Edge Feathering and bedding areas

[dbltree]

Funnels and bottlenecks

Over the past several years I have shared detailed aerials and results of my own funnels and last winter worked on building funnels for landowners I work for. Like everything I share, if I can not provide credible evidence that said improvements actually work then it's just...talk.

The following is just one of the new funnels where a natural corner of an ag field (now a feeding area) and an area of timber/bedding area come together. I edge feathered the entire field edge to limit possible entrances to the field and the tightened the funnel forcing all deer to travel within 25 yards of a ground blind.

A year later hinged trees look like this (note runway passing thru the hinged trees)

To open up the corner and clear a shooting lane some trees were simply cut off and pushed back to close off runways

Bucks travel the circuit usually staying inside the safety of cover while does follow this runway out to the feeding area. Regardless which way the buck goes, he is as good as dead should the hunter decide to harvest the animal

Multiple runways form the wide part of the funnel

Each beaten down from repeated use by doe groups, now adapted to the year around food sources I use

A cam records movement 24-7 and like most funnels tells us that few if any bucks use this funnel until the rut and when coming to late season food sources. During the rut they are relentlessly travel this route in search of....

All of that sounds good on paper but...does it actually work? You be the judge....

Hinging trees enmasse is not for everyone nor even advisable in all situations in regards to creating bedding and browse depending on the kind, quality and quantity of tree species but one can use a chainsaw and some sweat equity to create some funnels with almost kind of trees. Brush can be piled, trees dragged into place and a diversion created almost anywhere you can carry a saw into.

Use the most natural bottlenecks and then work on tightening the noose so to speak to force deer by your stand or blind.

As I check more cams I will share the results in this thread....

 

[dbltree]

Whitetail Browse

Of all the things we can offer whitetails to eat, none is more important then browse but unfortunately this the most oft overlooked food source. Deer don't need clover or corn, rye or radishes, but they do however need browse and they are designed to live and in fact thrive on natural forbs and browse.

While we may spend hundreds if not thousands on everything required to plant a food source, we can often provide far more beneficial food simply with a chainsaw. The following pics are from ares cut in the past 1- years, most of it hinge cut, some trees cut off and much of the areas shown were cut primarily for blocking and screening so not necessarily a bedding area.

Trees react differently regardless if cut off or hinged but 90% will send up plethora of new browse which in turn also offers screening (safety and screening) and in many cases outstanding bedding.

A fresh snow always reveals that these areas are heavily used by deer no matter how much planted food of any kind is offered

Hinging is on option I use to instantly create cover and browse but it is certainly not the only one

A downed tree top invites birds to roost and they in turn drop all kinds of seeds such as blackberries which then spring up to offer some highly sought after browse.

Different areas of the country will have various species of trees, any of which may react very differently but here most shingle oaks don't hinge well (they break off) but the stumps explode with thick brushy, leafy browse.

Reducing canopy also allows red cedars to come up, (again thanks to birds who love the berries) eventually adding some thermal cover to the area. If no conifers are present simply plant trees such as Norway Spruce or cedars in your cutover areas.

Simply opening up canopy will cause and explosion of new brushy growth simply by letting sunlight in. Logging and girdling trees will also allow a rapid conversion to the type of cover whitetails thrive in.

Deer will spend a great deal of time browsing in these type of areas

In this area the white, red and black oaks were released and left standing

Browse abounds and whitetails can live comfortably all winter with this type of food source

Some trees such as hackberry and elm hinge easily

and then provide plentiful browse along the now downed trunk

Shingle oak stump sprouts are awesome because they hold their leaves all winter

Our timber resources are one of our greatest habitat resources yet it is the one that is usually completely overlooked.

All timber/trees can not be managed in the same way...aspen stands are better off clear cut in blocks to create a succession of new growth and a pure stand of white oaks is not the place to be attempting things like hinging. Trees can be thinned and canopy opened up by various methods including a combination of things.

It's always important to remember that every landowner does not have the same situation as you may see, each property is unique and tree species vary widely so as we share ideas of how to improve our timber for whitetails, please be cognizant of these things. Please share what is working for you but as the old saying goes....there's more then one way to skin a cat and....no one way is right for everyone.....

