Tamarack and Marsh Swamp habitat improvements?

[AtomApple]

If your deer herd utilizes the swamp in the winter, it will be very hard to establish new shrubs without caging. In my limited experience with swamps, deer tend to gravitate to them for thermal cover in winter months and the browse pressure on your plantings will be intense.

I will second that ! Just before New Years, with over a foot of snow, the deer were no longer in the (combined) corn fields. They were in the swamp, and I physically saw and heard them eating bark off trees. I wish I knew the tree species, maybe boxelder, I will have to get a leaf sample this summer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

If your deer herd utilizes the swamp in the winter, it will be very hard to establish new shrubs without caging. In my limited experience with swamps, deer tend to gravitate to them for thermal cover in winter months and the browse pressure on your plantings will be intense.

I have NO experience doing habitat work in or near a swamp. What I DID notice hunting in Maine is that northern white cedar (arborvitae) grows naturally around the swamp edges there. LOTS of them. But as this gentleman - Brian - said in this quote above, deer will eat them to the ground without cages for all the reasons he stated. 6 ft. browse line easily seen in Maine on the mature white cedars. Northern white cedar is a winter deer food for sure - but they will grow around swamp edges. FWIW.

 

[tlzkaasen]

Just to reiterate my posts from above to avoid any additional caging comments. Shrubs will be caged. I will not be caging all spruce in my area. The spruce all get weed matt and mulch. Other than winterburn my deer heard leaves them alone for the most part. The streamco willows will not be caged per Big Rock Trees.. Sounds like deer in WI leave those alone.

 

[Tree Spud]

The streamco willows will not be caged per Big Rock Trees.. Sounds like deer in WI leave those alone.

Can't tell you how many times I have heard that ...

Pretty easy to take and create large enclosure with 100' of 5' fencing & stakes.

 

[tlzkaasen]

Can't tell you how many times I have heard that ...

Pretty easy to take and create large enclosure with 100' of 5' fencing & stakes.

Yea, thats a different story and appreciate that feedback sincerely. I would've been upset getting those hammered. Guess I'll be building 25 more cages.

 

[Tree Spud]

Yea, thats a different story and appreciate that feedback sincerely. I would've been upset getting those hammered. Guess I'll be building 25 more cages.

I think the bigger concern is making sure all competing marsh grass like RCG is eliminated. Keeping the willow exposed to sunlight very important.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I was told deer don’t eat lilacs, so I planted a bunch in my yard because my wife likes them, at least I got to enjoy the experience of planting them, because I never saw them again after a month.

 

[tlzkaasen]

I think the bigger concern is making sure all competing marsh grass like RCG is eliminated. Keeping the willow exposed to sunlight very important.

Weed matt will be used and rolled out. RCG over take that as well? Probably whack it with weed wacker if that gets that far out of hand.

 

[Maddog66]

I have about 80 acres of what we call a “moss” swamp. In some areas, the tamaracks are fairly thick. In others very sparse, mostly wide open moss.

The moss is DEEP…..when a deer walks on one of the natural game trails, you literally only see a head in many areas. There is plenty of water under the moss, but it’s not floating bog.

There are a few isolated small “humps” surrounded by Tamarack swamp, the largest is maybe an acre or 2. They have mature cedars and hemlocks. Not much cover and no food, but at least dry.

As far as I can tell, there is very little food out in the Tamarack swamps. But there is still consistently good deer sign in them. Particularly in the thicker areas. Tends to be one or 2 main traveling runways beat down in the moss over decades. It might be just me, but I feel like big bucks seem to like them in the late rut…..maybe the does are in there already for the thermal cover?

Theses areas are tough to hunt for me. You simply have to have a big field of view that is high enough to let you look down into the tamaracks, somewhat. There are a couple of ramshackle homemade death traps from previous owners that were clearly built specifically to overlook tamarack swamp. Must have worked for someone?

For me, the only management I’m going to do with it is to cut a trail or 2 connecting to my food sources and hi ground on the center of the property. Maybe those trails will be good stand sites one day, and turn into migration routes off the neighbors property

** We do have wild cranberries in our swamp…..so maybe the does come in there to eat them when ripe?

 

[Tree Spud]

Weed matt will be used and rolled out. RCG over take that as well? Probably whack it with weed wacker if that gets that far out of hand.

The cages should keep the grasses from layover the willow. If you you have RCG, you will need to spray with Gly to kill off as they have large rhizome roots systems.

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Are there deer in there now? What time of the year do they usually use it?
What are the nearest food sources? Northern WI, probably not a lot of big ag.

Call me crazy, I’d work on some sort of access trail so I could come in from the little pond via boat. That would be my first habitat project.

The deer know you come in from that road. My guess is they feed in the woods and bed in the swamp. Maybe mostly on an east wind. West wind probably rips across that lake. East wind might have blocking from the forest. Plus all danger comes in from that access road - not from the south.

 

[tlzkaasen]

Are there deer in there now? What time of the year do they usually use it?
What are the nearest food sources? Northern WI, probably not a lot of big ag.

Call me crazy, I’d work on some sort of access trail so I could come in from the little pond via boat. That would be my first habitat project.

The deer know you come in from that road. My guess is they feed in the woods and bed in the swamp. Maybe mostly on an east wind. West wind probably rips across that lake. East wind might have blocking from the forest. Plus all danger comes in from that access road - not from the south.

I can access from the North East, North, North West (by utilizing national forest) and the south. I never walk through my property. As far as I can tell the deer use it year round to access my food plots or whats left of them by this point. Spot on - no big AG anywhere within 10 miles. Bedding - I know this is always a controversial topic, but I will tell you they typically bed everywhere - Swamp Islands, Close to cottages, 5 feet off of access trails/easement road - especially in the winter.

Love talking swamps more and more. They are kind of a mystery

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I have a black spruce/tamarack bog on my Rusk County Wisconsin property and it is pretty wet and boggy, so very little else will grow. A disease or pest came through and killed most of the old tamarack trees and a number of species filled in when they died - birch, red maple, white pine and even a few red pine. It seems those trees can germinate in my swamp, but they tend to stall out once they get about 10 feet tall. I think it is just too wet there for them to thrive, but a black spruce or tamarack growing in the same area seems to do really well.

 

[Tree Spud]

Black spruce is a good wet soil tree and is shade tolerant. Great species well suited for marshes, bogs, and wetland areas.