Anyone fire up the chainsaw after hunting season?

[Tree Spud]

Around day 5 of sitting in stands for 9 days straight during our rifle season I thought to myself "I should just get the saw out and go to work". Of course my stubborn self sat it out, didn't shoot any deer, and nothing got cut.

You have no idea how much habitat work I envision while sitting in the stand. I once brought a 3x5 notebook and half # pencil out with me thinking I could "jots a few notes during done time".

I had 12 pages of notes and design ... I no longer take the notebook out ...

 

[Tree Spud]

Our season is wrapped up now. The weather was perfect (no snow, just frozen enough to not get muddy) to get some late season chainsaw work done. I've been doing a select cut of sorts in my sanctuary, only nothing is harvested, it's simply knocked down to release the "keep" trees and use the rest to create ground cover while I wait for the regen to begin.

Anyone else get out and start making sunlight?

Assume this is a rhetorical question ... between Halloween and end of November, deer hunting is an interruption to what I really like to do ...

 

[rusty1034]

Wintertime logging is one of my favorite activities. John Deere 4520, Wallenstein logging winch, a Stihl 290, and a Husqvarna 440. They get dragged out in log length, and a local guy with a wood processor makes em into firewood later on. I get some tractor time, and improve the habitat for deer. Win-win.

One of my awesome amateur vids of us doing some cutting.

Rusty

 

[Chainsaw]

Been pushing over Buckthorn to reclaim field edge, faster than the chainsaw. Will leave until spring, dirt will fall off and the after a final shaking trees with dirt less roots will be piled along a property line section.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I think I am going up tomorrow and will likely take the chainsaw out and mow down 15-20 decent sized aspen trees where I need the canopy opened up to finish a bedroom area. Have been working on the area for 2 years and it is filling in nicely with browse. Will complete planting it this spring with a few more spruce. Planning to mount my tactacam in there until Christmas and see how much use they get. Gonna make a few more brush piles from some of the stuff on the ground cause it isnt providing much side cover anymore.

 

[weekender21]

With rifle season running until January 1st I’m in no rush but definitely have a lot to do January through April. I need to prioritize my list, doubt I’ll get to all of it. Rescuing my planted fruit trees from forest regeneration is WAY up there!

I’m hoping to make it up there one last time, another doe for the freezer would be nice!

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[TreeDaddy]

Anyone of us NOT fire up the chainsaw after hunting season?

bill

 

[Tree Spud]

Anyone of us NOT fire up the chainsaw after hunting season?

bill

That would be a very dull & boring winter ...

 

[SD51555]

This is probably my absolute favorite habitat activity, even beyond food plotting. When I’m cutting, I’m keeping a rough tally in my head of what I’m finding as I cut, so I know what to look for in the next couple spring green-ups.

ROD, a big deer favorite in my area.

Balsam

Black spruce

Bur oak

Birch. I’m saving those for years later when the ground clutter is rotted away, and they have accumulated more canopy to feed.

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[trampledbyturtles]

Ran through 2 tanks today.
Added 2 green ash to the wood pile.

Managed to not drop a tree on the house by about 2ft. Said a quick hail Mary as it was going down. The garden fence on the other hand was not so lucky.

Had a half rotten tree corkscrew on me and fall the opposite direction I wanted it. Fastest I've ever had to bail on a situation.. that was a first.. and hopeful last..

 

[rocksnstumps]

Two tanks of gas through the Stihl brush cutter today whacking back the prickly ash from spots I want to plant trees next year. Also had to rescue a couple spots with plums. As I have mentioned before, plums grow slow on my land and prickly ash is always trying the Russki ploy of "we will bury you".

These areas have too many rocks, ok really boulders that prevent keeping things in check with the rotary cutter. Love the colder weather with no snow to allow a good heavy coverall and wade into those spiny basturds. Bet the deer have all the buds browsed off the stuff now on the ground in short order.

 

[g squared 23]

Our bow season goes until mid January. I shot a mature buck on the last day of the season last year: 12 degrees, -7 with the windchill. I have an acre of greens next to 2 acres of standing beans. I can’t bring myself to do any habitat work until we get some snow and cold. Conditions have been perfect for chainsawing, but I’ll at least check trail cams after gun season and see if there is anything left to hunt.


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[Knehrke]

Two tanks of gas through the Stihl brush cutter today whacking back the prickly ash from spots I want to plant trees next year. Also had to rescue a couple spots with plums. As I have mentioned before, plums grow slow on my land and prickly ash is always trying the Russki ploy of "we will bury you".

These areas have too many rocks, ok really boulders that prevent keeping things in check with the rotary cutter. Love the colder weather with no snow to allow a good heavy coverall and wade into those spiny basturds. Bet the deer have all the buds browsed off the stuff now on the ground in short order.

Good luck with that prickly ash. It's native, but a PITA to get rid of.. I used my Huskie forest clearing saw to mow down a large swath for planting a small orchard of a dozen trees. I left a 6' wide section intact to provide a visual barrier. The trees (Franklin, Enterprise, Dolgo and Hewes) are doing great, but it is an annual task to cut down the shoots that emerge from between the cages. Prickly ash does not go easily into the light...

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I just placed an order for a bunch of ROD and plum trees. My first chainsaw work will be clearing the few trees growing in the area that I plan on planting the plum tree screens. After that I will be clearing and treating buckthorn and other trees that are growing on an abandoned RR bed that runs through one of our properties. The RR bed is about half way up a hill on The Valley property and runs from E to W the entire length of the property. My plan is to clear it and plant it in Delar Small Burnet. It is supposed to stay green all winter long and they also say it makes for good fire breaks because of that fact. (doesn't hurt that the deer like it too) The portion below the RR bed is an ongoing project I have of clearing most of the trees off to return to oak savanna. I would also like to cut down/up the ash trees that have been killed over the past year or two for fire wood back at the cabin that is on the property.