Best time to fell trees

[Stubborn1VT]

Soft maple is about half of what I use for firewood to heat our little house. It doesn't last as well as hard maple or ironwood, but it's what I prefer to start a fire with.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Red maples are the work horses of the forest in these modern times. No more chesnut, EAB killing all the ashes, spruce and fir decline, Beech bark scale disease and now the beech leaf disease, hemlock adelgid, dutch elm, that white pine beetle...black cherries are starting to get a little funky looking around here. But the red maple...will grow almost anywhere, grows fast, seems like it has no diseases that affect it, etc.

I burn a lot of red maple. Splits nicely. Burns hot. But yes, not as many BTU's compared to sugar maple or oak.

I also tap the big red maples and they produce a lovely maple syrup.

25 years ago when I first bought my place, I used to consider them kind of a useless tree too. I've come to respect them for all they provide.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Natty -

Maybe next hunting season .... ditch the camo & deer scent - and fire up your chainsaw! Isn't it amazing how the older big boys show up after the seasons are over? I swear they go underground sometimes, and no matter how hard we hunt them - can't find 'em.

Yes Bows....I think you're onto something. Not that I care too much from a moral or ethical standpoint, but I have often wondered IF a game warden was to happen upon my newly felled trees and my tree stand, would that technically be a game violation? I can do food plots in MA, but no baiting. I wonder where this would fall?

 

[bigboreblr]

I dropped the last of my dead ash trees today. I still have many dozen that are still healthy and thriving. These were the last of the trees I marked this summer for removal.

I also dropped about 6 or 7 huge spruce trees. Trying to get some light on a small food plot. Almost all of them were leaning the opposite of where I wanted them to fall. Used the bore cut with wedges and then released the trigger to get them to fall where I needed them to.

Another good reason to get a orchard ladder. Put a rope up on them and tension them where to want them to land. Tension it, make your felling cut about 3/4's the way in, then tension it more before cutting it completely. IF lean is bad do that 2 or 3 time, cut a bite more, tension more.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Yes Bows....I think you're onto something. Not that I care too much from a moral or ethical standpoint, but I have often wondered IF a game warden was to happen upon my newly felled trees and my tree stand, would that technically be a game violation? I can do food plots in MA, but no baiting. I wonder where this would fall?

I don't think you'd be in hot water, Natty. Woods work is woods work. Felling trees is no crime. Many states encourage cutting browse for deer anyway - Pa. has for years. When you drop some trees so they can start to dry out for firewood, no one can stop deer from snacking on the tops.

Just a FWIW .... SLN started to grow & sell what they call "Sweet Sap" red maples again. Bill McKentley had them before he sold the nursey to Connor Hardiman. They're reported to have a higher sugar content in the sap than regular red maples. Being that they grow so fast - they may become tap-able is less years. I believe Bill McKentley got them from a discovery by Fred Ashworth, the original owner of SLN.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Soft maple is about half of what I use for firewood to heat our little house. It doesn't last as well as hard maple or ironwood, but it's what I prefer to start a fire with.

I use red maple too for firewood. Plenty of it available, and it makes a good fire starter. Bonus .... it's free & splits easy!!! I use oak, hickory, cherry, and black birch for longer-lasting coals. Red maple also regenerates quickly too, another plus.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Another good reason to get a orchard ladder. Put a rope up on them and tension them where to want them to land. Tension it, make your felling cut about 3/4's the way in, then tension it more before cutting it completely. IF lean is bad do that 2 or 3 time, cut a bite more, tension more.

Great tip. I like it. Do you use a come-along or something like that for tension?

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I don't think you'd be in hot water, Natty. Woods work is woods work. Felling trees is no crime. Many states encourage cutting browse for deer anyway - Pa. has for years. When you drop some trees so they can start to dry out for firewood, no one can stop deer from snacking on the tops.

Just a FWIW .... SLN started to grow & sell what they call "Sweet Sap" red maples again. Bill McKentley had them before he sold the nursey to Connor Hardiman. They're reported to have a higher sugar content in the sap than regular red maples. Being that they grow so fast - they may become tap-able is less years. I believe Bill McKentley got them from a discovery by Fred Ashworth, the original owner of SLN.

Funny Bows, I was just on the SLN site yesterday and saw them.

And I think you're right about dropping trees to then hunt over. I was trying to think about parallels in the farming community that blur the line. For example, if a farmer clears his pumpkin patch of leftover pumpkins and dumps them in a huge pile in the back 40 along with the ones that didn't sell by the roadside Halloween stand....can you hunt over that pile? It's a normal farming practice. But I'm pretty sure a game warden would have a problem with hunters then sitting over that pile. Not sure though.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

Funny Bows, I was just on the SLN site yesterday and saw them.

And I think you're right about dropping trees to then hunt over. I was trying to think about parallels in the farming community that blur the line. For example, if a farmer clears his pumpkin patch of leftover pumpkins and dumps them in a huge pile in the back 40 along with the ones that didn't sell by the roadside Halloween stand....can you hunt over that pile? It's a normal farming practice. But I'm pretty sure a game warden would have a problem with hunters then sitting over that pile. Not sure though.

