Edge Feathering and bedding areas

[dbltree]

September 13th, 2012

It's early fall...and everyone is proud of their food plots and eagerly anticipating the upcoming hunting season, hoping they will be successful thanks to their efforts in properly getting seed and fertilizer in the ground. Many however will be disappointed in the results simply because they have poor or no cover even though surrounded by...trees.

"Tree" do not great deer cover make, thick screening ground cover that blocks the view for more then a few yards is what makes up the kind of cover whitetails seek out yet much if not most timber I see...is wide open. This pic is a bit deceiving because of light leaf cover but I can easily see a hundred yards or more and deer avoid it like the plague!

Instead they bed here...in a thick maze of downed trees and the ensuing jumble of growth that erupts immediately following radical hinging....

Every deer in the area beds and travels thru this safe secure timber

Crop trees such as this oak were released, encouraging mast production and ground cover explodes to life thanks to the increased sunlight/reduced canopy.

Whenever I am asked to do a consultation, landowners frequently take me first to their food plots but I tell them..."let's take a look at your timber first" and find in all but rare situations, an open park like timber with no ground cover whatsoever....and their property holds few deer because of it . Timber Stand Improvement using hinging techniques changes all of that and the results are immediate when the first hinged tree hits the dirt! The following summer changes it even more and from that point on, little used feeding areas suddenly become a place that gets grazed to the ground!

Edge feathering (tipping trees over along the field edge) is frosting on the cake, creating a wall of brush and new growth that completely blocks the timber edge from the field and creates copious amounts of browse at the same time!

There were once 20 or more runways along the timber edge and now....every deer must travel thru this one runway creating an fantastic and highly accurate place for a cam survey not to mention a killer stand spot.

Friends...a $200 chainsaw will do more for your property then a whole fleet of tractors and implements or a mountain of seed and fertilizer! If you don't have a plot full of deer every nite...don't blame the food source....take a long hard look at your timber, because therein...lies the problem.....

 

[Skinny10]

Thanks Dbltree and everyone else who contributes here!

I follow all of these threads a lot but rarely post. This deer is a result of a lot fun and rewarding work hinging trees and planting dbltree's mixes. My dad got this deer last night and I really believe it was because of the cover we created in this spot this past winter.

The deer managed to run 100 yards down the hill and the drag out was more than little rough due to all trees we dropped. As we were dragging out the deer, I was amazed at all the browse being eaten on the hinged trees. The area he came from was open and "park-like" and now it is like a tornado went through!

Thanks Dbltree for the inspiration!

 

[dbltree]

Congrats to your Dad and thanks for sharing with us :way:

 

[Lcarabine]

First hinge cut results

We hinge cut 4 separate areas for the first time. We have not been seeing many deer for several years and have poor or no cover. The following pictures show the results of the cuts from this past winter. I have seen numerous deer in the fields this summer since the cut. Hopefully it is because of the cover and browse. We will cut twice as much this year.

 

[Daver]

Thanks Dbltree and everyone else who contributes here!

I follow all of these threads a lot but rarely post. This deer is a result of a lot fun and rewarding work hinging trees and planting dbltree's mixes. My dad got this deer last night and I really believe it was because of the cover we created in this spot this past winter.

The deer managed to run 100 yards down the hill and the drag out was more than little rough due to all trees we dropped. As we were dragging out the deer, I was amazed at all the browse being eaten on the hinged trees. The area he came from was open and "park-like" and now it is like a tornado went through!

Thanks Dbltree for the inspiration!

I just saw this post, so I am a little late...but that is a great buck and a super testimonial. Congrats to all!!

 

[mshm99]

I've got a spot behind the my house in the burbs. I did some planting and it was suggested that I could get more sun in this creek bottom with a bit if hinge cutting. I'm forcing the critters to now go and come via the trails I left open . I have to admit it was fun,although I did feel some guilt over leaving all that fire wood behind.

Before

After

Improved growth

A customer

 

[Sligh1]

Improved growth

Improved growth is right!! Grows so much extra hair I can't even see antlers! You have some crazy looking deer in IL!! What exactly is that you planted that causes a deer to turn out like this? That pic did crack me up. Nice work on the feathering & plots though, looks great!!!

 

[dbltree]

October 13th, 2012

Hinging for blocking

It's tough to do much hinging in a timber that is predominately oaks, especially if they are near market size but if the timber is made up of a mix of oak other species of less or no value...one can create some sweet funnels that are killer during the rut!

I recently created some great funnels for a landowner where there were plenty of weed trees to work with! Large hickory, locust and elm trees along with plenty of ironwood growing under some mature oak trees, all which allowed me to completely block off multiple runways!

The aerial shows the timber, a large, deep draw that bisects it and creates a natural barrier and how I was able to funnel runways by one stand that now covers two runways

The exterior areas of the funnel are primarily ironwood which when hinged make an excellent but completely "free" fence.

One cannot even see the large hickories beyond the ironwood but a 70' tree blocks a lot of territory!

Creating a "mess" downwind of the stand helps prevent bucks from circling when calling from your stand

A trail cam mounted up high, out of reach of thieves and out of site of traveling bucks and left for the duration of the rut will yield clues to the effectiveness of the funnel and it's use by rutting bucks

This funnel...is working perfectly already....

Put your chainsaw to use and create your own funnels and avoid the frustration of having deer travel through open timber...just out of bow range...

 

[OKplotter]

Cover is Most Important

Last year I planted Dbltree's mix and had more deer using my plot than ever before. They kept it mowed down and the exclusion cages showed the results. This year I have a better stand of the same mix and it's not being hit at all. What's the difference...Cover. For the past few years I have been edge feathering and hinge cutting the surrounding areas. This year in August we had a wild fire come through and it changed things considerably.

This first picture shows the cover around my feeder before the fire.

