B
BJE80
Guest
It will be a heavy select cut (assuming the DNR agrees) and clearing for the food plots where I decide. I am going to cut it hard as possible and clearing around 3-4 acres of plots
It will be a heavy select cut (assuming the DNR agrees) and clearing for the food plots where I decide. I am going to cut it hard as possible and clearing around 3-4 acres of plots
B
BJE80
Guest
FTR, I have plans on what I think I should do but I am going to hire Steve B. to develop a plan for me so I can basically hand over the blue print for success to my logger. I think it will be money well spent with the dramatic change my property is about to go through.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
IMO, you are going to be :eek: when you first log it, and if you have a "plan";) you will love the results in 2 or 3 years. The way your higher ground is broken up around the property, it will give you some options as to what habitat improvements you can put in given locations. This will lead to a higher amount of diversity around the whole property. It would be far less workable and hunter friendly if you had 40 acres of the higher ground in the front(east) half and the back 40 was all the low areas. You will be able to do some good quality improvements .
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BJE80
Guest
By the way. Great thread for me. Loved the discussion.
Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
Ton of great advice on this thread, with a bunch of it geared towards hunting instead of habitat, but one should marry the two when ever they can.
Agree on the funnels, and I'd say that's another big difference between farm land and big woods habitat improvement, at least how I approach it. In the farm lands, there tends to be more natural funnels to take advantage of. Sure, there are typically funnels in big woods settings, as well, but they more often are less pronounced (an edge or slight topography break, like TS described earlier, for example). Without a doubt, deer are "encouraged" to use them, but they often don't almost "force" deer to use them as much as many farmland funnels do. So, I tend to physically create more "funneling" in big woods than I do in farm land.
Another great earlier comment was that food wasn't just food plots, and I agree a bunch with that. All those hinge cut bedding areas and sidewalks I use in those settings are browse creators. For as much as we talk about it, I still believe the tendency is to undervalue the importance of creating high quality browse, particularly in the big woods. Having discussed BJE80's ground in other threads and with him, I know he s limited on food plot space, but the chainsaw can create a lot of food for him.
I also believe that the quality of cover is generally more important in big woods than farm ground. No doubt, quality cover is important on farm ground too, but big woods deer have cover everywhere they look. They only question is how good is it. Most big woods settings offer some top end cover somewhere not horribly far away. creating that top end cover on your ground can be extremely beneficial in many big woods situations, even more so in a weird way than in fem lands.
I think it was J that said early on that he guessed the approach would be the same. with the way I do it, that's true. In both farm land and big woods I most often am trying to accomplish the same things (give them better everything they want on my ground than they can get elsewhere and try to dictate movement patters as much as practically possible to provide great hunting). It's just that one tends to use certain tools more on farm ground and others more on big woods, but I often use those same tools in the other setting, as well.....if that makes any sense. Great discussion!
Agree on the funnels, and I'd say that's another big difference between farm land and big woods habitat improvement, at least how I approach it. In the farm lands, there tends to be more natural funnels to take advantage of. Sure, there are typically funnels in big woods settings, as well, but they more often are less pronounced (an edge or slight topography break, like TS described earlier, for example). Without a doubt, deer are "encouraged" to use them, but they often don't almost "force" deer to use them as much as many farmland funnels do. So, I tend to physically create more "funneling" in big woods than I do in farm land.
Another great earlier comment was that food wasn't just food plots, and I agree a bunch with that. All those hinge cut bedding areas and sidewalks I use in those settings are browse creators. For as much as we talk about it, I still believe the tendency is to undervalue the importance of creating high quality browse, particularly in the big woods. Having discussed BJE80's ground in other threads and with him, I know he s limited on food plot space, but the chainsaw can create a lot of food for him.
I also believe that the quality of cover is generally more important in big woods than farm ground. No doubt, quality cover is important on farm ground too, but big woods deer have cover everywhere they look. They only question is how good is it. Most big woods settings offer some top end cover somewhere not horribly far away. creating that top end cover on your ground can be extremely beneficial in many big woods situations, even more so in a weird way than in fem lands.
I think it was J that said early on that he guessed the approach would be the same. with the way I do it, that's true. In both farm land and big woods I most often am trying to accomplish the same things (give them better everything they want on my ground than they can get elsewhere and try to dictate movement patters as much as practically possible to provide great hunting). It's just that one tends to use certain tools more on farm ground and others more on big woods, but I often use those same tools in the other setting, as well.....if that makes any sense. Great discussion!
Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
There's a couple of them Brooks posted on this page:
http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/habitat-plans-that-produced.1897/page-2
http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/habitat-plans-that-produced.1897/page-2
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