Logged out woods

[tonka]

I found a few spots in the woods where it was logged out about 10-12 years ago and there are quite a few sugar maples that are flourishing from the low amount of competition, the spacing of most of the maples are almost ideal anywhere from 10-20 feet apart, the majority of the trees are branching out about six foot up the stem and at dbh the trees range from 5-8 inches, all that is growing around these maples are a few iron wood, mostly new poplar shoots with the biggest being 4 inches, and a few silver maples, oak and ash. I want to get in the wood and try and cut out as much competition as possible, will it be safe to cut everything out from under to maybe past the drip edge, will that be too much first time around? The sugar maples are no more then I would guess 25 feet tall.