Edge Feathering and bedding areas

dbltree · Mar 24, 2014

Daver said:
Dbltree Habitat Enhancement - Paul & Jesse Knox, Birmingham, Iowa
dbltree2000@yahoo.com
jknox0623@gmail.com

The second email is Jesse's. I have his phone # too, but without asking him I would prefer not to post it. But he will reply to emails promptly.

Thanks Dave but he won't mind Jesse 641-919-0148, beware he'll talk your ear off

Jbohn · Mar 24, 2014

Worked on blocking a 40 acre corn field to force deer through a few opening's by stand locations. 3 to be exact...

My neighbor let us use his loader to push the cut trees to create a wall ! Nearly 2000 feet long

I am getting the bottom area ready for a 15 acre CIR stand next year so we used the trees to give us shot opportunities as the deer funnel from bedding to the ag fields. and then what normally happens did.

Guess got to finish it up another week end.

Daver · Mar 24, 2014

dbltree said:
Thanks Dave but he won't mind Jesse 641-919-0148, beware he'll talk your ear off

Hmmm, have you ever heard the phrase, "a chip off the old block"? Or, "that apple didn't fall from far from the tree"? Or, "the pot calling the kettle black"?

Daver · Mar 24, 2014

Jbohn said:
Worked on blocking a 40 acre corn field to force deer through a few opening's by stand locations. 3 to be exact...

My neighbor let us use his loader to push the cut trees to create a wall ! Nearly 2000 feet long

This is just an opinion, because I have never attempted a 2000' blockade myself.

But where I have built probably 100'-150' long barriers, it seems as though that makes the deer a bit uncomfortable and they tend not to move as freely through that area. There are too many variables in my case for me to say for sure, but I would be curious to get other thoughts on that matter. In other words, how much is too much when it comes to creating barriers?

dbltree · Mar 25, 2014

I've some 1000' barriers that worked real but perhaps John will give us feed back this fall with pros/cons of his edge feathering barrier

Jbohn · Jul 16, 2014

The Hinged areas Jessie helped me with this winter came out Gnarly. Things are coming together on my 5 year habitat plan to increase my cover thanks' to Dbltree and Jesse

. This sanctuary is a mess...

dbltree · Oct 30, 2014

Cover is the single most important habitat improvement we can make, yet most landowners completely overlook it. Whitetails don’t need food plots, they are merely a means of manipulating deer to make harvesting them easier. They do however need thick cover for bedding and browse, both of which are blatantly missing in most hardwood timber and many northern forests.
There are many methods of improving cover, specifically changing wide open timber into thick, dense, brushy cover that may hold 10 or more times as many deer. Hinging weed trees to release hardwood crop trees is an excellent way to quickly increase cover and browse.

These pictures are from John's farm in IL, where the timber is wide open and the understory needs be thicker. Sound timber management requires identifying valuable crop trees and then releasing them by reducing competition from low value weed trees. We can accomplish this by double girdle, harvest or where feasible, hinge cutting the tree to leave it alive but on the ground where it's canopy will not compete with the crop trees. Reducing canopy will result in a marked increase in hard mast, and rapid growth of the high quality hardwood tree.

Trees compete primarily for sunlight, reducing canopy not only helps the crop tree but encourages a plethora of growth at ground level so timber management is a win win for both whitetails and landowner.

Whitetails have social groups not unlike us, they need privacy from other groups and safe, secure cover to bed. They also need native browse, after all they are browsers not grazers like cattle, God created whitetails to be creatures of the edge where timber meets field. That transition area consists primarily of browse, from young saplings and shrubs to blackberries, it is all on a whitetails dinner menu. This is what we create throughout the timber using hinge cutting as a management tool.

This is the summer after and already new growth has exploded and a new bedroom has been created. Native browse is what whitetails rely on and to feed more deer we need to provide more of it.
Instead of wide open timber, you can’t see much of anything and the last thing deer want is to be seen, but most landowners know little about whitetails and even less about their habitat.

