Took advantage of this cool weather

[rem270]

Unfortunately most of my summer gets spent on killing invasives than deer season prep. Been since Tuesday killing tree of heaven sprouts. Feels like I'm playing an annual game of whack-a-mole. After 3yrs of it I'm finally done with the bigger stuff. Nothing bigger than my pinky finger left but there's thousands of them. It's like ginseng hunting without the payday, and as long as it's present I can't do any TSI or timber harvesting.

So today I'm working only on deer stuff. Gona seed a couple plots, trail maintenance, mock scrape stuff, and maybe a little camera work. Gotta have fun at least one day. Already lost a day to a tree falling across the cabin driveway, but it was a little playtime on the tractor so that's OK.

First pic is driveway. Second is tree of heaven sprouts. Nothing heavenly about them except the name.

I took the dog out about 10 Thurs night and heard a crack of a limb. I had always worried about this big pecan limb falling because it is hanging over my power line going to my weather head. Luckily it fell slow and was touching the line Thurs night and down past it Fri morning. Cut a bunch on it Fri afternoon and finished everything yesterday besides the biggest part of the trunk. I had been wanting to buy a bigger saw so when this happened I went to buy one Fri but it was out of stock. It'll be here next week. I also learned I'll never not have a sharp chain handy at all times. I had to cut with a dull chain and that about wore me out.

 

[knightrider]

I took the dog out about 10 Thurs night and heard a crack of a limb. I had always worried about this big pecan limb falling because it is hanging over my power line going to my weather head. Luckily it fell slow and was touching the line Thurs night and down past it Fri morning. Cut a bunch on it Fri afternoon and finished everything yesterday besides the biggest part of the trunk. I had been wanting to buy a bigger saw so when this happened I went to buy one Fri but it was out of stock. It'll be here next week. I also learned I'll never not have a sharp chain handy at all times. I had to cut with a dull chain and that about wore me out.
View attachment 238521
View attachment 238522

Thats my problem i cant sharpen a chain for

 

[knightrider]

Unfortunately most of my summer gets spent on killing invasives than deer season prep. Been since Tuesday killing tree of heaven sprouts. Feels like I'm playing an annual game of whack-a-mole. After 3yrs of it I'm finally done with the bigger stuff. Nothing bigger than my pinky finger left but there's thousands of them. It's like ginseng hunting without the payday, and as long as it's present I can't do any TSI or timber harvesting.

So today I'm working only on deer stuff. Gona seed a couple plots, trail maintenance, mock scrape stuff, and maybe a little camera work. Gotta have fun at least one day. Already lost a day to a tree falling across the cabin driveway, but it was a little playtime on the tractor so that's OK.

First pic is driveway. Second is tree of heaven sprouts. Nothing heavenly about them except the name.

Serious question, why cant you harvest timber with tree of heaven present? They are in everwood lot in this county and they still log

 

[Ski]

Serious question, why cant you harvest timber with tree of heaven present? They are in everwood lot in this county and they still log

They are much more prolific and rigorous than our natives, and will outcompete the regeneration of desired species like oaks. They spread by the root as much as seed and when threatened or damaged they signal the root system to spur more shoots. It's said if you cut a tree of heaven, a hundred of his buddies will attend the funeral. And they thrive in disturbed areas such as timber cuts or storm blow downs.

Luckily the problem I'm dealing with is just blow overs, not a timber cut. So I only have a few small, contained areas to deal with. The forest canopy keeps them at bay except for the spots sun can reach. I had state and consulting foresters on the property to advise before doing a timber cut and all agree the tree of heaven should be dealt with before cutting anything to allow a natural and robust regeneration of native trees. The tree of heaven wouldn't hurt a thing this cut. It's the future cuts it'll hinder.

 

[Ski]

I took the dog out about 10 Thurs night and heard a crack of a limb. I had always worried about this big pecan limb falling because it is hanging over my power line going to my weather head. Luckily it fell slow and was touching the line Thurs night and down past it Fri morning. Cut a bunch on it Fri afternoon and finished everything yesterday besides the biggest part of the trunk. I had been wanting to buy a bigger saw so when this happened I went to buy one Fri but it was out of stock. It'll be here next week. I also learned I'll never not have a sharp chain handy at all times. I had to cut with a dull chain and that about wore me out.

Whew that doesn't look much fun. Pecan isn't easy on saw chain. Gona make a pile of good firewood though!

I touch up with a few file swipes every tank fill and it seems to work out well. Hardly ever have to work hard at sharpening except when I hit dirt or rocks. Then it's real nice to have a sharp backup chain on hand.