some pasture land so we went all in on it.

But the other 13 that was logged has been left left laying...so far. I’m just wondering if a little piece of equipment like would be able to shred down some larger pine stumps low enough that we can bush hog later on. We don’t have an immediate use for those acres and can let nature help us clear it.
Edit: love the creek bed in your pics!
CHRIS
 
Last edited:
CHRIS_WNC said:
Does he grind stumps up? We are having 10 acres cleaned up after some logging. Big equipment, removing stumps, grading, then drill seeded. We needed a quick turn on establishing some pasture land so we went all in on it.
CHRIS
Click to expand...
The way that it works,the mulcher starts as high as it can reach, and grinds the entire tree to ground level. There's no stump above ground level that I can see. If he fells one, he pushes it over and runs back over it. The flat area with mulch in the foreground was dense thick sapling overgrown cutover.....and he's just cleaning up a little leftover around my keeper trees. It literally erases trees, stumps, laying logs, and brush. There's nothing else that can do a better job with pasture prep. All I have to do is disc it up (maybe) and spread seed and fertilize and wait on rain. I'm going with Orchard grass and Fescue mix.
Maybe a little white ladino clover.

BTW 2 months ago that creek (Meadow Creek) was completely full of water. Now it's not even soft.....we need some RAIN!
 
Last edited:
Ikarus1 said:
BTW 2 months ago that creek (Meadow Creek) was completely full of water. Now it's not even soft.....we need some RAIN!
Click to expand...

This is the time to dig deep in the creek bed. Put a plastic 55gal drum in the hole with the bottom cut out. Put a PVC pipe in with a filter/check valve(?), cover it up and you could have an irrigation source.
 
Last edited:
rdinatal said:
This is the time to dig deep in the creek bed. Put a plastic 55gal drum in the hole with the bottom cut out. Put a PVC pipe in with a filter/check valve(?), cover it up, and you could have an irrigation source.
Click to expand...
the way that it bends, it has a natural dam where a tree grew in the middle of the creek, so it holds water in that area alot longer than the rest of the creek. But that's not a bad idea at all. I already have a 35 gallon plastic drum that is cut for that reason. We plan on putting in a pond nearby also so that could fill it quick.
 
Last edited:
Pink_Vapor said:
What does mulcher contractor run per day?
Click to expand...
I am paying per job. It's looking like a 2-day job for around 4 acres cleared, so I figure arout $2.5K per acre cleared. Very comparable to the quote I got from several grading companies.

With a chainsaw, I would have been clearing for months. And that wouldn't account for the stumps or burning, and the soil wouldn't have been improved or plantable as soon as I was done. Worth every penny IMO.
 
Last edited:
Ikarus1 said:
I am paying per job. It's looking like a 2-day job for around 4 acres cleared, so I figure arout $2.5K per acre cleared. Very comparable to the quote I got from several grading companies.
With a chainsaw, I would have been clearing for months. And that wouldn't account for the stumps or burning, and the soil wouldn't have been improved or plantable as soon as I was done. Worth every penny IMO.
Click to expand...
Thx. I've several overgrown (15' tall) acres I'd like to have cleaned up.
 
That's what I need to find up in Laurel Springs to clear up some of my new property.
 
Looks good and curious to follow how planting back into what he clears does and clearing video. We had looked at someone doing some one time but I was under the impression the stumps will still be there just flush with the ground and wasnt sure how well grass would do or smooth a pasture would be after. I Understand they will rot out but that will take a little time obviosuly. Main thing is can you establish grass on it in a timely manner would be my concern. It is nice not to take the top soil off or deal with brush piles.
 
Jp8819 said:
Looks good and curious to follow how planting back into what he clears does and clearing video. We had looked at someone doing some one time but I was under the impression the stumps will still be there just flush with the ground and wasnt sure how well grass would do or smooth a pasture would be after. I Understand they will rot out but that will take a little time obviosuly. Main thing is can you establish grass on it in a timely manner would be my concern. It is nice not to take the top soil off or deal with brush piles.
Click to expand...

I have about a week or so to still be in the 'optimal’ zone for planting cool season grasses in Zone 7b. I’m gonna treat it just like my lawn after a drought or a foot plot which means aerate, seed and fertilizer application after a soil test. Probably gonna need a truck-ton of lime. I am about to post up some more videos today. I tried my hand at running the machine and I suck at basic loader operation much less backmulching
 
Last edited:
Some more examples of the mulcher felling trees and just general badassery. He is helping to improve a shooting lane. My wife and the vertical videos.........:rolleyes:




 
Last edited:
Congrats! I did the same in Alamance County 10 years ago and still haven't built on it. It has a creek bordering it (Bear Creek) that I bet looks a lot like yours right now.
 
