Bedding

[Early Bird]

I am in the process of cutting 1/2-2/3 acre bedding area on the property. Mostly comprised of Poplar, Red Maple and a few oaks. I will be doing mostly clear cutting but will be leaving the highest potential oak trees and perhaps hinging a few of the smaller red maples. The area is a south facing bench and slope so it will get a great deal of sun. The area has a lot of leaves covering the ground and I was wondering if there is a benefit to blowing the leaves out of the cut area (within reason) so it will kick start the regeneration. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Ray

 

[homerj1]

If your soil is healthy, those leaves should be largely gone by mid summer

 

[hesseu]

I wouldn't worry about it this year. I'm sure there is quite a bit of leaf litter...that being said, see how it turns out this year, and next year run a fire through it if possible.

 

[greekfreak]

I agree with homer. No sense in wasting the extra time and those leaves are organic matter. Regeneration will happen because of sunlight and the leaves will not hinder it's success. Get excited! Early successional growth is huge for deer.

 

[bwoods11]

I am in the process of cutting 1/2-2/3 acre bedding area on the property. Mostly comprised of Poplar, Red Maple and a few oaks. I will be doing mostly clear cutting but will be leaving the highest potential oak trees and perhaps hinging a few of the smaller red maples. The area is a south facing bench and slope so it will get a great deal of sun. The area has a lot of leaves covering the ground and I was wondering if there is a benefit to blowing the leaves out of the cut area (within reason) so it will kick start the regeneration. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Ray

Are you going to plant any trees? Clear cuts can be a nice location for spruce and pine. Depends on what your goal is? Bedding?

 

[Early Bird]

Thanks for the replies. I did not plan on planting any additional trees but i am not opposed to it. This area is full canopy so my thoughts are the growth should be pretty explosive with the amount of sun it will see after cutting.

Ray

 

[yoderjac]

I am in the process of cutting 1/2-2/3 acre bedding area on the property. Mostly comprised of Poplar, Red Maple and a few oaks. I will be doing mostly clear cutting but will be leaving the highest potential oak trees and perhaps hinging a few of the smaller red maples. The area is a south facing bench and slope so it will get a great deal of sun. The area has a lot of leaves covering the ground and I was wondering if there is a benefit to blowing the leaves out of the cut area (within reason) so it will kick start the regeneration. Thoughts?

Thanks,
Ray

First, that is a tiny area for bedding. You are going to have a hard time blowing leaves under a canopy. They get wet as they decompose and form a mat. You may be able to do it in such a tiny area but it will be work. In order to activate the seed bank you need light reaching the soil. Opening the canopy get sun most of the way there, but a thick layer of decomposing leaves will reduce seed bank germination. Fire is the tool typically used for this.

Best of luck,

Jack

 

[Early Bird]

Thanks!

 

[Chainsaw]

Whenever poplar are cut here, significant root sprouting occurs. Seed sprouting is minimal in poplar cuts here.

 

[yoderjac]

Whenever poplar are cut here, significant root sprouting occurs. Seed sprouting is minimal in poplar cuts here.

Yep, the options are to hinge cut and make instant low quality browse, cut them down and let the stumps sprout for mineral stumps (aka MSU deer lab), or let them sprout and spray them with herbicide to kill them and the do a controlled burn. We did the latter for our bedding area.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[homerj1]

In a northern area, you'd have to be a bit nuts to kill off aspen re-gen if you're a deer hunter/manager

 

[Early Bird]

Yoder, is that year around bedding?

Ray

 

[yoderjac]

Yoder, is that year around bedding?

Ray

On my place, bedding locations change seasonally to some degree. Deer tend to bed where it is safe and they have safe travel corridors to food. There is some change is safety seasonally. Topography is fixed, but vegetation changes seasonally. Seasonal vegetation changes have some impact on security, but the biggest impact comes from human incursion. Even before hunting season rolls around, deer experience more human activity as guys begin setting and checking deer stands as well as scouting.

If you pick a good location topographically, and the area is large enough and has good cover, and you make it a sanctuary (no human access), it can often become year-round bedding. Seasonally changing food sources can still have some impact if there are other equally suited bedding areas nearby.

Thaks,

Jack

 

[Early Bird]

Thanks!

