I've read several posts here that a chain saw is the best habitat tool. It's in fact the only one I have access to. How should I use what I call Marcel?
Chain saw????
- Thread starter Jon54
- Start date
diamond hunter
Well-Known Member
a better thing to read is lickcreeks hingecutting on QDMA
AllOutdoors
Well-Known Member
Hinge cutting. And removing less desirables to increase something more desirable.
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diamond hunter
Well-Known Member
Basically,if you walk around in the woods and there are few obsticals to make you bend,twist,crawl and cuss and you can just stroll around in peace that is a good place to select 2 acres to hinge cut all the undesirables that block sunlight from the forest floor.A couple years later and you will have deer paradise in cover and food.Dont ever go in there and it will be even better.Repeat.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
If you are unsure at all about IDing trees with no leaves, contact the TDF forester or TWRA Biologist working your area. I'd hate to find out I had killed some nice mast producers thinking they were elms or sweetgums.
BSK
Well-Known Member
MickThompson":uu61cnik said:
Agreed. Although I don't think learning to identify the bark of a red, black, or true white oak is that difficult, at least on trees 20+ years old. They each have very distinctive bark.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Let me also add that although I completely agree hinge-cutting is a wonderful practice, it can be difficult and dangerous. If you don't want to go to the trouble, simply cutting down (completely) undesirable tree species works quite well. Lots of work, but the benefits are worth it, as long as you are opening the canopy sufficiently. Cutting down one or two trees in a closed canopy forest won't let in enough sunlight to make much difference. You really need to create some MAJOR holes in the canopy.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Here's a prime example of major holes in the canopy. Below is a picture of a ridge-line on my property taken in June, during the peak growth month of the summer. See anything on that forest floor for deer to eat?
Now the same area a couple of years later, after a major thinning of the canopy. HUGE difference:
Now the same area a couple of years later, after a major thinning of the canopy. HUGE difference:
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
IMO, of comparative value to using a chain saw: Mowing.
By periodic "mowing" of certain portions of your acreage, you can keep areas in an early successional state of peak forb production.
Take a look at BSK's "weed' pic above. In time, those weeds will be overtaken by less desirable plants, eventually small trees. But by simply "mowing" these areas, perhaps only a single time every couple years, you can better maintain the more desirable deer foods.
And you don't have to have a tractor with a bush hog mower, either. In many cases, a smaller walk-behind or pull-behind (with an ATV) high weed or brush mower can go places a tractor cannot, and is often more practical. In fact, in times past, some of you would be amazed at what I have mowed with a simple walk-behind regular yard mower and/or a simple weed-eater.
From a purely economical standpoint, there may be nothing more beneficial than periodic mowing of a portion of your acreage. After all, once you cut down some trees with the chainsaw, then what?
By periodic "mowing" of certain portions of your acreage, you can keep areas in an early successional state of peak forb production.
Take a look at BSK's "weed' pic above. In time, those weeds will be overtaken by less desirable plants, eventually small trees. But by simply "mowing" these areas, perhaps only a single time every couple years, you can better maintain the more desirable deer foods.
And you don't have to have a tractor with a bush hog mower, either. In many cases, a smaller walk-behind or pull-behind (with an ATV) high weed or brush mower can go places a tractor cannot, and is often more practical. In fact, in times past, some of you would be amazed at what I have mowed with a simple walk-behind regular yard mower and/or a simple weed-eater.
From a purely economical standpoint, there may be nothing more beneficial than periodic mowing of a portion of your acreage. After all, once you cut down some trees with the chainsaw, then what?
