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Clear Cut vs Select Cut for max deer habitat
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<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 5290357" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>Highly successful small property habitat management is all about creating diversity. The more diverse the habitat, the more deer it draws and holds. Deer observations by hunters are also maximized in diverse habitat (especially close-range sightings; important to bow-hunters).</p><p></p><p>As others have mentioned, try to create as many different habitat sections as possible. Use terrain to your benefit (as a hunter) by creating habitat edges that run along preferred terrain. Depending on surrounding habitat, think about planting patches of pines. In a hardwood environment, small patches of pines are a gold mine. Leave strips of standing timber in the most likely deer travel routes around the rut (for better shooting opportunities).</p><p></p><p>I have no problem with clear-cutting. I recommend sections of it all the time. But I try to keep clear-cuts small in size, nothing larger than 20 acres. At years 4-6 of regrowth, clearcuts are impenetrable for humans but deer can run full tilt through them (how they do it is a mystery, but I've seen it occur more times than I can count). Very large clear-cuts are a problem, as deer can live in them full time. I've seen radio-collar data from a 5 1/2 year-old buck that never left the confines of a 60-acre clear-cut for an entire year. Not once did he leave the cover.</p><p></p><p>For the areas that are select-cut, the timber left standing will not be evenly distributed. This provides the opportunity to make small-scale patches of unique habitat in the areas with the fewest trees left standing. Fire, mechanical and chemical means can be used to keep these areas in perpetual early-stage regrowth.</p><p></p><p>The biggest problem with large timber cuts is that they lose their attractiveness to wildlife over time. They are excellent deer food producers, peaking in year 3 but fading to virtually nothing by year 6 or 7. Cover generally peaks in year 5 or 6, but then fades until almost no cover exists by year 15 of regrowth (pole-timber stage). Now what do you do with the area? Having long-term plans is the key. Diversifying the habitat for the long-term is the goal.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 5290357, member: 17"] Highly successful small property habitat management is all about creating diversity. The more diverse the habitat, the more deer it draws and holds. Deer observations by hunters are also maximized in diverse habitat (especially close-range sightings; important to bow-hunters). As others have mentioned, try to create as many different habitat sections as possible. Use terrain to your benefit (as a hunter) by creating habitat edges that run along preferred terrain. Depending on surrounding habitat, think about planting patches of pines. In a hardwood environment, small patches of pines are a gold mine. Leave strips of standing timber in the most likely deer travel routes around the rut (for better shooting opportunities). I have no problem with clear-cutting. I recommend sections of it all the time. But I try to keep clear-cuts small in size, nothing larger than 20 acres. At years 4-6 of regrowth, clearcuts are impenetrable for humans but deer can run full tilt through them (how they do it is a mystery, but I've seen it occur more times than I can count). Very large clear-cuts are a problem, as deer can live in them full time. I've seen radio-collar data from a 5 1/2 year-old buck that never left the confines of a 60-acre clear-cut for an entire year. Not once did he leave the cover. For the areas that are select-cut, the timber left standing will not be evenly distributed. This provides the opportunity to make small-scale patches of unique habitat in the areas with the fewest trees left standing. Fire, mechanical and chemical means can be used to keep these areas in perpetual early-stage regrowth. The biggest problem with large timber cuts is that they lose their attractiveness to wildlife over time. They are excellent deer food producers, peaking in year 3 but fading to virtually nothing by year 6 or 7. Cover generally peaks in year 5 or 6, but then fades until almost no cover exists by year 15 of regrowth (pole-timber stage). Now what do you do with the area? Having long-term plans is the key. Diversifying the habitat for the long-term is the goal. [/QUOTE]
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