Hinge Cut Bedding Blocks

[BigAl]

A friend of mine's son, Thomas Rovery, did a study design on Hinge Cutting Bedding blocks. While most of us on leases can't perform this type of habitate management, I thought some of you land owners might find this interesting.

Do Deer Use Hinge-Cut Bedding Blocks? New Study Results Out

Dr. Craig Harper and his students at the University of Tennessee tested hinge-cutting and bedding cover to see how deer responded. The results were surprising.

deerassociation.com

 

[BSK]

GREAT study!

I really like the part where they mention the more area you treat, the more deer respond. This is exactly what I've found from my property. The more timber we thin, the more deer are drawn to the property. Percent of the property in cover is key.

 

[BigAl]

I had never heard of "Hinge cutting". Seems like it could make "people" travel through an area really difficult.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Going back through every 2 years is pretty darn hard work. I've never had the luxury of helpers so it's all on me. That's the reason I prefer just doing TSI like hack and squirt.

 

[348Winchester]

I like to add flush cutting of small maples and sourwoods. When they stump sprout the deer really browse them heavily.

 

[BSK]

I like to add flush cutting of small maples and sourwoods. When they stump sprout the deer really browse them heavily.

Unfortunately, deer in my area have a serious hankering for white oak sprouts!

 

[Snake]

Unfortunately, deer in my area have a serious hankering for white oak sprouts!

Maybe you need to train your deer not to eat their future foods !!

 

[BSK]

Maybe you need to train your deer not to eat their future foods !!

I slap them every time I see them eating oak sprouts, but it doesn't seem to slow them down.

 

[deerhunter10]

I'm very interested in how it works out for us. We did some this year never really tried it out right.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I typically shy away from hinge-cutting just because the resprouts can grow up again just as if you never did any work there. I'll hinge some species that are beneficial, like winged-elm. I do understand the benefits of it though. I tend to stick with hack-n-squirt, or flush cut and use herbicide around the cambium.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Oh and girdle/spray

 

[Ski]

Awesome! Thank you for posting. Not a surprise to me at all. Looks like it's not the hinges alone that created results but rather each aspect of comprehensive tsi executed to work in harmony with the hinge cutting. Simply put the hinges are icing and tsi is the cake. The sum is greater than it's parts.

 

[knightrider]

Awesome! Thank you for posting. Not a surprise to me at all. Looks like it's not the hinges alone that created results but rather each aspect of comprehensive tsi executed to work in harmony with the hinge cutting. Simply put the hinges are icing and tsi is the cake. The sum is greater than it's parts.

There you go trying to sound all smart and stuff but yes totally agree

 

[348Winchester]

Unfortunately, deer in my area have a serious hankering for white oak sprouts!

Mine do too. They seem to browse everything when it's young and tender.

 

[BSK]

Awesome! Thank you for posting. Not a surprise to me at all. Looks like it's not the hinges alone that created results but rather each aspect of comprehensive tsi executed to work in harmony with the hinge cutting. Simply put the hinges are icing and tsi is the cake. The sum is greater than it's parts.

Agree. For smaller properties, cover is King! Many ways to get there. But getting sunlight on the ground is the key. And the early-stage regrowth (summer annual forbs and vining plants) that first appear once sunlight hits the ground is prime deer food. Interestingly, from my data, deer population peaks when early-stage regrowth foods peak. But the population of 3 1/2+ year-old bucks peak when cover peaks.