j-bird
Moderator
Well I was out today and took lots of pics and like my other post - I thought I would share, some not so new ideas.
The first pic is a view of a woods that is in desperate need of being logged. Look how far you can see, and at the lack of any ground level food or cover. Now these are mostly mature oaks so the acorns these trees produce do provide food, but hunting in this area is simply a waste of time - simply because the deer won't step foot in here until the cover of the dark falls.
Before I had my place logged my place wasn't too much better - a weak understory (dominated by maples). The pics below are representative of my place before the logging. The pic on the right is why I hate mature american beech trees - they produce so much shade it stifles any growth under them.
How much difference does a little sunlight make? Look at the difference at the edge of the woods (which is the large pic). Other things are oak, generation, raspberry and other browse species flourish AND the amount of cover EXPLODES!!!!
The pic below is a very good, no great, example of what sunlight does for you in the woods. This pic is taken facing an ag field that isn't 50 yards away and it has a very defined hard edge. You can just barely see any daylight thru the trees.
I was SO afraid to use a chainsaw early on in my habitat days and didn't understand how you could cut a tree to improve the habitat - it just sounded counter productive. Now - my #1 tool for habitat work is a chainsaw. it's the only tool I can think of that you can create cover and food (2 major components of deer habitat) with just one tool and it isn't a significant equipment purchase either.
The first pic is a view of a woods that is in desperate need of being logged. Look how far you can see, and at the lack of any ground level food or cover. Now these are mostly mature oaks so the acorns these trees produce do provide food, but hunting in this area is simply a waste of time - simply because the deer won't step foot in here until the cover of the dark falls.
Before I had my place logged my place wasn't too much better - a weak understory (dominated by maples). The pics below are representative of my place before the logging. The pic on the right is why I hate mature american beech trees - they produce so much shade it stifles any growth under them.
How much difference does a little sunlight make? Look at the difference at the edge of the woods (which is the large pic). Other things are oak, generation, raspberry and other browse species flourish AND the amount of cover EXPLODES!!!!
The pic below is a very good, no great, example of what sunlight does for you in the woods. This pic is taken facing an ag field that isn't 50 yards away and it has a very defined hard edge. You can just barely see any daylight thru the trees.
I was SO afraid to use a chainsaw early on in my habitat days and didn't understand how you could cut a tree to improve the habitat - it just sounded counter productive. Now - my #1 tool for habitat work is a chainsaw. it's the only tool I can think of that you can create cover and food (2 major components of deer habitat) with just one tool and it isn't a significant equipment purchase either.