Post-season habitat projects?

[SD51555]

Maddog mentioned burn piles. I have pushed out 3/4 mile of fence rows burn piles I have in excess this year. Should make for several good Friday/Saturday evening bon fires this winter.

I made a pile last winter I had intended to burn. The pile got too big and too close to a couple 4' balsam firs I was aiming to save. Seeing that, I decided the pile was going to stay to rot on it's own, so I translocated some ditch white spruce all around it. Kinda anxious to get in and see how that looks after one season of sun. It was a rare higher spot on my place that doesn't pond in the spring. If it goes, it'll end up being a nice circular cluster of a couple dozen white spruce and released balsam fir in my sanctuary. Hoping to find another spot to replicate that again this next season.

 

[tlzkaasen]

Great Topic which I'm sure is on many of our minds. Actually, as I sit in each stand I look at the trees I'm taking down in 2023 or what I can do to improve that spot. This is only my 2nd season owning this property in Northern WI. 2 hunts and 2 seasons of habitat work. Each season the property got a little better.

1. I have maybe 1.25 acres of food which was probably closer to 2, but I planted, caged, 21 Different varieties of crab apples spring 2022 which ate up some of that space. Each of my food plots were carved by me in heavy, mature woods by taking down 100's of trees. 2023 will find me continuing to drop lots of canopy and increased food plot size. We had poor rain in Fall 2022 and what food I had was eaten down to dirt by Nov 1.

2. Plan to plant another 200 Norway Spruce all matted. Some will get cages and some won't. I Planted 100 Norway Spruce Spring 2022 and have about 85% survival - would be at 95%, but the neighbors when they walk their dogs along an easement road let them piss on my trees and killed them. They'll now get to look at ugly cages as they drive down that easement road.

3. I have another 150 misc shrubs ordered from MDC. These will all get matted and a few cags and some just planted in tree tops.

4. Corduroy road I need to finish through some low areas to make walking easier and prevent the 4wheeler from making mud pits. Using all the trees I cut down for this. 4 foot wide-ish

5. Frost seeding Clover Chicory mix around the Crab Apples.

6. Transplanting as many White Spruce from one area of my property to another along that easement. Mixing these in with the Norway. Eventually I'll move or cut down some of these in the future.

Lofty List, but all necessary for 2023. I have a buddy that helps with all this, but getting this property off the ground has been killer! We keep joking we need to run an add looking for 3rd hard working guy to bring in the mix for hunting rights.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I’m up north at deer camp in northern MN. We have about 6” of snow on the ground. Been snowing lightly since I got to camp on Sunday. I’ve been checking a few spots on public. The only places I see with any deer sign have a good amount of conifers present. The ground is still thawed out underneath the snow. I wish the season was over right now so I could get the shovel out and start transplanting a few hundred ditch trees. Getting nearly impossible to care about hunting in zone 1 of MN.

 

[tlzkaasen]

I’m up north at deer camp in northern MN. We have about 6” of snow on the ground. Been snowing lightly since I got to camp on Sunday. I’ve been checking a few spots on public. The only places I see with any deer sign have a good amount of conifers present. The ground is still thawed out underneath the snow. I wish the season was over right now so I could get the shovel out and start transplanting a few hundred ditch trees. Getting nearly impossible to care about hunting in zone 1 of MN.

Buck, our WI gun season starts Saturday. We look to have 4-6" of snow as well. Its the cold coming in Saturday that has me bummed! I HATE single digit weather for hunting or anything for that matter. I'm trying to figure a good time to leave for deer camp. I work remote so looking for a 3 hour block its not snowing to start my drive.

 

[SD51555]

I’m up north at deer camp in northern MN. We have about 6” of snow on the ground. Been snowing lightly since I got to camp on Sunday. I’ve been checking a few spots on public. The only places I see with any deer sign have a good amount of conifers present. The ground is still thawed out underneath the snow. I wish the season was over right now so I could get the shovel out and start transplanting a few hundred ditch trees. Getting nearly impossible to care about hunting in zone 1 of MN.

That's not a bad idea.

 

[PatinPA]

The deer, and turkeys for that matter, both love to skirt the edge of my property and stay in the neighbors hemlocks. I've been trying to think of ways to change this. I think my next plan will be a food plot trail that will hopefully pull them on to my property. Stand access would still suck. I wouldn't be able to hunt the prevailing westerly wind. But I'm hoping I can gather them and have it empty where they want to go anyway. Probably start this in February/March. I'd also like to make the camp on the property habitable again. It needs some work. That could be a spring/summer project. When I bought it the last calendar was dated 2005. Not sure if this was the last time they stayed there but it seems like it could be.

