Edge Feathering and bedding areas [Archive] - Page 2

dbltree

01-01-2012, 07:30 AM

Blocking with Edge Feathering

I edge feathered timber a while back but mild west weather kept me from pushing the trees around with the tractor. I always seed around the perimeter with white clover in the fall on new feeding areas and I didn't want to tear up the newly established seeding. A couple days down in the teens allowed me to work on the frozen soil however and I started pushing the trees around parallel with the field edge to both screen and block off multiple runways.

Before

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6942.jpg

After

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6943.jpg

Before (note runway)

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6944.jpg

After...runway blocked with a wall of tree and brush

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6945.jpg

Remember if there are some holes that are difficult to plug, simply cut some tops off from a downed tree and stuff them into the opening. In most cases here that was unnecessary and the big locusts, shingle oaks and elms provided an impenetrable barrier

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6946.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6948.jpg

I learned as a young boy that if I created brush piles for rabbits that birds would roost in the brush and leave droppings laden with the seeds of berry producing plants and shrubs such as blackberries, grapes, dogwoods, sumac and a host of other shrubby type plants. In time this would turn it into a living brushpile teeming with wildlife and the same is true with edge feathering

What is now seemingly lifeless tree tops will eventually turn into a living screen that not only blocks runways and insulates deer from the outside but also becomes a plethora of browse and soft mast over time.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6949.jpg

Next year and each subsequent year these downed trees will in essence become a living fence

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6950.jpg

but even now forces deer to use on;y the runways we want them too

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6951.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6952.jpg

Use caution because trees are heavy and thorns on honey locusts can flatten front tires quickly....I use SLIME in mine along with careful watch that I don't run the tires up on a batch of nasty thorns!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6953.jpg

The results are amazing when deer that once came out dozens of runways must now come out...one

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Timber%20Edge%20Feathering/IMG_6954.jpg

Limiting runways allows us to get far more accurate trail cam surveys as well as encouraging whitetails to bed closer to the centralized feeding area. The feel safe and comfortable and in areas where they are below my line of sight as I walk or drive in, I notice that they simply stay in their beds...sure that they are unseen. Try that when deer are bedded in wide open timber!!

Edge feathering is an extremely effective yet cost effective habitat improvement that almost any landowner can make just remember to explore the Timber Stand Improvement thread first so that you don't destroy valuable mast producing crop trees and then...get busy making your own living fence.... ;)

Drop_Tine5214

01-02-2012, 06:09 PM

dbltree

01-03-2012, 08:28 AM

Dbltree, I was wondering if i could pick your brain about edge feathering in my situation. I have a field on my property where the edges are full of very narrow trees, I would say 1 to 3 inches in diameter. These trees are about 5 to 8 feet tall on average and have very little canopy. They just look like a bunch of pencils stuck in the ground with fuzzy erasers for canopy. They are so close together though that there is little browse on the forest floor. I have started hinge cutting these but they are so small it doesn't seem to do as much for funneling like dropping large trees would. Is there anything I can plant in the tops of these small trees to make an impenetrable thicket like you speak of?

I suspect that reducing canopy will encourage growth of blackberries and other shrubby type cover but you can also inter-plant cedars and shrubs into the hinged trees. See the Tree Planting thread for shrub ideas...;)

Hinging for bedding

When I go on habitat consultations I frequently find situations where people have been told to hinge small areas within their timber but unfortunately not one of those small areas ever has a deer bed in it or even around it. I encourage landowners to hinge large areas leaving small pockets of open areas within the hinged areas. Usually this happens naturally if there are crop trees or conifers but in some cases I run into areas that are 98% weed trees (at least in my view). My definition of a "weed tree" is any variety or species other then oaks, chestnuts or black walnuts but every landowner may have different goals and far different tree species. Every property is unique and every landowner does not necessarily have the same goals so each must decide what is right for them and their personal situation.

All of that said...if holding mature whitetail bucks on your property is you main goal there is one very important thing to remember...the one with the MOST COVER...wins! Cover...is not wide open timber, it is thick brushy habitat where one can not see "feet" into it and cover includes ares of tall NWSG.

The following are pictures of recent hinging I did for a landowner with some pure stands of shagbark hickory with a few locusts and elms scattered throughout.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7044.jpg

Most hickory's stay hinged pretty well

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7043.jpg

But honey locusts tend to break off

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7042.jpg

When larger trees fall on smaller ones...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7041.jpg

the small trees tend to break off

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7040.jpg

But this is nothing to worry about because the reduced canopy will encourage new growth....compare this to the open timber in the back ground!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7039.jpg

As long as there is a "hinge" or connecting bark most hinged trees will remain alive for a number of years, although not all will survive long term simply because new growth will rise up thru the downed trees and the resulting canopy will kill the hinged trees.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7038.jpg

Managing ones timber resources then is an ongoing, never ending job

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7037.jpg

So while I encourage you to hinge relatively large areas, do your entire timber area in a succession over a number of years

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7036.jpg

Eventually you'll find yourself staring to work in the original areas once again...5-10 years later

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7035.jpg

The downed trees will make instant cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7034.jpg

and hinging at roughly 4' high will provide plenty of ground cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7033.jpg

It's a mess...a beautiful mess that will be one of the most important habitat improvements most landowners will ever make.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7032.jpg

Instant screening and an overnight ready food supply of fresh browse is whitetail heaven!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7031.jpg

Remember to do the edge as well and push trees around to block off extra runways and further screen and insulate deer from the outside.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7030.jpg

If you desire success....focus on the cover first and the feed second....unfortunately people make it all about the food sources and in doing so...they lose! Lot's of thick natural cover will guarantee you have lot's of whitetails.... lot's of food without premium cover means you'll likely be frustrated and disappointed.

If you succeed or fail is up to you but...if your reading this you have the now have the tools to successfully reach your goals of holding and harvesting mature whitetails on your property.... :way:

Daver

01-03-2012, 10:00 AM

I suspect that reducing canopy will encourage growth of blackberries and other shrubby type cover but you can also inter-plant cedars and shrubs into the hinged trees.

If you desire success....focus on the cover first and the feed second....unfortunately people make it all about the food sources and in doing so...they lose! Lot's of thick natural cover will guarantee you have lot's of whitetails.... lot's of food without premium cover means you'll likely be frustrated and disappointed.

I just want to emphasize what Paul is saying here from my own experience. Long story short, on our place this year our food supply is limited as the drought hurt our food plot program pretty bad. BUT...after doing TSI a few years ago our cover in the timber is way better than before and we have good numbers of deer in our timber at this time of the year that I am sure is due to the much improved browse and understory.

Say 5 years ago, pre-TSI, our timber was pretty open and there were few deer in the timber this time of the year, now it is the opposite AND our TSI work pales in comparison to what Paul accomplishes with the hinge cutting he illustrates here. In other words, we could do more hinging and make things better yet.

Cover, cover, cover...timber management is a super key thing, the info in this thread is potentially the most important thing you can do to help your place.

huntyak

01-03-2012, 10:12 AM

Talk about timing....

Three of my closest friends helped me all day Sunday and we got about 4 acres done in an area that was 80% ironwood and hickory. It looks like a jungle now and is a little un-nerving, but was amazing to see the changes before our eyes. Where once you could see 100 yards, now was down to 20 :0

We created two major funnels that both lead past a great stand site.

You had mentioned above about "succession". Since the majority of these draws is ironwood and hickory, would it be ok to do them all this winter, save select pockets say 40 yards across.

Or be best to leave the IW and SBH for next winter in some areas. I have the help now, but is it a "bad" idea to do them all now?

The other side of the property is more valuable timber, so there it is TSI first and selected areas for hinging on ridge tops. But where we are working is all IW and hickories, which could make each draw that borders ag fields incredible bedding and holding zones.

One last question, how do turkeys adapt to these changes? I would think would help them for nesting and cover, as long as they have big trees to roost and fields to feed and strut.

SEIowaDeerslayer

01-03-2012, 10:55 AM

One last question, how do turkeys adapt to these changes? I would think would help them for nesting and cover, as long as they have big trees to roost and fields to feed and strut.

We did our first hinge cuts on our property last winter and the hens loved them for nesting. We had several nesting hens on our property last year where as before we had none. We left a few areas of timber still open for gobblers to strut in, but they mostly prefer the fields to do that anyways.

huntyak

01-03-2012, 11:02 AM

Thanks Brock! Just the info I was looking for.

