Finally getting work done on the property

[JJBraves]

Well, finally ended up making time to start what seems like a never ending process on our 37 acres. Being a broke college student with not many friends that enjoy deer hunting, I have been going at it alone with a chainsaw and some back muscle to pile up the cedars in areas for plot screen and small game. It's surrounded by residential area with mature hardwood parcels with no quality cover and food. Told myself that the first project would be to clear out our cedar ridge top to create a plot and then work my way out and just thin trees to eradicate the impenetrable canopy that doesn't hardly let any light through. This is the start of what it looks like but the goal is to have it about 3 times the size of what it is now before I call it quits and let grasses come up for a couple years before planting and move on to thinning our timber stand. Ended up checking out the work yesterday and to my surprise busted 6-7 doe's that were eating the new growth, it was a good feeling seeing that because of the low deer population in the area. Have a couple plots down in the lower area of the property that was a lot easier to clear due to my father finally purchasing a little Kubota tractor and it previously being cattle pasture years ago. Planted wheat for the time being after clearing them just to add some sort of browse and to keep the weeds to a minimum in the fall and the deer hit it pretty hard when it first started coming up and was tender. Got a ton of work left ahead of me but I really find it fun and enjoyable to put in work on the property to hopefully in the long run, sustain a decent deer herd.

 

[JJBraves]

Ill try to post pictures as updates throughout the year to show improvements over time, as I enjoy seeing the process of peoples property work and hope some of y'all do too.

 

[Bucket]

Lookin' good! Cut all those cedars you can. They won't stump sprout when cut below the lowest limb, so you can just sow over the stumps when the time comes. Just getting sunlight on the ground will help.

 

[JJBraves]

Thank ya, yeah I still need to cut those cedar stumps down to the ground eventually so the tractor wont hit them when we eventually bush hog in the future. I knew better but ended up cutting some saplings there in the winter without spraying the stumps and they are now sprouting again. Going to go back through there with a brush blade to cut them again and spray but my main intention at the time was just to clear as much as I could while I had the time is the winter

 

[Thelonegoose]

I took over my grandfather's timber farm when I was around 23 or so. He had left the majority clear cut and overgrowth had taken over. It was a lot of work the first few years. I say that to say that what you are doing now is well worth it. Some people don't have the vision to see what a property is going to look like 5,10, and 25 years down the road. Take your time, it does not all have to be done overnight. Some things take years to see the real fruits of your labor.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Depending on what size tractor you have....or truck.....some cedar stumps can be pulled or pushed out......your project is a prime example of how you can improve habitat no matter what size acreage you have....keep up the good work....and enjoy the process...it takes time but it's very rewarding to watch a piece of property be transformed....and to see wildlife of all types benefit... keep us posted!!

 

[Omega]

Good job, keep at it. I know how you feel about the helping hands, I too have to do it all, but in the end I can enjoy the fruits of my labor.

 

[JJBraves]

Depending on what size tractor you have....or truck.....some cedar stumps can be pulled or pushed out......your project is a prime example of how you can improve habitat no matter what size acreage you have....keep up the good work....and enjoy the process...it takes time but it's very rewarding to watch a piece of property be transformed....and to see wildlife of all types benefit... keep us posted!!

That's actually a thought that has come to mind a couple times. Its a little 25 hose Kubota with a front end loader. Not sure is will have enough ass for some of these bigger stumps though some of them are 12 inches across. Maybe I will try in a year or so once they have been dead for a while and possibly have started to decay a bit in the roots.

 

[JJBraves]

I took over my grandfather's timber farm when I was around 23 or so. He had left the majority clear cut and overgrowth had taken over. It was a lot of work the first few years. I say that to say that what you are doing now is well worth it. Some people don't have the vision to see what a property is going to look like 5,10, and 25 years down the road. Take your time, it does not all have to be done overnight. Some things take years to see the real fruits of your labor.

Im in the same boat except most of the property that isn't overgrown cattle pasture is mature hardwoods. A lot of the hardwoods are beech.......and we all know about the year long canopy those things have.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Im in the same boat except most of the property that isn't overgrown cattle pasture is mature hardwoods. A lot of the hardwoods are beech.......and we all know about the year long canopy those things have.

Yeah beech can benefit wildlife but it's certainly not most land managers favorite tree..... during our most recent timber harvest we cut the beech hard and hack-n-squirted several of the smaller ones......so if you can find someone interested in cutting beech you might generate a little income to put towards other projects.....and as it's been said many times.....the chainsaw can be one of the land managers most powerful tools..... sunlight to the forest floor can be one of the quickest ways to add food and diversity.

 

[BSK]

Nice work JJBraves! Don't underestimate what some hard labor can generate. Back when I first started doing habitat work, we had 2 acres of old log-loading decks and power-line Right-of-Ways to work with as food plots. We used to cut them in late summer with weed-eaters! Until you've cut a couple of acres of weeds and grasses over your head with weed-eaters, you can't imagine how hard that can be. Then we broadcast lime and fertilizer by hand, and hand seeded. Glad those days are long gone...

 

[utvolsfan77]

BSK, we did the same thing here in Greene County about 20 years ago on a TVA power line that had grown up full of briars and saplings. Land leading up to it was so steep we could not get a tractor up to it. It sure didn't take long to replace the original Stihl string power head with a replacement head and a circular saw blade!!!

 

[BSK]

It sure didn't take long to replace the original Stihl string power head with a replacement head and a circular saw blade!!!

I'm telling you what, those circular saw blade cutting heads were the bomb!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Keep up the good work! It's never ending, but totally worth it

 

[gunfighter053]

Well done!! It ain't easy at all but totally worth it at the end .

 

[NewGuy]

What are you doing with the felled cedar trees?

I will be in a similar boat and am trying to figure out what to do with the cedars themselves once you drop em.

 

[JJBraves]

What are you doing with the felled cedar trees?

I will be in a similar boat and am trying to figure out what to do with the cedars themselves once you drop em.

There is an extremely steep hillside that I have been throwing them off of, that I cant plant on. Been cutting the tops off of the big ones and saving the rest for fence post for our property on the roadside.

 

[square]

Those cedar posts are excellent use in building elevated shooting houses

 

[JJBraves]

Those cedar posts are excellent use in building elevated shooting houses

I actually have a couple picked out for a shooting house that im planning on building once i get all of the hard labor out of the way and have the plots finished and the way i want them. not going to build anything for a while though because i want to see the deer activity and their patterns once the plots are established. dont want to put all that work in to realize later that i should have put it in spot b or c afterwards.

 

[BSK]

I actually have a couple picked out for a shooting house that im planning on building once i get all of the hard labor out of the way and have the plots finished and the way i want them. not going to build anything for a while though because i want to see the deer activity and their patterns once the plots are established. dont want to put all that work in to realize later that i should have put it in spot b or c afterwards.

Having watched the habitat and deer patterns change on my place over 35 years, we found it really hard to choose "permanent" stand locations. Every year the patterns are different. When we finally erected shooting houses, we just decided to choose the locations that we expect to always want a stand. Basically, overlooking our biggest, most productive food plots.