Habitat Advice

[acrockett6]

Hello, I'm 27 with 15 acres in southwestern Virginia. about 5 acres is field and the rest is going to be dense forest on rolling hills that is primarily very large pines, poplars and scattered (and rare) mature hardwoods. Due to some frequently falling pines that has taken out my neighbor's fence several times now, I have found a logger that is willing to clear cut a large section of my pines that leads down to a creek fed pond. This leaves with several benefits, several problems, and unlimited opportunities. Looking for advice from the forum on how to set this up so I can have an optimal outcome at the end of all of this.

Benefits:
- I will now be able to easily access my pond and instead of being completely consumed by thick forest, the pond and surrounding banks will finally get some sunlight. Would love to hear some ideas of stuff I can do with the pond to help the habitat since I can now work with it.
- I can use this space to replenish my property with mast producing trees. Something that is virtually non-existent on my property.
- I will be able to access one of my stands without running deer out of the pines in the morning

Problems:
- No idea what to do with all of these stumps. It's going to be close to 100 and i've heard stump grinding and bulldozing come with major impacts to the soil.
- I'd like to get a cover crop in but with the root systems, idk if tilling is really an option.....thoughts on something that might work to improve soil quality?
- This pine thicket was one of the main corridors deer used to access my property from a connecting ag field. I'd like to get something back up and in place quickly that will make them still feel sheltered
- What type of trees should I target to replace them with? I think there was some divine intervention with all of this because last fall I took on the process of stratifying close to 200 chestnuts, 150 sawtooth oaks, and 300+ persimmons. They go in an air prune bed and will be ready for planting in fall of this year or spring of 2027, but I also don't want to just throw those down because it seems like a good idea, I want to be methodical and think long-term about this.
- What to do with the brush? I'd rather not look at giant mounds of brush for the rest of my life....but i've also read that thick brush can really help deer feel secure.
- I'm removing a natural "border" between where I hunt and where my neighbor's yard is. This isn't really a problem but on a property like mine, i'm worried it'll almost feel like i'm hunting in the yard. Any quick growing privacy screens that won't get overly huge and shade out the rest of the plot?


God willing, i'll be hunting this property for the next 50 years so I'd like to at least *try* to do it right the first time. Appreciate all the advice I can get! Screenshot is attached so everyone can get a true idea of exactly what I'm talking about.....red outline is my property, blue outline is what is being timbered, yellow is my pond and creek, X's are where my stands are located. Thanks!

 

[Native Hunter]

You should get a massive flush of plant growth from the seedbank after the timber is cut. Some of it will be saplings and there will probably be forbs and grasses as well. You may also get briers. For the first few years it would be great deer cover and habitat if you did nothing at all. I personally would just let nature take its course and do some hand trimming and spraying to eliminate anything unwanted that came up.

However, I do understand you wanting to plant food producing trees like chestnut, persimmon and sawtooth. If you decide to do that, you are going to have to kill the flush of vegetation that is going to come up. That's probably going to mean spraying herbicide to get it under control. I will say that I love chestnuts, persimmons and sawtooth, but I wonder how tough it will be to plant them with all those roots under the ground.

Best wishes

 

[yoderjac]

First and foremost, keep your expectations realistic. You are not going to do QDM or keep deer on your land with 15 acres. The best you can hope for is to improve hunting on the land.

My first step would be to do nothing to the land. I would hunt it for a year or two and get a handle on the winds during your hunting season and how deer currently relate to your land. Next, I would take a look at about 1,000 acres that surround your property. Walk what you can and use imagery for areas you don't have access. See if you can figure out how deer are using that area.

The next step is to identify multiple stand locations for different winds in your area. You will want to look at the micro cover for each stand before starting your logging lad tag any trees you want to keep for stand cover.

If after doing this, you decide to proceed with the logging, I would let things sit for a year or two until the fuel load drops to an acceptable level and then conduct a controlled burn. You don't need to do anything with the stumps. I would then let nature take its course in the logged area. You will get 5 to 10 years before the canopy closes. During that time it will provide great native food and cover for deer and other animals. If you want to keep it in early succession, you can use a controlled burn every 3 to 5 years.

As for the open field, avoid tillage. Tillage, deep and frequent, introduces oxygen into the soil and burns organic matter (OM) and a high rate. You will want to preserve and build organic matter in your soil. There are lots of threads on this forum that talk about no-till and min-till methods of planting.

You can plan a few mast producing trees in your 5 acre field. I find a few clumps of trees in a field help encourage more daytime use by deer. I would not plant any trees in areas that you plan to burn on a regular basis. Each type of tree becomes fire resistant at a different age, but most require at least 5 years.

Best of luck, and welcome to the journey.