Daver

01-03-2012, 11:14 AM

One last question, how do turkeys adapt to these changes? I would think would help them for nesting and cover, as long as they have big trees to roost and fields to feed and strut.

Brushy timber = turkeys like!

Also, you mentioned TSI and assuming you have oaks to "release", you will see a positive there too as more acorns = more turks too.

huntyak

01-03-2012, 11:59 AM

Thanks Daver. That has been my only fear in pushing turkeys out but sounds like it will be a benefit :)

risto2351

01-03-2012, 12:03 PM

Brushy timber = turkeys like!

I believe what you guys are saying but it seems like I see more turkeys in areas that I can see along ways in, than in the really brushy areas?

Daver

01-03-2012, 12:50 PM

I believe what you guys are saying but it seems like I see more turkeys in areas that I can see along ways in, than in the really brushy areas?

For me, just about the opposite. My theory is that turks will hang up more in an open woods because they cannot see what they hear.

Over the years I hunted one farm about 15 years in a row and one half of the timber had cattle in it, yes, it was quite open:), and the other half had no cattle and consequently more brush, etc. The only thing separating them was a line fence down the middle, which BTW was a darn good place to sit. :grin: It was the same block of timber though.

There were probably twice as many turks on the brushy side day in and day out as the open side. I have made other similar observations over the years, but this one seemed pretty clear to me.

risto2351

01-03-2012, 01:27 PM

For me, just about the opposite. My theory is that turks will hang up more in an open woods because they cannot see what they hear.

Over the years I hunted one farm about 15 years in a row and one half of the timber had cattle in it, yes, it was quite open:), and the other half had no cattle and consequently more brush, etc. The only thing separating them was a line fence down the middle, which BTW was a darn good place to sit. :grin: It was the same block of timber though.

There were probably twice as many turks on the brushy side day in and day out as the open side. I have made other similar observations over the years, but this one seemed pretty clear to me.

Daver,

I definitely believe you.

On my land I just seen to see more turkeys in a couple of areas than in my really messy areas.

At my buddies place same thing.

huntyak

01-03-2012, 02:16 PM

I gained access to a new farm this past year and while it has many high-points, it also was in need of alot of work. Paul has asked for anybody who has done any timber work to post photos, so here are some.

The majority of timber looks like this, some oaks, walnuts and cherry-but also ALOT of ironwood, Hickory and Shingle Oaks-classic hinged trees :)
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0666.jpg

A Few more shots of the wildlife "unfriendly" woods :)

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0667.jpg
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0662.jpg

While there was a good amount of deer here, it was almost impossible to have any strcture to hunt with consistency and hardly ever did I jump a deer in this timber. But the sign showed they are here...
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0661.jpg

So, in baby steps, we plan on drastically changing:
1-The holding potential of the timber
2-To decrease competition for the oaks
3_ Create bedding cover as well as funnels to hunt more effectively

Here is an Ironwood being hinged by my buddy Don
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0723.jpg

And an action shot of a Hickory going down (who needs Sportscenter with highlights like these?)
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0721.jpg

My Father-in-law even got in on the action...and loved it!
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0724.jpg

Soon-a "living fence" began to form running the length of the draw, with about 40 yards of Briar Rabbit habitat behind it...
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0725.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0719.jpg

As you can see-alot of open timber remains behind what we did so we'll have to keep at it.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/IMG_0722.jpg

Lots more work to do but Ill try to keep updated on progress here :)

dbltree

01-03-2012, 08:01 PM

Lookin' good Eyad!! Thanks for sharing the progress pics and be sure to take pics over the next few years as the area starts to re-grow! You can post them along with the monster buck you shoot in that funnel...:way: :)

Sligh1

01-03-2012, 08:20 PM

That does look great Eyad!!! I am doing the same thing this weekend. Got 2 suckers... I mean buddies to help me this weekend! :) I usually would ALWAYS wait til after season but with this weather we'll be getting some done. I don't want to be so overwhelmed come later- I have 100 acres of TSI to do and 100 acres of NWSG's to seed so an early start is nice. We'll just hunt on other side of farm that night and won't affect deer anyways. I've gone through 4+ gallons of red marking paint already SO the plan is laid out pretty well. The Dbltree game plan will again be put into action.

huntyak

01-05-2012, 12:08 PM

Thanks guys. Did a bunch more yesterday and starting to take shape. Crazy thick now.

However, on a side note, I almost 'bought the farm' as a tree jack-knifed and came the other way on me. I ran but wasnt fast enough and the branch whacked me in back of the head.

I had a fist sized lump and was out for a few seconds but just sore today.

STUPID STUPID STIPUD but was lucky to tell this tale. No helmet-just stupid.

No other word for it.

Where helmets and girdle the big stuff. Just not worth it..in the dog house with my wife now :(

SEIowaDeerslayer

01-05-2012, 02:39 PM

dbltree

01-05-2012, 08:00 PM

No deer on the planet is worth dying for so please use caution and wear protective gear and good judgement in deciding to hinge or girdle.

Protective Gear (http://www.outreachoutdoors.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2189)

Chaps and helmet are as necessary in the timber as a safety harness and lifeline are in a tree stand....;)

Lcarabine

01-07-2012, 09:47 AM

I have read the threads on TSI and EdgeFeathering. I just started hinge cutting yesterday. First time ever. We have zero browse left and deer have dissapeared pretty much. 30 years of good hunting but not now. I have about nine acres of south facing woods 300 yards wide by 200 yards wide, sloping downhill slightly then with a steep 30-50 yard edge on the south side that borders a valley. Forester siad it does not have much value for timber but I will try to save all red and white oaks which are not many (thin them where necessary per TSI). We started at the top of the steep hill and are working up. Pretty much every tree is an undesirable tree and we cut it. The result is just a maze of downed tops that seem to me even too thick for a deer. Also very few trees hinge and if they do hinge the next trees we cut snaps the hinge in many spots Trees seem to fall in the direction they want. In the end we plan to cut out the deer trails that deer used to travel thru and pattern the area to fields and treestands. It is pretty much a clearcut. I have a few questions.
Are we doing too much or is this what we should do, let it grow up and not worry that we are cutting every tree. Should I be leaving the biggest trees girdled and standing to reduce the amount of trees we lay down (we will not be using it for firewood).
Also on the hedgerows that run up and down the hill there are some pretty big trees. Should they be cut if they are undesirable or dropped.
I have a few areas of thick pine 6-18 inch(no browse or tops down) In these pine areas is it a good idea to drop a few unmarketable pines for cover for the time being and TSI the pine stands in the future when we have the time.
Lastly, should I cut the steep side hill or let it remain partially open so the deer can lay at the top and look in the valley.
I appreciate any advice on this and you probably can tell we are new at this. I have a good feeling about what we are doing though. Thanks

huntyak

01-07-2012, 10:57 AM

DBltree is correct and I have since wised up! Still a top 3 stupid moment in my life :)

Lcarabine-I will be interested to see what Paul says here and others. I am in same boat, albeit enough white oaks to keep, but still, great deal of ironwoods and hickory, hackberry, ash, elm and locust.

I try to imagine where I want them to go, and give them lanes to travel, getting more concentrated as it approaches stand locations. It looks NASTY but no browse and no bedding cover is worse IMO. I would hinge the stuff thigh sized or smaller, and yes, some break off, nothing you can do I guess.

Anything bigger though girdle. The canopy will die, this giving the sunlight a chance hit those blow downs and start some growth, so its a win win.

Sounds like you are doing things correctly!

dbltree

01-07-2012, 12:02 PM

The result is just a maze of downed tops that seem to me even too thick for a deer.There really is no such thing although they will certainly walk around thick tanglements when traveling. That said as I have mentioned previously I usually do large areas leaving smaller open pockets within the thick areas.

Every timber is different with some having little "fuel" for hinging while others have so much you can quickly make a jungle out of it. If you girdle large trees that will in itself create more open areas that although they will grow up to brush will not be full of downed trees.

You are talking about a 12 acres area so that is plenty large enough to create a "mess" but also leave semi open areas. We need diversity so we never want the whole timber to be all in one state at the same time. Hinge large areas within the 12 acres but leave some areas with only 20-30% hinged trees and in several years go back and do those.

