This tree is more valuable on the ground versus standing

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

I tipped over a hemlock last week for deer browse. Didnt take them long to get on it. Once they browse it down the structure will still stay there as low standing cover.

These trees loose there limbs so they dont do much for deer here without a branch below 10 feet. We never thouht they would eat them when we cut the first few down. We were wrong.

 

[Boll Weevil]

In my area, it's the red cedar that is more valuable on the ground than standing and I drop every one I can. New browse when sunlight hits the ground, nesting for turkeys and quail, and the dead "skeletons" serve as a great trellis for honeysuckle and greenbriar for years.

Agree 100%; there are definitely trees that are more valuable on the ground than standing.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Not to mention next weekend I am going to shoot a deer chewing on that tree! They have just finally started to move a little in daylight fallowing all the pressure from gun and mzloader. Five nights in a row there were daylight deer on that tree. One shooter I have had my eye on since July. One more week to feel comfortable and next weekend I attack.

 

[H20fwler]

They are really after that! Good luck next weekend.

For me any conifer here is more valuable standing because I have to plant them all.
In my area of the state it's all mixed hardwoods and shrubs. It makes wildlife gravitate to the pines/spruce/hemlocks for cover and protection....and the bucks like to beat the crap out of the smaller ones in the fall!

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Its a deer desert under all of those trees. Its too close to where we have to access and park to tip them all over for any kind of bedding. We do see some beds under these trees in the dead of winter as we are no longer down there and its easy bedding 100 yards from a hay field. To me they are more useful on the ground versus standing. Turkeys will roost in them at times. But the few I cut down every winter are not deterring any roosting. There is very little growing under those trees as there is no sun light getting to the forest floor.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Its a deer desert under all of those trees. Its too close to where we have to access and park to tip them all over for any kind of bedding. We do see some beds under these trees in the dead of winter as we are no longer down there and its easy bedding 100 yards from a hay field. To me they are more useful on the ground versus standing. Turkeys will roost in them at times. But the few I cut down every winter are not deterring any roosting. There is very little growing under those trees as there is no sun light getting to the forest floor.

What is on the right side of that picture? Looks like a deer that is feeding while wearing a sweater? That's cool to see they are hitting downed trees that hard. Ever thought about logging a portion of your woods? That picture doesnt show too much browse available for the deer. Good luck with that big buck.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

That is my dad with the saw half way through that leaning tree. We cut down about thirty that winter and the deer sign was incredible right away. Not thick enough for summer safety but they sure liked it that winter.

 

[bwoods11]

In my area, it's the red cedar that is more valuable on the ground than standing and I drop every one I can. New browse when sunlight hits the ground, nesting for turkeys and quail, and the dead "skeletons" serve as a great trellis for honeysuckle and greenbriar for years.

Agree 100%; there are definitely trees that are more valuable on the ground than standing.

Depends on location...
Red cedar is valuable tree for bedding and cover in MN, and Iowa. Deer and pheasants spend a lot of time in my cedars.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

I lied. I took the 30 degree temp drop today and got right on it. Saw 11 does and fawns. All got under 50 yards. I shot under a doe at 32 ish yards then drilled one at 15. She went 75 yards and tipped over with only a shot glass of blood on the ground. My first late season deer and I was all excited about the big blood trail in the snow. If I hadnt seen her tip over it would have been a mess. Picture is off the out hole. Slight quarter away. Got both lungs but didnt center punch them.

 

[bueller]

Congrats bluecollar. I've got to do some late season hunting one of these years.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

I gotta say I always thought it wasn't worth the time until I changed my strategy 2 years ago. I barely go in the woods now and let the deer come to me.

Today I was still 100 yards from hitting my property on a long gravel road that is now rock solid snow ruts after all the rain and freezing we got the last couple days. 230 PM and there are does running away from me. Running right were I plan on hunting unfortunately. Ten minutes of finishing dressing later I was on my way one loud crunch at a time. I got 100 yards from the fallen tree in my first post and 4 baldies I just ran in that corner are now eating calmly on it. They ran off but not exactly where I thought the deer would be coming from. Not a good start but I figured I had a shot still. Advantage me once I was up in the stand I could hear the deer coming for a long time before I could see them.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Congrats Bluecollar. I always wait until after deer season ends (December 31st) to start my winter logging. Last week hunting was real slow and there was no new snow for tracking so I dropped a few red maples in one of my food plots. Within a day there were deer tracks everywhere feeding on the tree and a fat 8 pointer who showed up. I haven't sat in a stand since early December but I decided to sit in a stand overlooking the red maples the day after Christmas hoping for the 8 to walk out (I'm in the red circle in a big spruce tree). Watched 2 does feed on the maples for about an hour (no doe tag).

As I watched them I did consider my own personal ethics of what I was doing. Didn't come to any kind of a conclusion, but I did wonder to what degree is dropping a tree to attract deer any different from throwing out corn to attract deer? I actually went home that night and checked the regs to be sure I wasn't breaking the law. Sounds like hunting over recently felled trees is not considered baiting. So legally it's fine, but practically, I think maybe it's about the same. Not saying I won't do it again...think I'll sit over those maples one more time before the season ends. Just having a mild internal conflict over the method of the hunt.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Natty I see where your head is at but I don't have any bad feelings about what I did. We are all talking about browse and habitat in here and I simply put the browse at mouth level. I watched all of those deer browse through a marsh nipping away for ten minutes before any shots were fired.

