TSI now and then

[Bill]

I wish I took more pics of my before stuff.

Going through some old trail cam pics and this one struck me.
April 2008, I only owned the place a year. Put a trail camera on a new mineral site. Looks pretty open, you can see the opposite hill side.

Today Dec 27. The cameras on a different tree about 10'feet back but pointing the same direction.

Gotta love a chainsaw.

 

[scott44]

Looking good Bill! Nice and thick, is that all through hinge cutting or tree removal?

 

[Bill]

Looking good Bill! Nice and thick, is that all through hinge cutting or tree removal?

Nothing removed I hinged everything but some of the big stuff broke or barber chaired on me. Looking at it today I should have done more then.

6 Years?.....You about ready to go back in and do it again?

Yep I'm kicking some ideas around in my head on how I want to lay the place out. This year or next I'm going in there and making a big mess. :)

 

[John-W-WI]

Wow, that's pretty awesome. That park effect is only good for the forest fairies :) The deer like your version.

-John

 

[sandbur]

Sometimes when I get going for hours and hours and look at the mess I've created by hingeing I wonder what the heck I just did to the woods o_O
Whoever buys this place when I'm dead/done with it had better be an educated deer hunter/habitat guy...

With what you have done at that pinch point in your land, I fully expect you to have a decent buck on the ground between Halloween 2015 and the firearm opener.

 

[bueller]

Sometimes when I get going for hours and hours and look at the mess I've created by hingeing I wonder what the heck I just did to the woods o_O
Whoever buys this place when I'm dead/done with it had better be an educated deer hunter/habitat guy...

I must admit that making a mess of perfectly good woods is not top on my list of things to do. Good thing I only have small areas of maturing woods and the rest is already thick so I won't have to cross this bridge anytime soon.

 

[tooln]

When I bought mine it was like a park. It took 3 years to convince the wife deer don't like parks.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Way to " keep them wheels greased " Stu !!! :D Been around the block a time or 2, eh ??;)

 

[Bill]

I have had the same thoughts. If I ever go to sell the place, it's going to need a buyer with a clue or an open mind.

A few years back my neighbor pulled over because a guy was walking up out of my pasture with a radio collared dog.

Neighbor said the guy was retrieving his dog, he was out of breath and soaked with sweat. Neighbor asked if he was OK, they guy just said some crazy bastard cut all the trees down in there. :)

No before shots but this was a park like area I cut about 5 years ago. White oak regeneration, cedars and MFR popping up everywhere. I'm not sweating the MFR because there is enough above it that it won't take over. Can't see 10 feet in here when it's green.

 

[Maya]

Looks nasty Bill, great work!

 

[j-bird]

I was very against cutting trees as part of habitat improvement, but I finally did it a few years back with a select timber harvest, to remove market size junk trees to open up the canopy. I have then been hinging what is junk and of size (thus my hinging beech thread). Turning vertical cover to horizontal cover to improve bedding and travel routes for my deer. I figure I have another timber harvest in about 15 or 20 years to remove mature oaks and walnut and I will be back at it again. It awesome to see how the woods explode with just some sunlight on the ground.

 

[tooln]

When I bought this place I told my wife that I was going to be changing it quite a bit...and it wouldn't be as "pretty" to look at. She understands that habitat is "what I do" and told me to go for it...
As long as I created her a garden spot and built a chicken coop and run for the birds...I'm all good :D

I bought my 40 in Jan of 2011. Jan of 2013 I finally convinced the wife we had to start making changes. We have a creek that almost divides the property in half. Ended up she got to keep the front half her way I the back half was mine. I clear cut about 3 acres and planted Norway spruce. I did another 3 acres in a heavy select cut and let the tops laying. Once she started to see some of the checks from the logs she kind of changed her mind some and we took a few trees here and there from her half. I hinged a few here and there but not as much as I'd like. Got to do some more sweet talkin. Or if I could only figure out a way to get some hinged and make it look like the wind blew them over. Hey wait maybe the tractor and loader can push a few over. ;)

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The pix in post #14 look great. That stuff is nasty and looks like deer heaven. Grouse too, if you have 'em there. Chainsaws are a deer's best friend - counter to what some would think. Real nice job you did with your property, Bill.

