Newbie Land Tour

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I don’t have the smoking gun answer but I have been there. I had a property where the heart of it was apparently open ground in the 90’s. The resulting neglect left to years of undesirables taking over. Anywhere there was sunlight there was AO. And some being huge. If I did any tsi, AO would move in as soon as I turned my back. AO as a singular species is not an issue for deer. I’m sure they are agnostic to it. It’s when it takes over with its unforgiving branches that it makes it a deer desert. But it would grow and pop up so fast I could never keep up with so eventually it would win. Like I said, I don’t have the answers but that was my battle with it. I sold the property a couple years ago and honestly don’t miss it one bit.

 

[Newbie]

I don’t have the smoking gun answer but I have been there. I had a property where the heart of it was apparently open ground in the 90’s. The resulting neglect left to years of undesirables taking over. Anywhere there was sunlight there was AO. And some being huge. If I did any tsi, AO would move in as soon as I turned my back. AO as a singular species is not an issue for deer. I’m sure they are agnostic to it. It’s when it takes over with its unforgiving branches that it makes it a deer desert. But it would grow and pop up so fast I could never keep up with so eventually it would win. Like I said, I don’t have the answers but that was my battle with it. I sold the property a couple years ago and honestly don’t miss it one bit.

Yes, I understand this. I've seen areas where it is unforgiving. Fortunately in my case it is present but not entirely overwhelming (right now). I may roll the dice a little and see if I can moderate it and work with it to some extent, largely because I think it would be unrealistic to extinguish it from the property for the reason's I discussed. It does provide much needed cover in my woods & I've routinely seen deer preferring those areas for bedding. I suppose if it really flushes up I'll have to get busy with a saw and sprayer or borrow my neighbors forestry mulcher.

 

[BenA]

Reaching out to the Habitat brain trust with what I predict may be a contentious topic.

So as I’ve mentioned prior, my back woods has a bit of an autumn olive presence. I’ve had plans to do some TSI for some bedding in some of the mature (but worthless) timber stands. I’ve refrained from doing so with concern of the autumn olive spreading.

For reference, below is an old blow down where I’ve got AO. As you can see, it’s certainly present but not so thick it is impenetrable. First pic from the ground and second pic from the stand.

View attachment 90091View attachment 90090

Believe it or not, the areas where I have it must see 10x more deer traffic & bedding during the season just due to the cover it provides.

It may be sacrilegious, but I’ve been kicking around the idea of taking a few acres of mature hardwood & knocking down some trees and seeing what happens. Probably 3-6 acres, nothing so big that I couldn’t catch up to if things get out of hand. But frankly *in moderation* it has been a net positive compared to the existing mature timber where you can see 300yds any direction & turns into a desert after the first good frost.

After 4yrs on this property these are the only places I’ll find deer after leaves drop. Plus I’ve got 3000+ acres around me full of the same stuff, to eradicate it is likely impossible. Maybe I should consider to moderate it & work with it given the circumstances? Or, maybe I’ve gone insane & need to stand corrected, and feel free to do so.

Thanks for the input

I'd probably go less than that to make it even more manageable at first just to see the response. I'd think about an acre with the expectation of coming back once a year to target whatever you don't want coming back would be a manageable plan. See the response and keep beating it back. Expand to other pockets once you're comfortable with the ongoing management of it.

 

[Newbie]

I'd probably go less than that to make it even more manageable at first just to see the response. I'd think about an acre with the expectation of coming back once a year to target whatever you don't want coming back would be a manageable plan. See the response and keep beating it back. Expand to other pockets once you're comfortable with the ongoing management of it.

Good advice, thank you. I think I'll start little & monitor over the coming years & expand if it seems to be working & under control

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I don't have AO, but we have buckthorn here. Some declare war on it in an attempt to eradicate it, but I only fight it in specific locations. It is bad stuff that can out compete some native shrubs, but it makes excellent deer cover. In SE MN, you have great hunting if you have the thickest cover around when gun season starts and buckthorn does that.

To answer your question, I'd probably remove the AO in areas that have beneficial shrubs and young trees that can provide similar cover that deer can utilize. I would not try to wipe it all out though as that may actually make your hunting worse.

We've been doing quite a bit of shed hunting recently, and the deer use in thick, nasty buckthorn thickets is crazy. My hunting would definitely get worse if I eliminated my buckthorn.