Hinge cutting for bedding areas

[Bill]

If you have wide open woods can you hinge cut 1/4 acre or so and have deer bed in it or do you need a larger area of thick cover?

1/4 to 1/2 acres areas are fine. My place is a patch work of small blocks of timber and fields. When I first started years ago I went in and did very large areas, 5- 6 plus acres each. It's not wrong because those areas hold deer. But for hunt-ability I've often wished I did more small areas. This way I could have hunted between them. If those small pockets hold does a buck will be moving to search them in the rut.

I'll go as far as to say find your treestand locations before you cut anything. Put it on paper and try and figure out how you or terrain will make a buck go from point A to point B.

Check out this recent thread. I think some of these thing tie in together. http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?posts/134927/

 

[JT's Outdoors]

This hinge cutting stuff is getting out of control. There are a lot of things that are more beneficial for habitat, aren't as dangerous, and don't ruin your timber.

 

[Tap]

This hinge cutting stuff is getting out of control. There are a lot of things that are more beneficial for habitat, aren't as dangerous, and don't ruin your timber.

Would you care to share them with us?

 

[Buckly]

This hinge cutting stuff is getting out of control. There are a lot of things that are more beneficial for habitat, aren't as dangerous, and don't ruin your timber.

What!! Hinge cutting is the number 1 thing you can do for deer habitat. I don't think anybody is ruining their good timber.

 

[buckdeer1]

I think it's like anything else,should be done in moderation with planning.Such things as if there is a area that first would make a good bedding are,then is there junk trees available?,Then would it be huntable or a sanctuary bedding area.I personally like them where I can hunt the south area apx 50 yards south from the south edge of any thickening of the cover.This can be made better be having a pinch point such as a creek behind me.This forces deer to either cross one side or the other and some instances I set up so they have to cross directly in front.I killed my buck this year in exactly this stand.Another benefit to opening up the timber in my area is getting buckbrush to grow.I have seen deer gravitate towards these patches and browse.

 

[Bill]

JT,
Here's my thing. I don't really care what timber value is. If I wanted to be a timber farmer i'd have a southern pine plantation.

My forester kinda shakes his head when I stop him and say I don't care about board feet. I care about antler inches.

Sorry I just don't care what my trees might be worth. If their not dropping nuts for the deer, hiding them or holding my stand they have no value to me.

Not in it for the cash. Just the fun. And I get to define what my fun is.

 

[TMIL]

This hinge cutting stuff is getting out of control. There are a lot of things that are more beneficial for habitat, aren't as dangerous, and don't ruin your timber.

If your hinge cutting is getting out of control, you are being dangerous, ruining your timber, and at this point you have identified other things more beneficial for habitat then do those.

 

[EarthySpirit]

I bought Jim Brauker's book: https://extremedeerhabitat.com/buy-the-book/

He seems to know what he's talking about. He has lots of short videos on youtube as well. Between him and Jake Erlanger, I've learned a ton. I bought 51 acres last may and now begin my own work. I plan to use many of their strategies. Good luck with your projects.

 

[Weezy]

JT,
Here's my thing. I don't really care what timber value is. If I wanted to be a timber farmer i'd have a southern pine plantation.

My forester kinda shakes his head when I stop him and say I don't care about board feet. I care about antler inches.

Sorry I just don't care what my trees might be worth. If their not dropping nuts for the deer, hiding them or holding my stand they have no value to me.

Not in it for the cash. Just the fun. And I get to define what my fun is.

X2
I have a 165 acres of closed canopy timber and a 15-20 year wait for it to be of good value.

 

[Weed Wacker]

I bought Jim Brauker's book: https://extremedeerhabitat.com/buy-the-book/

He seems to know what he's talking about. He has lots of short videos on youtube as well. Between him and Jake Erlanger, I've learned a ton. I bought 51 acres last may and now begin my own work. I plan to use many of their strategies. Good luck with your projects.

I also bought his book, it was very helpful for me. my biggest challenge is to try and implement some of his ideas on a ridge instead of flat land. Good Luck

 

[Diesel5610]

JT,
Here's my thing. I don't really care what timber value is. If I wanted to be a timber farmer i'd have a southern pine plantation.

My forester kinda shakes his head when I stop him and say I don't care about board feet. I care about antler inches.

Sorry I just don't care what my trees might be worth. If their not dropping nuts for the deer, hiding them or holding my stand they have no value to me.

Not in it for the cash. Just the fun. And I get to define what my fun is.

Well said. I have walked my properties with foresters several times and I am fully aware of of the result of every cut we make. I have dropped some marginal timber ($ value) to create habitat that I would have paid twice that amount to have. In 10 plus years of hinge cuts, etc, I am yet to regret any of my cuts. Wish I had planted some more seedlings along the way but that is a different discussion. My property, my priorities.