I have never had the kind of activity this tree brings when I used corn.
We all think its a need idea which the caging of stump sprouting in another thread right now. Would that be better?

How about e fencing a small bean plot in September and opening it for opening day?

I get your thought process, but I guess I don't have a conscience or I just like shooting deer with any legal techniques. I am jacked to have found a way to get them moving late season. Gun season is a dead zone. Muzzleloader forget it. Give them 2 weeks off, drop a tree and they will start crawling out from there bunkers again. Its very exciting to me to have this opportunity late in the year that I just overlooked before.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I am totally with you. I think it's awesome how these deer come to these felled trees. I usually witness the deer activity in my logging areas after the season is over. I've said this before in other threads...but after a few weeks of logging the deer get so habituated to my presence and my logging that I can often look back over my shoulder as I am walking out of the area just before dark and see the deer heading in to feed on what I just dropped.

And yes, food plots, fenced in bean plots...it's all equivalent. I hunt over food plots and once my soil is good enough to grow soy beans I think I'd like to try that some day.

For some reason though dropping those trees and then hunting over them felt too easy. I've been tracking deer Benoit style for the past 2 weeks and in my stand on the 26th I imagined Larry seeing me hunt over the maples and shaking his with disapproval. That's just my own mental problem though! LOL.

I must say...after 2 weeks of not seeing a single deer while tracking, it was nice to see a few does and have some hope that the 8 would step out.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

I believe this was the first time I have ever seen 10 or more deer in a sit on my property. It was a blast.

We got a foot of snow last week. Then it was 45 monday and rained all night. Tuesday it was 25 or lower all day. The snow is now frozen solid rocks. Stalking would be more of a cattle drive around here right now.

If that evergreen I cut down was a late dropping apple tree I planted thirteen years ago we would all be saying my hard work laid off and smart move to sit there. My hard work of ten seconds of sawing paid off :)

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I believe this was the first time I have ever seen 10 or more deer in a sit on my property. It was a blast.

We got a foot of snow last week. Then it was 45 monday and rained all night. Tuesday it was 25 or lower all day. The snow is now frozen solid rocks. Stalking would be more of a cattle drive around here right now.

If that evergreen I cut down was a late dropping apple tree I planted thirteen years ago we would all be saying my hard work laid off and smart move to sit there. My hard work of ten seconds of sawing paid off :)

That's awesome bluecollar. We have the same thing going on here in Mass. 14 inches of snow last week and then rain the next day. Tracking has been really inefficient. Might have to go out today and look for an old hemlock to drop!

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

They are really after that! Good luck next weekend.

For me any conifer here is more valuable standing because I have to plant them all.
In my area of the state it's all mixed hardwoods and shrubs. It makes wildlife gravitate to the pines/spruce/hemlocks for cover and protection....and the bucks like to beat the crap out of the smaller ones in the fall!

I have tried putting Norway Spruce plugs in the skeletons left by the falling Hemlocks the last 3 springs. We have not had enough snow the last few years to cover my little plugs. As the only green stuff sticking out past the snowline they have ate darn near every one past the point of being able to bounce back the next spring.
The same areas where I was trying to make things a little thicker by dropping some of the 60 year old trees are also where the deer "yard" for the winter under that canopy. Unfortunately that area does me little to no good during the season. I was hoping for a little better mix of new and old with some holes in the sky to get some grasses and other trees going.

If the weather cooperates I am going to march around and try to bud cap a couple hundred in January. If that fails as well I am just out the evergreen plug planting game. I thought 500 to 1000 a year would be enough make a solid percentage survive but they are just wiping them out ever February when we have no pressure down there by bedding right up tight to ag and saving energy I guess.

 

[H20fwler]

I have tried putting Norway Spruce plugs in the skeletons left by the falling Hemlocks the last 3 springs. We have not had enough snow the last few years to cover my little plugs. As the only green stuff sticking out past the snowline they have ate darn near every one past the point of being able to bounce back the next spring.
The same areas where I was trying to make things a little thicker by dropping some of the 60 year old trees are also where the deer "yard" for the winter under that canopy. Unfortunately that area does me little to no good during the season. I was hoping for a little better mix of new and old with some holes in the sky to get some grasses and other trees going.

If the weather cooperates I am going to march around and try to bud cap a couple hundred in January. If that fails as well I am just out the evergreen plug planting game. I thought 500 to 1000 a year would be enough make a solid percentage survive but they are just wiping them out ever February when we have no pressure down there by bedding right up tight to ag and saving energy I guess.

That sucks, putting all that work in and having it all get eatin up the first year. Went through similar experience on a much smaller scale , I planted a couple hundred small white pines last spring and we had the driest summer in a decade here that just burned my little seedlings up.

I have had good luck planting bigger conifers 3'-5' and either fall planting or getting them out as early as I can in spring. The drawback has been the expense and labor involved planting. I am in a very agricultural area, with all the hardwoods and shrubs here the small stands of conifers are deer and wildlife magnets on my place.