My Playground

[Satchmo]

Since I finally worked out this pic posting thing, I figured I would show you guys an overview of my stomping grounds. Most of the open area that winds through the center is actually a plantation of white spruce surrounded by popple regrowth. There are spots the spruce are doing quite well, spots they are thin, and others where none survived. Green outlines are food plots, pink outline is future kill plot, and the dark green is a dry island in the NW swamp. I really like diversity and am wondering what you guys think I should try to establish in the areas that the spruce did not make it.


adult photo hosting


free image hosting

 

[West Branch]

Nice looking land, but I think you might want to try out a different image hosting site. I guess these images are "adult photos" though.

 

[sandbur]

Do you have another high spot on the point that is NE of the island?

How old are the spruce?

I like diversity in age of spruce plantings. I have soem pictures on the sandbox thread. I am away from the computer with my pictures for now.

Scattered spruce with willows or tag alders in them a make great bedding.

I like some crab apple trees in the openings.

What are the white areas in the aerial?

Do you need some waterholes?

 

[Satchmo]

Bur...there is a small high spot on the end of it. That point is mainly tamarack. My spruce are about 3 to 5 feet tall now. This photo is a couple years old but had the best clarity. My first thought for the clearings was crabs. Thanks for the vote. Those white spots are left over slashing piles from when it got logged. Would love me some water holes, gotta come up with a plan there cause I think the water table is close in a couple of areas. Will try to do some borings to confirm that.

 

[Satchmo]

Correct Stu. I'm trying to do most of it tree branch style to keep the young hunters from "wandering" past other hunters on stand. Some of the loops were already in place.

 

[Satchmo]

We planted a 350 pc berry shrub mix a couple years ago. There is quite a bit of ROD along the creek bottom on the west side. There are also 4 really nice mature oak groves mixed in to the popple regrowth.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Nice looking land, but I think you might want to try out a different image hosting site. I guess these images are "adult photos" though.

Yep....saw that too....what kind of photo hosting site are you using Satch? Lol.

Your place looks really good. So why are you planting all those conifers in your open areas?

 

[Satchmo]

Potlatch did the spruce planting after logging and prior to me buying it. The area they planted in spruce in was pines prior to that.

PS...I guess I'm suppose to check "family friendly" or " Adult content" prior to uploading. Guess the latter is default. Didn't realize they were gonna tag each one with a link. That's bull!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Potlatch did the spruce planting after logging and prior to me buying it. The area they planted in spruce in was pines prior to that.

PS...I guess I'm suppose to check "family friendly" or " Adult content" prior to uploading. Guess the latter is default. Didn't realize they were gonna tag each one with a link. That's bull!

Haha...yeah...you know...habitat is a pretty racy subject! Lol.

 

[Satchmo]

Yep, I haven't seen a critter up there wearing clothes yet. Lol

 

[Satchmo]

Testing new image host guys......

 

[Satchmo]

Look Phil-------no adult content link........Cool........Now if I could just get Google Earth to work on my home computer again I'd be set.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Look Phil-------no adult content link........Cool........Now if I could just get Google Earth to work on my home computer again I'd be set.

ppphhheeewwww....it was getting pretty risque on this thread!

 

[West Branch]

I really like the long narrow hills in your area that have farmland, swamp, etc. mixed in. That island in the NW swamp probably has some good bedding activity. Have you went out there when it is frozen to check deer sign? Who owns the hard land extending to the NE? Does it get much pressure?

It looks like you have some food plot plans in the spruce. In other openings in the spruce I think that crab apple trees and some of the shrubs that Stu mentioned would be good.. dogwoods, cranberry, chokecherry, hazelnut service berry etc. I see you have planted some, once you see how those survive and produce maybe add more. If those spruce are 3-5 ft tall now they should really be a deer magnet in a couple years. You might want to make sure there are some "dead" areas that just have fescue grass to make sure you can access everywhere you want without bumping deer.

Waterholes at food plots and by some stands sounds like a good idea to me. We don't have any and I want to add some.

 

[Satchmo]

WB...That island is indeed a good bedding area and is part of our sanctuary. It has a mix of hardwood, brush and natural deadfalls from being exposed to the west and north winds. Pretty thick! The long peninsula of land coming off my east line is land-locked county owned land. Noone can get to it except my group and my neighbor to the south. We have a gentlemans agreement to split it using the old logging road that runs down the middle. This essentially gives each group another 80-90 acres of hunting ground. They are not my biggest fans though, so we'll see how long this agreement holds up. They got a little upset when I cut them off from using the old logging road that goes through my property and right past my shack. We got tired of them driving through 3 or 4 times a day all year round and chasing deer off several of my plot that you can still see from the trail. That's OK though, we now have more daytime deer movement than ever.

 

[Satchmo]

Got up to do some looking exploring down along the creek this week. The white area outlined below is part of our sanctuary. It is an area about 2 acres in size that is dry and surrounded by tag alders. Mostly mature popple with a quite a lot of ash and mixed hardwoods as well, but not a lot of underbrush. I definitely want to get in there and do a bunch of hinge cutting and opening up my canopy. Can anybody comment on experience hinging Ash trees?

 

[sandbur]

I doubt that popple or ash of much size will hinge. I might be wrong on ash.
You will get lots of regrowth from either one.

If it were my land, there would be scattered spruce in the middle and a rim of spruce on the outside, or maybe even balsam fir.
Plant a row of spruce for a travel lane to an upwind location of your deer stand.

 

[Satchmo]

Great points Sandbur. I think my plan will be to cut out the bigger ash and maybe a few popple, hinge the smaller ash and hardwoods, and then transplant some of the smaller spruce I have out in the plantation. I have a lot of spruce that are densely planted in some areas that would eventually need to be thinned anyway. It would be better to move some of the small ones now than to have to cut 'em out later. Thanks

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Good looking country you have there Satchmo. How many acres do you have? I like the swamps around there. I think big bucks just gravitate to swamps. Spruce, food plots, crabapples, swamps, tags, tamarack - what's not to love ?? Hope you do well there !!

 

[Satchmo]

Thanks Bowsnbucks, I have 160 acres and the projects I have planned keep me plenty busy when I get up there. I do like the diversity. You can choose among several different types of terrain and decide what you want to look at during a days hunt.