Wisconsin would pinch you for a pile of pumpkins. Law says you're not allowed to concentrate natural feed.

 

[Stubborn1VT]

Got out in the woods with the tractor today. Dropped 2 more BIG soft maples and a poplar for regeneration. Worked up 2 "loads" of soft maple for firewood. I have a 3PH carry-all that I fill, plus the tractor bucket. Nice day in our little woodlot. No deer tracks, just a pair of coyotes.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Funny Bows, I was just on the SLN site yesterday and saw them.

And I think you're right about dropping trees to then hunt over. I was trying to think about parallels in the farming community that blur the line. For example, if a farmer clears his pumpkin patch of leftover pumpkins and dumps them in a huge pile in the back 40 along with the ones that didn't sell by the roadside Halloween stand....can you hunt over that pile? It's a normal farming practice. But I'm pretty sure a game warden would have a problem with hunters then sitting over that pile. Not sure though.

No idea about a pile of pumpkins, Natty. Being orange doesn't help. Deer around here eat pumpkins like candy if they're broken up so they can get their teeth into them. The neighbors and I break up our Halloween jacks & the deer clobber them. No garbage bill.

Tree tops don't stand out like a pile of orange pumpkins, so .........

 

[Telemark]

No idea about a pile of pumpkins, Natty. Being orange doesn't help. Deer around here eat pumpkins like candy if they're broken up so they can get their teeth into them. The neighbors and I break up our Halloween jacks & the deer clobber them. No garbage bill.

Tree tops don't stand out like a pile of orange pumpkins, so .........

I just watched an episode of Wardens from Michigan where the DNR flew a plane around looking for piles of corn. Blows my mind that those guys would dump 100lbs of corn in a pile up there.

I'm thinking about planting a micro plot of sugar beets this summer. I'm thinking tiny, like 50ftx50ft. Then overseed heavily with rye and/or wheat.

I wonder if pumpkins would be realistic for guys in no-bait areas. You could fence off a micro plot and grow pumpkins, them pull the fence for hunting season. Meanwhile, grow pumpkins in your garden, and just don't cut the vines off the pumpkins. Then, if the deer eat up the plot, throw a few garden pumpkins, vines and all, into the plot. It would look like they just grew there.

 

[Teeder]

I use red maple too for firewood. Plenty of it available, and it makes a good fire starter. Bonus .... it's free & splits easy!!! I use oak, hickory, cherry, and black birch for longer-lasting coals. Red maple also regenerates quickly too, another plus.

Anymore, I use about 50% red maple for burning. It used to be ash, but that's running low. The rest is cherry, hickory and yellow birch. I only have about 20 red/black oaks on my place, so they aren't getting cut down for firewood!

 

[Tangler]

In NH last week I did some TSI and I cut down some smaller maples. As you folks described, a few hours later a little buck was on the camera going to town on the trees that I knocked down. I left them hoping someone would eat them and was really happy to see him doing it. I need to get back out there and do a lot more. It is really rewarding and fun. Be careful with those saws.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

I just watched an episode of Wardens from Michigan where the DNR flew a plane around looking for piles of corn. Blows my mind that those guys would dump 100lbs of corn in a pile up there.

I'm thinking about planting a micro plot of sugar beets this summer. I'm thinking tiny, like 50ftx50ft. Then overseed heavily with rye and/or wheat.

I wonder if pumpkins would be realistic for guys in no-bait areas. You could fence off a micro plot and grow pumpkins, them pull the fence for hunting season. Meanwhile, grow pumpkins in your garden, and just don't cut the vines off the pumpkins. Then, if the deer eat up the plot, throw a few garden pumpkins, vines and all, into the plot. It would look like they just grew there.

I used to work with a guy that would spend 2K on shelled corn every year to bait deer. And that was on top of food plots.
From August through January you can stop at any gas station/convenience store and buy 50# bags of apples, corn, carrots, and sugar beets for baiting, even though it'd banned in most counties.

 

[Telemark]

I used to work with a guy that would spend 2K on shelled corn every year to bait deer. And that was on top of food plots.
From August through January you can stop at any gas station/convenience store and buy 50# bags of apples, corn, carrots, and sugar beets for baiting, even though it'd banned in most counties.

Yeah, I've been through there later in the season. There is a gas station outside Port Huron that had pallets with bags of beets, carrots, etc. stacked up between the pumps.
Even when I was feeding deer in Ohio this winter, I would scatter the corn and beans over a large area for the sake of the deer. They're used to scattered grain in the ag fields, but they seemed more skeptical towards a pile of food.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Yeah, I've been through there later in the season. There is a gas station outside Port Huron that had pallets with bags of beets, carrots, etc. stacked up between the pumps.
Even when I was feeding deer in Ohio this winter, I would scatter the corn and beans over a large area for the sake of the deer. They're used to scattered grain in the ag fields, but they seemed more skeptical towards a pile of food.

Scattering widely might also help ward off disease spread - CWD, and EHD possibly. Piles = deer crowding and wardens.