Edge feathering

[String Music]

I have been reading about edge feathering along roads and in the woods. Feathering provides wildlife with cover and different stages and maturtity levels of vegetation.

It appears the best method is to start on a field edge and remove 75% of the vegetation and trees. The next level is 50% and then 25%. Does anybody have any tips or experience creating this type of habitat? I'm wanting to improve our edges along fields and in the woods.

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

i dont have any experience with that,i think alot has to do with the pressure

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I edge feather around almost every foodplot I have. I cut back about 50 feet generally, sometimes more. I dont go off of any percentages as far as what to cut. If its something desireable, like white oak, persimmon,or black cherry seedlings or trees, then Ill leave it. If theres 2 desireable trees close together, then Ill select the one with the best form and cut the other. Unless I just want them both, then Ill keep them. Everything undesireable gets cut and treated with Tordon so it wont come back from the stump.
This has really helped plants like blackberry, greenbriar and elderberry get established around my edges. You do have to keep an eye out for any invasives getting into your feathered area as well. Tree of Heaven loves to invade my feathered areas. I just cut and treat it as I see it. Feathering also helps get more sunlight into any fruit,acorn, or nut trees that you have planted in the edge of plants so thats a bonus.

 

[BSK]

I have been reading about edge feathering along roads and in the woods. Feathering provides wildlife with cover and different stages and maturtity levels of vegetation.

It appears the best method is to start on a field edge and remove 75% of the vegetation and trees. The next level is 50% and then 25%. Does anybody have any tips or experience creating this type of habitat? I'm wanting to improve our edges along fields and in the woods.

Some refer to this as creating "ecotones." I highly recommend it. A feathered ecotone will be used FAR MORE by deer than an open hard-edge, such as where a food plot meets open mature hardwoods.

 

[richmanbarbeque]

Great topic.

After you do this don't get bummed if deer eat all the "weeds" around the food plot. I have seen several times where deer eat around the plot and nothing in it and walk away. Also, I am going to try to burn around a plot where I was going to start the "feathering". Hope is that more native weeds will grow there.

 

[Jarred525]

How about the exact opposite? I have one area that I am about to clearcut that is the very center of a 10 acre parcel (completely surrounded by open). So ~8 acres in the middle will be a sanctuary with a 50 yard buffer zone all the way around that will be left untouched. I have food plots joining around parts of it. I was hoping maybe that buffer zone would allow for some good bowhunting areas.

 

[BSK]

How about the exact opposite? I have one area that I am about to clearcut that is the very center of a 10 acre parcel (completely surrounded by open). So ~8 acres in the middle will be a sanctuary with a 50 yard buffer zone all the way around that will be left untouched. I have food plots joining around parts of it. I was hoping maybe that buffer zone would allow for some good bowhunting areas.

That will work fine. Nature will feather those edges for you as sunlight shines back under the canopy of the surrounding standing timber, producing a feathered edge to the cuts.

 

[BowGuy84]

Im still in the point that nature is feathering for me...but I am starting some TSI early on smaller trees to leave what I want and take out the rest...similar to what Steven was talking about.

 

[Jarred525]

Im still in the point that nature is feathering for me...but I am starting some TSI early on smaller trees to leave what I want and take out the rest...similar to what Steven was talking about.

I'll have some small pockets of oak in those clearcut areas that I am leaving untouched that I hope to do the same thing with. I hope to cut the undesirable trees out (mostly small hickory). I would hack and squirt with Arsenal but do not want to risk killing the oak.

 

[BSK]

Leaving patches of standing oak in the middle of a timber harvest area is an EXCEPTIONALLY good idea. It will greatly incease the potential for that area to be used for bedding, as now there will be some food available (acorns) even after the cut area canopies out.

 

[Jarred525]

BSK (or anyone), as you are aware I am working on about a 16-20 acre clearcut. There is about 5 acres of this that is very rocky that I plan on just leaving as is to grow up naturally. In the small areas that are oak prevalent, I plan on letting these areas regrow naturally as well, only cutting oaks that are greater than 12" DBH. I also plan on select cutting a few small pockets here and there leaving the oak untouched.