Pines are best off girdled when they need to be thinned so work with your forester as to when and how much.

On south facing slopes leave some areas semi open so they can lay in the sun, on the slope but backed up against the hinged trees. Again were talking small areas and pockets that may be bedroom sized or larger.

Here's a very rough example showing the hinged trees in green, couple main runways and the small openings in blue.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Beddingarea.png

Scott

01-07-2012, 01:35 PM

Walked some timber a couple weeks ago that had some real high winds push alot of trees over, looked real similar to what it would be if you went and hinged the whole thing. Not a deer in the whole thing, not even trails where they have used it in the past, despite it being crazy thick. I am all for hinging but I think you can get carried away. Deer are pretty lazy and are always going to travel the path of least resistance. I would rather leave some weed trees standing and have it still look like a timber at the end of the day than have a mat of hinged trees. Just my thoughts, and I am by no means any kind of expert, but it seems like there are lots of people gearing up to get at it and I would just proceed with caution. I like Pauls approach of thicker pockets, not a one size fits all approach to the whole timber.

Lcarabine

01-07-2012, 02:59 PM

Thanks for the advice and pictures. It sounds like we are approaching it correctly and I will definitely leave some more open areas by girdling and less hinge cuts. The south slope we will particularly pay close attention to.

My area is so heavily hunted I am hoping that deer use this area as a sanctuary from the pressure on other properties. Bucks become very nocturnal here fast due to pressure and I want them laying in my brush pile during the day. If they are on the move then I hope they will use the trails I create and just work the does in these thicker areas.

I also want to give smaller bucks a chance to grow older. No QDM practiced around me. I have 120 acres and this parcel I am working on is close to the middle with the southern border being a neighbors.

It is just such a scary thing to look at when youn first do this, but it makes sense. I have hunted some clear cuts over the years and deer bed in some pretty thick cover.
Thanks again

dbltree

01-08-2012, 07:46 AM

The following is an example of trail blocking/funneling on a farm where the previous landowner had already started awesome habitat work. NWSG, TSI, hinging, centralized feeding areas, tree plantings, cedar screens and fruit tree orchards. He also is a very successful hunter and his stands were all in the interior of the timber on well defined rut runways connecting bedding areas. The only concept that eluded him was that of trail blocking and funneling so when the new owner hired me to manage the habitat....I went to work make an already great work....even better.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Bocking1.jpg

Note in orange the stands (left in place by the previous owner) that were very productive yet also note by the yellow lines that deer could easily travel any number of runways that would pass 60-80 yards from either stand. By utilizing the natural funnel of the creek and fence and then narrowing that funnel via the falling of trees (hinging) I have been able to force ALL the deer by the outside corner of the fence where a blind will be located.

Note that the timber across the fence has not had TSI or hinging done so it is open and deer prefer not to travel thru it.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7111.jpg

That compared to the thick, brushy environment on our side thanks to efforts by the previous landowner. As thick as this is....deer burrow thru it and had a runway that I blocked by falling to large trees (forked) one in each direction.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7112.jpg

I took advantage of shagbark hickories in the area

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking-1.jpg

to create a blocking effect

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/EF1-5.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7113.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7114.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7115.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7116.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7117.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7119.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7121.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7122.jpg

At the junction of the runways at the fence corner I installed a cam that will let us know if this spot will be productive during the rut as well as providing us accurate deer surveys from that area of the farm.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Cam.jpg

Because of the fence and the need to clear for a blind I had to clear some trees and decided to push the cut trees to create more blocking and possible sow some clover in this semi open spot in the timber. The newly placed cam noted progress as well as the whitetails using it literally a few hours later.

Before

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0007.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0013.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0032.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0172.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0188.jpg

A little final clean up

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0327.jpg

all of which did not affect the deer even the slightest and they used the new funnel immediately!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0351.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0468.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0487.jpg

Dozens of deer traveled thru this funnel the first night

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/PICT0528.jpg

Every property is different and unique but hopefully by following this thread you can pick up ideas that will allow you to improve your habitat and manipulate deer movement at the same time. Keeping in mind that there is not one simple answer to successfully harvesting a 4-5 year old buck every year. It's about year around food sources in one centralized feeding area per 80-120 acres. It's about surrounding that feeding area with thick brushy cover and/or native warm season grasses and increasing browse and bedding areas thru TSI and hinging efforts and then creating funnels in the interior of the timber between bedding areas.

No one answer, no easy effortless way to success but rather a lot of hard work and effort over 3-5 years before it all comes together.

Remember to use Protective Gear (http://www.outreachoutdoors.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2189) and good judgement in deciding to hinge or girdle trees.

Explore all of the planning options in Getting Started (http://www.outreachoutdoors.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=3063)

Put all the pieces of the puzzle together because leaving some out will be like art....unfinished....;)

Qdmaer

01-08-2012, 04:30 PM

dbltree

01-13-2012, 08:40 AM

Cover and Browse

To often the focus is entirely on food sources...you never see for instance a big fancy add in a hunting magazine advertising "cover"...it's always about the supposed "magic" of some kind of food source that promises to grow monster racks and bring hoards of deer to your property. None of that could be farther from reality of course and in the end...the one with the best cover will be the most successful at holding mature whitetails on their property.

Thick nasty cover not only provides the safe bedding that holds mature whitetails but also "feeds" them as well

These pics are from an area a friend of mine did TSI and hinging work on perhaps 5 or more years ago?

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7153.jpg

Deer pour out of these areas that appear so thick a rabbit couldn't get thru it!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7146.jpg

Compared to wide open timber commonly found this provides a plethora of cover and browse

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7147.jpg

Kip Adams wrote a great QDMA article on "Important Deer Foods"...all natural browse food sources....some of which are listed below.

Midwest – We received data from 4 states (IL, IN, KS, KY). Brambles and grape were most often reported. Coralberry, dogwoods, greenbriar, Illinois bundleflower, ragweed, trumpet creeper, wild lettuce and wild rose were also important species. Other notable plants included asters, plums, pokeweed, sumac and trillium.

Northeast – We received data from 4 states (ME, NH, NJ, PA). Bracken fern, brambles, grape and greenbriar were reported by multiple states. Canada mayflower, jewelweed, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, wild rose and wild sarsaparilla were also important species. Other notable plants included blue bead lily, goldenrod, plantain, sumac and winterberry.

Southeast – We received data from 9 states (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, OK, SC, TN, TX). Brambles, grape, greenbriar, honeysuckle (primarily the native coral, but also non-native Japanese/white) and ragweed were listed by nearly every responding state. Pokeweed and strawberry bush were listed by about half of the states, and American beautyberry, beggar’s lice and poison ivy were also listed by a third of the states. Other notable plants included Alabama supplejack, devil’s walking stick, Florida pusley, old field aster and trumpet creeper.

Canada – We received data from 6 provinces (BC, MB, NS, ON, QC, SK). Asters, brambles, choke cherry, fireweed, pondweed, snowberry, sow thistle, trillium, Virginian strawberry and wild rose were all reported from more than one province. Other notable plants included Canada mayflower, jewelweed, lupines, ragweed and wild lettuce.

When we radically open up canopy the result is a mass explosion of "brush" that will include many of the species mentioned in Kips article

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7148.jpg

There will be of course mostly young saplings that provide browse and cover for many years

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7149.jpg

For that reason we want different stages of succession in our timber

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7150.jpg

So that the entire thing isn't all the same at any one time

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7151.jpg

On larger timber do areas or blocks each year if possible

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7152.jpg

and keep a variety of growth coming up to provide cover and browse at all times on your property

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7153.jpg

You can also see why it is not imperative that every tree remained hinged, if some break off don't worry about it...eventually new growth will erupt and in time the hinged trees may not even be noticeably....dead or alive..

If you have cover like that shown, you will hold a tremendous number of deer of which a percentage will be mature bucks, all of which will eat anything and everything you plant. If you have poor quality cover you find it difficult to hold deer and the kind of food sources you plant will never fix the problem.... ;)

DH1

01-13-2012, 11:47 AM

Lcarabine

"I have a few areas of thick pine 6-18 inch(no browse or tops down) In these pine areas is it a good idea to drop a few unmarketable pines for cover for the time being and TSI the pine stands in the future when we have the time."

