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Osage orange trees

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dreambig@84

Active Member
I have areas in my woods that I'm trying to create bedding areas and thicken up and it's overtaken with osage orange trees ,locusts and honey suckle. Should a guy hinge osage orange for bedding side cover and girdle locusts? What's the best way to make this a desirable bedding area?
 
Cut the rest of the stuff like locust & honeysuckle. Don't cut or hinge the hedge/Osage trees. They're old, gnarly, and make for some of the best big buck thickets in the midwest.

Kill the Honeysuckle & locust, and replace them with single oaks and cedars. That mixed with your hedge trees will surely be INSANE prime bedding if you stay out once done.

I'm a few years into converting a big ag field to habitat, and have been planting them in areas trying to get what you already have.

Don't overthink it
 
dreambig@84 said:
When u say thicket are you saying I should cut the osage to create thicket?
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No I would not cut the hedge. That being said, I am doing a EQIP project currently where I am thinning them slightly and interplanting hardwoods. My strategy for doing this will be to girdle them and treat them, but leave them standing and interplant from there. This will maintain the maximum amount of cover.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
No I would not cut the hedge. That being said, I am doing a EQIP project currently where I am thinning them slightly and interplanting hardwoods. My strategy for doing this will be to girdle them and treat them, but leave them standing and interplant from there. This will maintain the maximum amount of cover.
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That sounds like a good plan. Do you keep your honey locust trees or girdle?
 
If Pin oaks will grow in your area they can tolerate fairly wet soils and hold leaves into mid-winter. As to Hedge, I like to hinge it to get leaves within reach of deer as it is heavily browsed. I also want to make sure it provides sidecover. Often you can just hinge a few big branches, even if they die they will hold other vegetation upright and serve the same purpose.
 
Bucks here love bedding and running in the hedge trees. Plenty of BHS mixed in as well.

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My farm sounds just like yours. It basically consists of locust, hedge/osage orange, cedars, elm, hackberry, walnut, and little bit of shingle oak, box elder, and cherry mixed in. The brush on ground level is thick with buck brush/coral berry, multi flora rose and honey suckle.

Ive been working on removing the multi flora and honey suckle. I sort of like the honey suckle as long as its not to thick, they are sort of neat when they get huge. Hate multi flora. My farm really likes to stick and snag you with all the locust and multia flora. There are areas that are impenetrable with multi flora. I hoping killing the muliflora will help get more coral berry/buck brush and other natives/good things to grow up. At the very least it will create more space for wildlife to be able to move around and call home.

I'm also hoping to start dropping some trees/hinge cutting to create some more browse and cover. Hopefully do a little bit of edge feathering along the field edges. Going to also try and start killing young locusts that are manageable.

It seems to hold deer and turkey pretty well as is before I've done anything.

Heres a spot where its a little more open, but the cover is thick at ground level:
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You can see coral berry/buck brush at ground level and hedge balls on the ground.
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