I have been lucky in that the logger has allowed me to mark the borders of the areas to cut and go into the areas and mark the trees that I want to leave untouched. It has taken a lot of time to walk these areas and mark but I am almost finished and feel that the time has been well spent and excited about it.

My question is about pine. My initial plan has been to go into about 10-12 acres of this area and plant pine. I have someone that will come in and do it for $75 - $80/per acre. This includes cost of trees. I have confirmed that tree tops will not bother the planter (i.e. I do not have to move the tops, they will plant right through them). What are your thoughts on loblolly pine or my plan in general? Planting too much pine? Another tree variety better? Thanks, appreciate all of the help you have provided. Jarred

 

[Jarred525]

P.S. The terrain in most of the area is hilly

 

[BSK]

I only plant pine where natural hardwood regrowth will be poor, which is the highest reaches of south-facing hillsides. Those areas generally only grow back into Mountain Chestnut and sourwood, so no loss. I prefer Loblolly in that particular situation, as they grow fast and can handle the poor growing conditions.

 

[Jarred525]

I only plant pine where natural hardwood regrowth will be poor, which is the highest reaches of south-facing hillsides. Those areas generally only grow back into Mountain Chestnut and sourwood, so no loss. I prefer Loblolly in that particular situation, as they grow fast and can handle the poor growing conditions.

Thanks. After you have made your clearcuts, I remember you saying that you go through and cut the small undesirable trees that the logger will not touch. Any other things that you do in the years after the cut to help improve the habitat?

 

[BSK]

Sounds crazy, but if they are available, I will "plant" acorns of different species. Just collect a bag-full of white, red, and black oak acorns and walk around in the most open areas of the cut pushing acorns into the ground.

 

[String Music]

BSK- do you completely cut the undesirable trees or hinge-cut them? You say regrowth is not very productive on south-facing slopes, would you recommend hinge-cutting to provide cover and more available sunlight for deer during the winter?

 

[WMAn]

Sounds crazy, but if they are available, I will "plant" acorns of different species. Just collect a bag-full of white, red, and black oak acorns and walk around in the most open areas of the cut pushing acorns into the ground.

Restoring ag fields to bottomland hardwoods was one of the main priorities for the refuges I worked on in MS. Prior to my arrival, they were unable to acquire and/or plant seedlings one year. Instead of delaying the work, they collected acorns, modified a drill or planter to work with acorns, and planted acorns instead. Some of the acorn planted fields were more successful than those planted with seedlings.

 

[Jarred525]

Sounds crazy, but if they are available, I will "plant" acorns of different species. Just collect a bag-full of white, red, and black oak acorns and walk around in the most open areas of the cut pushing acorns into the ground.

Interesting, I may try a mix of this and planting some sawtooth oak seedlings.

 

[BSK]

BSK- do you completely cut the undesirable trees or hinge-cut them? You say regrowth is not very productive on south-facing slopes, would you recommend hinge-cutting to provide cover and more available sunlight for deer during the winter?

We cut them completely (to the stump). We really don't want these species growing back (although they will from the stump). One of the trees we focus on is Beech. Beech can fill a forest understory (they can handle the low-light conditions under a mature canopy). Once the over-story is removed, all of these young Beech dominate the regrowth. Now a few Beech are good, but I don't want a Beech dominated forest.

 

[Jarred525]

Sounds crazy, but if they are available, I will "plant" acorns of different species. Just collect a bag-full of white, red, and black oak acorns and walk around in the most open areas of the cut pushing acorns into the ground.

Interesting, I may try a mix of this and planting some sawtooth oak seedlings.

Has anyone been successful in the past planting hardwood seedlings after a clearcut? Curious as to how well the seedlings do once the thick stuff starts growing back (i.e. can the seedlings survive the competition from the thick stuff)

 

[birddoginQ]

The established root systems of existing stump sprouts makes them hard to out-compete. If you place a hardwood seedling, remove some of the surrounding competition. If the site that was harvested was of a desireable forest type. Similar species will re-sprout. However, alot of the shade tolerant understory (such as maple) will often also come in. Thats where TSI comes in. You need to look at alot of factors before planting seedling. What was there before, what do you want in the future, what are your site features, what can be expected from that site.