The only time I've girdled or cut pines is when they are bumping up against an oak, otherwise they make for great bedding cover especially when the snow hits.

Something else to consider, if your woods doesn't have too many pines and the soil is above 6.0 PH you could clear a few small strips for kill plots. Over the years with all the leaf drop decomposing (humus) can create some highly organic soil conditions, rye, brassicas and even clover would do well.

dbltree

01-16-2012, 06:01 AM

Manipulating Habitat

The following is yet another example of a real situation where I have combined year around food sources in a centralized feeding area, edge feathered the timber for blocking and manipulating deer movements and hinged trees within the timber to funnel deer by one stand rather then two.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/SkaggAreaexample.jpg

I started with the natural runway skirting the edge of the field that allowed bucks to check the runways entering the field without coming into the field itself in daylight hours. My goal was to remove a few trees at a corner and then block cross runways farther into the timber so that bucks must come out and around the corner. I cut the trees down and pushed them back with the tractor forming a block in itself where deer previously used a secondary runway that was just out of archery range...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/IMG_7178.jpg

I hinged trees over several old runways and forced them onto one that is just inside the timber

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/IMG_7177.jpg

I mounted a cam that will now catch 100% of the deer going thru here giving the landowner an accurate census of both deer and mature whitetails using this corner.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/IMG_7179.jpg

I edge feathered the field edge and pushed the trees around to block off multiple runways entering the field

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/IMG_7182.jpg

Forcing all deer coming out this corner area to walk within 20 yards of the stand...this area will be white clover this coming year and is adjacent to the feeding area as noted on the aerial view. In the background lies the runway skirting the corner and the ground drops off considerably keeping deer hidden from any field areas.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/IMG_7176.jpg

Note ALL of the factors involved here, many started by the previous landowner such as NWSG, cedar screens, TSI, hinging etc. I capitalized on this great work to establish year around food sources and use blocking and funneling to give accurate cam surveys and increase the landowners odds of successfully harvesting a mature buck. The stand will allow him to hunt bucks that refuse to enter open areas in daylight hours yet he will also not have to enter a sanctuary.

The cam had over 200 pics on it in 48 hours after completing the funnel...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/D2.jpg

The adapted it to it immediately and showed no fear or alarm at their changed surroundings

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/B1.jpg

Both mature bucks and does can be easily taken from this spot without alarming other deer

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/D1.jpg

and mature bucks will wear this trail out during the rut...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Blocking/PICT0057.jpg

Every property is different but hopefully these examples give you ideas on how you can manipulate deer travel to increase your odds of success. Combine ALL the factors noted on the aerial if you have a similar situation and make your habitat work for you.... ;)

crs740

01-16-2012, 08:12 AM

I have a ton of ironwood on my property that is a pain in the you know what to cut, plus they typically do not hinge very well. Should I still try to hinge them or just cut them down. It is amazing how they can still not tip with less than one inch attached to the tree.

skyleralan

01-16-2012, 01:58 PM

Jdubs

01-16-2012, 02:19 PM

What is the latest you would suggest hinge cutting. Is it ok do cut in the spring or summer? Or a winter only operation.

Daver

01-16-2012, 02:58 PM

What is the latest you would suggest hinge cutting. Is it ok do cut in the spring or summer? Or a winter only operation.

I know some who have done it in the fall and everything seemed to be fine for them. I personally would not be interested in doing it in the summer because of the poison ivy, heat and ticks/chiggers...but other than that, it should be fine too. :D

dbltree

01-16-2012, 04:32 PM

I have a ton of ironwood

That's odd because all the ironwood that I hinge, usually always stays hinged? As mentioned either way is fine but get it cut because it is shade tolerant and will grow under a canopy creating in effect a double canopy and zero undergrowth.

What is the latest you would suggest hinge cutting. Is it ok do cut in the spring or summer? Or a winter only operation.

It can be done almost anytime but oak wilt is a concern during spring and summer so any cutting is discouraged during that time. Late winter/early spring and again when they go dormant in the fall is optimum time to hinge.

You must not have chiggars or you wouldn't even consider summer timber work...:eek::D

huntyak

01-16-2012, 05:45 PM

It is amazing how they can still not tip with less than one inch attached to the tree.

We have noticed this too as my farm is in the running for the Natioanl Ironwood of the Year Award :mad:

A little "push" and they go right down...like most bullies :thrwrck:
And most stay hinged, so far anyway ;)

singlecoyote

01-17-2012, 05:33 PM

dbltree

01-17-2012, 07:59 PM

I wouldn't hinge ironwood. You will be better off in 5 years if you cut it and kill it with chemical. Hope for or plant something beneficial (basically anything but ironwood)to create the undergrowth that you want. If you hinge it you will end up with an ironwood "bush", which may be good cover as it holds its leaves long but still competes with everything that is trying to grow in the area. I'd kill it and seed some shrubs and/or plant some cedars. You will have cover via the downed tops until the shrubs and natural succession take off.

It depends on the timber...in some cases you are correct but not all so get your foresters input...not on hinging but if you need to kill it or not. Each forester may have a different opinion too but if the oaks there are 10-20 years from harvest and the stand is pretty dominate in oaks there may not be any oak regeneration anyway, until there is a harvest.

In all the situations where I have hinged trees, including ironwood (where there are oak seed trees) the oak seedlings quickly rose above the hinged trees. Ironwood is shade tolerant but doesn't compete well once the canopy has been removed..not always a right or wrong but a case by case judgement call....;)

singlecoyote

01-18-2012, 07:52 AM

I respectfully disagree. I would not reccomend to anyone in any situation to hinge ironwood.

If you are spending the time to go in and hinge it, take the extra few seconds and cut it all the way through and squirt it with tordon.

Your end result will make a better timber for your pocket book and the deer.

Hinge away with the other undesireables, but kill the ironwood.

crs740

01-18-2012, 09:14 AM

In a few areas, we have a ton of ironwood, unfortunately, I have a lot of exposed rock on the property and am not sure how well the understory will grow if I end up cutting these trees rather than hinging them. The other predominant species is red maple, ash and some cherry and oak. Would it be better to have maple than ironwood? I can't plant a lot because of the rock. I am hoping that the two ponds we are putting in are going to help with keeping more deer in our existing cover

dbltree

01-19-2012, 05:08 AM

Would it be better to have maple than ironwood?

Both are pretty shade tolerant but maple would no doubt be better then ironwood. Have you considered planted some oaks and tubing them amongst the downed trees?

crs740

01-19-2012, 07:04 AM

Yes, I have considered planting oaks. With a new baby it is going to tough to do this, I was planning on doing some direct seeding with the acorns from my red oaks next year. There was really no crop of acorns last year, but they should do well this once I trim the trees around the oaks.

DH1

01-19-2012, 07:15 AM

Maple versus Iron Wood

I've seen similiar reports to the one below, with Hard Maple having timber value that is considerably more than some Oak and Soft Maple (see below).

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/spr2011winter.pdf

Some Maple is actually considered preferred browse too.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12148-61306--,00.html

So Iron Wood aside you probably want to figure out what kind of Maple you have to see if it's worth managing it from a timber value perspective too.

dbltree

01-19-2012, 06:20 PM

Ironwood Management

A good question was brought up regarding "ironwood"...should it be hinged, should we cut and treat it or simply leave it alone?

Ironwood; eastern hop-hornbeam Ostrya virginiana (http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/trees/ostvir01.htm)

My purpose here is helping people improve their habitat for whitetails with emphasis on holding mature whitetail bucks on their property so I try to use caution to always provide facts and supporting data rather then "opinion". I have decades of experience and work with landowners across SE Iowa where I have physically done timber stand improvement and been able to observe the results. I do all of that following the advice of a number of very experience foresters, all with varying thoughts on timber management and then combine that with whitetail management goals that also varies among landowners. I share that because it is important to know the information I post is trustworthy and backed up by facts and actual experience on more then just a few acres.

Landowners may have very different goals so it is my goal to give good information that allows the landowner to make good habitat choices that are right for them. If the primary goal is holding mature whitetails then habitat improvements may be very different then if the landowner prefers to manage solely for timber and agricultural interests so it is important on a forum to remember that your goals may not be the same as those of others.

Ironwood is a shade tolerant tree that can grow quite comfortably under the canopy of large trees such as oak and hickory. I took these pictures today while doing TSI today...