 

[dbltree]

Edgefeathering

Falling trees along the edge of a timber, fence line, draw's or almost anywhere there are no/low value trees is a quick way to do some blocking, screening and provide the "edge" effect that provides browse. These are some areas I did last year showing the resulting regrowth from both trees and simply removing canopy, which allows blackberries and other shrubby cover to grow.

Some trees react by sending up stump shoots

While others send up vertical growth from the now horizontal trees

The dense growth that results from edgefeathering provides a screening effect that allows deer to feel comfortable bedding nearby

In this case we were able to limit the number of runways entering the feeding area

and thereby increase harvest success as a greater number of deer travel by a limited number of stands/blinds

In areas with small or limited trees to fall one can add cattle panels, scavenged fencing or any number of other items to help funnel deer

Planting conifers (in our case red cedars) will in time provide a permanent screen along the edge making it far easier to reach a stand without spooking nearby bedded deer.

Trees felled into a field will usually need to be pushed around parallel with the timber edge which requires the use of a tractor and loader, skidsteer or dozer although small trees may be moved by hand. Trees that will be pushed 90 degrees will often break off if hinged but the stumps will provide plenty of new growth and the trees blocking and screening and new growth will fill in.

Leave small trees near entrance/exit runways for scrapes which allows for an excellent cam census each fall as well.... :way:

 

[Kansas30]

Within hinged areas

Dbltree,
Do you ever broadcast seed in your hinged areas for additional cover or feed?

 

[dbltree]

Dbltree,
Do you ever broadcast seed in your hinged areas for additional cover or feed?

I haven't because it usually explodes with thick growth but one could certainly give it a shot.

 

[Kansas30]

I hinged a bunch last year and it has helped out immensely in holding deer. Only problem was thus drought that seemed to wreak havoc on my hinged areas as well so the growth did not explode as much as I would of liked. I have just about every seed in the book.. Any you would suggest.. I know it can't hurt.

Question#2: in one area I went over board and created about a 2 acre logjam basically. What is the best way to open these areas up?

 

[dbltree]

I hinged a bunch last year and it has helped out immensely in holding deer. Only problem was thus drought that seemed to wreak havoc on my hinged areas as well so the growth did not explode as much as I would of liked. I have just about every seed in the book.. Any you would suggest.. I know it can't hurt.

Question#2: in one area I went over board and created about a 2 acre logjam basically. What is the best way to open these areas up?

I would try seeds that can be broadcast on untilled soil such winter rye, try spraying any grasses with gly and overseed rye, millet or other such seeds into the area.

Cut your way thru the log jam or even cut some of it for firewood...brings up a good point to hinge islands or brushpiles but make sure you leave openings. Hinge a small area and move 30-50 yards an begin again.

 

[dbltree]

Hinging cull trees

Hinging a tree is a means of falling it while keeping it alive and at the same time reducing canopy and competition with any better quality crop trees or at least more desirable species. The downed trees can help increase bedding opportunities, providing instant cover the moment the tree hits the ground. Long term, any method of reducing canopy will encourage understory growth so logging, clear cutting, removing trees for firewood etc. can all end up with the same result but over a much longer time period.

Hinging trees is then just an option, not right or appropriate for everyone or every timber but where you may have some cull or weed trees that are small enough to safely hinge, one can create an outstanding bedding area...over night!

Hickory, elm, hackberry and ironwood are just a few species that hinge well in my area...

anything in the red oak group is likely to break off deepening on size but smaller shingle oaks don't hinge to bad

Ash and larger honey locust almost always break off but not to worry....they will quickly send up stumps shoots

I like to hinge them roughly 4' high but I have seen too many cases of trees being hinged "the wrong way" that were full of deer including mature bucks so...experiment and most of all...be safe!!