 

[Chainsaw]

On my place, bedding locations change seasonally to some degree. Deer tend to bed where it is safe and they have safe travel corridors to food. There is some change is safety seasonally. Topography is fixed, but vegetation changes seasonally. Seasonal vegetation changes have some impact on security, but the biggest impact comes from human incursion. Even before hunting season rolls around, deer experience more human activity as guys begin setting and checking deer stands as well as scouting.

If you pick a good location topographically, and the area is large enough and has good cover, and you make it a sanctuary (no human access), it can often become year-round bedding. Seasonally changing food sources can still have some impact if there are other equally suited bedding areas nearby.

Thaks,

Jack

Jack we also see changes in bedding here as the seasons change as you mentioned. The rut affects where some bucks bed here with some actually bedding right in the apple stands that the does are visiting regularly. The other change in bedding we see is related to outside temperatures and the angles and paths of the sun. On a sunny day when the snow is glistening from tiny specks of frozen moisture falling from the sky, the temperature is surely in the ten degree and below area; a large doe group will be bedded on a open south slope in low growing weeds thirty yards from our barn. We do not disturb them but they will often rise and move off between 9 and 10 am and come back late in the afternoon.
So far we have been unsuccessful in utilizing cameras to learn more about bedding behaviors; the deer just won't stand for it.

Early bird, as far as choosing the spot and encouraging deer to bed there, it is pretty tough, at least here. Some success has been seen with does bedding where we leave a single dropped tree or three or four dropped in a 1/8 acre. It has worked some with poplar stands on the higher spots of a particular stand even though those spots may be higher by only a foot or two. We hinge cut a small amount of poplars to provide extra browse during February each year and we like the cover and growth and eventual brush growth around the hinged top. It is hinged because the tree seems to take longer to rot if it is off the ground. Many hinges break off and that is ok too. Poplar hinging is very unpredictable so we only cut thru them half way with a high cut and them let the wind finish them. And leaning poplars are not cut because they are more apt to snap while we are there. The number of poplar we cut each February is rationed so that we do not run out of mature poplar to drop. The regeneration of poplar shoots as mentioned makes for great additional food for about two years or three at the most and then it outgrows the reach of the deer.

 

[yoderjac]

Jack we also see changes in bedding here as the seasons change as you mentioned. The rut affects where some bucks bed here with some actually bedding right in the apple stands that the does are visiting regularly. The other change in bedding we see is related to outside temperatures and the angles and paths of the sun. On a sunny day when the snow is glistening from tiny specks of frozen moisture falling from the sky, the temperature is surely in the ten degree and below area; a large doe group will be bedded on a open south slope in low growing weeds thirty yards from our barn. We do not disturb them but they will often rise and move off between 9 and 10 am and come back late in the afternoon.
So far we have been unsuccessful in utilizing cameras to learn more about bedding behaviors; the deer just won't stand for it.

Early bird, as far as choosing the spot and encouraging deer to bed there, it is pretty tough, at least here. Some success has been seen with does bedding where we leave a single dropped tree or three or four dropped in a 1/8 acre. It has worked some with poplar stands on the higher spots of a particular stand even though those spots may be higher by only a foot or two. We hinge cut a small amount of poplars to provide extra browse during February each year and we like the cover and growth and eventual brush growth around the hinged top. It is hinged because the tree seems to take longer to rot if it is off the ground. Many hinges break off and that is ok too. Poplar hinging is very unpredictable so we only cut thru them half way with a high cut and them let the wind finish them. And leaning poplars are not cut because they are more apt to snap while we are there. The number of poplar we cut each February is rationed so that we do not run out of mature poplar to drop. The regeneration of poplar shoots as mentioned makes for great additional food for about two years or three at the most and then it outgrows the reach of the deer.

Yes, I agree. Temperature and sun angle play a role here too.

 

[Early Bird]

Thank you for all the input.
Ray

 

[Knehrke]

A bit of a twist on your initial question: I've been reading quite a bit on the potential of the invasive Asian jumping earthworms to remodel our soil, accelerating the conversion of leaf detritus, with profound consequences on soil health. Scary stuff.

Has anyone had experience with these invasives, and if so, what has been the short term impact?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Asian jumping earthworms, huh?? Sounds like they'd be just as beneficial as the spotted lantern fly, "tree -of-heaven", gypsy moths, European maple thrips, EAB, and Japanese beetles.

IMO - God put vast oceans between continents for a reason.

 

[Bassattackr]

You can always do a prescribed burn thru the area to get rid of the leaves. Best case scenario IMO - Sunlight to ground, free fertilizer & OM..