I fairly large ironwood tree

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-19_09-25-32_989.jpg

under the canopy of very large and nearly mature oaks

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-19_09-25-38_869.jpg

Because ironwood trees are shade tolerant they can inhibit oak regeneration and hence are considered a "weed tree" but the key here is understanding "oak regeneration" and when that actually occurs? Typically oak regeneration is often greatest right after a harvest when the canopy is removed and there is soil disturbance and it is at that time when competitive weed trees such as ironwood are often cut and treated with herbicide.

Generally a timber harvest is followed by timber stand improvement to kill weed or cull trees and allow the remaining unharvested trees to grow and it is at that point we might cut and kill ironwood. I did this very thing on one TSI job last winter, we hinged the ironwood to give us more ground cover but treated probably 80% of the hinged ironwood with Tordon RTU

Oak Regeneration (http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p2149/view)

This spring we will interplant red cedars among the open areas to increase bedding opportunities and because of the harvest the year before there is already plenty of oak regeneration.

That then is an example of when killing the ironwood might be the best option so when might we just hinge it and allow it to re-grow? When the oak timber is relatively mature such as shown here...there will not be any oak regeneration or at best it will be minimal.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-19_08-58-05_229.jpg

The canopy from the large existing oaks is as bad or worse then the ironwood and there will be almost no regeneration, so in this case there is simply no valid reason to kill the ironwood.

The assumption here is that most people reading this thread are interested in holding mature whitetail bucks on their property and to do that we need thick, dense understory...BRUSH! In large mature timber that is next to impossible but we take advantage of every opportunity to create any ground cover at all and in this case ironwood may be one of the only viable options.

Many foresters may see it this way...the only good ironwood is a dead one, but from our standpoint of whitetail habitat it can serve a purpose until such time that you may be ready to do a harvest.

So what happens when we do radical hinging/cutting and severely open up canopy?

This is what happens most frequently in SE Iowa....oaks leap to life and quickly dominate

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-19_12-31-35_54.jpg

Large trees were felled and broke off the hinged trees in these pics but in open sunlight the oaks quickly out grew the ironwood in part because the ironwood thrives best in shade rather then open full sun.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-19_12-31-45_557.jpg

The lack of canopy allows young oaks to grow rapidly along with blackberry brambles and other sun loving forbs and plants.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-19_12-32-11_532.jpg

In smaller woodlots you have the option of micro managing small areas where some weed trees are chemically treated and oaks planted and tubed in those areas, while other areas are allowed to become thicker cover.

Hinging itself is not for everyone, regardless of species and each landowners habitat and whitetail management goals may vary widely but based on the facts you can make decisions that will be right for you. There is no across the board right/wrong way to manage your timber or habitat in general...you have options...choose the ones that will work best to meet your goals.... ;)

IQDM

01-19-2012, 07:29 PM

This spring we will interplant red cedars among the open areas to increase bedding opportunities and because of the harvest the year before there is already plenty of oak regeneration.

Paul, What are you thoughts on those Red Cedars planted in these ares? I have a project that we are working on that is very similar to yours... We had considered Red Cedars, but I thought that they were a full sun only tree?

dbltree

01-21-2012, 05:17 AM

Paul, What are you thoughts on those Red Cedars planted in these ares? I have a project that we are working on that is very similar to yours... We had considered Red Cedars, but I thought that they were a full sun only tree?

They are...but you can see that when radically reducing canopy by hinging trees they can have full sun and do very well. Look back thru this threads you'll see I have posted many pics of natural red cedar regeneration in hinged areas...:way:

So what does ironwood really look like a couple years after being cut or hinged but not treated? Perhaps not what one might be led to believe....

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-20_07-51-09_208.jpg

There is no mass explosion of brush from either stump nor downed tree

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-20_07-51-21_711.jpg

I cut them much higher so that dead or alive the provide more ground cover but still one gets an idea what to expect from this shade tolerant weed tree

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-20_08-10-49_844.jpg

The pics of young oaks I posted previously are in the same cutting and are 3-4 times the height of the ironwood because they love sun and the ironwood does not

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-20_08-10-57_781.jpg

The tops of live hinged ironwood have very little leaf cover at all and are no competition at all to other growth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-20_08-11-14_178.jpg

These are some recently hinged ironwood trees

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-17_16-10-21_787.jpg

They usually hinge fairly easy but respond slower when attempting to recover and re-grow so rarely create any real competition with other regeneration, such as as oaks for instance.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-01-17_14-08-33_419.jpg

You can hinge or hinge and treat depending on your goals and concerns but I prefer to take advantage of any brush I can get when reducing canopy with hinging.... ;)

huntyak

01-21-2012, 07:06 AM

Excellent post Paul. Thanks

dbltree

01-22-2012, 07:29 AM

Not quite 50 years ago now I started my first habitat projects by building brush piles for small game and I soon learned that a pile of brush was an open invitation for song birds to roost in the relative safety of the piled branches. They of course left behind droppings filled with seeds of every imaginable kind of plant which soon turned the whole thing into a "living brushpile" so to speak.

That same thing occurs when we hinge trees or even merely drop them and is one of the ways the newly opened area soon becomes filled with new cover. On a recent consultation the landowner and I ran into a situation where the same phenomenon had occurred with red cedars....birds roosting in small hedge trees left droppings filed with red cedar seeds after having consumed the berries.

Not the greatest pics because I had my cell phone but you get the idea...under each tree there had sprang up a mass of little red cedars!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Regeneration/Rc1.jpg

This is noteworthy on several counts because red cedars are great bedding/screening cover and I am often asked...will they grow within the hinged areas and the answer is absolutely yes (red cedars don't do well on wet low soils however) Hinged trees rarely have any canopy at all (compared to erect trees) but the little cedars can obviously stand some shade.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Regeneration/RC3.jpg

In all of my hinged areas I have natural regeneration of RC's but lacking seed trees in the area one can certainly plant them among the downed tops and expect them to do quite well.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Regeneration/RC2.jpg

Other conifers such as white or Norway spruce may also do well inter-planted into hinged areas and while white pines would also do well they do not make good cover long term and are very vulnerable to browsing/rubbing.

Hinging weed/cull trees helps being about a chain reaction of habitat changes and with a little help we can make it even better by adding some conifers in at least some areas of the hinge cuttings.... ;)

dbltree

01-26-2012, 06:37 PM

Unexpected dangers

Working in the timber is dangerous from the time you fire up the saw til you shut it down for the day. There are the obvious dangers when falling trees, they can snap backwards, fly up in the air 20 feet and slam to the ground, or flip and roll....all in the blink of an eye! There is no such thing as "safe" ways to fall trees because even the simple act of girdling a tree can bring it crashing to the earth if...it's rotten inside!!

I have had too many near misses when I didn't even want to fall the tree!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Hollowtree.jpg

Be alert and aware, especially when you are not planning on the tree falling. Another frequent danger is dead limbs that snap off and ricochet thru the air, often larger then a fence post! This one landed inches in front of me and nearly broke my hand as it slammed into me...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/BrokenStub.jpg

Keep in mind I do this for a living and 6 days a week all winter so I see things that one may not when only doing a weekends work, but the potential is always there for one to get severely hurt or worse. Where hard hat and chainsaw chaps and never ever let your guard down!

Beds

Working in the timber every day from late November til April 1st allows me to learn a lot about whitetail behavior on a lot of different properties. It's always interesting to note their choice of bedding and that in turn helps me focus on some areas versus others. South facing slopes always get the priority and often it takes very few downed trees to attract deer and in fact they may be less attracted to a mass of downed trees rather then a downed tree.

There also plenty that bed in the wide open

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-21_11-37-17_579.jpg

Others tucked up against a downed tree

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-21_11-37-40_370.jpg

Some tucked up under a tree

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-20_08-05-24_944.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-20_08-05-37_676.jpg

Amongst a little brush

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-20_08-19-05_894.jpg

or where they can see in all directions

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-20_08-54-04_624.jpg

In general a mix of semi open and thick brushy areas attracts a lot of attention

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Natural%20Beds/2012-01-20_12-21-32_351.jpg

There are two places that mature timber can never compete with, a mix of brushy, grassy red cedar cover and large fields of native warm season grass but get out for a walk this winter and observe the deer bedding preferences in your area. It can be helpful as you decide how best to improve your habitat.... ;)

dbltree

02-01-2012, 07:31 AM

Re-growth after hinging

The following pictures are from an area I hinged over 4 years ago and while different soils and trees species will produce different results, it gives on an idea what to expect when radical hinging/opening up of canopy is done.