Edge feathering was first lauded by quail biologists but is also a great habitat improvement for whitetails. We use this tool as a form of timber management, hinge cutting weed trees along the edge and girdling trees too large to safely fall.

These are pictures from an edge feathering job Jesse did last winter and I sent my friend Walt through the brush for pictures. This is an example of a hinge cut tree very much alive though fallen.

The object of falling trees along the edge is to create a dense screen between timber and field. This gives deer a sense of safety and allows the hunter to approach stands, do field work without scaring everything into the next county.

Quail enthusiast’s spray glyphosate along the edge first to kill csg (cool season grass) which encourages a flush of native forbs, they in turn grow 3-4 high quickly screening the edge.
This rapid growth of forbs and shrubby growth provides whitetails with exactly the type of browse they require.

The downed trees also provide blocking along the edge which means trees can be used to guide deer to an opening by a stand. We use a tractor and loader and build a wall of trees and limbs, this turns into a living fence that funnels whitetails past a stand. This jungle of thorns is also a mecca for small game and upland birds, full of seeds and berries.

When you combine thick, impenetrable cover with centrally located food sources you end up with a whitetail oasis, much of it created with elbow grease and a chainsaw

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spltbrow · Nov 27, 2014

I saw in one of the pics that one side of an oak was cut and the other side was left. 2 trees that have sprouted from the same stump. I have lots of these in my timber. Is it fine to cut the one side without water eventually rotting the whole stump away and loosing the other side? Is it better to cut these freeing up the other side to grow?

LoessHillsArcher · Mar 12, 2015

Did some edge feathering tonight. Snapped a few pictures to share.

Before

After

Before

After

Another angle

Talk about a lot of instant cover along this edge to walk next to. This isn't quite the massive screen that Paul achived along his timbers but we don't have the big, deer ravined timbers like he had. If we drive along these timbers, or near them even, the deer will still be out the other side in a flash. At least we can stand a chance of walking along the timber now and maybe getting by some bedded deer.

Look at that open canopy! Much more sunlight hitting the forest floor

Left some openings for the deer to get in/out yet

Ideally we would've killed the brome along the edge before falling trees the trees into it... but that didn't happen. I'll try to kill the grass later this year

Stepped inside the timber to take a picture looking out. Look at the open canopy!

Lots of giant mulberries along this edge, they're old, not producing much fruit, and taking up precious canopy space/light that other trees could be using.

This one I dropped right between a nice cedar and young oak along the edge. Not many cedars in this timber and even fewer young oaks so those were my "crop" trees to save during this project

Took a few minutes to hinge some bedding spots in the timber just behind the edge feathering

I tried to keep openings and travel routes as easy to walk through for the deer. I did that by hinging some trees higher. It's a more dangerous cut but you can do it slowly and once the tree starts to look like it's going to fall, stop. Then pull the tree down the rest of the way to complete the hinge. The key is to keep the hinge cut controlled and becareful when cutting up high

The end product of edge feathering is excellent for all sorts of wildlife. The extra instant browse created for deer and the added sunlight will increase growth, thus increasing browsable food sources. The quail, rabbits, turkeys, etc. love the thick edges. Especially when you kill the grass below the hinge cuts. All sorts of other animals, predators included, will live in the brush piles created in some of the thicker spots along the edge. Nesting cover for birds is instantly created, it's all around a great habitat improvement!

AIRASSAULT · Mar 12, 2015

Looks great Jordan! Thanks for sharing

DannyBoy · Mar 13, 2015

Good work, Jordan. What species are the shrubs growing along the edge? I'm a shrub nut, and encourage their growth every chance I get. Also, I'd kill every mullberry in the county, if I could

Really enjoy your posts.

6x6 · Mar 13, 2015

Looks great Jordan!

All mulberry trees Danny?? My deer love the middle aged trees that still produce good over the summer, and eat every leaf they can reach. Every late october when we get our 1st freeze the mulberry, green leaves, all seem to fall off overnight. For the next couple days that is about all the deer around here, are eating.

