Clearing land with a skid steer is one of those jobs where the right attachment makes an enormous difference — not just in efficiency, but in whether the job is even achievable in a reasonable timeframe. Run the wrong tool and you're fighting the machine all day. Run the right one and you wonder why you ever rented equipment.

We know the land doesn't take a day off — and neither do you. This guide covers the four attachment categories that handle most real-world clearing work: grapples, brush cutters, stump buckets, and tree pullers. For each one, we'll tell you what it does well, what it doesn't, and which products from our catalog are worth looking at.

One thing worth saying upfront: most clearing jobs need more than one attachment. You might run a brush cutter first to knock down overgrowth, then switch to a grapple to load and move the debris. Understanding what each tool does is what lets you sequence the work correctly — and not waste time fighting the wrong equipment.

1. Grapples: Moving What You've Cut

A grapple doesn't cut or knock down vegetation — it grabs and moves it. On a clearing job, that means picking up downed timber, brush piles, root balls, and stumps and loading them into a trailer, burn pile, or staging area. Without a grapple, you're either doing it by hand or using a bucket that loses half the material on every pass.

For most clearing work, a root grapple is the right call. The open tine design grabs stumps and brush securely while letting soil fall through — keeping loads lighter and cycle times faster. If you're also moving rock or dense material, a grapple bucket handles containment better.

72" Heavy Duty Root Grapple — Storm Attachments

From $2,841.00

72 inches of width handles large root balls and downed timber efficiently. Heavy-duty construction for the kind of hours that clearing jobs put on equipment. SSQA and JDQA mounts available.

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Extreme Root Grapple — Glacier Attachments

From $4,191.00

Available 60"–96" for operators who need maximum reach and commercial-grade construction. Built for forestry-level clearing where daily use and demanding conditions are the standard.

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Rock and Brush Grapple — Glacier Attachments

From $4,499.00

For sites with mixed rock and brush — handles both without requiring an attachment swap mid-job. 66"–84" widths, SSQA mount. The right choice when your clearing involves rocky ground conditions alongside timber and brush.

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2. Brush Cutters: Knocking It Down First

Before you can grab and move brush, you usually need to cut it down to a manageable size. That's where a brush cutter earns its place. These hydraulic rotary cutting heads take down saplings, heavy brush, bramble, and overgrowth up to 4–6 inches in diameter depending on the model — turning an impassable thicket into something you can grapple and load.

The thing most buyers get wrong with brush cutters is hydraulic flow. These attachments are flow-sensitive — you need the right gallons-per-minute range for the motor to perform correctly. Underpowering a brush cutter causes it to bog down and wear faster than it should. Check your skid steer's rated auxiliary flow before you order. If you have a question about compatibility, call us — we'll help you find the right gear for your machine.

Storm 60" Brush Cutter

From $5,826.00

60-inch cut width for mid-size skid steers. Clears thick vegetation fast, turning dense overgrowth into manageable debris for grapple cleanup. SSQA and John Deere mounts available.

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Storm 72" HD Brush Cutter

$7,106.00

72-inch heavy duty for larger machines and more demanding clearing conditions. More coverage per pass, heavier components throughout. SSQA mount. For operators running this attachment regularly on significant acreage.

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Storm 48" Brush Cutter

From $5,542.00

The smaller-profile option for tighter spaces or smaller machines. Available in SSQA, JDQA, Mini Skid Steer, and Dingo mounts — the most versatile mount selection in the lineup. Good for properties where you're working in and around trees and can't always swing wide.

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3. Stump Buckets: What's Left Below Grade

After you've cleared above-ground material, stumps are what's left — and they're what makes land truly usable or not. You can't grade over a stump and expect it to stay down. Root balls left in the ground create soft spots and long-term settling problems that come back to haunt any future work on that property.

A stump bucket is a specialized digging bucket with heavy-duty teeth designed to drive under a stump, break the root connection, and pull it out. They're not gentle — they're built to apply leverage and force to something that doesn't want to move. The better ones include a grapple bar so you can dig and lift in a single attachment without switching.

Skid Steer Stump Bucket Grapple — Prime Attachments

$2,000.00

Stump bucket with integrated grapple — dig and lift in one attachment. Eliminates the need to swap between a bucket and grapple during stump extraction. A real time saver on clearing jobs with multiple stumps to pull.

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Skid Steer Stump Grapple Ripper — Prime Attachments

$2,300.00

The ripper configuration adds downward ripping force for stumps and rocks that need more than leverage to break free. Useful on properties with hardpan or where stumps have extensive lateral root systems that won't let go without a fight.

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Matching Attachments to Your Clearing Project

Most clearing jobs benefit from thinking in phases — and sequencing the right attachment for each one:

1. Brush and overgrowth phase. Run the brush cutter first to knock down vegetation. This opens the site and makes everything else faster.
2. Stump and root phase. Work stumps before you start moving material. Get the root balls out while the ground is still open, so you're not driving over unstable spots.
3. Load and haul phase. Switch to the grapple. Pick up what you've piled, load trailers, build burn piles, or stack timber.

If you're not sure which single attachment to add to your lineup first, the answer is almost always the grapple. It extends what your bucket can do, works at every phase of clearing, and has the widest range of use cases beyond land clearing — making it the best all-around investment for most property owners.