Notice the regrowth on this downed tree, all of it providing ready browse and cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h1-3.jpg

Shingle oaks don't often stay hinged because they are quite brittle but this one is leafed out end to end, yet has no canopy to interfere with oak regeneration.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h2-3.jpg

Other trees may not send up much growth along the stem but will from the cut stump

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h3-3.jpg

Several examples of cut stumps that have exploded with new growth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7221.jpg

so while cutting the tree high enough and keeping it hinged is very helpful in providing immediate cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7222.jpg

It's certainly not imperative and nothing to worry about if some trees break off

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7223.jpg

Deer scat and beds are everywhere

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7224.jpg

Thanks to copious amounts of easy to reach browse

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7225.jpg

and the thick cover where it was once wide open

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7227.jpg

Deer live comfortably in this area even though it is a stones throw from my house

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7228.jpg

I have a funnel thru this mass of brush and brambles

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7229.jpg

and have killed two beautiful bucks that prefer the "highway" over stumbling around in the nasty mess when their only goal is finding a hot doe

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7230.jpg

Scattered small openings such as under this red cedar each have one or more beds

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7231.jpg

You can see the bed under this little cove of brush (the flag is a hybrid oak planted after hinging)

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7232.jpg

They have runways thru/under the hinged trees...if you look carefully at the top left you can see our driveway!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7233.jpg

With this kind of thick cover however, whitetails are comfortable and find all their needs met.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7234.jpg

All of my cover leads to one central feeding area, so all doe groups travel back and forth daily to that single feeding area. Because I have created funnels and blocked off multiple runways by utilizing edge feathering, bucks beat those "rut runways" to death during the rut. Those funnels are in the interior of the timber utilizing any natural bottlenecks and hinged trees to create the funnel. Hunting these funnels has allowed me to be consistently successful harvesting the most mature whitetail bucks on my property.

Provide year around cover and food and then use the most effective hunting techniques and you will consistently harvest the best deer on your property.... ;)

IQDM

02-04-2012, 03:27 PM

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a thread and a guy was talking about hinge cutting aspen... I can tell you from first hand experience that hinging that type of trees does not work!
These are poplar I believe, but poplar, birch, aspen... same type of tree
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04103143.jpg
I have a lot of these trees on my property and when I first learned of hinge cutting, I gave it a shot. As you can see, I created a mess, but the trees did not survive.
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04103200.jpg

Many of them have broken off and only left a stump remaining.
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04103224.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04103214.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04103330.jpg
The deer do not go into this area because the trees are laying across eachother in every direction. So the mess needs to go! I will just let it re-generate and in no time it will be thick bedding!
We took all of the dead trees and piled them up along the edge of the "bedding area"... This is what the area looks like now
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04115942.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04115934.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04115819.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04115735.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04115925.jpg

Our next project for the day was to block field entrances along this tree line.

http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04120910.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04121000.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04121113.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04120940.jpg

One hour later...
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04131851.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04131923.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04131704.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04131614.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04131909.jpg
http://i631.photobucket.com/albums/uu38/pipping22/2012-02-04131636.jpg

Now the deer will be forced to funnel around this mess and will travel within chip shot range of our bow stands on each end!

dbltree

02-05-2012, 07:19 AM

hinge cutting aspen... I can tell you from first hand experience that hinging that type of trees does not work!

Your right...better to just clear cut or at least just cut them off for fast re-growth, although leaving some hinged for some ground cover wouldn't hurt even though they won't live.

Nice work on the funnels and thanks for sharing the pics! :way:

Hinging Hickory

Lot's of hickory species and depending on where you live you'll probably find some in your timber

Here's a link for help in identifying the various hickory types

Identify Hickory - The Major Hickory Species in North America (http://forestry.about.com/cs/treeid/a/the_hickory.htm)

For the most part, hickories are lower in value then walnuts and oaks and they have little value to whitetails, unless....we tip them over. Here's a stand of shagbark hickories before

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Before.jpg

and after I tipped them over...this one is actually a bitternut hickory

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/After1.jpg

Large and small they usually hinge pretty well and a large percentage stay alive although they seldom send up a great deal of re-growth.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/Hinge.jpg

Still....it allows us to create instant ground cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/After4.jpg

and the newly opened canopy will soon come alive with all types of undergrowth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/After3.jpg

When there are many trees, a large tree may fall and break off other smaller trees previously hinged, those stumps will send up new growth and the combination will still provide cover and browse.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/After2.jpg

Hickories take years to decompose if the die after being cut so they continue to provide cover while new growth comes up thru the downed tops. Standing however they provide such a dense canopy that almost nothing can grow leaving an empty wasteland of open understory that will be nearly void of whitetails.

If you have more then 50 mature hickories you may be able to market those first but otherwise use a combination of girdling and hinging to release any oak trees and allow sunlight to create a new dense understory that will in turn become a haven for whitetails.... ;)

risto2351

02-06-2012, 12:39 PM

Hinging Hickory

Lot's of hickory species and depending on where you live you'll probably find some in your timber

Here's a link for help in identifying the various hickory types

Identify Hickory - The Major Hickory Species in North America (http://forestry.about.com/cs/treeid/a/the_hickory.htm)

For the most part, hickories are lower in value then walnuts and oaks and they have little value to whitetails, unless....we tip them over. Here's a stand of shagbark hickories before

Paul,

Talking with my wildlife biologist he said to leave the shagbark hickories.

Even though they are not oaks they will produce a mast crop that will benefit the whitetails??

Lcarabine

02-06-2012, 04:00 PM

I have hundreds of mature hickories that produce great crops some years. Squirrels love them. I have never seen a whitetail eat hickories. Not even turkeys, which I heard did. I can't imagine a turkey can crack a hickory nut. I would like to know though.

dbltree

02-06-2012, 06:51 PM

Talking with my wildlife biologist he said to leave the shagbark hickories.

Even though they are not oaks they will produce a mast crop that will benefit the whitetails??

I think you better find a different biologist Tony....;)

singlecoyote

02-07-2012, 08:48 AM

A TSI project that I did 2-3 years ago required that I leave shagbarks over 9" DBH and it was because of bat nesting. Didn't love that but whatever. I might have accidently whacked a few bigger shaggies. :D There is some timber value there, so keep that in mind.

huntyak

02-07-2012, 09:00 AM

I have left a few LARGE shagbarks in areas devoid of anything else, but mostly for aesthetic values. Otherwise they are gettinh hinged of late in select areas :)

dbltree

02-12-2012, 07:18 AM

Browse

The security that thick bedding cover provides and it's importance in holding whitetails is clear but equally important is having plenty of high quality browse within and around our bedding areas.

Browse is often noticeably missing in open park like timber yet it is imperative that whitetails have access to browse like this...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h11.jpg

That bud was the only one left uneaten and all of the rest looked like this

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h10.jpg

Even the resulting re-growth from the lowly ironwood...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h1-4.jpg

get browsed

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h2-4.jpg

Hinging cull/weed trees not only provides bedding but plenty of browse such as this hackberry

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h8.jpg

and elm

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h3-4.jpg

the cut stumps may often send up more new growth then the downed tree such as with this black cherry

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h6.jpg

or this ironwood

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h4-1.jpg

which sends up little from the downed tree...but plenty from the stump

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h9.jpg

The results of hinging are often profound leaving a thick mass of downed tops

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h5.jpg

thru which thousands of new sprouts may emerge

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h7.jpg

Whitetails need browse in their gut even and especially if they have plenty of high quality crop forage and grain. They are "browsers" not "grazers" so unlike cattle they do need to have roughage in the form of browse in their diet. Provide for ALL of their needs by getting out the chainsaw and give them plenty of bedding and browse on your property....;)

IQDM

02-16-2012, 09:56 AM

Whitetails need browse in their gut even and especially if they have plenty of high quality crop forage and grain. They are "browsers" not "grazers" so unlike cattle they do need to have roughage in the form of browse in their diet. Provide for ALL of their needs by getting out the chainsaw and give them plenty of bedding and browse on your property....;)
:way: Amen to that! Food plots are great, but pale in comparison to browse and cover!

dbltree

02-23-2012, 09:01 AM

Timber Stand Improvement using girdling and hinging

The act of hinging trees to improve whitetail habitat is often referred to as "TSI" but while hinging trees can be a tool in this process it is in and of itself not necessarily "improving" the timber stand unless done properly.

