What kind of implement could be attached to a Polaris ranger to drag/rake wooded areas?
There are stumps and roots and things that a typical metal chain harrow would no doubt get stuck on, so I’m thinking something more flexible?
I’d like to clean up fallen leaves, hay, manure, etc.
Landscape rake.
I’d leave all the leaves, hay, manure where it is (maybe break up the poo) it will improve the soil and help prevent erosion. Mulching would help the process.
I LOVE hearing that, one less chore to tackle 
Yes I highly recommend mulching. We just get mulching blades for our zero turn and run through our wooded areas in the fall.
With the stumps and roots that you describe, I would not want to risk my expensive ZTR mower trying to chop up the debris. I have already lost a gearbox and blade spindle in a losing battle with an unseen stump.
Do you have, or have access to, a tractor with a bush hog. Sounds to me as if that would be a better way to accomplish the mission. Bush hogs (rotary cutters) all include a heavy-duty part in the blade mount called a “stump jumper.”
I don’t mulch the leaves on my wooded trail and by early summer, there’s no sign of the leaves from the previous season. For the stumps, I cut them as low to the ground as I can with a reciprocal saw. Parts of my trail are rough but it teaches us all to lift our feet.
Thanks! The horses have only had access to this part of the property for a year, so I wasn’t sure if there was more I should be doing as far as maintenance. We did the same with the stumps, they’re all pretty flush with the ground but I still think a harrow would get caught on them.
I used my 6ft landscape rake with the tractor, to clean out my fence rows on newly purchased property. The rake pulled everything forward about 15ft, making a parallel row of brush to the fence row. Rake pulled out old limbs, weeds, leaves a foot deep. I could then scrape/drag brush into burn piles. It was a bit time consuming but lots faster than trying to clean all that mess by hand! After raking I could see the growth I needed to drive over with the brushog on a high setting to prevent breaking anything. We cut new growth scrub that was in the way. Raking worked out well for cleaning before mowing. Nothing had been done in fence rows for 30 years!
The tractor 3pt hitch allowed me to lift or drop the landscape rake on selected area, move forward to the collected brush row to drop the load. Spring teeth would come across small stumps, roots, without breaking or losing what they had collected. My rake has no wheels to catch on anything in the brushy fence rows. Not sure if you could do that with a UTV and rake. Maybe a rental tractor and rake? I was able to get quite a lot done pretty fast.
I don’t rake it clean anymore, just keeping the fence rows mowed keeps things clean and nice. Leaves fall, disappear into mulch as the seasons pass. Leaves left on are nutrition, helpful organic matter for the soil. I can see any big sticks/limbs now, pick them up when I mow to get them out of the way.
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