Excavator

[Turkish]

Absolutely.

I cut new trail for the first time with a large mini, and that is 100% the tool for trail making and trail fixing.


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Tell me more. I’m about to have an operator and a 20k # Cat machine with rubber pads for a few hours. He’s clearing a small spot for a pole barn and campsite the first day. Was thinking of one new perimeter trail in young timber for the next day.

ETA: for comparison, do you have experience watching or using a dozer doing the same work? That’s the most common method in these parts.

 

[SD51555]

Tell me more. I’m about to have an operator and a 20k # Cat machine with rubber pads for a few hours. He’s clearing a small spot for a pole barn and campsite the first day. Was thinking of one new perimeter trail in young timber for the next day.

ETA: for comparison, do you have experience watching or using a dozer doing the same work? That’s the most common method in these parts.

When I did mine, I just crawl forward in the direction I want to go, and pop and pull everything out of the way as I go. Every so many yards Id stop and back drag what I just cleared. It’s like laying the new trail in one pass, clearing and smoothing.

I did it with my phone compass in my lap. I’d pick a heading and a marker tree ahead and just blast my way to that point. This winter, I’ll go back and cut up the slash I threw out of the way and pile it for burning.

I don’t have any dozer experience. If low ground isn’t a concern, it’s probably not a bad idea to take some dirt with you. The hard part with having an operator do it is you can’t sit on his shoulders and direct every step. But maybe flag out the trail and show it to your guy. Maybe he can whack it out his own way. Be sure to ask about the debris plan with a dozer.


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[Turkish]

When I did mine, I just crawl forward in the direction I want to go, and pop and pull everything out of the way as I go. Every so many yards Id stop and back drag what I just cleared. It’s like laying the new trail in one pass, clearing and smoothing.

I did it with my phone compass in my lap. I’d pick a heading and a marker tree ahead and just blast my way to that point. This winter, I’ll go back and cut up the slash I threw out of the way and pile it for burning.

I don’t have any dozer experience. If low ground isn’t a concern, it’s probably not a bad idea to take some dirt with you. The hard part with having an operator do it is you can’t sit on his shoulders and direct every step. But maybe flag out the trail and show it to your guy. Maybe he can whack it out his own way. Be sure to ask about the debris plan with a dozer.


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Man, debris doesn’t last long here. What are you thinking in terms of debris mgt excavator vs dozer?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Man, debris doesn’t last long here. What are you thinking in terms of debris mgt excavator vs dozer?

Way better with an excavator in my opinion. I can place it with an excavator. With a dozer I’m more of a wrecking ball. There’s some finesse but I’m limited to just pushing out of the way.

 

[SD51555]

Way better with an excavator in my opinion. I can place it with an excavator. With a dozer I’m more of a wrecking ball. There’s some finesse but I’m limited to just pushing out of the way.

This, 100%. You Cat 310 will be able to wiggle through places more easily too. What Dawgs is saying here is very important about being able to “place stuff.” Likely, a lot of what you’re taking down is gonna be tall or long. Once you find a pocket to put stuff, it’s doesn’t have to lay right along the trail.

If you have enough room, you could pick or make a spot off to the side and pile up so much slash from a given stretch, and it’s much less cleanup for you. Maybe you just come by and toss a match in it when you’re ready.

I didn’t have the time to be that deliberate about it. I was running out of time and just needed to get thru. I also had severe weather bearing down on me and the machine was overheating. I had to just blast and go.


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[SD51555]

If you wanna see my newly made trails with the excavator (I had a 10,000 lb machine) watch this starting at the 3:11 mark.

https://rumble.com/v6uw1td-2025-dig-on.html

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Cool video. Is that plot at the beginning one you recently made?
The stump at the end, was that where you dug it up it were you just burying it there? Hell of a hole

 

[West_Fork]

masticator head is the biggest reason I want an excavator.

 

[SD51555]

Cool video. Is that plot at the beginning one you recently made?
The stump at the end, was that where you dug it up it were you just burying it there? Hell of a hole

Yep. That was my new 1/3 acre plot. The very opening of that video, and the area left of the machine, that's what it looked like when I started.

I had a number of stumps that the machine couldn't lift, so I drug them up out of the hole, dug the hole deeper, and pushed them back in. Then I packed a bunch of smaller stumps around the big one before I back filled it. It's crazy to me to look out over that plot and know all the stuff is under there, and there's very little lift showing it. Once the roots get down to that rotten wood, this plot is gonna really go like hell. It takes a few years for the wood to start giving back, but after that it's money in the bank.

 

[Turkish]

If you wanna see my newly made trails with the excavator (I had a 10,000 lb machine) watch this starting at the 3:11 mark.

https://rumble.com/v6uw1td-2025-dig-on.html

That looks good, but I’m looking for trails at least 3x that wide and I’m not worried about the debris placement. Maybe I should call mine roads. In the South, ones no wider than an ATV will be totally engulfed with branches and leaves after a couple of weeks of 90-degree temps and normal rainfall.