Not all trees can be hinged nor is it safe to even attempt it and falling large trees onto or into valuable crop trees can be counter productive so it is important to know when to girdle trees and when to fall them via hinge cutting them. Once in awhile I run into a stand of primarily "weed trees" but even then using indiscriminate "slash and cut" tactics can lead to mistakes, especially for the novice unfamiliar with tree species.

Marking trees first allows us to carefully look over the trees in our stand and decide which should be crop trees and which will be weed trees. Generally we choose black walnut and white oak over red, black or burr oaks

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/t1.jpg

In some cases the stand may be 80% white oak for instance and then one must look carefully at the canopies and decide which oaks to kill to release the best specimens. In most cases it is far better to make those decisions with a paint can in hand rather then a chainsaw....

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/t4.jpg

If the marked crop tree is surrounded by smaller weed trees then they can be felled by hinge cutting to both create cover and release the crop tree at the same time...such as with this black walnut surrounded by ash, shingle oak and basswood.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/blackwalnutinhingecut.jpg

Good stands of hardwood timber are usually quite open and poor deer habitat

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/TSI/tsi3-2.jpg

but large trees crashing into beautiful white or red oaks can cause serious damage that may be irreparable because open wounds are an invitation for oak wilt. Attempting to properly decide which crop trees to leave standing...which a chainsaw in hand is an invitation for disaster...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/TSI/tsi3-3.jpg

Marking the trees first allows us to make better choices and actually makes cutting go faster, since all the "thinking" has already been done.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/TSI/tsi1-4.jpg

In this stand attempting to fall large trees would not be in the best interest of the timber or the landowner so I use a combination of girdling and falling.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/TSI/tsi2-2.jpg

Here is an example of 2 beautiful white oaks (a third is not in the pic) and 2 black walnuts...what to do???

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/TSI/oakandbw.jpg

a look at the canopy reveals some damage from winds breaking another tree off and into these tree, the whites are suppressing the black walnuts but the whites are excellent quality...leaving one pondering the right choice??

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/TSI/oakandbw2.jpg

With a saw running we often may not have the patience to really think things thru and decide what is best and in this case none of these trees are candidates for hinging. I decided to leave all of these trees standing and release them by killing the surrounding weed trees but that is my personal decision and every forester may look at these and make several different choices.

Each of you have unique and different stands of timber....someone with aspen and hemlock for instance will probably find clear cutting areas of their timber over a period of years will be the most effective habitat improvement. Some may feel their timber is more important than whitetail habitat, so there is no one way that is right for all.

Where weed trees (note...not every hickory, elm or ash is a weed tree and depending on the markets can also be valuable depending on the size) are plentiful, you can use them to block areas behind a stand such as I did here for a landowner while doing TSI

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h1-5.jpg

Even in otherwise good stands of timber there may be small area where trees can be hinged and not cause harm to crop trees, the ensuing "mess" can make some great whitetail habitat...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-02-22_16-39-11_957.jpg

Often smaller weed trees can be tipped over without harming large crop trees and provide some ground cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-02-22_16-40-11_638.jpg

Falling shade tolerant weed trees such as ironwood, elm and hickory can allow at least a chance for some oak regeneration

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-02-22_16-40-17_771.jpg

Large weed trees however can be safely girdled to open canopy, releasing the adjacent oak crop trees and allowing some understory re-growth to occur

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-02-22_16-40-31_211.jpg

Hinging large trees can be dangerous and "widow makers" such as this hickory can kill you in a heartbeat if you forget....

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-02-22_16-40-46_425.jpg

Falling trees twist, turn, snap backwards....all kinds of crazy and unexpected things so always have an escape route and if trees hang up...leave the area until high winds either bring the tree on down or it is there to stay.

Even girdling is not without danger and is often more dangerous then falling a tree because if it is rotten inside it will snap off in a flash and that can be deadly if you are on the "leaning" side when it does!!

Oak wilt is very common in black oaks here so i have learned to girdle with caution!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/t2.jpg

In this pic there are a number of black oaks...all girdled...all of which came down sometimes before even finishing the first girdle.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/t3.jpg

We are all in a hurry to create some fantastic whitetail habitat but do some planning and research first, learn what species of trees are in your stand and how to identify the best of the crop trees if any are present. Some may not have the time nor experience for this and may choose to have a contractor do the work or at least mark the trees for you. Others will be eager to learn and do the work themselves and if so I urge you to read thru the thread on Timber Stand Improvement before you begin.

Good quality hardwood timber can be very valuable, not only does it add to the value of your property but good healthy, fully released oak trees can provide plentiful, sweet mast that whitetails find irresistible. Creating some pockets of think ground cover using hinging to fall competing weed trees will insure they bed there rather then just make nightly forays into your timber from the neighbors place. ;)

huntyak

03-01-2012, 02:01 PM

Thought I'd show a few updates from the timber work on my farm this winter. We essentially finished up on Wednesday what started January 1st- and was non-stop. I can say I have been hit in the head, almost lost front teeth, pulled out double digits locust thorns, been to the ER twice, but overall its done :)

I will try and post pics in the next few weeks but here are some from yesterday:)

On this farm, I spent hours thinking what to do to benefit all wildlife over the past year before I started.

I love turkey and deer hunting, but also want everything from Indiana bats to bluebirds to thrive.

I KNEW I needed more cover. So, I picked about 8 areas to make REALLY thick through hinging, had straight TSI done on one section, and also made a couple open areas that had great oaks surrounding it for strut zones and acorn buffets :)

I also edge feathered ALOT for nesting and cover and hinge cut like a mad man.

Here is the last section we did yesterday and it was a draw filled with ironwoods. It leads to one of my favorite pinch points and unfortunately had potential that I felt was untapped.

I wanted to create an environment that was a thick draw they would bed in and work their way towards me in the evenings or back to in the AM. Currently, while they "could" bed there, it was just to open and they wouldn't.

So we created about two 50 yard sections that looks like this...
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/2012-02-29_10-43-29_467.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/2012-02-29_11-53-03_77.jpg

Between the two thickets is when I got a workout, dragging over 60 ironwoods to the ditch after we cut them at their bases and will spray eventually to kill them. 99% I hinged IW this winter, but here was a case where 5-8 mother oaks over 100 years old surrounded this ridge, and I wanted to create a place turkeys could roost and drop down to feed...or bucks could leave their bed and begin eating acorns in October.

I also left 3-4 GIANT hickories for the "Hoosier" bats, aesthetics and because after 100 years I guess I felt they deserved to stick around:)

The IW ridge surrounded by oaks looked like this before....
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/2012-02-29_10-43-13_199.jpg

And this now....
http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/2012-02-29_11-52-35_176.jpg

They then could move to me at the pinch point or to this secluded clover field :)

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/yehyawi18/2012-02-29_11-53-06_249.jpg

**Forgive this picture of my father in law standing in the lane we created headed to clover...... he has never got over coming in second for the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" auditions

Its alot of work but I hope it pays off. Ill try to post more pics when I can and anybody who has land, I strongly urge you to do these things. As we were working on another brushpile, the one WE JUST MADE had 5-6 chickadees jumping all over inside it.

Dosnt take long for wildlife to catch on....

dbltree

03-02-2012, 06:48 AM

Dosnt take long for wildlife to catch on....

It sure doesn't...nice work Eyad and thanks for sharing the pics...keep em coming :way:

LoessHillsArcher

03-02-2012, 07:13 AM

Awesome pics man! Gotta love the habitat work!

dbltree

03-11-2012, 08:24 PM

Increasing understory and enhancing timber quality

Trees crowd each other and compete for sunlight and that competition slows growth, reduces mast production and virtually eliminates understory ground cover that whitetails need for both bedding and browse.

