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Timber Stand Improvment

As Paul said earlier in this thread:

dbltree said:
It may be spring but it's not too late to do some hingin!

*note this isn't technically Timber Stand Improvement work I was doing below. I didn't pick crop trees or release any specific trees. I just cut and hinged junk trees to create thicker bedding and open up the mid-canopy of the timber let more light in.*

Here are three before pictures of the south facing ridge top I hinge cut yesterday... wiiiiide open timber. Mature bur oaks with elm, ask, red mullberry, and hackberry taking up the understory and midcanopy. An ok amount of forest floor growth but not nearly what it should be. I found one young oak, probably 15ft tall and that was it. There is zero oak regeneration going on in this timber. For now, I just focused on hinging the junk trees to create instant deer cover and a bedding area. Next year, when the oaks are dormant and the risk for injuring a healthy oak is lower, we'll go in and girdle the junk oaks you'll see in these pictures.
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First thing I did was hinge a "wall" or screen around the outer edge of the ridge top. To help the deer feel more secure in here and prevent them from being able to see clear through the timber and see us going to/from the deer stand. These next couple pics I tried to show how I created a screen
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So any deer laying on top of the ridge, to the left, that wants to look down the hillside, to the right, has to look through this screen of hinge cut trees.
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I also created a screen to the backside field edge
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And made sure I left a few trails going to the white clover plot below. Trail #1
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Trail #2
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I did girdle some larger trees. I personally don't like dropping every tree and creating a complete mess in the bedding areas. I'd rather create a thick, but open bedding area... if that makes sense. An area where there is a good balance between screening/cover, open areas for bedding, open travel paths/escape routes, yet still let enough light through to generate additional forest floor growth and browse. So to do this girdling some trees is what I choose to do.
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Once I had the outer screen completed I then worked on the center where we want the deer to bed. Again, keeping in mind to create a controlled mess. A balance of thick areas and open areas and something that isn't super difficult for deer to travel through.
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Couple thing you see here; if I have a large down tree I try to build off of it and hinge more smaller trees on top of it. Also you can see some stumps I cut the tree clean off and carried it away and tossed it on top of some other hinge cut tops, creating thicker pockets and also open areas.
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Couple different shots looking up the ridge
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I try to not just hinge cut and drop trees in random direction. I try to pick a spot and begin falling/hinging trees ontop of trees. Creating a thick line of cover that deer can bed around/behind/infront/etc and still travel around. Vs an area with a bunch of random hinge cuts that is a pain for them to walk through.
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I also try my hardest to cut slowly when hinging and not let the tree top fall on it's own. I like to pull the tree down as often as possible to control where it falls, keep the most wood intact at the hinge cut, and also to keep the tree top up a little higher than just dropping it straight to the ground. A hinge cut hackberry like this will most certainly survive and likely like for many years. Sending up more shoots for additional low level cover and keeping deer browsing on it's top.
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There are times where I want to get a tree down but I don't want to hinge it and it's almost too small to girdle. So I'll slowly cut and lean it against another larger tree. Not creating a dangerous "window-maker" situation but just effectively killing the tree and opening the canopy to let more light in, while not cluttering up the ground floor.
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View from the outside looking in - I feel like there's some potential habitat improvements we could do on this field edge but that's for another year
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A view from the deer's perspective
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And lastly a picture looking down towards the next area of the south facing ridge top I hadn't worked on when I snapped the picture...
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But this time of year we can work until about 8:30 and I didn't waste a minute! Got this entire ridge top complete for the year! We'll come in next winter and girdle some of the junky oaks you saw in the pics. That will certainly help thicken this ridge top up!
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Jordan my first two years of hinging was fantastic. The last two years of hinging was a scud. No regeneration and not much forbes. Time will tell. I will be planting trees if it doesn't turn around. The drought from two years ago may have done more than we know except for EHD.
 
Here's some hinging from 2 years ago. Probably 50 to 60 feet from the field edge.

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I tried to catch the view from a deer's eyes.