This picture is after the fire. You can see some of the hickory trees I hinged cut.

As you can see in the picture some of the turkeys have come back, and I get a picture every few days of deer. However, it's nothing like it was last year. I had high hopes for this year because I had the best cover around. Now you can see forever thru my timber. I know long term the cover will come back and be good again, too bad it happened so close to bow season.

 

[Daver]

Wow OKplotter, sorry to hear about that fire. But on the bright side, your pictures do illustrate the concept quite remarkably.

I suspect that the growth next year will be quite substantial and likely get better each year after that for at least a couple of years. Thanks for posting.

 

[nemohunter]

I want to create more bedding on my farm, I have many hickory and Osage orange, how many of these trees should be removed or ringed and killed, and is it good to leave some standing, would it be good to hinge some hickory in the middle of the woods or just on the edges, if I can figure out how to load a picture on here I'll put a picture of the woods, thanks

 

[letemgrow]

I want to create more bedding on my farm, I have many hickory and Osage orange, how many of these trees should be removed or ringed and killed, and is it good to leave some standing, would it be good to hinge some hickory in the middle of the woods or just on the edges, if I can figure out how to load a picture on here I'll put a picture of the woods, thanks

Hinging, or cutting down the trees will provide the fastest cover and deer will browse the buds that are now down at ground level.

I use hinging as a 3 edged sword so to speak. To funnel deer, cut out junk trees around valuable ones and provide food for deer.

From what I gather of your situation, trees would be hinded on the edges and middle of the timber. This way it could be structured to funnel deer movement to better stand locations.

First off tho, I would check out the MDC forester for your area, they have cost share available for a lot of timber programs. You may be able to get paid for your work.

 

[dbltree]

if I can figure out how to load a picture on here I'll put a picture of the woods

best bet is to use Photobucket, upload your pics, then copy/paste the IMG code to your post. You can also email me a pic if you have problems and I will post for you. dbltree2000@yahoo.com

hedge trees are tougher to hinge but it can be done :way:

 

[Sligh1]

I tell you one thing, I sure don't like cutting osage orange. I'd probably hinge more of the hickories and if you want to get rid of some osage, maybe kill em or cut em for fence posts if you want to thin them. Personally, I like having them around unless they get too thick. Hate cutting em though.

 

[nemohunter]

Thanks for the input, I'm going to take some pics and email them to you, I'd like to know your thoughts after seeing the pics on how many hickories in this particular area should be cut or if all of them should be

 

[letemgrow]

Osage orange makes good browse too, so hinge cut trees should be very appealing to deer.

The trouble with hinge cutting them, is the massive amount of sprouts they send back up and that can make it tougher to get to them later on if you want to cut them down for good.

 

[dbltree]

Thanks for the input, I'm going to take some pics and email them to you, I'd like to know your thoughts after seeing the pics on how many hickories in this particular area should be cut or if all of them should be

Ok..will be looking for the pics...:way:

 

[dbltree]

Here's a pic of the hickory timber in question....

Obviously one can not hinge every tree in a timber like this, where there is diversity (oaks, walnuts etc.) then leaving valuable crop trees would automatically create open areas. In a solid hickory stand I would leave islands of trees standing and hinge more islands creating large "brushpiles" so to speak.

Off set the hinged areas leaving main runways open but so one can not look straight down the timber. Leave some of the best, straight hickories for timber as you work and do the work over a period of years to create a succession of new browse and cover.

I would also consider hand planting some oaks into the hinged areas to create some diversity and get some mast producing trees going in your timber. :way:

 

[nemohunter]

Thanks for the advice, I plan on taking on these hickories this winter after deer season

 

[dbltree]

Funnel ideas

More then one way to skin a cat or so they say and there are plenty of ways to get deer to use one or more runways that all funnel or bottleneck down past a stand or two.

Example shows where I used hinging to block off multiple crossings downwind of a stand I hunt with S and SW winds and how i used the tractor to clear debris and create a pathway they are eager to follow

View from the stand....knocked everything down except for any oak trees and completely blocked off runways north of the stand

Several runways that lead out to a hidden ag field that gets plenty of activity but one leads in and past the stand

Before...

After

Note the time...2 hours after I was in there ramming around with the tractor, falling trees, stinking up the place with smoke and sweat...in come the "troops"...completely unphased....

and from that point on use the runway day and night

Not only does this increase hunting opportunities/success but provides accurate cam surveys as well and despite being a thick cedar/brush infested awesome bedding area...few bucks actually live there with the high number of does present. Those that do, show up regularly in this funnel

This allows us the opportunity to begin at inventory and age bucks that do call this timber home

When given the opportunity, most mature bucks in my area will take up residence in the native grass fields and few actually inhabit the timber

But by late October the "prairie dwellers" start showing up where the ladies live...

Combining funnels and cams helps me know for a fact where deer of various sex and age class live...if I only had cams here in the fall I would assume these bucks actually lived here

Buck activity will continue to pick up thru November and does will actually become scare in their own bedding area

Keep in mind you can easily make or enhance a path with a chainsaw and leaf blower in places not accessible to with equipment. Pile brush along the sides, leave the occasional small tree/shrub for scrapes and then get a stand set up for easy ambush along the cleared path or at the bottleneck

Only a few days ago I use the tractor and loader once again to clear out a spot to put up a ladder stand only this time i climbed in the stand a few hours later....7 does and fawns walked by using the path

One won't be back...

Obviously "tearing things up" is not all that alarming to these deer and in each case they were completely unaffected by any work done, even within a few hours of doing it. Whitetails are adaptable and they prefer the easy path. especially rutting bucks in search of does during the rut...take advantage of this fact to fine tune your hunting strategies on your farm or hunting property and get some funnels, bottlenecks and pathways in place...