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tree_ghost

tree_ghost

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I have my 128 acre farm that I'm finally getting around to making some habitat improvements on for the deer and turkey. I have my food plots and flatter, more "tillable" land, pretty well mapped out but I'd like to make improvements for bedding in my steeper parts of the farm where it's just forested. We have a lot of cedar and locust and I could hinge cut some of those which should help get light to the forest floor. Are there any other effective tools that you all are aware of that could help with my situation in hill country?
 
Hack and squirt. Fire would be awesome but I know it's such a challenge in steep stuff. A hatchet and chemical or chainsaw will be your biggest help. Just beware that in good fast growing timber areas, that work will grow out of good cover pretty darn fast if you don't keep at it. Fire can help with that if possible.
 
Instead of hinge cut em I'd CUT cut em if you want light on the ground. You won't have to worry about cedar resprouting, but paint the stump with chemical on those locust trees or else you'll have a mess in no time.
 
Yep, hack-n-squirt and girdle-n-spray will open it up with also downing undesirable trees. I'd definitely have fire in the future years.

I'd also do some fruit and nut tree planting in some of your openings. We plant 5-20 trees each year on our place
 
Snake said:
Seen a lease I was on in Cumberland Co. that planted some kind of bush for the quail they raised but it got real thick and the deer bedded in some of them . What about Honey suckle and Blackberry...food and cover for the thick areas ?
Click to expand...
I have about 5 acres of gnarly blackberry. I plan to rotate that area in sections with the brush hog so there are varying stages of growth year after year without it getting away from me. That area is currently the most used by the majority of deer on our place.
 
Before getting to deep into things figure out where you want to go and what you're starting with. That'll allow you to map out a plan and stay on track so that you don't waste your time on rabbit holes.

I'd suggest reading up on mineral stumps and silvopasture. Don't kill a superior food source to create a lesser one. And don't discount a tree just because it isn't dropping acorns or apples. Case in point, locusts are often despised because they cause flat tires and they spread fast. But they also provide carbohydrate rich food in winter when bucks need to recover from rut, and they're nitrogen fixing legumes, literally nature's fertilizer. They serve to enhance the vegetation around them.

In short do your homework and be smart with a goal in mind. Above all else have fun. It's incredible seeing a property come to life, figuratively and literally.
 

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