Early successional habitat

[Tap]

Good stuff, a good read. But hack n squirt is a huge job in thick stuff on large acreages of early successional habitat. I have been contemplating a different method of managing early successional habitat by mowing with a bush hog. I know that mowing has been mentioned already, but not quite the style that I'm envisioning. I am thinking of letting a field grow up in ESH and then mowing the saplings when they hit about six feet high, just before a bush hog won't make it through anymore. But the mowing would be in long strips about fifty feet wide, alternating with unmowed strips about the same width that would then be mowed several years later, as the first strip grows shut again. The advantages; lots of"edge", lots of browse and bedding, plenty of escape routes, fawning cover, fast regeneration of partially chopped saplings, can be done from the tractor seat, all natural with no herbicide, works in areas where burning is banned, only takes several hours every few years to maintain which could be done with rental equipment, What downsides am I missing? Note: This would only be about a four acre project surrounded by a diverse habitat consisting of different stages of cover& mature woods and farm fields.

I like that idea. But I'm not sure the OP can brush hog his steep terrain, but I see he replied as I was typing. Maybe he CAN brush hog some of the area??

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[weekender21]

I like that idea. But I'm not sure the OP can brush hog his steep terrain, but I see he replied as I was typing. Maybe he CAN brush hog some of the area??

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The brush hog method could be a possibility in the future but definitely not initially. I don’t live on the same continent as my property and don’t own a tractor in addition to more obvious and previously discussed terrain issues.

I’ll likely plant food plots on the flatter areas but I’m not in a huge rush to do so. The clear cut is providing lots of food for now and I’ll have more time for those projects when I move in 5 years.

Do any of you have recommendations on placement of the ESH? Would it be better to have two 10-acre sections dedicated to ESH or four 5-acre sections? Close to food plots, travel corridors, bedding, etc?

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[David]

The brush hog method could be a possibility in the future but definitely not initially. I don’t live on the same continent as my property and don’t own a tractor in addition to more obvious and previously discussed terrain issues.

I’ll likely plant food plots on the flatter areas but I’m not in a huge rush to do so. The clear cut is providing lots of food for now and I’ll have more time for those projects when I move in 5 years.

Do any of you have recommendations on placement of the ESH? Would it be better to have two 10-acre sections dedicated to ESH or four 5-acre sections? Close to food plots, travel corridors, bedding, etc?

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Mennonite man. While I like the idea of mowing strips to promote ESH. I think you will be holding the property in year 3-7 stage instead of 1-4. Point being it could be a great way to promote browse and bedding.....which for us seems to be the point...but the land won't be able to actually re-enter the initial non-forested stage. It's not a negative for growing deer, it just doesn't quite fit the text book definition. (I have never been one to aleays follow the textbooks).

Here are some pictures of year 2 of my ESH area.

My areas have literally tons of browse, but truth is the cover is just now getting significant.

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[David]

Weekender......if I was even considering fire the one thing I would do is if there will be a crew coming in anytime in the future, I would install firebreaks and manage them for the future.

I would also prefer 4 areas of 5 acres over 2 areas of 10 acres....only because of increased edge and varity.

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[David]

One last thing.....I like ESH for so many other reasons....it starts from the ground up. I have so many bugs, butterflies, dozens of species of grass hoppers, box turtles, mice, snakes, tree frogs, small medium and large birds of prey, quail (2 covey on 20 acres), turkey, rabbits, song birds, whip-or-whills, owls, chipmunks, coons, bob cats, fox etc...

However I have thought about letting 5-10 acres go to early forest stage for the cover. I would be nervous about how to keep it from completely re-entering into a full forest.

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[Tap]

Do any of you have recommendations on placement of the ESH? Would it be better to have two 10-acre sections dedicated to ESH or four 5-acre sections? Close to food plots, travel corridors, bedding, etc?

