BrushyPines
5 year old buck +
My property is 100 acres, 45 acres in pines and the rest is a hardwoods bottom. Over the summer, I had a timber company come in and thin the pines. The pines were 20 years old and it was time for a thin. We agreed to a 65-70 basal area, but after the thinning was completed, I'm going to say the basal area is lower than 65. The pine woods are full of ridges, so a cut every 3rd/5th row was out of the question. They cut the top of every ridge they could, thinned on sides of ridges that weren't too steep and the ones that were too steep they cut rows 30 feet apart from each other. Deer sightings are down this year from last year and the herd has turned nocturnal. Buck sightings are pretty rare on camera, seen a few yearlings and 2 years old. Last year at this time has been very different. I am afraid this is from the pines opening up drastically. I will say I have around 60 trees from chestnuts, persimmons, pears, crabapples, plums, sawtooth, etc that I've raised from 1 year old in pots and I have already planted 25 in the openings that get enough sunlight. My question is what could I plant on the sides of the ridges that were thinned to provide cover? I've thought of switch grass, but I'm open to suggestions.