Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Tree Spud - I've seen the exact same thing with our spruces - browsing & rubbing shrinking them back smaller than when they were planted. The cages are worth their cost IMO.
Norway Spruce
- Thread starter Boone
- Start date
chummer
5 year old buck +
What a picture. That is exactly what I am striving for.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Hey Chummer - Imagine what a deer magnet your place will be once you get your plots and trees looking similar to Natureboy's place in the pic !!! You won't have to hunt for the deer ............ they'll hunt you !!! ;):cool:
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
My most frustrating moment was in a bow stand watching a 150-160" class working it way towards me, then he decided to lower his head and trash 7 3-4' tall spruce in front of me.
At spruce # 7 he looked up, with no idea I was there, decided to turn broadside 60 yards from me and walk away to my left.
If he had rubbed that last 3 spruces in that row he would have been 35-40 yards in front of me ... when people say that is too expensive to do, how much does it cost to repeat the same mistakes?
People are willing to buy 1-2 Starbucks coffee every day at $4-5/ea, that is almost $3000-3500/yr on coffee ... all about priorities ... ;)
chummer
5 year old buck +
The problem is I don't plan on living to 110.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
I have never looked at my land & habitat improvements/changes have an immediate impact for me, I look at them for the long term health of the land and future generations.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Chummer - I think you'll see results before long. A property doesn't have to be " pretty " to draw deer. Just having some clover and rye planted will bring deer, and you have apples and other stuff already growing. The fact that you have so much forest around you focuses deer attention on any food you have planted. If your place is the grocery store, they'll find you - whether it's " magazine cover pretty " or not.
Tree spud - That big buck thrashing your spruce and then walking away out of range had to be painful in 2 ways. No shot and damage to trees. We don't cage ALL of our spruce, but we do where we want them to get established for sure without damage when they're young. It gives them a chance to survive a later rubbing - hopefully beyond 6 -7 years - and still continue to live and grow. Much easier than starting all over again.
Tree spud - That big buck thrashing your spruce and then walking away out of range had to be painful in 2 ways. No shot and damage to trees. We don't cage ALL of our spruce, but we do where we want them to get established for sure without damage when they're young. It gives them a chance to survive a later rubbing - hopefully beyond 6 -7 years - and still continue to live and grow. Much easier than starting all over again.
chummer
5 year old buck +
Not me. That is a noble thought but I have an imagine of being retired and driving my kids and their friends around the property showing them every thing we planted and all the deer it brought in. I am sure after I am long gone it will all grow back into the forest it was before I started. Sad reality but I plant for the next 20 years of enjoyment with the hope of a few years after that of doing no work and enjoying the scenery.
bueller
Moderator
I have very similar thoughts. Although I keep long term forest management and health in the master plan, I want to see the stuff I grow at least get big enough to provide something for the deer to use and for me to look at in my lifetime.
Bill
Administrator
Same thing they did last time I planted NS plugs.
That don't eat them they just try to taste them, pull em out of the ground an spit em out. :(
So far it's only about 5%. I tugged on a few and it seems the ground has hardened around them a bit. Maybe they won't get anymore.
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That don't eat them they just try to taste them, pull em out of the ground an spit em out. :(
So far it's only about 5%. I tugged on a few and it seems the ground has hardened around them a bit. Maybe they won't get anymore.
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Bill
Administrator
I went out of my way to do that this time. I don't think it's enough to hold them down until after some good rain and a dry spell to harden things up. With the clay in my soil a drill or one of those plug planting rods just makes a little clay pot in the ground.
bueller
Moderator
That stinks. Maybe a quick dose of liquid fence after planting would keep them off long enough to secure themselves in the ground.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
So how do you plant the plugs if you don't use a drill or plug tool? Dibble bar? Spade shovel?
Bill
Administrator
No I used a drill and got clay pots.
Shovels around here are pretty useless. If it's dry you have to hammer them in. If it's wet they come out of the ground with 400 lbs of clay stuck to them.
Bueller that's a good idea. A good shot of deer be gone might give them time to firm up in the soil.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Ahh, I was assuming you meant you used neither the drill nor plug tool due to glazing of the inside of the hole.
chummer
5 year old buck +
I was hesitant to post this technique until I was sure it would work. We planted these spruce thanksgiving last year. I pulled them out of a ditch by hand. I wasn't sure they would live because most of the roots break of when you pull them. I have about 90% success rate and they are now pushing new growth. They were 1-4' in height when I pulled them. I am not sure what kind of spruce they are. I have another spot with hindereds of them growing in that size. This will be how I plant spruce going forward. The best part was they only needed a very small hole to transplant then and a few months of snow to pack them in.
I am using them to screen off the back corner of this field. Deer always hit this corner before dark until hunting season starts.
I am using them to screen off the back corner of this field. Deer always hit this corner before dark until hunting season starts.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Chummer - Those spruce look really good. The roots being broken off didn't make any difference then ?? No " transplant shock " ?? I'm always looking for more info for planting trees !!
chummer
5 year old buck +
Apparently no shock. I was surprised the big ones took they had very few roots. The hole they were jammed into also left a lot to be desired. I almost think being incased in snow all winter allowed the roots to grow. Some of the smaller ones my 9 year old planted and they are doing great to. Hard to explain based on how hard it is for me to get anything else to grow.