I'd probably keep it in a 20 acre block of varying age progressions within that block. Some micro plots within the area would be easy to establish with Throw and Mow. I'd call those areas "zero succession". Surround those micro plots with feathered, 2 or 3 year succession...basically kept in golden rod, raspberry, etc. Cut those sections every few years. The rest of the 20 acres would be kept in crabs, plums, elderberry, dogwood, etc. There's no reason why those species can't be left to fully mature and produce mast. A single, lone crab located here and there are great scrape locations. Just don't let them get so thick that they compete with each other.

And throughout the entire 20 acres, I would allow a handful of trees to fully mature to use as stand trees in the future. Not exactly reverting to forest, but also don't keep everything cut back to head high stuff either. BTW, poplar leaves are a tremendous food source during leaf drop. I've watched deer gorge themselves on freshly fallen leaves for hours at a time. They'd eat, then lay right there and chew cud and get back up and eat again...all day long in some cases. Depending on your deer density, you may want to cage some poplars to allow them to survive constant deer browsing.

Every seam of age differential is an edge. Even allowing a few dozen trees mature within the ESH creates edge. A mistake I've made was thinking that I needed to keep every square yard of ESH in the early stage. I wish I would have left a few more trees left uncut.
Productive edge for hunting purposes can be really subtle. I've read at lot of Barry Wensel's stuff about how deer use edges, but I never realized just how subtle an edge can be until I attended his boot camp and saw it first hand.

How you locate your ESH is something that might require looking at the bigger picture. How do deer use the surrounding areas? What are the surrounding areas? Are they crops? How will you access your stands when hunting the ESH?

IMO, you want to keep deer on your property during daylight hours as much as possible. I'd try to maintain staging cover where it meets neighboring properties. I'd want deer to spend those last minutes of daylight on my place instead of crossing the line and getting shot. Most of us don't own enough acreage to totally hold deer, they are gonna leave our property. Keep them content and busy running scrape lines, checking doe beds, etc, on your place during daylight. If they are eventually heading to large, destination feeding areas after dark, so what?

 

[weekender21]

David/Tap,

lots of great information and recommendations. Thank you for taking the time. I’m sure I’ll use this thread as a reference over the next few years while I’m trying to figure out my macro and micro property layout. You have given me some great ideas and I’ll be considering them all when I visit our property next week.



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[Native Hunter]

90% of what they are teaching young biologist in school these days about ESH is just a bunch of bull. The reason there is such as hate for mowing is because radical hippie activist have taken over many of the programs, and anything to do with fossil fuel is automatically looked at as wrong - hence, mowing is evil................

As you can see below, I do know a little bit about maintaining ESH, and I do not use fire. I don't think it's ethical to put my neighbor at risk for something that I myself want to do. People used to care about their neighbors, and I still do care about mine.

Everything you see below is maintained with a combination of strategically timed mowing, strategically administered herbicides, some disking and some chainsaw work. So, basically there are more ways to skin a cat than following the latest, greatest fad to come from the liberal elites. Best wishes and good luck with you project.

PS: If anyone has an EHS that they maintain with fire that looks any better than this, then I challenge you to post the pictures. I can be shown a better way, but it will have to be better and not a bunch of hot air.

 

[weekender21]

I love the pictures Native, obviously more than one way to skin a cat. I don’t have any “old field” on my property and have a severe lack of flat ground. I’m not sure I can control or eliminate young hardwood saplings and young forest without fire, what are your thoughts on that? On the bright side, my terrain really does naturally lend itself to great edge habitat.


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[Native Hunter]

I love the pictures Native, obviously more than one way to skin a cat. I don’t have any “old field” on my property and have a severe lack of flat ground. I’m not sure I can control or eliminate young hardwood saplings and young forest without fire, what are your thoughts on that? On the bright side, my terrain really does naturally lend itself to great edge habitat.View attachment 11789View attachment 11790View attachment 11791

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Steep terrain is definitely more of a challenge. If I were you, I would talk to some of the local right of way clearing companies in your area that do work for electric utilities. They have to keep terrain like that cleared and/or in a state of EHS for power lines, and some of the same methods that they use can also work for you. I can tell you from over 40 years experience in the utility world that those methods are mostly a combination of mowing, herbicide, chainsaws and stump treating. There is no magic bullet, but I think it would help you to talk to people who are working close to you and dealing with similar terrain. They would also be up to date on any state and/or local requirements that might come into play regarding environmental concerns. Best Wishes.

