I am working on a 3 year plan for winter browse on my land. I just finished up on year 1. I planted about 500 ROD, ninebark, a bunch of American plum, and choke cherries, along with several other random bushes and shrubs. My first year I was kinda scatter brained and wanted to do everything, this coming year I am breaking it into sections. I am going to focus more on low land plantings. More ROD, and river willows planted in and along low areas.
If I have more time after planting them, I am going to uproot thick areas of some spruce and plant them in higher areas that is in the low areas. Creating bedding areas.
Then if I still have time, my brothers land has white pine growing like weeds on it, I am going to pluck out a few hundred of them and plant them in clusters of 10 in random thin areas throughout my land.
When I first bought my land it was basically untouched small section of land in a big woods. It was identical to everything else around me. I thought like everyone else, I have to make food plots, then I needed to plant apple trees, now I want quality winter browse and bedding.
A few years ago my plan was to release oak trees, and cut any trees around oaks that are holding the oaks back, and using them as firewood. But then realized Mother Nature drops, and kills a lot of trees on her own, and it gives me a lot of wood just cleaning up after her. My plan is to save the oaks for firewood for when I am old, and don’t want to feed the wood boiler sever times a day with pine, maple and poplar.
A couple people brought up cutting down trees and opening the canopy to allow natural browse, well I do that regularly do to needing firewood. I usually wait until February or March and cut the trees down I want to cut up, this brings the buds from the tree tops down to the deer, then after the snow melts I go out and cut up the trees, and leave the brush for cover, and with the new openings, I get fresh regrowth. For now this is the plan that makes the most sense in my head, for my land. But I change my mind a lot.
As for nurseries, check with your local county, and state nurseries. Don’t be afraid to look at your neighboring states as well. I am in Northern Wisconsin and I have orderd from MN, Iowa, Missouri and even a couple times from Wisconsin.