PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
A hunting property is not a pasture and it should not be cleared like one. The value is in edges, sight lines and getting to a stand quietly, which means the machine work is about where you cut rather than how much. We cut the lanes and open the plots, and in Central Texas we can disc and seed them too.
Game lives on the line between cover and open. Clear a hunting tract like a pasture and you have removed the reason the deer were there. The work on a hunting property is mostly about creating more edge and better sight lines while leaving the thick stuff that holds animals, which is a steering job rather than a grinding job.
Most hunting property complaints are access complaints. Trails that have closed in, a stand you cannot reach without walking through the bedding area, a gate you cannot get a side by side through after a wet spring. Reopening and widening trails is often the highest value day we spend on a hunting tract, and it is the one owners underestimate.
In Central Texas we run a tractor as well as the mulchers, so a plot can be cleared, disced and seeded in the same visit rather than cleared and left for you to find somebody else. Outside Central Texas we clear and shape the ground and the planting is yours. We do not spray. The tractor runs $1,500 per day plus transport, the same one day minimum as every other machine we own.
Straight cut lanes for sight and for shots, run on the lines you mark. Width and orientation are yours to decide and worth deciding before we arrive, because a lane cut in the wrong direction is a lane you look down into afternoon sun for the rest of the season.
Reopening what has closed in and widening what is too tight for a truck or a side by side. Llano was five acres of impassable trails cleared and widened with the cedar taken out. This is usually the first thing worth doing on a tract nobody has worked in a few years.
Opening ground to the size and shape you want a plot to be, mulched flat. In Central Texas we can disc and seed it in the same visit; elsewhere we hand it over ready for seed. Shape matters more than acreage: a long narrow plot with cover on both sides hunts better than a square one of the same size, and it costs the same to cut.
Taking cedar out from under oaks so browse and forbs get sunlight again. On Hill Country tracts this is often the single biggest improvement available, because closed cedar canopy produces almost nothing a deer wants to eat. Evant was 18 acres thinned selectively with the hardwoods left standing.
Full write ups with photographs and day counts. Every card opens the project page.
Sun and wind, in that order. A lane you glass down at last light with the sun in your face is a lane you will stop hunting. Prevailing wind decides which end the stand goes on. Mark it on the ground or on a map before we start, because moving a cut lane is not a thing that can be done.
Wider is not better. A lane wide enough to see down is usually narrower than people guess, and every extra foot of width is edge you have pushed further from the stand and material we have to grind. Tell us the range you want to shoot and we will cut to it.
The thick stuff is the asset. Bedding cover, motte edges, creek bottoms and anything holding mast are all worth more standing than cleared. On a hunting tract our default is to take less rather than more and let you tell us to go further, because the opposite is not reversible.
It stays on the ground, which on a hunting property is usually what you want. It holds soil on a cut lane through a hard rain and it quietens the walk in. Nothing gets hauled off and nothing gets burned.
A high horsepower mulcher is $4,000 per day plus transport. A skid steer mulcher is $3,000 per day with transport included, and it is often the better machine on a hunting tract because it fits between trees a big machine has to go around. Dozer or excavator work is $3,000 per day plus transport. One day minimum on every machine.
A day of mulching cuts a lot of linear lane, so most hunting jobs are one or two days rather than a week. If you have been putting off a list of small jobs, a hunting tract is exactly the place where stacking them into one mobilization saves real money.
Steering around what stays is slower per acre than a clear cut, but there is far less material to grind, so on a thinned tract the two usually land close. What it is not is cheaper to decide on the day. Mark it out first.
Ground is drier and we are not working around your season. If your work is not urgent, tell us the window it has to happen in rather than the date, and it is usually easier to fit.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the work these guys did on my place. I have some very steep slopes and a lot of oaks and cedars. They used great judgement, not turning it into a field, using heavy machinery at a very fair price.
Ivan Allen, Google review
Excellent work. Our property was complex as we wanted to save some trees, and the operator was amazing at maneuvering around them to clear the 7 acres we cleared.
Mike DiVincent, Google review
Contracted Pierce to clear 5 acres of land. They did quick, quality, and outstanding work removing all the requested trees and preserving the oaks. Definitely recommend!
Trevor Seret, Google review
Pierce Land Clearing surpassed our expectations. The work was accurate and mindful of the trees that we wanted to keep. Bobby was very professional, polite, and skillful. Would 100 percent recommend.
olivia gutierrez, Google review
In Central Texas, yes. We run a tractor alongside the mulchers, so we can clear the plot, disc it and put seed in the ground in the same visit. Outside Central Texas we clear and shape it and the planting is yours. We do not spray. Be aware that clearing companies use the phrase food plot loosely, so it is worth asking anyone who quotes you whether they actually put seed in the ground.
Priced in machine days. A high horsepower mulcher is $4,000 per day plus transport, a skid steer mulcher is $3,000 per day with transport included, and dozer or excavator work is $3,000 per day plus transport. One day minimum on every machine. A day of mulching cuts a lot of linear lane, so most hunting jobs run one or two days.
Narrower than most people guess. Wide enough to see and shoot the range you intend to hunt, and no wider, because every extra foot pushes the edge further from the stand and costs you material to grind. Decide the range first and let the width follow from it.
Sun first, wind second. A lane you glass down into the setting sun is a lane you stop hunting, and prevailing wind decides which end the stand belongs on. Mark the lines on the ground or on a map before we arrive, because a cut lane cannot be moved.
Clearing all of it might. That is why we default to taking less rather than more on hunting ground. Game lives on the edge between cover and open, so the work that helps is the work that makes more edge: lanes, plots and selective thinning, with the bedding cover, creek bottoms and mast trees left alone.
Yes, and on Hill Country tracts it is usually the most valuable thing available. A closed cedar canopy produces almost nothing a deer wants to eat, and taking it out from between the oaks puts sunlight back on the browse and forbs. Evant was 18 acres done exactly that way with the hardwoods left standing.
Yes, and it is often the first thing worth doing on a tract nobody has worked in a few years. Llano was five acres of impassable trails cleared and widened with the cedar taken out. If the trail needs a surface as well as a cut, that is ranch road work and it is quoted separately.
It stays on the property as mulch. Nothing gets hauled off and nothing gets burned. On a hunting tract that is usually what you want anyway: the layer holds soil on a cut lane through a hard rain and it makes the walk in quieter.
Off season, if it is not urgent. The ground is drier, we are not working around your season, and it is easier to schedule. Tell us the window the work has to happen in rather than a date and it usually fits without a fight.
Yes, in Central Texas, where we run a tractor as well as the clearing machines. That covers discing a cleared plot, shredding regrowth and light brush on ground that is already open, and drilling or broadcasting seed. The tractor is $1,500 per day plus transport, with the same one day minimum as everything else we run. We do not offer spraying.
Statewide. Documented recreational and hunting tract work on this site runs from Melvin and Llano through Evant and out across Central Texas, and we travel well beyond that. Mobilization is a written line on the quote reflecting the distance.
Send the acreage, what is growing on it, and where you want the lanes. Mark them on a map if you can. You get back a day count and a written number. Call 512-400-2693 or send it through the form.