Leave runways or travel corridors open

Note before we started we could see 100 yards into wide open timber....now the tops lay toward the trail which allows deer to feel safe and secure

Even a few downed trees make a big difference

Use caution not to drop mass amounts of trees over a huge area, create "brushpiles" if you will in a random fashion

it's easy to create a funnel with the dropped trees

Tip over smaller trees first and then drop a larger tree onto them

This bottomland was wide open before we started falling trees

Big honey locusts almost always break off and any larger trees may not fall so beware....this is dangerous work and you may wish to double girdle large trees

Shagbark hickories usually hinge well and create instant bedding areas!

My posts regarding hinging trees are to expose people to the concept and share how this habitat tool can help improve your ability to hold whitetails in areas that may previously have held very few deer. Consider all your options before deciding what might work best for you and your property.....

 

[risto2351]

What is everyone's opinion on Cherry trees?

I see they have berries on them but are they good for the deer.

Also is there any lumber value in them?

 

[Lcarabine]

Cherries

I do not have many cherries, but in areas I hunt with cherries, when there is a year they fruit well the deer tear up the leaves getting to them. Cherries are high quality lumber and I leave straight ones for timber.

 

[goatman]

Could be wrong but think cherry trees feed the turkeys around here. Having said that I haven't found a big one that wasn't rotten in the middle yet.

 

[boonerz]

Could a person create better/thicker bedding habitat by burning the area you were doing edge feathering in by burning it first then throwing some sort of seed down and then hinging trees? Or would the seed not really matter? If it would help to put seed down, what would you suggest to create thick bedding area in this scenario?

 

[dbltree]

Could a person create better/thicker bedding habitat by burning the area you were doing edge feathering in by burning it first then throwing some sort of seed down and then hinging trees? Or would the seed not really matter? If it would help to put seed down, what would you suggest to create thick bedding area in this scenario?

Potentially that could work well if all the right conditions exist to burn first and then fall the trees, usually things spring up pretty fast but burning certainly would speed up the process.

 

[dbltree]

January 21st, 2013

Culling/killing trees by any manner including harvest will open up canopy and encourage undergrowth of the kind that whitetails love but hinging trees allows the same thing to happen while creating an instant bedding spot at the same time....

Another advantage of hinging trees is that birds then roost in the downed tops....

and deposit the seeds of everything from blackberries to red cedars...

which in turn creates a plethora of new browse and thermal cover

where once we could see 100 or more yards....now we can see no distance at all

The brushpiles of downed tops, created by hinging trees into a "hole" instantly screens large areas

and within hours, a wide open, little used stand of weed trees was converted to dozens of bedrooms for deer...

Semi open travel and loafing areas must be maintained

Deer aren't rabbits...they don't live in/under brushpiles...they do however bed behind them and need some open places weaving thru the downed trees for travel and escape corridors

Hinging trees is hard and extremely dangerous work, learn to expect the unexpected and be aware that trees will fall against other trees and "hang up"....they may fall 30 minutes later or 3 years later. Learn to keep your eyes on a semi downed tree while backing away (they often roll and flip sideways as you walk away) and most of all....know when to walk away and when to...run!!

Learn your tree species and how to identify a tree by it's twigs (burr oak)

and bark....

The stand shown happened to be mostly shagbark hickory, (perfect for hinging) so we released any oak and walnut trees which is not to imply that hickories have no value, they just have more value on the ground to those landowners managing their land for whitetails.

We are often asked to do radical hinging/aggressive crop tree release which means a very high percentage of trees are killed or felled via hinging but even a few large trees dropped per acre can certainly make a significant difference. Providing thick, heavy cover is perhaps the single most important habitat improvement we can do, far more successful and rewarding results will come from this endeavor then any possible planted food scenario you could possibly come up with.....

 

[Lcarabine]

Hinge Cuts

Dbltree, We are in our second year of hinge cutting. We do not have a lot of property so have decided to hinge pretty radically the hardwoods we have, making funnels, pockets, and bedding edges on ridges, and keeping our hinged areas accessible by taking out firewood and leaving tops. But firewood removal is a lot of work for us old guys. My question is if we wanted to open up a couple areas that ended up just to thick with hinges for good deer travel, would cutting 6 foot paths into these areas and leaving the horizontal trunks on the ground be alright. Our trees are mostly saplings to small pole size. Thanks.

