I own 160 acres in Northwestern Ontario in what is generally a densely forested area, with minimal agricultural activity nearby. Looking to the forum for input on a strategy to better manage what I have to work with.
The primary tree species I have are aspen, balsam fir, spruce, and birch - with lots of native shrubs like red osier dogwood/etc as well. The property was around 70-80% clear cut around 20 years ago, so the majority of what I have are aspen trees standing anywhere from 12-20ft+ high - very little cover value at this point. There isn't a significant amount of fall/winter browse except around edges of trails and food plot clearings. I have one main food plot that is around 3 acres in size (planted in winter rye, white clover, and with some 2' aspen shoots coming up in a recently mulched area), with two others that are 1/2-3/4 acre in size (not planted right now - mostly grass and alsike clover which the deer don't touch). A lot of the surrounding properties were clear cut in the last 7-10 years, but I think are starting to reach the point of thinning out and putting browse out of the deers ability to reach it. Everyone here uses bait, which in my experience anyways food plots are not really able to compete with as long as the corn/etc is plentiful.
I am looking to start clear cutting areas of the standing aspen I have to re-establish bedding/cover and improve hunting on my property. The trees aren't of a size where there is any economic value in logging them, so I'll be manually dropping them with a chainsaw/brushsaw and leaving them where they fall during late fall/winter. Trying to figure out the following:
1. How large of area(s) should I be clearing to create viable bedding on a sustainable basis, while balancing that I will be clearing them manually. I would like to rotate areas to have continuous useful habitat to hold more deer, but realistically probably can't cut double-digit acres in one season when I probably have to do it from snowshoes in the winter... which is when I understand is the best time to cut aspen to have the thickest regrowth.
2. Are numerous smaller areas better than 1 or 2 larger areas? And then cutting in between smaller areas as regrowth occurs?
3. Is there a minimum age that aspen should be allowed to reach before it is cut down again to re-start the growth process? Basically wondering if it will work to manually cut down the larger trees I have now (ranging somewhere around 3" diameter to maybe 8-10") and then in a few years try and maintain it purely with a brush saw which I can do way faster than a chainsaw.... maybe once things get 5-6' high. I wouldn't want to inadvertently kill off the aspen by cutting too often though.
4. Is it better to fully clear cut the areas I am working with, or leave some balsams/etc in the newly created opening? I have noticed when I walk around in the spring, the deer seem to like to bed underneath the balsam trees over the winter as the snow doesn't get as deep in this area.
5. Any other management tips, in general, from people working with similar areas. My area is very similar to Northern MN near Lake Superior/US-Canada border.
The primary tree species I have are aspen, balsam fir, spruce, and birch - with lots of native shrubs like red osier dogwood/etc as well. The property was around 70-80% clear cut around 20 years ago, so the majority of what I have are aspen trees standing anywhere from 12-20ft+ high - very little cover value at this point. There isn't a significant amount of fall/winter browse except around edges of trails and food plot clearings. I have one main food plot that is around 3 acres in size (planted in winter rye, white clover, and with some 2' aspen shoots coming up in a recently mulched area), with two others that are 1/2-3/4 acre in size (not planted right now - mostly grass and alsike clover which the deer don't touch). A lot of the surrounding properties were clear cut in the last 7-10 years, but I think are starting to reach the point of thinning out and putting browse out of the deers ability to reach it. Everyone here uses bait, which in my experience anyways food plots are not really able to compete with as long as the corn/etc is plentiful.
I am looking to start clear cutting areas of the standing aspen I have to re-establish bedding/cover and improve hunting on my property. The trees aren't of a size where there is any economic value in logging them, so I'll be manually dropping them with a chainsaw/brushsaw and leaving them where they fall during late fall/winter. Trying to figure out the following:
1. How large of area(s) should I be clearing to create viable bedding on a sustainable basis, while balancing that I will be clearing them manually. I would like to rotate areas to have continuous useful habitat to hold more deer, but realistically probably can't cut double-digit acres in one season when I probably have to do it from snowshoes in the winter... which is when I understand is the best time to cut aspen to have the thickest regrowth.
2. Are numerous smaller areas better than 1 or 2 larger areas? And then cutting in between smaller areas as regrowth occurs?
3. Is there a minimum age that aspen should be allowed to reach before it is cut down again to re-start the growth process? Basically wondering if it will work to manually cut down the larger trees I have now (ranging somewhere around 3" diameter to maybe 8-10") and then in a few years try and maintain it purely with a brush saw which I can do way faster than a chainsaw.... maybe once things get 5-6' high. I wouldn't want to inadvertently kill off the aspen by cutting too often though.
4. Is it better to fully clear cut the areas I am working with, or leave some balsams/etc in the newly created opening? I have noticed when I walk around in the spring, the deer seem to like to bed underneath the balsam trees over the winter as the snow doesn't get as deep in this area.
5. Any other management tips, in general, from people working with similar areas. My area is very similar to Northern MN near Lake Superior/US-Canada border.