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Man, I wanna hunt Goatman's farm!!! Well done, that looks terrific. I'm actually ok if my hinge's die or crack off.... It's still more sun light hitting the floor and more cover on the floor as well. That sure looks dang nice though, sprouted great!!
 
I can thank Paul(dbltree) for that. Those were mostly elm which hinge and regenerate easy. This timber is predominant hickory and black oak. I've been slowly changing that.
 
Interesting "somewhat recent data" on tree prices. Most folks do not understand "why" & "when" to sell but there's a lot conservation, wildlife & financially minded professionals u can find in ur area. It makes me sick seeing 20" veneer walnuts being cut and often for peanuts when not bid out. But- in any case- tsi can have immense impact on
Timber value of course. Here's 2 articles or reports. One Six months old I just saw. Prices have softened some but still strong.
Example on thinking logically and not selling "green tomatoes"... U let a 20" dbh veneer walnut get roughly 6-7 yrs more growth, ROUGHLY doubles in value. (Math is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-ish% growth on invesent to double every 7 yrs). I personally won't sell veneer walnut until 26-28" unless on a creek bank or something but that's me. Just some interesting info. Freeing these trees to grow well will speed up immensely when freeing canopy competition. Tsi has so much value it's insane. Instead of thinking 401k or IRA's - think of managing your timber wisely! ;)
Article on IOWA timber:

http://thegazette.com/subject/news/business/everyone-wants-midwest-walnut-20141202

MO report:
http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2015/06/tptjanmarch2015.pdf
 
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Should be fine if you can handle the heat/bugs!! Just be sure not to injure your desirable trees in the process, like snapping off a big oak limb by hinging a different tree. Makes desirables more susceptible to disease this time of year.

Another note, perfect time of year for hack and squirt. I'll be unleashing the machete/chemical on ironwoods here real soon.
 
Lots of fun lately improving some creek bottom ground that was 90% big mature cottonwood. It looked like a good place to take the wife on a picnic and not so good for whitetail habitat. Had a forester come in and we spent a day marking trees. I went in ahead of the loggers and stomped in a bunch of swamp white oak acorns I had collected last fall. Logged mostly cottonwood, handful of soft maple that were growing at strange angles, and 3 walnut that were going to fall in the creek anyway. All the rest of the walnut was left in place, much to the loggers dismay. After he gets out of areas I go back in and cut the rest of the junk that is still standing and move tops around for "strategic" stand locations :)

Lots of fun that's for sure and I'm excited to see the change in the coming years and see what it can hold. Before deer would pass thru, but NOTHING was staying there.

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Interesting, looks like you had some pretty big cottonwood logs there. Good luck with the restoration work!
 
Biggest cottonwood was 50" DBH. I call those ground shakers. haha

....just out of my bottoms I have predominantly black oak. I have left that part alone for now, other than hinging the elms and hackberry in there. I am not sure what I will do with it. It provides little value in almost every aspect (other than if your into taking it for firewood, in which its great). Just above that it is almost solid white oaks. I may cut the blackjacks out.... I keep going back and forth...??? Decisions Decisions
 
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See #231
So since this last update ,I have re-newed my app every year with the ASC OFFICE and after all this time I'm getting some money for a timber stand improvement plan by a certified forester. When I have the plan in hand ,I can then apply for money to implement the plan. Being a realist, I recognize I may be senile before this is completed, but my heirs my reap the benefits. So for many of you hoping to do this, my advice is start the process when you are young:D

mike
 
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What has everyone been using for herbicide for hack an squirt? Looking to wipe out several acres of ironwood and other non desirable tree quickly and I'm thinking this is gonna be my best bet. I've cut ironwood in the past and not treated and I've created a bigger mess of ironwood then I started with. Thinking it's best to treat them to be able to win the battle. Was always afraid to apply tordon to inadvertently damage nearby desirable trees. Any safe herbicides out there or treatments others have used effectively without damaging nearby trees.
 
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