 

[Bill]

Thanks everyone. Like I said looking back I wish I cut it harder.

Next time :)

 

[sandbur]

:D

I've had two neighbors ask me about all the downed/hinged trees here. "We burn wood, we'd take that stuff off your hands"....ah...no...

and then they look at you and wonder what is wrong with you, right?

 

[TMIL]

So what are you saying...I appear to be a full bubble off of plumb? :eek::D;)
I give any of the neighbors credit for pulling in here and talking to me....I'm just a quiet, mindful dude...but I may not present that "image" as the neighbors drive on by

From what I've learned from this forum, I can see that. Haha! Seriously, their loss, if they don't stop by.

I have a little piece of mature white oaks, I'd never mess with that. Closer to the creek bottom is dominated by sycamore, with plenty of hackberry and elm. Sprinkled in there are some young white oaks, tall and thin struggling up for light (a few 20-30 ft tall and only 4-5" dbh). Late this past winter, I girdled, cut, and hinged a lot in that area, especially the big-leaf sunlight-robbing, useless sycamores. My intent was to improve this spot 50 years from now by helping those white oaks. In the meantime, I hope to have thick cover develop. Win win! Sometimes it just makes sense.

Of course, I don't have to worry about selling the place. If it came to that, it would be dire straights. I don't even want to think about it!

 

[Bill]

I have a little piece of mature white oaks, I'd never mess with that. Closer to the creek bottom is dominated by sycamore, with plenty of hackberry and elm. Sprinkled in there are some young white oaks, tall and thin struggling up for light (a few 20-30 ft tall and only 4-5" dbh). Late this past winter, I girdled, cut, and hinged a lot in that area, especially the big-leaf sunlight-robbing, useless sycamores. My intent was to improve this spot 50 years from now by helping those white oaks. In the meantime, I hope to have thick cover develop. Win win! Sometimes it just makes sense.

Of course, I don't have to worry about selling the place. If it came to that, it would be dire straights. I don't even want to think about it!

Don't be afraid to cut a couple of those big whites especially if it will give light to some of the more dominant ones. White oak regeneration can be fast and thick. I wish I had more sycamore just to cut them down. When you cut those down they stump sprout like crazy and become big bushes in short order. I'd say your creek bottom is going to be a tangle real soon.

 

[West Branch]

So what are you saying...I appear to be a full bubble off of plumb? :eek::D;)
I give any of the neighbors credit for pulling in here and talking to me....I'm just a quiet, mindful dude...but I may not present that "image" as the neighbors drive on by

Stu, some of my Dad's best friends are guys that had cabins and hunting land in the area and would be around on weekends working on their property. And he is about as local as it gets, since he is 71 years old and was born in the house he still lives in. I think he met most of them becuase they got a tractor or their vehicle stuck and stopped by since they saw he had tractors that could pull them out. Probably a bit different when the population of the entire township is <150. Its a real middle of nowhere type of place, the closest gas station to the farm is 12 miles away.

 

[TMIL]

Don't be afraid to cut a couple of those big whites especially if it will give light to some of the more dominant ones. White oak regeneration can be fast and thick. I wish I had more sycamore just to cut them down. When you cut those down they stump sprout like crazy and become big bushes in short order. I'd say your creek bottom is going to be a tangle real soon.

Yes, the sycamore area should really take off. They sure do stump sprout all right! The real big ones we girdled did have leafs this year, but I hope for far fewer next year!

 

[sandbur]

Stu, some of my Dad's best friends are guys that had cabins and hunting land in the area and would be around on weekends working on their property. And he is about as local as it gets, since he is 71 years old and was born in the house he still lives in. I think he met most of them becuase they got a tractor or their vehicle stuck and stopped by since they saw he had tractors that could pull them out. Probably a bit different when the population of the entire township is <150. Its a real middle of nowhere type of place, the closest gas station to the farm is 12 miles away.

Sounds like where I would like to live.