 

[Sligh1]

"Learn when to run"- HA, I literally laughed out loud there! I've done that a few times last weekend. I got tangled in some vines Saturday while running and fell right on my face. I am super careful while doing this & run with plenty of time (most the time) but geesh, not for the beginner!!! It took me several years to master how to cut trees, how they tip, how not to get a blade stuck BUT you really gotta pay attention to detail. Don't go to quick or you get sloppy & forget things & that's the time you end up getting hurt. Good luck all & if you don't have years of experience with this stuff- get someone like Dbltree out on your farm- the one area you don't "learn as you go"- both out of safety BUT you are also making permanent, 100 year decisions out there.

 

[risto2351]

"Learn when to run"- HA, I literally laughed out loud there! I've done that a few times last weekend. I got tangled in some vines Saturday while running and fell right on my face. I am super careful while doing this & run with plenty of time (most the time) but geesh, not for the beginner!!! It took me several years to master how to cut trees, how they tip, how not to get a blade stuck BUT you really gotta pay attention to detail. Don't go to quick or you get sloppy & forget things & that's the time you end up getting hurt. Good luck all & if you don't have years of experience with this stuff- get someone like Dbltree out on your farm- the one area you don't "learn as you go"- both out of safety BUT you are also making permanent, 100 year decisions out there.

Been at it a couple of weekends now. My biologist is making me kill everything. He wants a clean kill. Still pretty messy. Not much left. Will have to plant trees next.

I guess the only question that I have is how do you know where to make the trails for the deer? I have been piling the trees parallel to the outside to give them only one or two routes out. Inside I have been dropping them and kind of leaving their existing trails there but limiting it to one or two trails.
Or do you drop /hinge them and come back later and rearrange?

Little overwhelming but hopefully I wil see the results in a few years.

 

[SEIowaDeerslayer]

"Learn when to run"- HA, I literally laughed out loud there! I've done that a few times last weekend. I got tangled in some vines Saturday while running and fell right on my face. I am super careful while doing this & run with plenty of time (most the time) but geesh, not for the beginner!!! It took me several years to master how to cut trees, how they tip, how not to get a blade stuck BUT you really gotta pay attention to detail. Don't go to quick or you get sloppy & forget things & that's the time you end up getting hurt. Good luck all & if you don't have years of experience with this stuff- get someone like Dbltree out on your farm- the one area you don't "learn as you go"- both out of safety BUT you are also making permanent, 100 year decisions out there.

I've learned to run a few times when hinging big hickories, man nothing is scarier when one of those suckers starts to snap. I was hinging a small honey locust 2 years ago and it completely snapped and flew up and hit me in the face...gave me some nice cuts and a hell of a bloody nose. Well worth it! We're all crazy!

 

[dbltree]

Dbltree, We are in our second year of hinge cutting. We do not have a lot of property so have decided to hinge pretty radically the hardwoods we have, making funnels, pockets, and bedding edges on ridges, and keeping our hinged areas accessible by taking out firewood and leaving tops. But firewood removal is a lot of work for us old guys. My question is if we wanted to open up a couple areas that ended up just to thick with hinges for good deer travel, would cutting 6 foot paths into these areas and leaving the horizontal trunks on the ground be alright. Our trees are mostly saplings to small pole size. Thanks.

Yep, just cut runways thru downed trees, will work great:way:

 

[letemgrow]

"Learn when to run"- HA, I literally laughed out loud there! I've done that a few times last weekend. I got tangled in some vines Saturday while running and fell right on my face. I am super careful while doing this & run with plenty of time (most the time) but geesh, not for the beginner!!! It took me several years to master how to cut trees, how they tip, how not to get a blade stuck BUT you really gotta pay attention to detail. Don't go to quick or you get sloppy & forget things & that's the time you end up getting hurt. Good luck all & if you don't have years of experience with this stuff- get someone like Dbltree out on your farm- the one area you don't "learn as you go"- both out of safety BUT you are also making permanent, 100 year decisions out there.

I'd add to quit soon as someone is fatigued. This type work is NOT for someone impaired by being wore out.