 

[Maddog66]

Tree Daddy, no, I think both could realistically happen simultaneously with a long-enough burning fire.

I know a guy from NC (Nath Cackalacki) who says that though!!!

 

[bigboreblr]

Got 3 and a half places I am working on.

At home, waiting for whitetail crabapples to show up this month. May be spring delivery instead. 7 or 8 I ordered to swap out a few slow growing anties. ATV maintenance and welding up a food plotter for the ATV. Got 2 sets of discs, small and large seed boxes and put in a bit of fencing to cover the disc openings. A little clearancing of vines on a few oaks too.

At my brother-n-laws 450 acre corn field. Bringing up 2 or 3 of the crabapples to transplant. Also building a small 4x4 hunting stand/blind. 8ft tall base, covered. making a twin for up north.

UP north, transporting up a few bags of manure and buckets of clay soil to give some crabapples a good start. Also clearancing some of the understory on the sides of the snowmobile trail where I put rye and clover in. Also cutting open some of the brnaches with a pole saw for a bit more light. Going to scout a few walking trails and cut down a few younger trees to help with browse. Forst seeding up there too.

The 1/2 is my habitat. Bought a 7ft enclosed snowmobile trailer. Already insulated, added awindow, eletrical, and a storage shelf. Just need some finishing touches.

 

[Maddog66]

SD, I sure hear what you’re saying about tough hunting in the north country these days. Far cry from what it could be in numbers and big bucks imo. But I also enjoy the time working to make it better about as much as I like hunting my ground…..so it evens out :)

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Buckthorn removal and oak releasing.

 

[SD51555]

SD, I sure hear what you’re saying about tough hunting in the north country these days. Far cry from what it could be in numbers and big bucks imo. But I also enjoy the time working to make it better about as much as I like hunting my ground…..so it evens out :)

Oh absolutely. If I had any sort of expectations beyond seeing deer, I'd have sold it all a long time ago. I like going to the country on the weekends and doing things in the woods. Hunting season hinders what I want to do more than anything, but I suppose we have to do it or people'd think our cheese has slid completely off the cracker.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Agree with the others. Hunting in Itasca county and surrounding area is pretty discouraging which is probably why this thread got started in the middle of the rut haha.. That said, there has been a couple bucks around the last few years on camera up there that are better than anything on my 40 in central MN.

I badly want to go bonkers with a chainsaw opening up the canopy and creating bedding cover on my 40 but there is a fair bit of buckthorn in there that I don't want to take over where the canopy gets opened.
1. Priority #1 this winter will be killing all the buckthorn where i might want to open the canopy
2. Setting up a couple new stand locations and using a chain saw to improve access, cover, and deer travel around these stand locations
3. Release oaks and wild apples with a chainsaw and further thicken the "tornado zone" on the edge of one of my plots so deer cant see in from the woods

 

[TreeDaddy]

Oh absolutely. If I had any sort of expectations beyond seeing deer, I'd have sold it all a long time ago. I like going to the country on the weekends and doing things in the woods. Hunting season hinders what I want to do more than anything, but I suppose we have to do it or people'd think our cheese has slid completely off the cracker.

This^^^^^^^^

Being in the woods working habitat is better than valium for anxiety,stress,etc

bill

 

[sandbur]

Agree with the others. Hunting in Itasca county and surrounding area is pretty discouraging which is probably why this thread got started in the middle of the rut haha.. That said, there has been a couple bucks around the last few years on camera up there that are better than anything on my 40 in central MN.

I badly want to go bonkers with a chainsaw opening up the canopy and creating bedding cover on my 40 but there is a fair bit of buckthorn in there that I don't want to take over where the canopy gets opened.
1. Priority #1 this winter will be killing all the buckthorn where i might want to open the canopy
2. Setting up a couple new stand locations and using a chain saw to improve access, cover, and deer travel around these stand locations
3. Release oaks and wild apples with a chainsaw and further thicken the "tornado zone" on the edge of one of my plots so deer cant see in from the woods

Much of my land in central Mn explodes with buckthorn when I drop trees.


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[Wind Gypsy]

Much of my land in central Mn explodes with buckthorn when I drop trees.

Yeah it sucks. Think I'll focus on killing the existing stuff and seeing how the smaller TSI areas hold up for a couple years before I really open things up to where I can't stay on top of it.

I live on a 6 acre lot that was a damn buckthorn monoculture before we had a forestry mulcher turn it to chips this spring. That shit is a nightmare to fight.