This timber was virtually void of deer sign other then a runway passing thru it from adjacent cedar cover to a feeding area beyond...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7377.jpg

I went to work to change that

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7379.jpg

Releasing the better crop trees and putting some lumber on the ground at the same time

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7380.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7381.jpg

Even in a stand of hickories the best crop trees can be released to encourage faster growth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7382.jpg

and where possible competing trees hinged to instantly increase ground cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7383.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7384.jpg

Pockets of trees may be hinged heavily, in some cases to provide screening and or manipulate deer movement

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7385.jpg

while other areas may be girdled to release trees but encourage only light ground cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7386.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7387.jpg

Better quality black walnuts and white oaks struggle in dense hickory stands

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7388.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7395-Copy.jpg

but in areas without better trees, I try to avoid killing every tree just because...hickories have timber value as well, as do most...even cottonwood can be marketed for pallet lumber

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7389.jpg

Where falling large weed trees would cause severe damage to crop trees, I girdle them and hinge only the smaller, shade tolerant understory trees that often consist of hickory, elm, basswood and ironwood.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7390.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7391.jpg

Hickories hinge well except in extreme cold temps when almost all trees tend to break off...this winter has been mild and ideal for hinging.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7392.jpg

At first glance some areas of mature timber seem unchanged...but pockets of hinged timber can be seen on adjacent slopes and as girdled trees die, the increased sunlight to the forest floor will begin to quickly change things.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7397-Copy.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7398-Copy.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7400-Copy.jpg

Note that this area was heavily hinged for blocking or manipulating deer movement to force them by the landowners stand

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7399-Copy.jpg

Trail blocking and funneling is relatively easy to do with a chain saw and I admit...I can not do a TSI project without altering the timber to create funnels...even though I will never see the fruits of my labors.... ;)

Highmark

03-12-2012, 05:49 PM

dbltree

03-13-2012, 05:21 AM

I realize you cannot easily create funnels by having a logger come in and do some regular logging but if I have some good mature walnuts (20"+ dia) would I be better off having them come in and take 3-5 Walnuts per acre than hinge cutting some other less desirable tree's? I gain some ground cover with the left over tops and make some money on the logging.

Absolutely! Always market mature timber first and start TSI projects and/or hinging afterwords. Use the tops for cover and funneling and hinge small weed trees where possible :way:

dbltree

03-23-2012, 06:33 AM

A year later...

The following are pictures taken almost exactly a year after I did some edge feathering on a landowners farm, it's always interesting to go see what things look like after a growing season has passed. Did trees survive hinging? How much re-growth? How did whitetails and wildlife react to the hinging....and so on.

In this case a narrow strip was edge feathered on the inside of the timber rather then being felled into the field, simply because the neighboring field belongs to an adjoining landowner. The trees in this strip were between a fence line and a band of red cedars where deer frequently travel thru and bed in, so the trees were hinged primarily for blocking, screening and browse.

Here you can see the fence line trees to the right, hinged trees to the left and any thing remotely resembling a "crop tree" left standing...in this case mostly black cherry.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7448.jpg

This strip is a solid mass of downed trees which is NOT what we would want for a bedding area

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7449.jpg

There is lot's of browse coming up where there was once a park like timber

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7450.jpg

The cedar bedding area is well screened

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7451.jpg

The younger pole sized trees were perfect for blocking runways...forcing deer to follow the inside edge and past the owners stand

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7452.jpg

nearly every tree remained alive and has new growth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7453.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7454.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7455.jpg

When creating bedding, areas of trees can be hinged or large individual trees felled but you should be able to walk around the hinged areas freely...a solid mat of downed trees is not going to be used for bedding.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7456.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7457.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7458.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7459.jpg

Radically opening up canopy causes and explosion of screening new growth and a new "edge" that whitetails like to follow and take advantage of the succulent browse.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7426.jpg

Even though not very wide...the strip of downed trees almost completely blocks and screens the interior from the field edge.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7427.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7428.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7429.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7430.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7431.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7433.jpg

I always leave semi-open areas for travel along the inside edge

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7437.jpg

If this were on a ridge deer will typically bed in the open area next to the downed trees but in this case they have better bedding further into the interior of the cedars and beyond.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7438.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/IMG_7432.jpg

The trees shown were primarily elms, hickories and cherry trees...not high value trees, unless of course we can use them to enhance our habitat and manipulate deer movement. This year we did TSI on much of the remaining timber doing a crop tree release with combined girdling and felling of trees to make a combination of thick pockets of cover and semi-open areas that will have plenty of new growth and browse yet also open enough to walk thru....more on that in a future post.... ;)

Lcarabine

04-04-2012, 12:30 PM

I posted earlier in the winter on advice for hinge cutting. We ended up cutting 5 compartments for a total of 3-4 acres. It is really a mess. Basically it is a 100 percent hinge cut with a few timber trees, oaks, apples, pears, and pines left. We created a couple of corridors past deerstands. We learned a lot and got bettter as we went. The deer might not go into these areas except under high pressure, but they will definitely bed on the edges, and we created a lot of new edge in a sterile woods. We left some nice pockets facing downhill which look to be perfect for bedding. The deer were all over the tops when we cut. I am going to try and post 4 pictures of what we did. Next year we will cut some firewood to open up some pockets and work on creating another 4 acres. Already some hinged trees are leafing out. We cut a lot of white ash and hard maple which I don't know if they can live hinged or not. The elms and soft maples we found, hinged well and are pushing leaves out. Can't wait to see if we hold more deer next year.
Lcarabine

dbltree

04-05-2012, 07:03 AM

Thanks for sharing the pics...keep us posted! :way:

dbltree

04-14-2012, 07:28 AM

Regrowth after hinging trees

I love going back into areas previously hinged and seeing the tremendous re-growth that has occurred in only one year! The resulting explosion of new growth is often nothing short of amazing and is always full of deer. The other day I went back to continue our hinging program that a landowner and I started in the winter of 2010/2011 and was delighted with the results! I drove the Ranger to within 60 yards of the ridge, filled the saw and hiked to within 30 yards of the thick cover before the whole area exploded with whitetails!

One can see why with this thick cover at the top of the south facing ridge!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-17-09_405.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-17-12_808.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-18-16_28.jpg

Previously the whole area looked like this and was of course largely devoid of deer

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-18-20_732.jpg

Even better was finding this shed next to a hinged hickory...

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_09-07-16_694.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_09-08-08_386.jpg

Opening up canopy alone spurs the amazing re-growth, so much so in places one can scarcely see the hinged trees but they have on on growth and are providing cover and browse themselves

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_09-49-02_177.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_10-24-12_148.jpg

Open timber in foreground and hinged areas in the back ground

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-18-31_904.jpg

So I set about continuing more of a good thing

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-49-19_546.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-49-24_699.jpg

Hinging any "weed" trees and leaving the oaks and walnuts standing

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_08-49-29_214.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_09-01-30_956.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_10-39-05_847.jpg

I always look for the main travel corridor and leave it open

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_10-41-40_275.jpg

Falling trees either right or left of it

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_10-41-34_102.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/2012-04-11_10-39-09_312.jpg

It's been a long winter with over 400 acres done so I have more pictures to share...some rainy day.... ;)

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h1-6.jpg

dbltree

04-29-2012, 04:35 PM

April 29th, 2012

The following are pictures from a timber where I did a crop tree release using hinging and girdling over a year ago....the difference in ground cover is incredible!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h1-7.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h2-5.jpg

The are not yet done looks like this...wide open with little or no ground cover or browse

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h14.jpg

Standing in the same spot but facing the side where I did radical hinging it looks like this

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h15.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h16.jpg

Even trees that broke off provide amazing amounts of growth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h3-5.jpg

The hinged weed trees released young oaks and provide screening and bedding cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h4-2.jpg

and copious amounts of browse

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h5-1.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h6-1.jpg

Every hinged or cut tree has created an environment that provides the things whitetails crave most....food and cover

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h7-1.jpg

Trees killed via girdling open up canopy and allow lush new undergrowth

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h8-1.jpg

Young oaks are free to grow less the competition that once crowded them

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h9-1.jpg

while creating a jungle of bedding cover under them

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h10-1.jpg

I did some additional cutting...hinging trees along the edge

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h11-1.jpg

That next year will look something like this

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h12.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h13.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h20.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h19.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h17.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/dbltree/Hinge%20Cutting/h18.jpg

Hinging to release crop trees and provide bedding and browse for whitetails is a win win habitat move! There is almost nothing you can do on your property that will produce more significant nor profound results and when used to funnel deer as well your odds of harvesting your target buck will rise as well... :way: