re: Any of you baws ever rented a Bobcat?

Go have a ball.

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You can learn how to drive it about 5 minutes

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this ^^^^^^

get the guy dropping it off to show you how to drive it

if you can drive a zero turn its pretty close to that, if not you learn fast but turning you can dig ruts so go slow and easy or you tear the shite out of the place and spend a lot of time repairing the damage you will do with it

A neighbor bought a mini to clean out the stall in her barn. Bought it used for a good price, and then found that its turning radius is about two feet more than the space between her stalls.

Now everybody just borrows hers, and our fencelines have never looked better.

The one caveat: if you have muddy soils, wait until the weather is dry and the soil is dry. The weight of those things is massive, and two tracks eight inches deep take time to fill. Also getting them stuck makes for a longer rental.

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Is a Bobcat a decent machine for my task?

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I sold Bobcat for two years.

Depends on how wooded the land you are trying to clear. If it is just really weedy and overgrown, I'd go the bushhog route to clear it. Then the Bobcat to manage whatever you are trying to accomplish with the land - via moving the dirt around.

If the land is wooded with saplings or trees any thicker than about 2 inches, you arent gonna get it cleared with a Track Loader. Just not designed for that. A mini-ex could do the trick, but you'd prob need a pretty big one, which most places wont rent to a homeowner. And the MX could dig up the saplings, but it probably won't "clear" the land like I think you are desiring.

If you want a real answer, send somepics of the area you are trying to clear, and I'll tell you what machine to use and where to get it.

I am not really sure how you are going to clear saplings with a bobcat...sounds like a futile effort to me.

Based ob some youtube research, I’m pretty sure a Mini Excavator will do my job...and it looks super fun.

I work for the Cat dealer and sell/rent these for a living. What you need is a Cat 289/299 with a mulching head. This unit has tracks and enough hydraulic power on the head to turn your saplings to wood chips. A mini x would potentially be able to dig them up but would scar the land with holes and wouldn’t clear it out like I think you are looking for. Call your closest Cat rental store and they will know exactly what I am talking about.

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Skid Steer is a very versatile machine and can take many attachments. You can add a dozing blade, mulcher that can take out the saplings and other trees up to 8" in diameter. Stump grinder, log splitter, snow plow, cold planer to grind asphalt, broom, Auger, hammer, grapple buckets, mesquite clearing attachment, trencher, saw, backhoe attachment, brush cutter, a box blade, etc. You can clear land a lot quicker and more efficiently than a mini ex with a blade. You can get a large track CTL machine with 100 HP, essentially a small dozer if your heart so desire.

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Thats reads almost like some porn from the Sears catalog.

Those things are crazy vicious.

Why would you want to rent one?!