New To Habitat Work, Ask Your Questions Here!......Sticky!

[bwoods11]

I have about 25 big aspens in one area. I think I am going to have a guy come in and take them out. No real money exchange but he can get some $$ from a sawdust company, apparently??

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Steve, notice I said, IMO ( in my opinion ) I would like to see anyone come to my place and hinge cut 10 poplars. I bet your success rate would be 30%. I have hinge cut thousands of trees and poplars ( soft mass wood ) are both dangerous and unpredictable. You call it someone ones level of experience.......I call it making the best use of a tree specie. aspen populars shoot out thousands of stems from the root system when the tree is cut at ground level. The more aspen poplars you cut the more regrowth you have. All forestors recommend clear cutting aspen poplars for optimal growth. The bigger the cut of aspen forest, the better optimal regrowth. Higher deer densities can impact smaller regrowths ( 3 acres or under) the bigger clear cut the better in higher deer density areas. Hingeing poplars is virtually worthless in a area where high stem count is needed.

I cant wait to post some pictures of the 26 acre clear cut we had done. This area will be a deer magnet in 2 years. I personally think hinge cutting is over " hyped " at times. The biggest bucks in the record bucks were shot off land with no improvements .......Steve not directing anything towards you, just my honest thoughts.

KS, 1st no worries. You are every bit as entitled to your opinion as I am mine. I'll never be thinned skinned enough to get bugged by someone having a differing opinion than mine. It's a good thing when others do, as that leads to a lot more learning for me (and I'd have to believe others, as well) than when 2 completely agree, and I'm sure not arrogant enough to believe I'm always right, anyway.

Actually, though, I think we agree more on this than disagree, anyway. I actually gave myself a little less of a success rate than you (I wrote 25%, you say 30%), but close enough for agreement on that. I'll at least go so far as to say that I feel they are considerably more dangerous and unpredictable hinging than many other trees, which, with your nudging, I hoped I stressed enough (the thanks was sincere). I also agree that if pure regrowth is my goal, clear cutting is better. I often suggest and use clear cuts of poplar, as there are many pluses to that approach. Though you may not have wrote it, I also suspect that we agree that clear cuts aren't always the right answer and can provide "too much of a good thing.".

Where we start to diverge is that you may like them more than I do. I LOVE them "in 2 years," but not so much in 10+. Sure, if you do a constant rotation, you can keep a percent in that "year 2" state, and I most often do that, but it's a ton of work (not that most things we do aren't) and a whole bunch of people don't have the ground and volume of poplars to do it. Even when they do, I'd rather offer more diversity than one can get with clear cutting them alone.

Take the ground Art referred to Brooks and I doing bedding area and "sidewalk" videos on in the big woods thread in the Gen section. It's just over 800 acres. We also did 5 clear cuts on the place. So, we have a combo of clear cut and hinge work done. I don't see it as an either or. I see it as 2 tools which can be used together or apart.

 

[bowhunternw]

When you guys do pockets of aspen clear cutting do you have to factor in Sun direction. I know that they are very sensitive to being shaded. So If you left mature trees to the south of a clear cut, would that leave a strip that wouldn't regrow?

 

[wiscwhip]

It would most likely slow the regrowth and possibly allow some other things to "spring up" in that area along with the slower aspen regrowth. That could be a good thing from a diversity standpoint, all depending on what exactly comes up.

 

[buckvelvet]

I simply avoid hinging large trees. If they are larger than my thigh

There is a good joke in there somewhere. :)

 

[buckvelvet]

Or burn them in the woodstove and then scatter the ashes!

I clearcut a 100x100ft section of Poplar trees this past spring for a new orchard I was installing. I had 40 trees that were over a foot in diameter, some as big as 18 inches. They burned great in my stove this cold season!

 

[j-bird]

There is a good joke in there somewhere. :)

I thought I was twisted......... What happens in the woods stays in the woods!!!!!!

 

[sandbur]

My Dad always used popple for the day fire, and hardwoods for the night time.

When he was retired and around the house for the day.

 

[MoLandOwner]

ttt

 

[Greta&Gus]

So I have another question I would like to pose to the group.

