Who's working in the woods this weekend?

looks good!
 
TTT

2018 Habitat season is officially under way.
Felt great to get back out into the woods.

Took advantage of a gorgeous 38 degree day an got an early jump on a few projects.
Burned a decent sized brush pile with the help of a couple friends. Was a little nervous with the lack of snow. But the wind was perfect.
Took down a dangerous treestand in a half dead tree, an lossened the straps on the rest.
Filled the water hole, an changed out the trail cam cards. Have a few survivors, a few new bodies, but no signs of shed drop yet.

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I made it out with a chainsaw for a bit yesterday. Just working on cutting some boxelder and other garbage on the edge of a food plot to gain some tillable ground. It's around 7/8 of an acre now and im guessing ill be able to get it slightly over an acre by the time I plant in the spring.
 
I posted this on my land tour yesterday. I kind of forgot about this thread once hunting season started. I went out and blew some leaves off of some trails and plots. I’m hoping time will let me finish up this Friday. The deer have eaten my rye down to the ground already. This is only me second year with land and food plots but the results are very similar. They used the cereal grains right from the beginning but there seems to be enough growth to keep up. E27DD5A0-3A03-429E-975E-114C11FA1A79.jpeg49527E79-27B2-4D25-B5BA-D92E32E3D8B2.jpeg5C4E3242-98A8-46C4-80B4-1EC190E37D60.jpeg1F2C754F-131B-4163-8999-22F8FD5271C2.jpeg Once the weather gets colder, the acorns are mostly gone and winter hits it looks like somebody took a lawn mower to the plots.
 
Wow that looks better than my yard.
 
I slayed a bunch of locust and elm trees this weekend.
 
Continued the lovehate thing with prickly ash again this weekend. Patches of it offer decent cover and are so-so for browse but worked on hacking some of it back around some oak plantings and another area with dogwoods. I save that kinda work for winter wearing the heavy insulated coveralls and wade right into the stuff to push the crap down after brush cutting. Actually too warm this weekend with the coveralls but go back to that area a couple weeks later and all the budtips are munched when stuff at ground level.
 
Time to start restocking the wood piles. Have several large dead oaks that need to be cut up and split ...
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Found a bunch of these when checking out a bedding area near the creek bottom ... I think I know a couple of the suspects ...
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Here is one of the suspects ... he has made it thorugh the season and looking forward to getting an opportunity at him next year ...
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The Winter Rye has survived sub zero temps and is still greening in the food plots ...
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Those big dead oaks blow over or are you dropping standing ones? Lack of snow this time of year is weird.
 
Those big dead oaks blow over or are you dropping standing ones? Lack of snow this time of year is weird.

We have had oak wilt and there are about 6-8 large oaks that have died. Several I have dropped and some still standing or have blown over. The pieces in the trailer are from a blow down.
 
Oak wilt sucks. We wait until they blow over before cutting them for firewood. The big ones make for good dens and perches. Depending on where they fall we sometimes leave them lay for deer and other ground critters to use. The tops also provide nice protection for new trees and shrubs occurring naturally and planted by us. BUT we don't burn wood inside for heat so therefore we don't use a ton of firewood.
 
I would love to get out soon to cut back a few trees around food plots, and my apple orchard, but I need to wait until some snow melts down a little. I usually wait until the beginning of March to cut trees, or if it is a warm winter, I go on open weekends.
 
Spent the entire day working ion one property today; ran 18 does out of a small 20 ac woodlot. In spite of incredibly windy conditions, I trimmed / pruned 6 pear trees, changed cages on 3 chestnut trees, dug 3 MG plants (divided them and planted the smaller clumps), hinged 4 hedge trees, and opened up a new street for the deer. Much to my surprise, the frost is completely out of the ground; good time to move some trees since the earth is mellow and everything is easy to dig. The MG is shallow rooted; therefor, easy to dig ... but the crowns are a bi*ch to seperate. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
 
Cutting firewood for the cabin with 3 buddies tomorrow. Gonna fill the new wood shed, or at least try. Got 5 oaks down. Ribs on the grill dinner. Good times with good freinds.
 
Cutting firewood for the cabin with 3 buddies tomorrow. Gonna fill the new wood shed, or at least try. Got 5 oaks down. Ribs on the grill dinner. Good times with good freinds.
That doesn't even sound like work! Especially if you get them to do most of the lifting.
 
I made it back out again yesterday and finished blowing the leaves off of my plots and trails. I walked around a little and planned some projects in my head. I’m working this year on expanding another food plot trail into a more conventional 1/4 acre plot. When I first bought the property two summers ago we worked hard at clearing trails and planting them with food to draw the deer in. That worked well but it really spread the food out and made the deer hard to pattern. They can go eat anywhere. I’m working now on keeping the food more centralized into three distinct plots that will prvide at do loactions for the three of us (my two sons and I). All three of the plots will be connected by Two interior trails that will remain in clover. The perimeter trails will now be used as access to stand locations and for working.
 
Started planting native grass seed. It has been an adventure. As we were getting the drill ready the federal warden stopped by. He wanted me to know he is on the quail forever board and they are offering cost share to help quail.
 
Light snow, light wind, and 30 degrees. I’m heading out the door to spread some clover seed into a strip of cereal rye where I’ve started some oak trees. I’m planning to mow the rye late spring, and I’d like to use the clover for an edible firebreak.


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Didn't make it out to the farm, but managed to find a pretty good deal on some needed supplies.

Also broke out the chainsaw for a warm-up round before the real deal hits, put three tanks through an called it a day.
Never to early to start on next years firewood pile.
 

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Slaying trees. Taking down honey locust and elms to give pecans and a single pin oak some light. Making brush piles for the quail. Goal is eventually to fill this ditch full of plums, currants etc for the quail.
 
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