23-24 Habitat Work

[ZAG]

Worked on a couple projects today. My trench is working great. Music to my ears!!

[ZAG]

Today I worked on clearing up some shooting lanes for one of the blinds. 
Not my favorite location for this blind (brother wanted it here) and its really limited on shots from multiple directions. So I cleared out a lane to the north and east so far. Next will be the north and south to help expand range.

Also got some other lanes cleared around the blind in the food plot. All in all a productive couple few hrs and it’s always nice to hide in the woods awhile!

[ZAG]

Did a little more clearing around stand and made a different entrance path to access. 
Did a little more trail maintenance where  it’s getting some standing water in spots and dug around to give it a way to keep moving.
Did notice a tree that’s leaning towards our other redneck so thats on the 2 due list. Fortunately weather is cooperating this far so I have the majority of smaller stuff done already.

 

[Keith Nehrke]

Speaking from experience, a chainsaw is a deer hunter's best friend. Trees are fun to plant...we've put thousands of stems in over the years...but the payoff for us has been marginal. And if you don't protect every single one of them, you're throwing them away. I've tried overwhelming the deer with numbers. Nope. Skimping on protection. Nope. Taking off tubes early. Big nope. Bucks tore up a bunch of mulberry and chestnut this year. I hope they survive. Cages and screen are the best way to go. Bud capping young volunteer pine this time of year is absolutely necessary in high deer density areas. Even so, white pine is like candy come March. On our property, fir survives, so that's what we focus on for thermal cover. Shrubs have been difficult due to heavy browse pressure.

I bought into the chestnut hype and planted many, many trees. What I didn't realize is that they are as steep a food source as I've ever seen. Most of the nuts fall in a one week period, and that's generally in early October. The squirrel go crazy...but I'm not sold on juice for the squeeze as a deer attractant. And they need lots of sun to produce well, as do most mast trees.

Given our issues with ash borer, IMHO hinge cutting ash is one of the more productive things you can do to increase habitat diversity. They often stump sprout, which makes great emerging cover and browse, and the increased light to the forest floor allows for a variety of interesting things to pop up. Including lots of invasives, but that's another thread.

We also planted a bunch of sawtooth oaks, but even though they are growing well, they have not produced yet. I suspect that they are mainly a southern tree, and where the nuts are produced makes a huge difference in their ability to thrive here. Northern stock is all I'll use now, regardless of what I plant.

If you are anywhere near Canandaigua, I highly recommend Jim at White Oak Nursery for container grown native trees. His stock is exceptional and everything has done great for us. Meadowview in Naples is another quality vendor. The mulberry I've gotten from Jim grows like weeds. 

I'm not trying to throw water on anybody's parade, but having been there - and I totally get sitting in a stand thinking about next year's projects - it's way more fun when stuff pays off in the long run. Watching your efforts go down in flames, not as much. 

[cervidchasers]

I can relate and concur with what keith N said. Lost thousands in apple trees that I planted and never put tubes and cages around.
If it wasnt deer than it was rabbits and mice that girdled the bark, killing the trees.
Now I am very selective and put cages around all the trees that I plant. 

Deer will eat the young the oak saplings so those need cages too. Surprisingly they didnt touch the mulberry trees that  I planted

[Belo]

52 minutes ago, Keith Nehrke said:

If you are anywhere near Canandaigua, I highly recommend Jim at White Oak Nursery for container grown native trees. His stock is exceptional and everything has done great for us. Meadowview in Naples is another quality vendor. The mulberry I've gotten from Jim grows like weeds. 

very close to me and I appreciate that insight. Luckily I only bought 8 sawtooths, so not way into it. Canadaigua is right around the corner from me, so I'll try and remember that come spring. 

[Keith Nehrke]

4 hours ago, cervidchasers said:

I can relate and concur with what keith N said. Lost thousands in apple trees that I planted and never put tubes and cages around.
If it wasnt deer than it was rabbits and mice that girdled the bark, killing the trees.
Now I am very selective and put cages around all the trees that I plant. 

Deer will eat the young the oak saplings so those need cages too. Surprisingly they didnt touch the mulberry trees that  I planted

It's funny, the deer didn't touch the mulberry when I planted them, and as said they grow like weeds, but man did the young bucks do a number on them a couple falls ago.  I thought they were big enough to remove protection, but even at 5" diameter plus, apparently they were the perfect size to get savaged by rubbing. I lost a year's growth from a couple and actually had one that never recovered. 

[cervidchasers]

21 minutes ago, Keith Nehrke said:

It's funny, the deer didn't touch the mulberry when I planted them, and as said they grow like weeds, but man did the young bucks do a number on them a couple falls ago.  I thought they were big enough to remove protection, but even at 5" diameter plus, apparently they were the perfect size to get savaged by rubbing. I lost a year's growth from a couple and actually had one that never recovered. 

I will put tubes on mines..thanks for the tip

[TimberGhost]

Been there done that … planted apple trees from nurseries, Morse, wildlife nursery and everything in between. My issue is not local and by the time I police something it’s already too late. I plant plots in small clearings . Still a gamble but cheaper in long run. I still plant but take all the precautions… gravel at base DE powder mixed in , tubes and 7’ cages …. I have 4 out of my last 10 still hanging on but really aren’t doing well . Such a labor of love . 

[ZAG]

I bet my trench is diverting the water well about now 😁

[Keith Nehrke]

Man, I bet it's a river...hunting MZ in the rain isn't great fun. It sucks to take the week off for this. The ATV is going to be covered with its weight in mud after this weekend.

At least there's habitat work to compensate for the lack of ice fishing.

[Belo]

I bought tubes for all my new trees going in. The larger 4' I bought last year got fences. 2 t stakes each and 100' of 5' fencing adds up quick though. 

[ZAG]

Well I got about 20min of work done on the bedding section and then my lower back started locking up. Happens every 1-3yrs. This weekends is toast 😡

[Robhuntandfish]

7 hours ago, ZAG said:

Well I got about 20min of work done on the bedding section and then my lower back started locking up. Happens every 1-3yrs. This weekends is toast 😡

Get better, rest up.  Spring is coming.  I've been getting so much ahead this winter I'm loving it.  But looking forward to spring and making more progress.  This snow will put a halt to that for a bit.  Hoping it doesn't last, looking like 46 mid next week.  With a 3 day weekend coming up would love to spend two days out working on brush. 

What are you using to clear that area with?  I don't have equipment for that so use a chainsaw to cut everything down to the ground that is too big for the brushhog. It's def some work. 

 

Edited January 7 by Robhuntandfish

[ZAG]

2 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Get better, rest up.  Spring is coming.  I've been getting so much ahead this winter I'm loving it.  But looking forward to spring and making more progress.  This snow will put a halt to that for a bit.  Hoping it doesn't last, looking like 46 mid next week.  With a 3 day weekend coming up would love to spend two days out working on brush. 

What are you using to clear that area with?  I don't have equipment for that so use a chainsaw to cut everything down to the ground that is too big for the brushhog. It's def some work. 

 

Gas and battery Stihl. Most of the stuff is small diameter so I generally use the battery one the most. It’s super light weight and after a days work my arms and shoulders don’t get sore the next day!

I always try getting ahead because at any moment lots of snow can keep us out of the woods for long periods of time. Being higher elevations it always snows more and have had seasons where jan-mar was impossible due to so much snow on the ground.