This year my dad and I have spent a lot of time hinging in a specific area for a number of reasons. Create bedding, food, travel corridors, screening, just about everything. My question is, the BEST reason to hinge cut? What do the deer receive the best benefit from and what do you as a hunter receive the best benefit from?

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Every area I hinged had a slighting different logic. One area was simply to open up the canopy a bit and provide some structure/junk on the ground in wide open woods. Another spot was to provide some shelter to bed around. Another spot I made a nice roof with with a view hoping a doe family would take it up as there bedroom. The last area I worked on this winter was just some 2 inche trees half cut as various heights to encourage deer to stay on a trail that leads past my best stand and not wander off at 50 yards.
Make a plan and go to town.

 

[j-bird]

I mainly hinge for cover - both turning the vertical cover into horizontal cover as well as the additional light allowing for additional growth. I mainly use this to help define bedding areas as well as travel areas - deer like that sense of security and one of the best ways to get that in my opinion is thru stem density. This helps me as a hunter better define target areas and patterns of travel.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

My question is, the BEST reason to hinge cut? What do the deer receive the best benefit from and what do you as a hunter receive the best benefit from?

Increased carry capacity because of the additional woody browse it produces, both from the tops of the hinged trees and the new growth opening the canopy inspires.

To put it in perspective, when I hinge a doe bedding areas and the does aren't smart enough to realize they are supposed to now bed there, I'm a bit disappointed. However, I still see my work as producing a positive in that I just added deer food specifically for the time of season that deer food is the lowest...Overwinter.

 

[Greta&Gus]

Has anyone seen deer not bed in their designed bedding area but travel to it as if it was a destination plot?

 

[Greta&Gus]

Let's see if my great artistic ability can make sense to anyone. Here is a drawing of the hinging we have done over the last 3 years. I attempted to draw it as close to scale as possible but of course it is my rendition. Total area in the screen is probably 50 to 60 acres. We took an area that already had two established plots and we have killed nice deer before. It is also an area that we believe we get deer bedding in at different times of the year.

If my legend helps at all, we hinged the outside areas to create screens, travel routes, and open up canopy. Then, on the inside, we hinged trees to hopefully create different 'pockets' for bedding. In total I think we have 15 to 20 bedding 'pockets'. We also used the swamp as the southern barrier. The idea was to use the current normal travel routes that the deer are already using but define them better so they are more predictable. There is no hunting to the east of us where the property line is but it is a heavy machinery school. The ATV trails are what we use to access the stands.

So, with what I have drawn, does anyone have feedback as to what else we should do in this area? Where is another stand location to choose? Not changing what we currently have, how else would you hinge? We have a lot of bur oak in this area left even though a number were logged off and most hinging was done to the basswood, maple, and ash.

 

[MoLandOwner]

I have never ever seen a hinge cut not work to some degree of success! But the more trees you knock down the better in my opinion. You can not make it to thick! And all you need is for the bucks to think the doe's are in there, that is why I make it as thick as possible. The bucks need to go in and look, no way do I want them looking even 20 yards into my hinge cutting.

I want to turn every hinge cut from this first picture to the second and third picture:

 

[nwmn]

Do you guys believe hinge cutting is effective in areas such as our property where you can't even walk through half the woods without getting poked in the eye from dogwoods, let alone see a deer more than 10 yards into the woods?

 

[MoLandOwner]

Do you guys believe hinge cutting is effective in areas such as our property where you can't even walk through half the woods without getting poked in the eye from dogwoods, let alone see a deer more than 10 yards into the woods?

I agree with stu, hinge the way you want the deer to move. Make blockades out of the trees to force the deer through the dogwoods the way you want!

 

[bat man]

Do you guys believe hinge cutting is effective in areas such as our property where you can't even walk through half the woods without getting poked in the eye from dogwoods, let alone see a deer more than 10 yards into the woods?

If you can't see 10 yards, hinge blockades like a beast for 100 yards and make every deer that comes through walk where you can see them. But don't do it if your access and exit queer the spot. No bumping deer to or from stand access. No crossing deer trails on your way to the stand. No walking through feeding areas in the dark. Make a solid plan.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Access/exit is my major issue to deal with here

It is for everyone as well! Just worse for some, better for others!