 

[j-bird]

Hinging, food plots, native grasses, water holes ANYTHING can be over done! This is where we as habitat managers need to take an honest look at our goals for the property and ensure everything is working together.

I swung a saw this weekend. Everything I hinged was of low value anyway and I released much higher value trees OR it was so small it wouldn't make timber size until I was an old man. I got a short term gain in habitat and a long term gain in releasing some oaks. I also didn't do this to my entire woods! Pics on my property tour thread if your interested.

The interesting thing about owning my property......I can do with it as I want!

 

[bueller]

I'm not a fan of hinging at all in my neck of the woods. Lots of scrub oak and pine keeping this sandy ground plenty thick. And when they get bigger mother nature puts many to the ground by snapping or uprooting them. IMO clear cutting (or at least a heavy timber harvest) is a much better option than hinging in this area.

 

[j-bird]

I'm not a fan of hinging at all in my neck of the woods. Lots of scrub oak and pine keeping this sandy ground plenty thick. And when they get bigger mother nature puts many to the ground by snapping or uprooting them. IMO clear cutting (or at least a heavy timber harvest) is a much better option than hinging in this area.

I was told that owning a tool box full of tools doesn't make you a mechanic.....knowing when, why, and how to use those tools is what makes you a mechanic. I feel the same holds true for what we do as well. So like you say - it may not need to be as commonly used in your area if you can get the desired results thru other means.

 

[Tap]

I have to say that bedding under my hinge cuts has been pretty spotty. They do occasionally bed right there, exactly where I planned, but not very often. But for staging and travel, deer are in my hinge-cut areas daily.
I think that the location within terrain, or being within safe areas has a lot more to do with the location of where deer bed than cover does. Deer don't always seek out dense cover for bedding and sometimes they bed in wide-open woods because it's a secure area. IME, Wind patterns and undisturbed areas are more important to bedding choices than randomly located hinge cuts. That's how deer tend to behave here, but other types of terrain and habitat my not have the same bedding tendencies.
That being said, I still intend to continue hinge cutting certain tree species. Creating edge, releasing more desirable trees, and keeping species that don't produce mast, in an early stage of succession, are the main reasons I believe in hinging.

 

[Someday isle]

Great post Tap!

 

[bueller]

I have to say that bedding under my hinge cuts has been pretty spotty. They do occasionally bed right there, exactly where I planned, but not very often. But for staging and travel, deer are in my hinge-cut areas daily.
I think that location within terrain or within safe areas has a lot more to do with the location of where deer bed than cover does. Deer don't always seek out dense cover for bedding and sometimes they bed in wide-open woods because it's a secure area. IME, Wind patterns and undisturbed areas are more important to bedding choices than randomly located hinge cuts. That's how deer tend to behave here, but other types of terrain and habitat my not have the same bedding tendencies.
That being said, I still intend to continue hinge cutting certain tree species. Creating edge, releasing more desirable trees, and keeping species that don't produce mast, in an early stage of succession, are the main reasons I believe in hinging.

Deer tend to prefer bedding in small sedge meadows with shrubs and scrubby tree growth over crazy thick areas by me also. There is a fair amount of human activity in our area and I feel the deer want the view so they can just watch and remain put unless you step on them. Plus our thick areas don't have the soft sedge/grass on the forest floor. The buck in my avatar was laying down in one of these small meadows during the early afternoon of our rifle season. It was the 4th day of the season and pressure had been high. Heck he was 75 yards in front of the ladder stand I sat in the day before when I shot at him and missed. The day I got him I climbed into the stand and wasn't even settled in when he got nervous and stood up in front of me. I never saw him laying but I'm sure he saw me. Thankfully I was able to get on him quick enough before he trotted out of my life. Point being, a thick tangled mess is not always the preferred bedding.

edit... forgot to mention. there was thick bedding available in a young pine stand about 100 yards from where he was laying.

 

[Tap]

Great post Tap!

Thanks.

 

[Bill]

More to Taps point.
I posted these pics last winter when I took them. These beds we're next to some heavily hinged areas but not in them.

It's why I like pockets over huge blocks of hinged areas. Sometimes a sunny hill is a nice place to rest.

I've also read that bucks in velvet like a more open woods. No clue how true that is but it makes sense on the surface.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Good stuff Bill. I don't get to excited about winter beds because by me they start bedding in the middle of nowhere in the sun closer to food. Preserving energy by moving the couch next to the fridge is my guess. Happens every year in spots we have never jumped a bedded dear in season.