LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
As Paul said earlier in this thread:
*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.
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
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.
I also created a screen to the backside field edge
And made sure I left a few trails going to the white clover plot below. Trail #1
Trail #2
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.
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.
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.
Couple different shots looking up the ridge
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.
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.
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.
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
A view from the deer's perspective
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...
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!
dbltree said:
*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.
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
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.
I also created a screen to the backside field edge
And made sure I left a few trails going to the white clover plot below. Trail #1
Trail #2
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.
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.
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.
Couple different shots looking up the ridge
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.
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.
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.
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
A view from the deer's perspective
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...
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!