ETA: I need to be able to mow 2-3x my minimum travel width.

 

[SD51555]

That looks good, but I’m looking for trails at least 3x that wide and I’m not worried about the debris placement. Maybe I should call mine roads. In the South, ones no wider than an ATV will be totally engulfed with branches and leaves after a couple of weeks of 90-degree temps and normal rainfall.

ETA: I need to be able to mow 2-3x my minimum travel width.

I get that. Sometimes us northerners forget you guys don’t get 6 months of cold temps like we do.

If you’re going that wide, you’ll probably want a dozer to open that up. I would think you could plan out pockets to push all the debris. You probably also don’t need firewood much down there. But maybe you can use some of that debris to fill some gullies too. I’ve seen some loggers do that to cross a low spot.

I’ve really got a soft spot I me for using all the debris for something. There’s no waste in my wild.


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[Turkish]

Similar to your soft spot, I have a “beef” with dozers that made me most interested in using a mini ex. I’m irrationally irked that they basically have to scrape off a few inches of top soil in order to clear brush.

 

[SD51555]

Similar to your soft spot, I have a “beef” with dozers that made me most interested in using a mini ex. I’m irrationally irked that they basically have to scrape off a few inches of top soil in order to clear brush.

Yeah, and that’s where I don’t know anything about dozers. What’s the right blade for that application? I’d think teeth for popping out brush, but smooth for final grading?


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[TreeDaddy]

How steep is the learning curve with excavators?

how long does it take to become proficient with the machinery?

bill

 

[SD51555]

How steep is the learning curve with excavators?

how long does it take to become proficient with the machinery?

bill

It’s not long. 30 seconds to learn the controls. A day to get some rhythm. Another day to learn what your machine is capable of without destroying it.

YouTube can really cut down the technique learning time. Letsdig18 is a great page on YouTube. His machines are massive, but the principles of digging are the same. Raking is faster than scooping. Learn to fling. Learn to throw. Learn to stack. Time tracking around is time lost.

Burying stuff is an art form that takes time. My plots have some high spots and low spots from too much or too little material in the hole. It’s fun as hell once you get 20 or 30 hours under your belt. You’ll look at your property thru a whole new lens.


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[SD51555]

And have a plan for what you’re gonna do. From what direction will you come at something? Where will you put stuff? In what order? You have to think a few steps ahead to make it transition smoothly from step to step.

I made my way across my plot stacking debris, then pulling stumps, staging all that debris, then moving topsoil over there, subsoil here, put that pile in the hole, push the subsoil back, rake the topsoil back in without driving over it to avoid compaction. Use the machine to press your brush in the hole.


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[deepsleep]

Finally getting a chance to post on the new machine. I just recently had a new transmission line built through part of my property, which is going to become a couple of food plots. The problem is, the line was a mess after construction. The power company used a giant forestry mulcher, which left very deep mulch and very large chunks throughout as well as many of the larger stumps. They also left excess gravel, mud, etc. The main initial project for the mini ex was to get these plots at least plantable, with a longer term plan of using a drill on them. Over a couple of days, I was able to remove some giant rocks, excess gravel/mud/sand, and scrape the larger chunks/chips to the edge of the plot. I rough graded things and had a buddy help me out by raking behind me with his tractor. It actually turned out much better than expected. On the smaller plot, I dug out the stumps, but decided to wait for the arrival of different implements to tackle the bigger plots. The machine came with a 36" bucket, which is not ideal for larger stumps. The other things I did included reestablishing and improving an old logging road to this new plot, grading my driveway and repairing other damage the line company did while accessing the worksite, moving equipment between garages, pulling autumn olives, straightening an apple tree, moving logs left from line construction, etc, etc. The most remarkable thing is the speed with which I did these things and the relatively small amount of diesel.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

What a beautiful machine!

 

[jsasker007]

You might be able to just use the thumb and grab small trees to pull them out without having to climb out and put a strap on there. I can grab and rip small trees with the thumb. Just have to kind of curl the bucket while lifting. Doesn't work to pull up oaks with mine for the few times that I want to take out an oak. Looks pretty good! Excavators are addicting. Easy to spend a whole day in one of those.

 

[deepsleep]

You might be able to just use the thumb and grab small trees to pull them out without having to climb out and put a strap on there. I can grab and rip small trees with the thumb. Just have to kind of curl the bucket while lifting. Doesn't work to pull up oaks with mine for the few times that I want to take out an oak. Looks pretty good! Excavators are addicting. Easy to spend a whole day in one of those.

The picture with the strap is me straightening a leaning apple tree. The machine will pluck 3-4” trees like toothpicks. It is definitely addictive. No bugs, climate control, stereo, etc. It’s very comfortable. The projects are limitless. I’m getting a 24” rake, 18” bucket, and frost ripper. That should cover everything I need to do with it.