Ikarus1 said:
I have about a week or so to still be in the 'optimal’ zone for planting cool season grasses in Zone 7b. I’m gonna treat it just like my lawn after a drought or a foot plot which means aerate, seed and fertilizer application after a soil test. Probably gonna need a truck-ton of lime. I am about to post up some more videos today. I tried my hand at running the machine and I suck at basic loader operation much less backmulching
Click to expand...
. Hopefully we get some rain so it will come up. We were reseeding some pastures but stopped till it rains because its so dry, scared it would sprout and then die with no roots to support it.
 
Jp8819 said:
Looks good and curious to follow how planting back into what he clears does and clearing video. We had looked at someone doing some one time but I was under the impression the stumps will still be there just flush with the ground and wasnt sure how well grass would do or smooth a pasture would be after. I Understand they will rot out but that will take a little time obviosuly. Main thing is can you establish grass on it in a timely manner would be my concern. It is nice not to take the top soil off or deal with brush piles.
Click to expand...

Let us know on that when you go to aerate. Poplar and most hardwood stumps will be gone in about 2 years. Pine and cedar stumps last forever. I had a clear cut done and kept some of the skidder roads open for my tractor and 4 wheeler. Hardwood stumps I could push out with my bucket or explode with a bushhog in a year or 2. 5 years later, I still have pine stumps that seem as good as the day they were cut. Damn pitch makes them almost immortal:(
 
Ikarus1 said:
Almost finished. Wife made me save every persimmon tree. I tried to save as many hickory and ash trees as I could. Then a couple of those damn Bradford Pears [emoji849]
6cc70011126e9eaf4a6d1887303b26ef.jpg
b21745c38817fd163518be9dba0c2ede.jpg
Click to expand...

Won't the persimmons attract deer?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
beamernc said:
Those bradford pears will perform best when they are pruned about 2" about ground.
Click to expand...
Then you get 100 new shoots lol. I'm gonna let these go as long as they can without breaking in an ice storm. Then they become some of the best firewood around ;) My driveway is lined with them now, and when the new owner inherits them I'll be happy to come cut them up and haul them away.

Trash tree with a benefit lol. These are 'volunteers' so I am hoping that means they're a little tougher than the Lowe's version.
 
Remshooter said:
Let us know on that when you go to aerate. Poplar and most hardwood stumps will be gone in about 2 years. Pine and cedar stumps last forever. I had a clear cut done and kept some of the skidder roads open for my tractor and 4 wheeler. Hardwood stumps I could push out with my bucket or explode with a bushhog in a year or 2. 5 years later, I still have pine stumps that seem as good as the day they were cut. Damn pitch makes them almost immortal:(
Click to expand...
This was a pasture that had grown up over 30 years' time, and it was alot of sweetgum, a stand of pin oaks, tons of cedar, a bit of hickory and a few pine trees but not many.
I'm gonna run over it all with a disc harrow set to straight and about 280lbs of water weight. Looking at some of the homesteading forums, that was the best way to get the stumps busted up well enough to establish some pasture grass. That and about a dozen nubian goats, a random donkey, and maybe a couple cows working on it, should take care of whatever is just under the surface.
 
Last edited:
concepthomes1 said:
We still gonna build that covered shooting platform?
Click to expand...
So we have re-done the entire range and the new plan is to build a raised platform like a deck with a roof and put the shooting bench on it. That way I can have a bench and prone shooting side by side. Then a separate pistol shooting area. Should have a 100yd x 25yd lane at this time tomorrow
 
range makeover in progress. Not gonna get 100yds without pushing dirt and moving more trees, so may just settle for 80 for now. Better than the 70 I had before and I can put more steel at differing ranges. My nephew sure enjoyed shooting steel with my Marlin 981T

20e5ec7620455b97b6369ffd2a811404.jpg


2c6858b81f115898f73572592270828d.jpg
 
Last edited:
Ikarus1 said:
short term my plan is - hunt it this fall, figure out where I am gonna put my septic field / food plot / shooting range lane :D, and go from there.
Click to expand...
The important stuff!
 
So......was doing a little genealogy, and I realized that the land I plan on building on was more than likely already owned at least once before by my wife's family years ago. And the church at the end of the road was founded by one of my ancestors, since he was a Reverend at a smaller church that burned down a little ways down the road. Crazy, small, tangled world aint it?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom