Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I agree. Buck's pics of BHS are looking like dream trees. Super long-term habitat variety.
Norway Spruce Screen Decisions
- Thread starter Wind Gypsy
- Start date
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Exactly. Here - weeds and brush combined with spruce = deer bedding area. If deer can lay in weeds on the sunny side of spruce trees for wind blockage - they'll move right in & set up camp.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I noticed this habit of deer years ago, long before I owned a computer and this forum existed. But since being on here and talking to you, Bur, and reading that you too noticed how deer "use" evergreens for secure travel - I learned it wasn't just a Pennsylvania deer trait. I think a few other guys have touched on it too from Wisc. and maybe Mich. Your reference to "after leaf fall" is the lynch-pin to the attraction of evergreens in my estimation.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Is it bad form or possible to order from a county SWCD that you are not a landowner in?
Brian662
5 year old buck +
I'm in Goodhue county and placed an order in both Goodhue and Rice counties this year. I don't think it's an issue. Guess I'll find out when I pick up...
sandbur
5 year old buck +
I live near the county line and have no problems. They send me their yearly flier.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Absolutely nothing wrong with ordering from a county you do not live in. You can order from anywhere you would like. I live in McLeod county and have ordered from Meeker and Blue Earth. Most of my stuff comes from Meeker cause I like their sale the most. This year I placed a special order in Meeker for trees they do not typically carry. Joe had no problem getting me everything I wanted and he is well aware that I take those trees for a 200 mile drive before I plant them. Everything gets planted in Cass County. Political boundaries mean nothing when it comes to conservation. In a few days Meeker should have their 2022, sale information up. I will be damn sure to post it here for you, and I think you should get your trees from them. Fantastic quality and price
Here is the form from last year:
Joe told me 2022 should be up before Christmas. I have been checking daily.....
Teeder
5 year old buck +
That's a dandy!
About 15 years ago, my daughter shot this buck as it paused under a balsam fir and was looking ahead. I was sitting with her at the time.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sandbur
5 year old buck +
My oldest daughter shot a buck out of that stand the previous morning. This buck was traveling along a scattered line of balsam fir and he stopped under the last balsam while the wind blew him scent from the upwind gut pile.
I sat in that spot this fall and remembered hunting there 54 years ago.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Great story .......... and memories.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
This guy is not high on the Norways and pitching the BHS heavy. Wow, would be really bummed to put that much money and work in to have them winter kill.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
I see some trees were cut off a few feet high before the spruce were planted. If he had some winter shade on those spruce, the results would have been different. Weeds or shade from other trees for a few years makes a difference. Heavy snow cover can protect them in some years. Perhaps he should have left those other trees in place as shade for a few years.
He may be correct that bhs can tolerate it better. It all depends on your planting location.
I see young, volunteer white spruce growing in shaded locations. That should teach us something.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
Have not planted black hills spruce but did note some winters are just worse for winter burn than others. Several yrs ago noted that a lot of the cedars planted for privacy in yards had a rough winter and many died. Even ones planted for years. Never saw so many like that coming out of the last 20+ winters. Guy at work said same thing and he lives about 15 miles away.
For me norway spruce tend to get central leaders browsed a bit more than white spruce with higher deer numbers in that period right after snow melt in early spring. Think norways have a softer needle and result is they are set back more and take longer to get to a decent size. Claims that norways grow fastest not true if they get browsed first five years after planting. I have decided to only keep planting whites.
For me norway spruce tend to get central leaders browsed a bit more than white spruce with higher deer numbers in that period right after snow melt in early spring. Think norways have a softer needle and result is they are set back more and take longer to get to a decent size. Claims that norways grow fastest not true if they get browsed first five years after planting. I have decided to only keep planting whites.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
I have about 100 Norways planted that are anywhere from 1 to 3 feet tall and just yesterday I stapled index cards around the central leader to keep deer browse minimized for the winter.
If they do wind up getting browsed, you can "train" a new leader to grow by tying a piece of cloth to a post/stick and pointing a nearby branch upward. Not sure if this makes sense the way I typed it, but I did it last year to 3 trees and it was very successful. It helps them from becoming bushes once they've been browsed.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
The guys in Minn. and northern Wisc. and the Dakotas get MUCH colder winters than most of us. As Sandbur said above - it all depends on your location. Teeder's in Pa. as I am, and Norways do really well here, as long as deer don't nip the leaders. White spruce also do well here. But I want to try some BHS to see how they develop here. The pics of BHS look like they get nice and thick. Can't hurt to try a few.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
White spruce and black hill spruce are two very different trees. Whites grow much taller at maturity (75+ feet tall is common where I see them). They also loose a bunch of their lower needles and the branches look ratty and thin, especially when crowded. I'm not much of a fan of white spruce once they hit about 25 years old. BHS seem to retain their branches all the way to the ground, densely packed, grow slower and reach a maximum height of 40-50 feet from what I see. They provided superior cover as a mature tree compared to a white.
