I was given a John Deere 755 tractor by a very generous friend a few weeks ago. I love that tractor. It has a loader bucket, a brush hog, a rototiller, and even a backhoe. I’ve been spending every spare moment I have digging random holes around the property and moving dirt from one place to the next.
But as I look around the place, I keep coming up with new projects I could put my tractor to work on. The first thing I need to do, as soon as the ground thaws out a bit, is to re-rebuild my shooting range. Over the summer, I stacked some six-by-sixes to serve as a backstop, and I stacked a second row of them behind those. I ended up with a pretty sturdy backstop for my shooting range.
But it could be better. If I dig that backstop into the hill it’s built in front of, it’ll give me about 20 more feet of shooting range, and having the backstop snugged into the hill will completely eliminate any risk of pass-through shots. So I’m going to use the backhoe to dig the hill out, then move the backstop into the cavity I make.
Then I’m going to have to do some shopping. I’d like to drag a strip from the shooting benches to the backstop, so that I have a clear path I can take when the weather gets a little sloppy. It’ll need some gravel, which I can move with the loader bucket, but to drag the strip, I’m going to need a box scraper or a three-point blade. I’ve been watching the online auctions, trying to pick one up cheap, but I keep getting outbid. I’ve actually been able to get a bid in on a few blades, but all the box scrapers have started well above my budget.
Then I’ll need an auger, and possibly an arena drag for the wife, too. I never knew how expensive a free tractor could be, but I think we’re going to find out soon enough.
