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Timber

sep0667

sep0667

Land of the Whitetail
I have A LOT of multi flora rose in my timber. In some areas its so think literally nothing could go through it if it wanted to. What is the best way to go about clearing some of this out? Chainsaw it out and spray with something? Certain time of year? I also have lots of thorny locusts. Still have lots of deer and turkey sign.
 
I spray them with roundup when they’re blooming with a blue dye. This makes it easier to see what you have already covered when you’re meandering through a timber. I think it’s late May when they’re blooming for the most part.


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I have lots of thorny locusts, cedar, and hedge. Walnuts spread throughout. Not much for oaks, but a few, mostly clustered in one small area maybe an acre in size. Its not a very eye appealing timber to a human. But, from reading some of the old threads on here and elsewhere having a lot of hedge and locust is good habitat for wildlife. I read some people on here are fans of this and want to leave these for cover, but others want to take it all out. Sort of conflicting. If I were to start taking out the locust etc, there would not be much left to hang stands in. There is not much 'timbervalue' in my limited knowledge on my property, but I want wildlife habitat, not timbervalue. There is lots of multiflora rose on the ground. Tons of deer trails etc throughout and lots of turkey sign. Curious on what I should do to try and enhance the habitat and help to hold deer/turkey in my timber. Should I be looking to remove as much multiflora rose as possible? I'm hoping to add some foodplots in a couple spots.
 
Multi flora rose hates a good fire. If it were me, I would prepare for a timber burn. Take a leaf blower and blow the leaves away from the bases of the oaks that you would like to save. A little overkill to prepare that way for live oaks, etc, but since you don't have many. Blow around snags and deadfalls that you don't want to catch too.

Fire breaks are pretty easy to establish with a blower and/or a mower.
 
I would burn as well. Rose at a min will be top killed. Any rose sprouts are then easily and more effectively sprayed. Tons of other residual benefits as well.... like oak regeneration which is substantially helped by fire.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
I would burn as well. Rose at a min will be top killed. Any rose sprouts are then easily and more effectively sprayed. Tons of other residual benefits as well.... like oak regeneration which is substantially helped by fire.
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I like this idea, but definitly has me nervous. I've never done a big burn, sort of afraid it would get out of control.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
Timber fires are extremely easy to control. Much easier than grass/CRP.
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Correct. The only issues I have ever had with timber burns were standing dead trees "catching" and large brush piles "catching". The standing dead trees can "chimney" and throw some embers a long ways and/or take hours and hours to burn out. To me, it's better just to either drop them and let them burn horizontally on the ground OR blow a ring of bare dirt around them so they don't catch.

You may not know it yet, :), but you need a good leaf blower now that you are a land owner. :)

If you aren't aware of this name, Dr. Grant Woods, Growing Deer TV, I would recommend looking him up on YouTube. He has multiple "how to's" on fire, particularly in timber fires. I get the apprehension if you have not done this before, but, I can't think of a more productive thing you could do in your timber.

If you would like...I plan on burning a section of my timber, perhaps more than one, this spring. You could observe, and learn, and I think you would see that it is pretty simple when understood and done right.
 
Daver said:
Correct. The only issues I have ever had with timber burns were standing dead trees "catching" and large brush piles "catching". The standing dead trees can "chimney" and throw some embers a long ways and/or take hours and hours to burn out. To me, it's better just to either drop them and let them burn horizontally on the ground OR blow a ring of bare dirt around them so they don't catch.

You may not know it yet, :), but you need a good leaf blower now that you are a land owner. :)

If you aren't aware of this name, Dr. Grant Woods, Growing Deer TV, I would recommend looking him up on YouTube. He has multiple "how to's" on fire, particularly in timber fires. I get the apprehension if you have not done this before, but, I can't think of a more productive thing you could do in your timber.

If you would like...I plan on burning a section of my timber, perhaps more than one, this spring. You could observe, and learn, and I think you would see that it is pretty simple when understood and done right.
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Depending on when i would probably take you up on that offer
 
sep0667 said:
Depending on when i would probably take you up on that offer
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I am going to prep, mow, blow and till, this weekend. I'll probably light it up on April 9th. Weather and wind permitting.

I also plan on burning about 26 acres of CRP that day, in two sections...one about 12 acres and the other about 14. This is my 1/3 Mid-Contract Management (MCM) activity for my CRP contract. I have polished my burning activities to where I have burned up to about 70 acres in a day all by myself. It's all about the prep and the planning. The burns I am planning on this year are pretty hard to screw up...a wind out of the north is ridiculously easy, but I can do them on about any moderate wind, my fire breaks are the key.
 
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