Ready to start cutting

[bueller]

Got my tax bill today, first one since my MFL contract expired. The increase is quite the kick in the balls but now I can cut the crap out of whatever I want with no concern. First task is to maintain a nice shrubby/grassy bedding area by cutting off all the trees that are trying to transition this area back to a forest. Second up is releasing some oaks that are growing in a maturing pine stand which will also add cover at the ground level before it becomes a deer desert.

 

[Bill]

Do everything you want then re-enroll :)

 

[bueller]

Do everything you want then re-enroll :)

That is on the table but not sure the positives outweigh the negatives anymore. The current tax savings aren't nearly as good as they used to be with pre-2005 agreements, plus not preferred if we ever decide to sell. Gotta get the work done first anyways!

 

[bigboreblr]

Pines big enough for market?

 

[bueller]

Pines big enough for market?

Probably for whatever they do with a thinning cut, but it's only a couple acres so not really considering.

 

[Brian662]

I just enrolled some land into MFL two years ago and will re-enroll some purchased land that I bought recently as well. I have been happy with the plan so far and have a cut due for 2025/2026 so we'll see how that goes.

With my enrollment I had my plan tailored to forest management through a deer hunters vision. Patch clear cuts, TSI, bedding area work are all included in my plan. Cost share money for invasive control, logging roads, etc. They are all benefits of the plan above and beyond the tax savings.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I started cutting on Sunday and Monday. Did crown release on some red oaks and also made a few bedding pockets a little bigger than they were to let in more sunlight. I mainly cut down aspen and basswood to get some winter food for the deer. I made 3 good sized piles that I will be burning at some point with snow on the ground. Some stuff I cut and it will just lay there and decompose. All the places I opened up will get spruce, pine and white cedar replanted.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I just enrolled some land into MFL two years ago and will re-enroll some purchased land that I bought recently as well. I have been happy with the plan so far and have a cut due for 2025/2026 so we'll see how that goes.

With my enrollment I had my plan tailored to forest management through a deer hunters vision. Patch clear cuts, TSI, bedding area work are all included in my plan. Cost share money for invasive control, logging roads, etc. They are all benefits of the plan above and beyond the tax savings.

Same for me. My plan got written up by a whitetail habitat guy and only included stuff I want to do to improve the habitat anyway.

 

[bueller]

Hope it works out for you guys. If I had more acreage I'd probably be re-enrolling.

 

[SD51555]

I've blown through all my cutting for the year. The extended habitat season has been very nice, not having to contend with deep snow. I'm still cutting more this weekend, but now it's cleanup around the cabin. I can see lots of downed brush from my kitchen table, and I want to get it all gathered up and burned.

Still need to go out with the silky and trim up my deer trails. Some have gotten narrow, and some trees have fallen on them. They're still being used, but they are becoming more important as the areas I've been working on for 5+ years get extremely thick.

 

[SD51555]

Might do some cleaning around my birch trees too. I've got a lot of 25-35' birch trees fighting with aspens for light position. I might cut them down and throw them on the fire if they burn green.

 

[Stubborn1VT]

I got out and cut this week. My property is small and wet in spots. Earlier in the week I walked out with a saw, since it was too wet to drive my tractor across our pasture.
I cut a couple white pines on the southeast of my woods plot. I cut a few Aspen for the grouse and deer. I cut some basswood to give more light to nearby hickory, maple and ash. I cut a few hemlock to thicken up the property line.
Then we got a couple days below freezing, nights in the teens, so I was able to take my 30HP Kubota out with my homemade carry-all. I cut some maple for deer food and firewood. I cut some standing dead elm for firewood. I cut some bush honeysuckle in a wet area where I will plant red osier dogwood cuttings in the spring.
All in all, a productive few days. It's supposed to warm up into the 40s tomorrow, so I won't be able to get out with the tractor for a bit. I will work on firewood in my little wood yard. It's hard to believe I used to ice fish 30-40 times a winter. We barely get any ice these days...

 

[BuckSutherland]

 

[Bill]

Love the edge feathering.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I started cutting on Sunday and Monday. Did crown release on some red oaks and also made a few bedding pockets a little bigger than they were to let in more sunlight. I mainly cut down aspen and basswood to get some winter food for the deer. I made 3 good sized piles that I will be burning at some point with snow on the ground. Some stuff I cut and it will just lay there and decompose. All the places I opened up will get spruce, pine and white cedar replanted.





View attachment 71929

When you cut down aspen, do you get new sprouts coming up off the roots there at your place??

 

[BuckSutherland]

When you cut down aspen, do you get new sprouts coming up off the roots there at your place??

Yes. When they do clear cuts around us the stuff comes back THICK.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

When you cut down aspen, do you get new sprouts coming up off the roots there at your place??

If you're looking for root suckering they recommend cutting in the winter. Like Buck said it comes back THICK.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Yes. When they do clear cuts around us the stuff comes back THICK.

If you're looking for root suckering they recommend cutting in the winter. Like Buck said it comes back THICK.

I thought so, based on our foresters' advice here. I was asking about your situations in you gents' colder regions. I didn't clarify that in my earlier question. I have a retired state forester in my family who told our camp to cut down the bigger aspens to get lots of new regen from the roots of those cut big ones. We don't have many big aspens at our camp, so dropping some does wonders for our deer and grouse. Good to hear you guys get the same results there.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I thought so, based on our foresters' advice here. I was asking about your situations in you gents' colder regions. I didn't clarify that in my earlier question. I have a retired state forester in my family who told our camp to cut down the bigger aspens to get lots of new regen from the roots of those cut big ones. We don't have many big aspens at our camp, so dropping some does wonders for our deer and grouse. Good to hear you guys get the same results there.

Thanks for the responses.

Bows....this is pretty much all I do every winter. I will go in and find a small stand of 40, 50, 60 year old aspen...might be just a single old tree....or a small clonal group. I spend winter #1 clearing everything around the poplars to a 60' distance from the tree or the outermost poplar. Then I will burn a brush pile of all that slash that spring or summer so all I have remaining in my little aspen regen project are the mature aspens. The next late winter I will then drop the aspens. Girdling them and/or killing them with herbicides does not work. I leave the trees for grouse drumming logs.

Creates beautiful early successional habitat for grouse, woodcock, and deer just as you say. These new stands will be used for about 20 years for various things....early on = browse, cover..and then later on = food for grouse via the catkins.

I try to do about 1 new regen cut every 2 or 3 years so I always have a new patch growing.

 

[bueller]

Bows....this is pretty much all I do every winter. I will go in and find a small stand of 40, 50, 60 year old aspen...might be just a single old tree....or a small clonal group. I spend winter #1 clearing everything around the poplars to a 60' distance from the tree or the outermost poplar. Then I will burn a brush pile of all that slash that spring of summer so all I have remaining in my little aspen regen project are the mature aspens. The next late winter I will then drop the aspens. Girdling them and/or killing them with herbicides does not work. I leave the trees for grouse drumming logs.

Creates beautiful early successional habitat for grouse, woodcock, and deer just as you say. These new stands will be used for about 20 years for various things....early on = browse, cover..and then later on = food for grouse via the catkins.

I try to do about 1 new regen cut every 2 or 3 years so I always have a new patch growing.

I love this idea. What a great method to re-establish an area.