The Sandbox

[Satchmo]

Perfect examples there. Deer really can be lazy and will take the path of least resistance. Great shots Art.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

It's funny - deer being lazy / taking the easy way. But they do !! I mow paths during the summer and into the fall from woods to apples and crabs, and out to the food plots. The deer use those mowed paths. ( for the most part ). I guess taller weeds and briars make more noise to the deer ?? Soft, mowed grass seems to appeal to them.

I've been cutting " sidewalks " / paths for years through our mountain laurel here. Laurel is thick, gnarly brush / shrub that can get 12 ft. tall. Guaranteed to trip you about every 3 steps. Deer use those paths in the laurel like highways. Planned out with thought, they can be funnels to put the deer right where you want them in relation to a stand location.

Bur - your pix are great. Your cover looks so similar to some of ours here. How are your numbers doing there ??

 

[sandbur]

I saw 14 deer during 7 days of rifle hunting. Of course that counts the same doe and two fawns that went by on different days as 6 deer. My low was one deer during the hunt and the usual number was 6 deer per season over the last 10-15 years.

In short, deer numbers are better. Lottery doe areas help. I fear it will soon change.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Art - I hope your numbers continue to improve there.

 

[sandbur]

Farmers that are two miles from are asking for depredation permits. They have different habitat than me. Word is they shot three bucks this fall. Maybe they ahd no doe permits or made poor choices.

I hope these hotspots can be dealt with on a very localized basis.

 

[Shedder]

It's great looking country. The closest I can equate it to is we went to Prince Edward Island a few years ago. Miles and miles of beautiful rolling fields with lots of apple trees. Not a single wild deer on the island. Lots of fox though. Each corner in the road we went around I kept saying there should be 20 deer in this field.

Right and the farmers there do everything they can to keep them off.

I was there at this time in 2004 and it as amazing compared to NS across the strait.

 

[sandbur]

I have a new variety of crabapple tree.

It is called the BowsnBucks Frankenstein tree.

All Winter Hangover, Hyslop, and Nova Scotia crab. I did add a bit of Shafer also.

thanks, Mark!

 

[sandbur]

2015 topwork of Yellow Dog on dolgo seedling.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Happy to be a scion source for you, Art !! I hope they all do well for you. Keep us posted.

 

[sandbur]

Breakey on Anty. I removed the blossoms.

 

[sandbur]

Other successes have been Noran on Anty and on a flowering crab, Stu's wild apple on Anty, All winter hangover on the wild swamp crab.

Trail on a dolgo seedling might be showing bud swell.

 

[buckvelvet]

Nice work Art!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Art - Didn't you have a fenced-in area with crabs and plums growing in it like a grove or thicket ?? How are those trees doing ??

 

[sandbur]

Art - Didn't you have a fenced-in area with crabs and plums growing in it like a grove or thicket ?? How are those trees doing ??

I will post a picture when I get home. A couple of the trees in there were topworked. Plums are blooming and were a farmstead plum which does not form as much of a thicket as wild plum. Crabs have bloomed with a variety of apple sizes and colors.
Some of those seedlings have done very well, and others just grow so slowly.

 

[sandbur]

I added this picture to another thread on seedlings. This is one of the exclosures with plums in the center back. I have one more exclosure of seedlings that is the same size and a few smaller exclosures of 3-8 trees.



The white painted trunk is a topwork of one that turned out to be a bird crab.

 

[sandbur]

I found two places with white spruce regeneration while I was thinning some spruce rows today. Deer beds were in some of the younger spruce stands, so I need to move some of these seedlings to new areas in the spring!

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[bueller]

I found two places with white spruce regeneration while I was thinning some spruce rows today. Deer beds were in some of the younger spruce stands, so I need to move some of these seedlings to new areas in the spring!

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Judging by the top of the spruce you dropped in the last photo it looks as though you are getting darn good growth each year on those spruce.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Art - I remembered what you said a couple years ago about planting some spruce every year to keep varying stages of growth available. We've done that and you're right - deer seem to like having different heights of trees. Maybe the big ones for snow shelter & the shorter ones for better vision for bedding areas ?? It seems to work here. Our deer hang around the spruce all year long. Shelter/windbreak in winter - shade in summer.

Thanks for the pix. Your property looks really good ............ "deer-y". It's nice to have enough spruce that you can thin some !!

 

[sandbur]

I think the mature closed canopy spruce as well as the red cedar closed canopy can be important wintering areas during deep snow years.


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[rocksnstumps]

I too have a small area that I noticed white spruce regeneration last year but work travels kept me away for most of the Spring months. Read somewhere on here about just pulling the small ones up right after frost out like you do weeds and not having to dig. Gonna try that this year on some and dibble bar in some thin spots along a fenceline in other areas of property. I have sandy loam soil and that should help.

I've found that the last three years in my part of WI have been really good for spruce and other trees. Lots of well timed rains most of the summer. Sure is nice when they finally get into their growth spurt years and 18"-24" is pretty common on most.