New Hope Creek Home

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I used 200 yards of the cedars cut last week for a cover barrier for the north blind. Originally I was planning to plant a switchgrass barrier this spring, but needed someplace for the cedars, and decided this might be a good “one year” plan. This pretty much allows a south or east wind access without being seen.

 

[Catscratch]

Absolutely love this thread (and the old truck)! So many deer guys don't see cedars as invasive. Love that you're attacking them.
Sorry about the cancer. Preying for you.
I may have missed it, are you close to KC (I know you said you bought the place to get out of town)?

 

[356]

Absolutely love this thread (and the old truck)! So many deer guys don't see cedars as invasive. Love that you're attacking them.
Sorry about the cancer. Preying for you.
I may have missed it, are you close to KC (I know you said you bought the place to get out of town)?

Thanks! The cancer is in remission for which I am grateful. We are about 35 miles north of KC and just east of I-35.

I see red cedar as highly invasive for this part of the state. In the seven years we have lived here, we have removed hundreds of cedars. Those remaining grow about 2’ per year, so it is important to manage them according to our land use priorities. While I am not removing all cedars, the goal is to reduce them to 10-15%, with 20-25% in hardwood (oak, walnut and hickory) and 10-15% mid-succession trees and woody plants.

I have doe groups that bed in the cedars, and I trim some of the lower branches on those that I am keeping to promote bedding. Without cedar removal, this property would never have the bio-diversity needed to attract deer and other wildlife. I have neighbors who never see turkey, deer, bobcats or fox, whereas our small property has all of these critters.

While I have much that remains to be done, I hope our New Hope Creek Home is an inspiration to others that management does not need to be perfect, and does not take decades to produce solid results.

 

[Catscratch]

Very much an inspiration! You're on a great path!

I lived next to Bannister Mall for a while. Heard gun shots every weekend and was always dodging drug dealers while I was on runs. Didn't take long for me to decide the city wasn't for me.

 

[356]

Very much an inspiration! You're on a great path!

I lived next to Bannister Mall for a while. Heard gun shots every weekend and was always dodging drug dealers while I was on runs. Didn't take long for me to decide the city wasn't for me.

When we first moved to KC (2000’ish) my teenage daughters wanted to go “to the Mall.” My one and only Bannister Mall experience was as you described. A few years later I went to the one (and only) “Gun Show” at one of the abandoned mall stores. That was a rough part of town, and a far cry from what it had been in the 70s.

This morning I am checking the traps for the last time this season. The disruption of the doe beds (by removing some of the cedars) resulted in does showing up on the south side of the property last night. It will be interesting to see how many days it will take for them to return to their routine.