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Chainsaw work?

Fulldrw

Fulldrw

New Member
I have been reading in the thread that says plans for next year and i notice that some people mention chainsaw work for bedding. What exactly are you doing just opening up the canope so that light can get to the floor to make it thick and nasty the kind of stuff whitetails like to bed in? Just wondering b/c i got a place that i got permission to do pretty much whatever i want and i would like to learn what to do to make it a whitetail haven.
 
You can take the less desirable trees and "hinge" them creating great bedding habitat.

By "hinging" I mean dropping a tree by cutting part way through the trunk about four feet from the ground.

This allows more light to enter the timber floor and also creates a very brushy tree top for bedding.

I would also recommend doing this on South facing timber ridges where deer prefer to bed.
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I do just exactly as Ghost indicated. I have found that I need to open up a pretty good area sometimes to let enough light in to encourage brushy undergrowth. Leave the oaks and red cedar, with the exception of shingle oak since it will regrow very fast and send off new growth from the half cut area.
You can also influence the travel routes slightly by tipping trees over in the right places. They will go around them to some extent (perhaps by your stand...)
I have made some awful mess's tipping trees over but when the regrowth starts...it's amazing how many deer will feed and bed right in the middle of my "mess"! Thick n nasty is right!
 
Hinging as has been mentioned, the key is locate the hinging where you would like the deer to bed. I think I have successfully "moved" the deer about 50-60 yards by providing more dense bedding cover just a little ways away from their previously preferred bedding area. This can be key if you need a little more "breathing room" between a bedding area and a stand site of your choice. In my opinion you can manipulate the deer to bed where you want them to... for the most part.
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Another chainsaw technique is called "feathering". As I understand it you pretty much work your way down the edge of timber and cut all the low hanging, swooping branches down. Think of it like making the edge of the timber "vertical", letting more light to the edge of the timber and field. I use the cuttings to make brush piles, which seems to really help the turkey population and the "edge" that is created is more preferred for low growth/browse for the deer.

I have also dropped trees at this time of year to re-route certain preferred deer trails. Sometimes you just need to "move" them a few yards to make a preferred tree work as a stand site. If I am really ambitious I will make "V" shaped brushpiles behind stand trees, taking into account the likely wind direction that you will hunt that stand. Essentially I am trying to minimize the chance of a deer going past my stand on the downwind side next fall. The "V" can be used to steer the deer in front of your stand, where you have clear shots.

Can you tell I like my chainsaw?
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These are some awesome ideas! I think that I'm going to try to hinge some trees to make a good bedding area on my property. I have a pretty good spot that is fairly thick with some scrub trees and if I hinge a few of those scrub trees it would make a really good bedding area. Right now most of the deer bed on the neighbors about 50 yd. from my place but walk through my place to go to feed. I guess if you look at it one way I really don't need a bedding area b/c they already walk right through my place but it would be nice to give them a safe spot to go to b/c the neighbors shot them up during shotgun season. Thanks for the ideas. I also think that I'm going to get a tree identification book to help in my tree selection for cutting.
 
This is a good tree ID site. tree ID

I disagree with the vertical part of feathering- I actually try to make my edges more horizontal with a wider transition zone. The edge goes up in an arc as it moves from field to full height trees.
 
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