# Forest mulcher



## ohio up hunter (Dec 31, 2013)

Had a 2 1/2 day forester mulcher project completed yesterday near Rose City. Been waiting for a few years to get excavator work on 8 projects. Conditions prevented my usual contractor to complete. Colt Davis, recommended from a friend near Clair met with me a few weeks ago. Flagged out 3 new food plot areas, shooting lanes in 2 new hunting areas and 4 trail roads. Project complete and very impressed with the pictures and results. Will not get up to view personally for a few weeks. Learned of the forest mulcher on this forum. From my calculations, finished projects are exactly what I wanted and my cost was at least 1/3 of what I would have paid for dozer and excavator work. Strong endorsement for Colt if anyone else is looking for quality forest mulching. His cell is 989-429-4304


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## sparky18181 (Apr 17, 2012)

Those machines are awesome. Had some work done two years ago.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

My guy is better!
L.o.l..
He root raked a couple select areas after also.
But congrats on the progress for sure. And I don't doubt your guy did great.

I watched the mulching. Mulching does not describe it well enough though. (!)


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## Deskjockey1 (Jul 6, 2017)

I rented a Fecon mulcher last spring. It's the big one, not a skidsteer. I had fun, except for filling up the 40 gallon tank at the end of each day...5 gallons at a time!


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## jacksonmideerhunter (Oct 9, 2011)

Are they able to mulch the stumps left from logging too with those machines? Or do they need to be removed first?


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## sparky18181 (Apr 17, 2012)

jacksonmideerhunter said:


> Are they able to mulch the stumps left from logging too with those machines? Or do they need to be removed first?


The guy that did mine mulched them with his machine but I’m sure not all the roots were removed like a root rake would do. I know others here say the root rake is the only way to go but my results looked good to me


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## jacksonmideerhunter (Oct 9, 2011)

Thats what was wondering about. As long as they can mulch them to slightly below ground level that would work for me. Might have to look into this in the future.


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## ohio up hunter (Dec 31, 2013)

Only area he had concern was a few large dead ash stumps that are still hard. Think soft trees stumps like aspen would be fine. Most of the area I had him on was tag alders, ash and smaller low quality trees. Since I have not seen finished results with my own eyes, relying on logger I have cutting and a neighbor. Logger was so impressed, he had Colt run a half mile fence property line 2 passes after he completed my area. Fast work... He did mention that he could have gone deeper and mixed more soil if the ground was less frozen.


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## Sasquatch Lives (May 23, 2011)

Does it leave stobs or does it mulch right down to the ground.


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## newaygogeorge (Aug 16, 2006)

Sasquatch Lives said:


> Does it leave stobs or does it mulch right down to the ground.


I assumed you meant stumps?

Depending on how much time (time is money) you want the mulcher to spend on specific areas/site will greatly depend on the finished results. if you are limited in funds and only have a few hours and or day or so of money (Money is time) available and you have a large job you might expect for the mulcher to clear only. This in itself could be a big job/improvement especially if the area is a tangle mess such as ours was. The mulcher can leave a mess of debris on the ground and that is not all bad especially if most of the chippings are of soft mast. It will only take a season or 2 for this mulch to break down into the soil such as mine. I actually broadcasted rye over the mess in 5 foodplots our mulcher created and the rye did very well. 

If you have the time (money) a thorough ground job can be achieved including mulching stumps ground level but Remember hardwood stumps will take much more time (time is money).

Our example 
day 1: late start
.85 miles of perimeter (square 40) access trail 15ft wide cleared. Most stumps mulched to ground level except for large hardwood those left slightly above, large mulch chipping left behind. This took less than 5hrs and turned out awesome.
Day 2: early start
Contractor roomed with me in town (saved travel expense) since i already had the room for me.
5 food plots opened, 2 plots 1/2 acre in size 3 others slightly less. all 5 plots are connected with 8ft wide adjoining trail system. This took 8hrs and turned out better that i envisioned.
The property was logged some 20yrs ago and the mess left behind was still nasty, some areas just to much ground debris to walk through but the mulcher cleaned all that mess up where ever it was within the planned area. I had a full habitat plan drawn up for the contractor to review and this gave him a good vision of what he was to accomplish. I also spent many hours with my bride and a machete marking with survey ribbon the layout so the contractor just followed the colored map

Orange ribbon was trail
Green ribbon was foodplots
Double orange ribbon meant 90deg turn.

The pre-layout saved a ton of time (money) and provided better safety for me since i was not in mulcher throwing distance trying to point out where to go. Any of you who have been around these machines know what i am talking about these beasts can dangerously toss large pieces of debris at lightning speed in any direction.
Overall It was worth every dollar we spent, It would of taken me years to completely finish our project on my own.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Sasquatch Lives said:


> Does it leave stobs or does it mulch right down to the ground.


Operator finesse and if scrubbing dirt is acceptable , stuff can be skimmed flush.
Even debris revisited and much of it kind of winnowed / tossed by chosen direction. That as mentioned is time added though.

Not a good vid of stumpage/stubs. But you can see how flush is doable.
Disc type mulcher shown. Drum type similar as far as depth. But how much soil surface you want chewed and thrown?


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Sure beats my 2 stroke hand held brush cutter.


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## Deskjockey1 (Jul 6, 2017)

I ground the stumps down to the ground. I had limited time (= cost for rental) so I wasn't overly picky. I wanted my plot to be flat enough to drive a quad or tractor through. The big oak stumps were time consuming and hard on the machine. I did not get all of them. Pine is/was a cake walk. I may look in to renting again for another round of cleanup.


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Deskjockey1 said:


> I ground the stumps down to the ground. I had limited time (= cost for rental) so I wasn't overly picky. I wanted my plot to be flat enough to drive a quad or tractor through. The big oak stumps were time consuming and hard on the machine. I did not get all of them. Pine is/was a cake walk. I may look in to renting again for another round of cleanup.


Were you able to grind the oak stumps down to a point where a disc would go over them in the future? I always wonder if I could get by renting one of these versus a stump grinder.


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## Deskjockey1 (Jul 6, 2017)

This is the mulcher I rented.


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## Deskjockey1 (Jul 6, 2017)

No. I don't think it'll go deep enough for discing. I'm in Lake County, so I've embraced No-Till...discing is not an option for me.


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## GKCalls.com (Aug 2, 2012)

We just had R&M Clearing at our property in Tuscola County. They did an incredible job. Here is a before and after of a few of the trails.


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

Deskjockey1 said:


> This is the mulcher I rented.
> View attachment 819572


 Where did you rent this from and do you mind sharing the cost? appreciate it


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## GKCalls.com (Aug 2, 2012)

DeerManager said:


> Where did you rent this from and do you mind sharing the cost? appreciate it


I didnt rent this I hired the company R&M Clearing out of Ubly. R&M Clearing - 1-989-284-7023


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

GKCalls.com said:


> I didnt rent this I hired the company R&M Clearing out of Ubly. R&M Clearing - 1-989-284-7023


Thanks, but was referring to the poster that showed the machine.


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