 

[Triple C]

Native...Anybody that argues with what you've accomplished with ESH by mowing would be a fool! Proof that there's more than one way to skin a cat. That's as good as it gets. In weekender's case, he's gotta keep mother nature from converting his logged areas into a forest again in no time. Bout the only way to do that is to either hire an excavator to de-stump it which would cost a fortune or figure out a way to get a fire break around it and run fire through it and more than once. Otherwise, sprouts from the hardwood stumps will dominate the areas in his pics.

In planted pines, fire is your friend. Without it, the pine stand is eventually choked with mostly sweet gum saplings. We use fire in pine stands to produce what mother nature did for thousands of years... a natural pine savanna of native grasses and forbs underneath the canopy of mature pine stands. Fire releases the native seed bank and if done often enough, say on a 2 to 3 year rotation, will produce an understory of native grasses and forbs and kill the competing hardwood stems. The entire pine stand is basically an landscape of ESH. We don't run fire through hardwoods.

Mowing as you do producers as good of ESH as anybody could produce. On recently clearcut areas it would be hard, if not impossible to do without risk of destroying the mower.

 

[weekender21]

Steep terrain is definitely more of a challenge. If I were you, I would talk to some of the local right of way clearing companies in your area that do work for electric utilities. They have to keep terrain like that cleared and/or in a state of EHS for power lines, and some of the same methods that they use can also work for you. I can tell you from over 40 years experience in the utility world that those methods are mostly a combination of mowing, herbicide, chainsaws and stump treating. There is no magic bullet, but I think it would help you to talk to people who are working close to you and dealing with similar terrain. They would also be up to date on any state and/or local requirements that might come into play regarding environmental concerns. Best Wishes.

One of the pictures on my last post is the power company right of way, I’ve never seen one cut through terrain like that. It’s loaded with Forbes all summer.



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[Native Hunter]

One of the pictures on my last post is the power company right of way, I’ve never seen one cut through terrain like that. It’s loaded with Forbes all summer.

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It's not uncommon to see lots of forbs pop up in right of ways once the woody species are subdued. There are different levels of maintenance that you will see with power companies. The ideal situation is not to have any brush, because it is a pain to work downed wires through brush at night to put them back up. But, as with other things in life, we sometimes deal with imperfection.

A few companies are establishing native grasses and forbs in right of ways and feel that they pay for themselves over time. The won't hold back brush, but they can slow it down some.

 

[Native Hunter]

Native...Anybody that argues with what you've accomplished with ESH by mowing would be a fool! Proof that there's more than one way to skin a cat. That's as good as it gets. In weekender's case, he's gotta keep mother nature from converting his logged areas into a forest again in no time. Bout the only way to do that is to either hire an excavator to de-stump it which would cost a fortune or figure out a way to get a fire break around it and run fire through it and more than once. Otherwise, sprouts from the hardwood stumps will dominate the areas in his pics.

In planted pines, fire is your friend. Without it, the pine stand is eventually choked with mostly sweet gum saplings. We use fire in pine stands to produce what mother nature did for thousands of years... a natural pine savanna of native grasses and forbs underneath the canopy of mature pine stands. Fire releases the native seed bank and if done often enough, say on a 2 to 3 year rotation, will produce an understory of native grasses and forbs and kill the competing hardwood stems. The entire pine stand is basically an landscape of ESH. We don't run fire through hardwoods.

Mowing as you do producers as good of ESH as anybody could produce. On recently clearcut areas it would be hard, if not impossible to do without risk of destroying the mower.

TC, I love a pine savanna type setting, and that is one of the types of habit I am maintaining. The only difference is that I have oaks mixed in with mine.