DannyBoy · Mar 13, 2015

Slightly sarcastic, Joe. But I do not like them after years and years of cutting them out of fencelines and prairies.

Obviously great wildife value, though and the way they resprout after cutting and produce succulent browse is wonderful for deer. I'm with you, there. It's their aggressive nature that I despise.

LoessHillsArcher · Mar 13, 2015

Thanks fellas! We have a love/hate relationship with mulberry trees too. We've got WAY more than we need so we don't mind cutting any down. They hinge really well and send up more growth like crazy.

I know I saw some dogwoods along the edge and maybe some plums. I honestly didn't look too close. I did cut some prickly ash too, I hate that stuff.

I'm becoming more and more of a shrub nut too. This spring I'm going try something new, new for us anyway, and that's to grow our own shrubs from cuttings taken off the farm and some places around work (to get some shrubs we don't have growing on the farm). I'm hoping to grow them in the backyard for a year, that way I can baby them. Then next year dig them up and transplant them to their permanant home. We'll see how it goes.

gundog870 · Mar 14, 2015

Thanks for sharing Jordan!!

LoessHillsArcher · Mar 16, 2015

Snapped some pics of the small edge feathering project I did last week... can you tell which part of this timber edge was edge feathered and which hasn't been yet?

Pretty wild to see the change just from the stuff that was cut... now give it a couple years for the sunlight to hit the forest floor and the big changes in habitat to show!

Edge feathering is awesome quail habitat and just a couple hundred yards away I jumped a covey of quail today. I'd say at least 15 in this weedy water way strip. It's small areas like this that most farmers are tearing out to get that extra acre but serve a huge role in wildlife habitat for small game such as quail.

Ideally we don't like to push in the trees too much when we edge feather, just a preference. If we drop a bigger tree we will cut it up and save as much as we can for firewood. But sometimes we drop big trees and just have to push them in, which makes for a bit of a mess along the timber edge but still allows light to the forest floor and does create some wildlife habitat along the edge.

This is another edge feathering project we did in February

We could've cut a lot more but it's a start. Already lots of plums and dogwoods along this edge so we are excited to see how they respond now that they've been given more sunlight

LoessHillsArcher · May 11, 2015

I think it was 8 years ago we did our first TSI work and here is what the area looks like now. We have done no follow-up work to it and it was originally a light TSI job at best. So as you can see this area needs some follow-up work. The hackberry have really filled in the mid-canopy, fortunately they hinge very well. This is just a good reminder that timber improvement takes time to manage. You can't just go in one year with the saw and expect to be done with that area forever. It takes continual management. Maybe every 5 or 10 yrs you re-evaluate the timber to see if your goals are being accomplished. In this case, we'll be doing some more chainsaw work next winter doing some more hinging and perhaps planting some oaks in the more open areas.

I did do some hinging in this timber in one small spot but will finish it next year. Here is what it looked like today though. They are greening up nicely

I also snapped some pictures of the edge feathering I did in late March. Instant change in the habitat. Great nesting for the birds and browse/cover for the deer

One thing to try to NOT do when edge feathering is drop the trees right into grass... like I did here. It is best if you can kill the grass before falling the trees along the edge. This will make for much better habitat and allow for weeds/forbs to sprout and not be drowned out by the grass.

DE2IA · May 11, 2015

Looks great! Nice job.

Sligh1 · May 11, 2015

Man, looks tremendous. Even with your "grass mistake", that's just getting fussy in your example cause that amount of work you did is gonna continue to be amazing. Whoa!

*With grass, if you wanted to be really fussy... You could go in and hit with Clethodim a time or 2. Could throw desirable seeds in there too. Just a random idea.

LoessHillsArcher · May 12, 2015

The thought of doing that crossed my mind Skip! But I think we've got bigger fish to fry when it comes to habitat work... like you said, that's just being fussy

Man it is crazy how quickly the animals use this stuff, the turkeys love it!

Edge Feathering and bedding areas

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