dogghr
Well-Known Member
You are right Triple, a seasonal growth that like so amazing compared to watching a tree take years to grow and produce.
I can do that Deer Patch. First let me give credit to the name. There was a mathematics genius from my town that won a Nobel Prize based on some theory he came up with concerning gaming and statistical analysis that I can't even pronounce most the terminology. He suffered from schizophrenia and was the subject of the movie, A Beautiful Mind. Considered crazy by many but amazing smart. HIs mother was told by a teacher in the 4th grade that he had no mathematical skills. Anyways, I read once that the analogy to the one theory was that cars going down a highway tended to be in groups , with spacing between those groups, yet all the groups going in the same direction, i.e., in "ramdom clusters". This describes much my way of thinking of flow thru my property.
Many think you can't have good deer habitat, if it is not in a early successional stage. But over time, and with arguments with my forester and logging friends, I think it indeed can be done and have distinct advantages. I've always questioned, how the virgin forests of much of the East supported a variety of browsers to grazers to predators. Reading early journals, you see the explorers tunneling thru almost impenetrable thick growth at the forest floor , yet the trees were a full canopy mature stage. So by todays standards, how could that be?
In addition, as most know, mast producing trees do not reach their prime until 20-50 years old. A mature 100 ft white oak can produce a 1000#s of acorns or 2400 acorns / tree. Multiply that by an acre, by a 100 ac. So here we are cutting mature tree to provide new growth for deer. And what do they do? So many deer in some areas now, that they browse the heck ourt of new seedlings, so instead of a cutover quickly reestblishing hardwood, then you have the less desirable browse of deer such a MFR that takes over. In addition, instead of having mature timber adding to the duff that creates our depleted timber soils, it erodes away with the barren type start over growth, and the roads that are placed thruout the mountainside. In addition, I want to manage my land, for not just the deer, but a animal population intertwined with each other and the land. Trust me, my forester friend is having a coronary as I type this.
So to me, there should be a way to manage the majestic mature mast trees yet still have browse at deer level just as it once did.
But to get to my random cluster TSI. My land lays from low to high elevation front to back. In addition, the acceptable land to plot tends to be in a S shape form ridge top , down to bottom, then up into the ravine. If you look at my pic from the ridgetop on a previous post, some plots are behind me, the bottom can be seen , and to the distant right of the bottom is a ravine plot, thus giving me that S shape. In addition, I have two main sanctuaries, one to your left of 10 ac, and another to your right of 15+ ac. The bear pics I showed, this larger sanctuarary is in the background. So I plan for the rut. Since most my wind is NW, then I cut timber along the SE side of the plots from near the entrance to my back two ridges, with the theory that bucks will cruise down wind scent checking the fields for estrous does.
Since I don't have the time or energy to cut that entire length, then I cut pockets, of anywhere of a few hundred square feet to an ac or more. These are interpersed by rather open mature timber. My theory, and it has proven true a lot of time, is that bucks will hopscotch from thicket to thicket, scentchecking those fields which are anywhere from 100-300 yds to the west. I also concentrate on obvious mountain buck habitat such as sidehill points, benches, and ridges. As the hinge or cutting is done, new growth has a chance and more important to me, the huge treetops of my mature oaks, produce even more mast without the competition. So the Fall gives me good hard mast crop, yet year round browse is produced for the deer. But most important to me, is the bucks follow the EDGE that is created by all these pockets, and that is where my stands sit, and since doing so have not always taken a deer but have always had a shooter within range as he follows my chainsaw created trail. I know this is confusing, and will go against most recommendation to cut , cut , and cut some more, especially the high dollar money making trees. I say, step back and think it thru, because the chainsaw is not always the deers best friend.
Below is classic example of virgin growth of Northern Spruce that has never been cut at 5000 ft with an obvious understory. Not for deer browse, but there are multitude of animals that prefer this habitat.
Here you can see regen of forest floor. Bad pic but area is surrounded by 2nd growth large red oaks. Favoite pathway along this edge for bucks and I have a stand just to the far edge of this.
And here is far ridgetop hinge cutting and timber dropping done couple weeks ago. Sidewalk left in middle guiding to stand to my left. This sits about 50 yds from thicket made over south side of hill . Each pocket/cluster is anywhere from 50-100 yds apart. Remember, to me its not so much the pocket, but the edge that gets created between one evironment to another, i.e., thick borders open, conifer borders hardwood, field borders feathering, you get my gist. Now that I've confused everyone, go at it, but think it thru just a little, listen to what the deer tell you and their manipulation is so much more simplified. Just my way of doing things, everyone with their land and topography and food sources should have their own input. Random Clusters, who would've thot. Thanks for reading.