Yes, I understand the challenges of holding back the flush of growth where timber has been cut. I maintain some roads through such a place with my bushhog. Of course, I was careful in establishing these places to avoid stumps, and I also did some clearing by hand in the beginning.

Also, if you look back at Post #4 you will see that I wasn't suggesting that Weekender bushhog this. In fact, my exact comment was, "That looks to probably be too steep and rough to bushhog...." So, my comments about mowing were not meant to be applied to his specific situation. My comments have to do with mowing in general and how that a lot of incorrect information is being proliferated by radical academic types and how a lot of people are buying into the nonsense.

Thanks for your comments and best wishes with your habitat.

 

[Mennoniteman]

TC, I love a pine savanna type setting, and that is one of the types of habit I am maintaining. The only difference is that I have oaks mixed in with mine.

Yes, I understand the challenges of holding back the flush of growth where timber has been cut. I maintain some roads through such a place with my bushhog. Of course, I was careful in establishing these places to avoid stumps, and I also did some clearing by hand in the beginning.

Also, if you look back at Post #4 you will see that I wasn't suggesting that Weekender bushhog this. In fact, my exact comment was, "That looks to probably be too steep and rough to bushhog...." So, my comments about mowing were not meant to be applied to his specific situation. My comments have to do with mowing in general and how that a lot of incorrect information is being proliferated by radical academic types and how a lot of people are buying into the nonsense.

Thanks for your comments and best wishes with your habitat.

Thanks for your pictures, and the common sense that you, as usual, bring to the table. As you pointed out mowing is normally the easiest tool of choice to control esh from reverting back to an unmanageable canopy with no understory. For weekender, if it's too steep to mow, it's too steep to burn. Periodic semi-clearcut logging for paper in sections is about the only option left.

 

[dogghr]

I'm like Native, Just won't do a burn because I don't have the time and frankly too scared. But I also with timely mowing, spraying, and cutting, have moved fescue land into a more successional growth. Like Tap said, you do get some bad with the good, but overall its has begun to take shape over a 3 year period. It has been a harder thinking cap ordeal than any plot or timber management I've done. My purpose was more as a transition from hard to soft edge and that has been accomplished. I only sprayed once with the onset and that was a gly burn, then it has been managed periodically with a bushhog. If you watch, mowing certain things will help eradicate that and help promote what you want. It is tricky but the deer seem to really make use of it from browse to bedding to transition. I plan to expand my test area to another 5 ac.
And for those that want to maintain a more mature timber stand with decent browse understory, fire is a friend. Research the ability of oaks to resist fire damage while most its competitors are destroyed. Oak density is a factor but mature oaks can be maintained without the mistake of a chainsaw taking everything over 15 dbh which is the norm in logging operations on private land.

 

[David]

TC, I love a pine savanna type setting, and that is one of the types of habit I am maintaining. The only difference is that I have oaks mixed in with mine.

Yes, I understand the challenges of holding back the flush of growth where timber has been cut. I maintain some roads through such a place with my bushhog. Of course, I was careful in establishing these places to avoid stumps, and I also did some clearing by hand in the beginning.

Also, if you look back at Post #4 you will see that I wasn't suggesting that Weekender bushhog this. In fact, my exact comment was, "That looks to probably be too steep and rough to bushhog...." So, my comments about mowing were not meant to be applied to his specific situation. My comments have to do with mowing in general and how that a lot of incorrect information is being proliferated by radical academic types and how a lot of people are buying into the nonsense.

Thanks for your comments and best wishes with your habitat.

Land managment is like Pandora's box! I am blown away by what you (native) have done with mowing. I didn't know partridge pea could get that high!

My goal has been to eliminate the fescue and ease into a future of ESH.

Native....have you planted any of that? I have species I want to establish that are absent on my land so far, and I am thinking I might have to introduce them.


