Hungry deer

[Jerry-B-WI]

Wisconsin has what they call a Young Forest Program. The idea is to do some logging so that the regrowth puts the food at or below head level for the deer. I had a lot of mature red maple on my property before enrolling in a MFL plan. After logging it looked like hell, and I doubted the wisdom of what I had done, five years later and the deer have more to eat and it's accessible without standing on their hind legs. I wish I would have had some logging some years ago. I've got more than my share of lowland that doesn't grow much and it's awfully thick with small cedars. That would make it real hard to create a rotational logging plan like Ruffdude mentioned , but I think that would be the preferred method.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

That's awesome. I read in some articles where they said aspen leaves can make up to 70 percent of a whitetails summer diet. So your mostly likely feed them all year long with that rotation. I wish I had enough aspen to do this. Every area that had aspen my forester marked it to be clear cut. They grew back so thick.These turned out phenomenal. I see some browsing on the aspen but they seem to really prefer the red maple.

I've read similar articles and didn't realize how much aspen they eat until watching videos from the trail cameras. The deer are funny eaters they won't clean all the leaves off of any tree, but they'll eat one or two leaves off five trees in a row. I think that makes it hard to see how much browsing they do in the popple stands. The red maple stumps get hammered and it's real easy to see how much they browse that regrowth.

 

[ruskbucks]

I've read similar articles and didn't realize how much aspen they eat until watching videos from the trail cameras. The deer are funny eaters they won't clean all the leaves off of any tree, but they'll eat one or two leaves off five trees in a row. I think that makes it hard to see how much browsing they do in the popple stands. The red maple stumps get hammered and it's real easy to see how much they browse that regrowth.

That is exactly what I've seen. I don't think I have found a maple stump that hasn't been browsed out of who knows how many hundred I have. They have been feeding the deer for 7 years now. I didn't think they would have a chance to regrow but to my surprise I have sprouts over 10 feet tall now out . Have you noticed alot of baby oaks coming up after your logging? I'm having a boom of small oaks and haven't seen any browsing on them. I think that the maple and aspen are satisfying them for now.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

That is exactly what I've seen. I don't think I have found a maple stump that hasn't been browsed out of who knows how many hundred I have. They have been feeding the deer for 7 years now. I didn't think they would have a chance to regrow but to my surprise I have sprouts over 10 feet tall now out . Have you noticed alot of baby oaks coming up after your logging? I'm having a boom of small oaks and haven't seen any browsing on them. I think that the maple and aspen are satisfying them for now.

Some, but I only have about a half dozen oaks on my property. I'm more curious about the bitternut hickory seedlings.

 

[ruskbucks]

Some, but I only have about a half dozen oaks on my property. I'm more curious about the bitternut hickory seedlings.

I don't know anything about bitternut. Is it high on the browse list? If it isn't I would think it should comeback strong like my oaks. I had a few shagbark hickory but I think they cut them all out.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

I don't know anything about bitternut. Is it high on the browse list? If it isn't I would think it should comeback strong like my oaks. I had a few shagbark hickory but I think they cut them all out.

I don't know if the bitternut is a desirable browse, but I'd like to see some grow for a mast crop, the nuts look like a nickel sized walnut. My MFL plan wouldn't let any hard maple, cedar, hemlock, beech, or yellow birch get cut. I think if I were you I would have kept the shagbark. I read an article about shagbark hickory and if there was a good way to harvest the nuts it would be a huge business, they tap the trees for making syrup too.

I've had two regen surveys done since the logging and I got to walk along with the tech on the last survey. Pretty interesting how they do the survey and how they are able to recognize the different species of trees when they are seedlings.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Wisconsin has what they call a Young Forest Program. The idea is to do some logging so that the regrowth puts the food at or below head level for the deer. I had a lot of mature red maple on my property before enrolling in a MFL plan.

I've read similar articles and didn't realize how much aspen they eat until watching videos from the trail cameras.

Our camp had mostly red maples logged in a recent logging about 6 years ago. The tops fed the deer from evening 1 of the logging, and the sun hitting the ground got lots of new things growing. Maples sprout well from stumps, and the seed bank seems to be full of maple seeds.

I often bow hunted near a beaver swamp some years ago. The beavers cut down several aspen trees on a flat area right above the ponds. I watched deer come to those fallen aspen trees and gorge themselves for some time on the aspen branches. The deer hit those aspens until the trees were stripped of their canopies. The deer got the bulk of the succulent goodies - not the beavers.