 

[String Music]

BSK- will mature bucks walk on dozed logging roads during daylight or are they too open? I putting new road systems for the deer to use and plan on feathering and thickening up the edges of these roads in hope of funneling deer. If they will, I'm tempted to doze down the middle of primary and secondary points and thicken up the sides of these new trails.

 

[Jarred525]

The established root systems of existing stump sprouts makes them hard to out-compete. If you place a hardwood seedling, remove some of the surrounding competition. If the site that was harvested was of a desireable forest type. Similar species will re-sprout. However, alot of the shade tolerant understory (such as maple) will often also come in. Thats where TSI comes in. You need to look at alot of factors before planting seedling. What was there before, what do you want in the future, what are your site features, what can be expected from that site.

Thanks, my thoughts were to allow areas where oak were prevalent to regrow naturally. Other areas with rocky soil where oaks were not growing (mainly hickory) to plant loblolly pine. The area I was going to plant seedlings is a bench that I am getting select cut and not touching any of the oak. I was thinking of planting the seedlings in any open areas that are opened up by the select cut.

 

[BSK]

Jarred525,

Just be forwarned that hoping to get good white oak regrowth from stump sprouts may be an effort in futility. White oak sprouts are a highly preferred winter food source for deer. If the cut area is small (a few acres), deer can eat every stump sprout in the cut. I've seen smaller white oak stands clear-cut that grew back into a pure Poplar forest. The deer ate all the white-oak stump sprouts.

 

[Jarred525]

Jarred525,

Just be forwarned that hoping to get good white oak regrowth from stump sprouts may be an effort in futility. White oak sprouts are a highly preferred winter food source for deer. If the cut area is small (a few acres), deer can eat every stump sprout in the cut. I've seen smaller white oak stands clear-cut that grew back into a pure Poplar forest. The deer ate all the white-oak stump sprouts.

Thanks, that could definitely happen because these are small areas.

In preparing for the cut, what I have done is gone through the areas I am going to clearcut and marked the perimeter with orange tape. In the clearcut areas, I have marked most of the oak trees not to cut. Most of these small oak are 6-8 inch diameter. The logger has stated that he will cut everything, no matter the size, that I have not marked. It has taken about a day so far of marking with about another day to go but I believe it will be well worth it.

I hope to take pictures and document everything and share with you all. He did confirm prices are down from the summer due to everyone flooding the market. A neighbor of mine had planned to cut some mature maple but the logger advised him to wait until the market gets better.

 

[Jarred525]

P.S. A good chunk of the area I am cutting is rocky and filled with non oak species, that is what led me to thinking about pine.

 

[BSK]

Great strategy. Marking timber is a lot of work, isn't it!

 

[Jarred525]

Great strategy. Marking timber is a lot of work, isn't it!

More than I imagined! I met with the logger Saturday and he said it was the best marking job he had ever seen :) I have about another 4-6 hours and I will be done. I wanted to set it up for the logger where all he had to do was come in and cut, no questions as to what to cut and what not to cut. He has even agreed to pull out the tops in my select cut area as well as a couple of shooting lanes I am doing. We signed the contract and are good to go for a first of the year start.

I appreciate all of your help through this process. Definitely owe you and hope to repay you someday.

By the way, we agreed on a 50/50 split on hardwood and he is paying $7/ton for pulp. I have low expectations for the $ we are going to get out of the cut. The main purpose is the habitat improvement and I am hoping that we will get enough out of it to cover the pine planting and some dozer work.

 

[String Music]

BSK- will mature bucks walk on dozed logging roads during daylight or are they too open? I putting new road systems for the deer to use and plan on feathering and thickening up the edges of these roads in hope of funneling deer. If they will, I'm tempted to doze down the middle of primary and secondary points and thicken up the sides of these new trails.

 

[Anonymous]

All I have ever done is to treat certain parts of field edges with fertilizer. It thickens it up and usually leaves the next 10 feet inside the woods a little more open. This adds a good bit of late season browse when there is nothing else around.