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[Mennoniteman]

Mennonite man. While I like the idea of mowing strips to promote ESH. I think you will be holding the property in year 3-7 stage instead of 1-4. Point being it could be a great way to promote browse and bedding.....which for us seems to be the point...but the land won't be able to actually re-enter the initial non-forested stage. It's not a negative for growing deer, it just doesn't quite fit the text book definition. (I have never been one to aleays follow the textbooks).

Here are some pictures of year 2 of my ESH area.

My areas have literally tons of browse, but truth is the cover is just now getting significant.

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With mowing you can hold it in any year stage you want up to 2" saplings eight feet tall.

 

[Native Hunter]

Land managment is like Pandora's box! I am blown away by what you (native) have done with mowing. I didn't know partridge pea could get that high!

My goal has been to eliminate the fescue and ease into a future of ESH.

Native....have you planted any of that? I have species I want to establish that are absent on my land so far, and I am thinking I might have to introduce them.


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Thanks David.

A good part of those species were native and a good number were introduced by me. About 9 years ago this was all Fescue. I did a kill and drilled in the native grasses and forbs. Since that time I have maintained it by mowing, spot spraying and did one area spraying for blackberry briers. I have also done some light disking at specific places, and chansaw work around some edges.

I have also learned to release the species I want to promote by either killing or setting back the competing species through strategically timed herbicide application and/or mowing. For instance, Jewelweed is an annual that germinates from seed every year. If you open up the ground for it just before germination time it makes a tremendous difference in how well it does. This is also true for other species.

The reason the Partridge Pea is so big is because it is an improved cultivar that I planted. I have the native PP too, and it gets about knee high. This stuff easily goes over 6 feet sometimes. Mine came from Roundstone Native Seed if you want to check on it.

Many of the other forbs like Tickseed Sunflower, Goldenrod, Smooth Ticktreefoil, etc. are native species, and I have promoted them by some of the methods I have mentioned. I also have undesirable forbs such as marestail, but I have managed to hold them back and promote the ones I like.

Another thing I have come to realize is that you must know and understand what your greatest obstacles are. In the academic world, fescue is the greatest evil to ever come upon the world. But fescue is a lightweight compared to many of the species that threaten our habitat. While they are preaching fescue, fescue, fescue I was watching blackberry literally taking over everything. Yes, I know that some blackberry is good, but you have to see what I have seen to understand where I am coming from. It can be a literal curse here - to the point that a deer won't even attempt to go through it.

I was able to manage it with spot spraying for a while but finally had to give in to an area spraying last year. I'm back in good shape now for a few years, but it could be a battle again someday. Fescue will be present too, but will never be the problem that lots of people preach that it is. It will continue to exist to a small extent but is really a non issue. I probably come off too strong on things like this sometimes, but it just pains me to see people in the academic world preaching what they read in a book and not seeing what is reality before their very eyes.

Thanks for your information in this thread. Looks like you are doing a great job, and have things in tip top shape.

Take Care - Steve

 

[weekender21]

I developed successional cover on my property and have been maintaining it for 20 years or so. The critters love it. I have hundreds of crabs and hawthorn trees in it, not to mention thousands of raspberry bushes. That's the upside.
The downside is that successional growth is also ripe for invasive species to take hold.
Here's a list of the stuff that's trying to take over my place...
Multiflora Rose
Grape vines
Oriental bittersweet
Mile-a-minute
Japanese stilt grass
privet
Autumn olive
bush honeysuckle
barberry

I would advise maintaining access routes for maintenance purposes. My property has become so thick that some areas are really difficult to work in.
And the grape vines have make keeping alive crabs and other valuable trees a nightmare. Grapes, bittersweet, Mile-a-minute will smother and kill everything. And the berries that those invasives produce will be spread onto neighboring areas so it's critical that you limit invasive berry producers from making seed.
Successional habitat is great but don't let the crap take hold.

I was out at our property last week and one thing I noticed was a lot of multiflora rose! It seems to be establishing itself pretty quickly in several of my clearcut areas, looks like I'll have my work cut out trying to kill it all.