Habitat out loud
- Thread starter SD51555
- Start date
SD51555
5 year old buck +
That part does suck. I just pick a spot and get in there and cut one at a time and wrestle them to the ground until I've got enough head space to get things falling freely. Seem to get hit in the head and face a lot when doing that part.
That's definitely a lot of work. Are you going to spray any of the alders or do you want them to come back? I'm sure the grouse and rabbits (or snowshoe hares if you are really lucky) really like those small clear cuts and brush piles. Those downed trees should provide some high quality browse this winter for the deer and rabbits.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
I want the alder to come back. There's nothing that comes back as fast as alder. It's also very soft, so if I want to go out and selectively cut some of them back after year 1, I can do that by hand and very quickly. No chainsaw, no silky, just grab them and snap them bare handed.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
There wasn't a lot of save-species where I was cutting this year, so I'll have to plant in some wetland conifers in the spring. I'm also hoping the sun hitting the ground will get that swamp grass up and going there's a patch where I started in 2021, then a blank spot where I was working this year, and right next to that, another patch of swamp grass. The green areas have good swamp grass. The area in the middle has some, but it was really struggling under the canopy of that tag alder.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
For one week a year, I go into my center safe zone and look things over. The regen on my 2021 late fall cut is crazy thick. I walked this last year and saw that the deer were not hitting most of my stump sprouts, so I decided not to cut anything in 2022. In Hindsight, I wish I would have at least spent some time harvesting ash.
This was also the first cut where I started making trails through this stuff so the deer could get traverse it.
One ash tree becomes lots of stems. And they come back fast. I see ash here as completely renewable. It’ll take me 10 years or better to get it all and be able to use it. By the time I’m done, I’ll be back at the beginning knocking it down again.
This low spot was full of swamp grass and ash and tag alder. I leveled every tree in there, and dumped them all into the grass. It’s really coming back nicely. I bet that made for great bedding for how dry it was this year.
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This was also the first cut where I started making trails through this stuff so the deer could get traverse it.
One ash tree becomes lots of stems. And they come back fast. I see ash here as completely renewable. It’ll take me 10 years or better to get it all and be able to use it. By the time I’m done, I’ll be back at the beginning knocking it down again.
This low spot was full of swamp grass and ash and tag alder. I leveled every tree in there, and dumped them all into the grass. It’s really coming back nicely. I bet that made for great bedding for how dry it was this year.
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SD51555
5 year old buck +
Some bonus footage from the big cut this past week. Most damn work I've ever put into one shooting lane, and it's not even done.
Daydreamer
5 year old buck +
I smell blood in the air after something messed with your trees...I think I have lost some up and coming balsam firs to something.
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4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
It looks as though winter is finally going to show up this year. I cant say I missed it much. But it is January, so before long, things will start to warm up again. I needed a short winter after the last couple of years.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Yeah, this weekend is really the first weekend that's an inconvenience far as weather goes. Cold isn't a show stopper like white outs and closed roads, but it's enough to get me to alter my plans.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
What are yalls thoughts on how large created bedding areas in big timber should be?
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Bigger the better far as I'm concerned. My scale is pretty small given I only have 40, but I am trying to keep my center 12 acres in various stages of managed bedding. Half hasn't been touched yet, and the other half has been cut in pieces over the last number of years. I haven't gone back to the beginning yet to make a second pass at it, but that's coming due soon. I'd prefer to have it cut in stages like that so there is always some prime out there and it's not a boom and bust kind of evolution.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
Basically what SD said.
Big timber is a wildlife desert. I have a couple hundred acres of it, and it really only supports raccoons and a few porcupines. I think it's beautiful, because I have the instincts of a predator. Prey species find it unsafe and devoid of food. Luckily I have a big chunk of Thuja as well, with some junipers around the edges that gives some bedding, but I'm in the process of slowly converting as much of the big timber as I can.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Where are you located tele?
In Alabama if all you had were big fields or native grass area you would never see a buck. They hang out in big timber, move in big timber, sleep in big timber. You can make bedding in it (simulating tornado damage and such) but that’s just way it is here.
I agree with above about some overstay tree cover, especially with topography. 30-70% light to floor to get understory growth, but keeping some canopy.
Everything else here is trying to catch buck moving through the big timber.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
I hunt big mature timber in Ontario, with no real ag around, except a few hay fields and cattle pastures
SD51555
5 year old buck +
All this warm weather has me itching to pick up a spread a few bushels of spring forage barley, but I'm going to resist it until Easter. Last year you may remember I tried broadcasting barley into the snow. That didn't work well. We're warm now, but it's going to drop back into a 15-35 degree slump for a week after. I just wanna top dress my clover plots before they get going.
Gonna trying transplanting trees this weekend. I don't know if it'll be thawed enough, but the weather looks good enough to give it a shot. Also need to do some mulching and matting on some new yard spruces.
Gonna trying transplanting trees this weekend. I don't know if it'll be thawed enough, but the weather looks good enough to give it a shot. Also need to do some mulching and matting on some new yard spruces.