I can do that Deer Patch. First let me give credit to the name. There was a mathematics genius from my town that won a Nobel Prize based on some theory he came up with concerning gaming and statistical analysis that I can't even pronounce most the terminology. He suffered from schizophrenia and was the subject of the movie, A Beautiful Mind. Considered crazy by many but amazing smart. HIs mother was told by a teacher in the 4th grade that he had no mathematical skills. Anyways, I read once that the analogy to the one theory was that cars going down a highway tended to be in groups , with spacing between those groups, yet all the groups going in the same direction, i.e., in "ramdom clusters". This describes much my way of thinking of flow thru my property.
Many think you can't have good deer habitat, if it is not in a early successional stage. But over time, and with arguments with my forester and logging friends, I think it indeed can be done and have distinct advantages. I've always questioned, how the virgin forests of much of the East supported a variety of browsers to grazers to predators. Reading early journals, you see the explorers tunneling thru almost impenetrable thick growth at the forest floor , yet the trees were a full canopy mature stage. So by todays standards, how could that be?
In addition, as most know, mast producing trees do not reach their prime until 20-50 years old. A mature 100 ft white oak can produce a 1000#s of acorns or 2400 acorns / tree. Multiply that by an acre, by a 100 ac. So here we are cutting mature tree to provide new growth for deer. And what do they do? So many deer in some areas now, that they browse the heck ourt of new seedlings, so instead of a cutover quickly reestblishing hardwood, then you have the less desirable browse of deer such a MFR that takes over. In addition, instead of having mature timber adding to the duff that creates our depleted timber soils, it erodes away with the barren type start over growth, and the roads that are placed thruout the mountainside. In addition, I want to manage my land, for not just the deer, but a animal population intertwined with each other and the land. Trust me, my forester friend is having a coronary as I type this.
So to me, there should be a way to manage the majestic mature mast trees yet still have browse at deer level just as it once did.
But to get to my random cluster TSI. My land lays from low to high elevation front to back. In addition, the acceptable land to plot tends to be in a S shape form ridge top , down to bottom, then up into the ravine. If you look at my pic from the ridgetop on a previous post, some plots are behind me, the bottom can be seen , and to the distant right of the bottom is a ravine plot, thus giving me that S shape. In addition, I have two main sanctuaries, one to your left of 10 ac, and another to your right of 15+ ac. The bear pics I showed, this larger sanctuarary is in the background. So I plan for the rut. Since most my wind is NW, then I cut timber along the SE side of the plots from near the entrance to my back two ridges, with the theory that bucks will cruise down wind scent checking the fields for estrous does.
Since I don't have the time or energy to cut that entire length, then I cut pockets, of anywhere of a few hundred square feet to an ac or more. These are interpersed by rather open mature timber. My theory, and it has proven true a lot of time, is that bucks will hopscotch from thicket to thicket, scentchecking those fields which are anywhere from 100-300 yds to the west. I also concentrate on obvious mountain buck habitat such as sidehill points, benches, and ridges. As the hinge or cutting is done, new growth has a chance and more important to me, the huge treetops of my mature oaks, produce even more mast without the competition. So the Fall gives me good hard mast crop, yet year round browse is produced for the deer. But most important to me, is the bucks follow the EDGE that is created by all these pockets, and that is where my stands sit, and since doing so have not always taken a deer but have always had a shooter within range as he follows my chainsaw created trail. I know this is confusing, and will go against most recommendation to cut , cut , and cut some more, especially the high dollar money making trees. I say, step back and think it thru, because the chainsaw is not always the deers best friend.
Below is classic example of virgin growth of Northern Spruce that has never been cut at 5000 ft with an obvious understory. Not for deer browse, but there are multitude of animals that prefer this habitat.
Here you can see regen of forest floor. Bad pic but area is surrounded by 2nd growth large red oaks. Favoite pathway along this edge for bucks and I have a stand just to the far edge of this.
And here is far ridgetop hinge cutting and timber dropping done couple weeks ago. Sidewalk left in middle guiding to stand to my left. This sits about 50 yds from thicket made over south side of hill . Each pocket/cluster is anywhere from 50-100 yds apart. Remember, to me its not so much the pocket, but the edge that gets created between one evironment to another, i.e., thick borders open, conifer borders hardwood, field borders feathering, you get my gist. Now that I've confused everyone, go at it, but think it thru just a little, listen to what the deer tell you and their manipulation is so much more simplified. Just my way of doing things, everyone with their land and topography and food sources should have their own input. Random Clusters, who would've thot. Thanks for reading.
Makes perfect sense and adding new edges is always good.
