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Coppice food?

Boll Weevil

Boll Weevil

5 year old buck +
Mostly because it's easier on the back, when I'm precommercial thinning for improved species mix, spacing, and stem quality I just lop the tree off at about shin height. Depending on available sunlight, about 15-20% of these stems coppice and whaddya know...the deer browse the the tender growth. The other 80% of stems die and never resprout.

Quite by accident did I stumble upon this outcome, but wondered if anyone else sees this and/or even purposely creates coppice-food? I'm sure it's only temporary due to browse pressure and canopy competition but any drawbacks you've observed?
 
I use that technique more than I do hinge cutting.
 
I do what you are talking about almost exclusively (I don't hinge much). I either cut about waist high, or on ground level. Waist high if I'm using a chainsaw, flush with the ground if I'm using skid steer and clippers. I don't like shin high because they can become an issue to see if I ever need to drive a skid steer or tractor through the area because the area will get so thick. I've found coppicing to be very productive. There are some groups on facebook dedicated to coppicing if you are interested in more info.
 
I use hinge cutting mostly to create cover or to remove competition from a better tree....but will "coppice" as you call it to create food or to turn trees into shrubs. Main thing I see is that you need sunlight. Some species also handle it better than others. I do this a lot on species where they grow out of reach of the deer...and buy cutting it back the deer can once again take advantage....my elderberry comes to mind.
 
Sycamore is my favorite tree to coppice. Not for food but man do they make and angry bush after you cut them. Not sure what the heck they’ll look like in 30 years :)
 
Never even considered Sycamore! I might have to try that this fall to see how they pop up in the spring. Actually I take that back... I just remembered the Sycamores I cut down on the edge of our pond. I was just clearing them for playing purposes but didn't treat the stumps because I wasn't sure what they would do. They did come back with a vengeance (and currently need cleared from the shoreline again).
 
Many of the "softer" hardwoods are that way....sycamore, cottonwood, mulberry, yellow poplar and willow seem to be easily converted to a "bush" or multi-stemmed tree on my place.
 
I was going to say cut one now and it will be 6 foot tall by the end of summer.
 
Y'all might be changing the percent of trees I cut to shin height! A 6' tall bush is hardly what I'm after and my hope was a little bush might make food just a year or 2 then die from being browsed or becaus of too much shade.
 
MSU Deer lab calls these "Mineral Stumps". The large root system from the tree has lots of stored energy. When coppiced, all that energy is pushed into a significantly smaller vegetation. They tested these and the nutritional value is significantly higher than a hinge cut tree that is feeding the whole tree. Deer seek these out.


...Whoops, looks like Ben already referenced this.
 
Yes I recently started doing this. The issues I have run into are that different species respond differently to coppicing.

Beech, for example, makes an excellent hedge because it responds very well to coppicing, but it is not well liked by deer here.

Willow, rowan, and birch are well liked by deer and coppice well. Willow and rowan (mountain ash) are especially good to coppice because they come back with a LOT of new stems, which are easy to coppice again after a few years.

It's a bit new to me, but it is fast becoming my favorite tool in the habitat toolbox.
 
Bill said:
Sycamore is my favorite tree to coppice. Not for food but man do they make and angry bush after you cut them. Not sure what the heck they’ll look like in 30 years :)
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I 2nd that. I even get minor browsing on syc.... very minor browsing. Which is why is survives so well. IME, coppice highly desired browse species high to keep a greater percentage above browsing level so the tree survives. When I cut browsed species low, the deer eat it to death.
 
Tap said:
When I cut browsed species low, the deer eat it to death.
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Which is actually more of what I'm after. My TSI work is focused primarily on producing marketable timber but figured if I could also increase available food for a time, why not. It's been interesting reading all the the varied responses; much appreciated for chiming in.
 
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They don’t stay bush height for long. Pictured is a poplar but anything from red oak to maple acts about the same on my property. We even have several cherry copice trees.

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^^^^ 6 times the steak count. :)
 
I do it all the time while completing tsi. I never apply herbicide to cut stumps of elm/maple/hickory/oak. Deer seem to keep the regrowth to small bushes. Allows me to open the canopy and feed the intended critters at the same time!
 
After logging, we had to cage some stumps so the stump sprouts had a chance to get going again - or the deer would've eaten them to the ground. Once they get up tall enough, I'll trim some shoots back to get more bushy growth. Good browse material at deer height is a good year-round addition to food plots. And it costs $0, just some time in the woods with your chainsaw & loppers. We'll be doing more coppicing at camp.

Telemark, post #12 - Good to hear that birch coppices well. We have a gob of it on our north slopes - much of it in the 1 1/2" to 6" dia. caliper size. They should work well. Thanks for the info on birch !!
 
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Bowsnbucks said:
After logging, we had to cage some stumps so the stump sprouts had a chance to get going again - or the deer would've eaten them to the ground. Once they get up tall enough. I'll trim some shoots back to get more bushy growth. Good browse material at deer height is a good year-round addition to food plots. And it costs $0, just some time in the woods with your chainsaw & loppers. We'll be doing more coppicing at camp.
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Double like^^^
 
We did just the opposite on some hardwood clear-cuts we did for bedding. We sprayed the suckers with herbicide to kill them. While it dos take away a food source, but I don't want the most attractive food sources to be in bedding. Great for deer, but no so great for hunting to have good food in good cover. We then executed controlled burns.

Thanks,

Jack
 
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